Paris isn't exactly known for DJs that play nasty, dark and evil sounding techno, but Ivan Smagghe is the exception. Born just outside of the city in the early 1970s, Ivan wasn't introduced to music the same way that many other artists were - by having a family of musicians or singers. Instead, he credits his father's Sunday afternoon record shop buying sprees as the foundation for his infatuation with music and what ultimately led him to become an artist.

Fabric 23 is his reward for being one of the most cutting-edge, innovative DJs in the techno and electro house scene. With previous artists such as Craig Richards, Michael Mayer and Tyler Stadius, the Fabric series has established itself as the premiere compilation for those wanting a truly different musical experience.

Ivan, refusing to be tagged as playing just one genre, runs the gamut of styles and sounds on Fabric 23. While there is a consistent theme of bleeps and glitches, there is a wide variety of other sounds not usually heard in electronic music. He starts the CD off with the Der Schmeisser's remix of Aswefall's Ride. With it's old Chicago undertones, Ride can be considered the epitome of tech-house. Following up the first track with Audion's Your Place Or Mine proves that Ivan plans to get really dirty, really fast.

The next few tracks, including Frau by Robots and the Ada remix of Booka Shade's Vertigo vs. Cha!, push the disc in a danceable direction. It's easy to tell that these tracks would command the full attention of any dance floor across the world.

'One of the real treats of the CD comes in the form of the sixth track, Michael Mayer's Heiden with the acapella of Blood from Lopazz overlapped'.

The eerily haunting vocal fits perfectly over the minimal madness churned out by Mayer.

After a couple of tracks that keep the evil theme of the disc alive, the listener is treated to The Kills track No Wow which doesn't seem like it would normally be included on a compilation such as this, but Smagghe fuses it perfectly in the middle of the CD. An electronic rock track at heart, No Wow is as dark and acidy as rock-and-roll gets and it's penetrating guitar riffs are a welcome surprise. Continuing to chug along with deep bass and acid synths, the musical journey continues until the listener is all but hit over the head with a track that is far and away is the stand-out of the entire disc: Just Fucking by Audion. Roman Flugel's remix of the track is absolutely superb and is guaranteed to force people to move.

The disc wraps up in a similar way to which it began, on a bit more of the tech housey energetic side with Poni Hoax's Budapest (Joakim Italo Dub). Horns and cymbal crashes allude to the unfortunately inevitable end of the disc where the listener is undoubtedly left wanting more, much more.

'With his brilliant work on Fabric 23, Ivan has proven that his years of hard work and innovation have been sufficiently rewarded'.

The CD is a stormer and those that weren't familiar with Ivan Smagghe beforehand will surely be made fans after hearing Fabric 23.

Track-listing:

1. Aswefall - Ride (Der Schmeisser Loveleysplinterremix) [Kill The DJ Records]
2. Audion - Your Place or Mine [Spectral Sounds/Ghostly International]
3. Robots - Frau (Pandullo vs. Und) [Irma Records]
4. Booka Shade - Vertigo vs. Cha! (Ada Remix) [Get Physical Music]
5. Iiiaqui Marin - You Can't Scape [Regular]
6. Michael Mayer - Heiden [Kompakt] [Follow Lopazz - Blood (Acapella) [Output Recordings]]
7. DJ Koze - The Gekloppel Continues [Kompakt]
8. [T]ekel - Snake Tartare [Initial Cuts]
9. The Kills - No Wow [Domino]
10. Konrad Black - Jefferson and Braeside [Wagon Repair]
11. Fabrizio Mammarella - Tear Up [BearFunk]
12. Audion - Just Fucking (Roman Flugel's Remix) [Spectral Sounds/Ghostly International]
13. Auto - Carnage, Ok! [Saasfee]
14. Poni Hoax - Budapest (Joakim Italo Dub) [Tigersushi]