Fabric choose Ewan Pearson for the latest installment in their mix CD series. ‘Fabric 35’ is out in July.

”When people ask ‘So you’re a DJ?’ I’m like, ‘Well, sort of. It’s like my fourth or fifth job,’” says Pearson. But for someone who made his name in the studio rather than behind the decks, he’s doing a pretty bang up job. His debut mix CD ‘Sci-Fi-Hi-Fi Vol.1’ [2005] was hailed for its unique take on electro house, and last year his summery RA Podcast was voted Best of 2006. His new mix for Fabric promises to be similarly unpredictable, promising Detroit techno (Carl Craig, Samuel L Session), post-punk funk (Liquid Liquid), minimal (Marc Houle, Exercise One, Samim) and neo-trance (Aril Brikha) amid a prevailing theme of mechanical, treated vocals and low end kicks.

”What I don’t like is hearing hours of the same sort of thing,” says Pearson. ”At the moment I love techno but I don’t just play sort of minimal clicky stuff. What bores me when everyone is doing the same thing. I just find the stuff that moves me and try and make it work.” Does the mix represent a conscious choice to move away from electro house? ”I think I move around style-wise, I’ve got quite diverse tastes,” explains Pearson. ”I suppose because of the remixes I was doing five years ago, I’ve been lumped into the electro scene, but what interests me is finding exciting new records. It’s that sensibility of trying to twist things slightly, trying to put things together in not such an obvious way.”

Pearson on the mix: ”I always try to have some more musical stuff in there, but it’s quite heads-down, with low-slung basslines. It ranges through quite a few styles, but it’s a no-nonsense dancefloor mix, more down and dirty. Being interested in production, I’m always trying to find things that fit together - I like that happy accident that you find sometimes when you find two records that are in the same key and the same tempo; when you put them together, you make this brand new thing.”

’Fabric 35’ mixed by Ewan Pearson

1. Jahcoozi - Ali McBills (Robert Johnson 6am X-Ray Italo Rework)
2. MarcAshken - Nimrod (Marc Houle Is A Nimrod Remix)
3. Gui.tar - Push In The Bush
4. Snax - Honeymoon’s Over (Konrad Black Mix)
5. Jens Zimmermann - Tranquillite
6. Liquid Liquid - Bellhead
7. Lee Burridge and Dan F - Treat ‘em Mean, Keep ‘em Keen (Exercise One Mix 2)
8. 100 Hz - Trustlove
9. Samim - Paspd ft. Big Bully
10. Laven & MSO - Looking For God
11. Simon Baker - Plastik
12. Samuel L Session ft. Paris The Black Fu - Can You Relate
13. Johannes Heil - All For One (Tobi Neumann’s Swinging Remix)
14. Kaos - Panopeeps (Origin)
15. Beanfield – Tides - C’s Movement #1 (Carl Craig Remix)
16. Aril Brikha - Berghain – Kompakt