★★★★☆
Murky and edgy, Fabric 63 – Levon Vincent could leave you shaken by what may lie beneath. Sometimes the science of Vincent bobs up from below with a scared, in-headlights temper. That disorientation, added to the already ominous, off-kilter pianos of JM De Frias’ “Intrinsic Motivation” and DJ QU’s “Times Like This,” attempts to rise up. The heat and haze of Vincent’s “Fear” ratifies everything not being quite as it should be (though there may be redemption available at the same time), and then a manifestation into a technoid form from Joey Anderson’s “Hydrine” and Anthony Parasole’s “Tyson,” will shake you more physically.
Leaving his heat on you and his sounds peering over your shoulder, Vincent is not on the ones and twos to intimidate. He moves the crossfader with dirt under his fingernails, a headhunter in headphones with few histrionics from Houston to NYC, ordering you to move lest the sun break you down, arriving masked like a nameless vigilante. Vincent arranges a showcase for himself and for those closest to him, creating, via a funkier impasse halfway through, the musical journey idea as a mission to survive dark dance floor forces. On top of plaudits for the selector, Volume 63 is also a fillip for those thinking the Fabric series has over-saturated itself.
File under: Black Jazz Consortium, Kassem Mosse, James Teej