This Three-Song Run from The Herbaliser’s 2006 FabricLive Set is Why I Get Up Every Morning
My conversation with Josh Buergel about his favorite part of a 1994 DJ Q-Bert mix had me on a hunt for more, except something more focused on a blend that used large slabs of the song and had less emphasis on turntable work.
The answer came in the form of The Herbaliser’s FabricLive.26 set. I’ve played my favorite sections almost daily, and it gets run end to end about once a week. I like the personality of the selections. I liked learning about more UK MCs I never paid attention to and had to look up. And I really like the three-cut run where they mix “I.D.S.T.” by a lad named Cappo into “Spin it Round” by the Nextmen feat. Dynamite MC right into a Jackson 5 cut.
This three-song run starts about right here and is my gravitational center of the mix, satisfying my appetite for meaty beats and playful aggression in a fresh way.
What I usually do every night around 9:30 is cue the mix right to the point where Cappo asserts himself over the thudding metallic snare of I.D.S.T.
The Herbaliser then slides the fader into a full party with the Nextmen’s “Spin it Round.” You are permitted to jump around and bump into your friends in a smoky room now. I can never stay on the couch once that stupid two-note bass kicks in.
But before you know it, they’re lightening the mood with the Jackson 5’s “It’s Great to Be Here.” This is typical of the set’s frolicsome nature, offering a throwback and a cool-down while carrying the rollicking, pub-hopping Nextmen energy forward by going backward through the crates:
There are many tasty clusters, little mini-sets, across this mix. With its inclusion of soul and funk classics blending into clever UK boom-bap and U.S. underground, it fills a very particular need for me right now.
It feels like your friends took over a club and are playing a set just for you. It feels like I was taking a new journey with one foot in the semi-familiar, feeling stuck here in my living room by this season of my life and needing something different, but not jarringly different.
This was just what I needed. Thanks for the set, lads.