Fabriclive 37 should have been a Justice release. It turns out that the mix they submitted was too short and was therefore rejected. So the release then rolled over to Caspa n Rusko. Caspa n Rusko? Going by the name alone you would think they play electro or something. I have had the CD sitting on my shelf since December of 2007 and have only been listening to it for the past week.
According to the Fabric press release, Caspa (25-year old Gary McCann) and Rusko (22 year old Chris Mercer) are considered part of a new breed of dubstep talent. They both like dub reggae, drum’n’bass, hip hop and obviously dubstep and have been DJing for a couple of years.
The mix starts of very good, the first four tracks are brilliant, but as you listen to the mix and read through the track list you kind of start to wonder as to what you are about to put yourself through. Over half the productions on the mix are their own and the mixing leaves much to be desired. They get away with it though, since they kind of throw tracks in and out of each other and never really letting them play for too long. Dubstep purists will probably not be impressed.
Back to the mix, like I said before the mix starts off good. Lots of wobbling bass, some synths and a wicked beat. Then comes in 'Girl From Codeine City' with a surprisingly lovely melody followed by Cockney Violin that reminded me of the movie 'Memoirs of a Geisha', it had some kind of reflective quality about it once coupled with the beat and bass. Out of nowhere they drop a remix of Uncle Sam's 'Round The Way Girls'....Nice tune, brilliant reggae vibe but not sure why they picked that track. In my opinion they could have done a much better job of bringing that in. Again they simply fade it out and drop 'Jahova'. They do the same for the 'The Terminator' and 'The Legacy'. Then they play Matty G's '50K' which is essentially a Def Inc sample really slowed down which propels the mix into much darker territory. It’s like you have just come up on Ketamine and your taking the swan dive to the depths of god knows where.
This is definitely a challenging mix to listen to. The next 20 odd tracks seem to be more of a showcase of the kind of things they like to play; each track drenches the one before it and so on. There are however some niceties that include samples from the film 'Snatch' and MC Hammer. But for the majority of the time you’re waiting for the relentless monotonous bass tide to ease up and you yearn to hear something familiar. That time does come in the form of female vocals on 'I'm Loving' but still you wonder why that track, there doesn't seem to be a natural cohesion in what they are playing.
At the end of the day, Caspa n Rusko are still young and the mix shows it. These guys have potential and they are still cutting their teeth as artists.
Tracklist: Caspa n Rusko - FabricLive.37
01 Caspa - Born to Do It
02 L-Wiz - Girl From Codeine City
03 Caspa - Cockney Violin
04 Uncle Sam - Round the way Girls (Tes La Rok Remix)
05 Rusko - Jahova
06 Caspa - The Terminator
07 Cotti - Legacy
08 Matty G - 50K VIP
09 The Others - Africa VIP
10 Distance - V
11 Caspa - Big Headed Slags
12 Rusko - Too Far
13 Coki - Sponge Bob
14 Caspa - Louder
15 Caspa n The Others - Well ‘Ard
16 Unitz - The Drop
17 Rusko - Hammer Time
18 Rusko - Mr Chips
19 Orien - Look At My Eyes
20 The Others - Fun House
21 Rusko - 2 N A Q
22 Rusko - Cockney Thug
23 Rusko - Cockney Thug - Buraka Som Sistema Remix
24 Skream - Guru
25 Rusko - Beta Max
26 D1 - Im Loving
27 Caspa n Rusko - Rock Bottom
28 Orien - Rainbow Tear Drops
29 ConQuest - Forever
