Barac – Frou Frou

Rhadoo Fabric 72
Label – Fabric (London)
Country – UK
Released – 21.10.2013
http://www.discogs.com/Rhadoo-Fabric-72/release/5000378

In the world of minimal house, very few have the credentials of Radu Bogdan Cilinca. Best known as Rhadoo, Cilinca’s reputation has been built on his carefully considered approach to the genre, which he’s helped to define over the past decade. And while the style may no longer have the same freshness it once did, a few of its key proponents have outlived its heyday. Rhadoo is one of them.
fabric 72 isn’t flashy, brazen or even outspoken. But given the kind of music that Cilinca has spent most of his career pushing, it was probably never going to be. It doesn’t do the trainspotters any favours, either—rather than unveiling the closely guarded bombs he takes with him around the world, Cilinca almost exclusively features unreleased material from his home country. As such, the journey is very much in line with the kind of house Romania is best known for—smoky, smooth and understated.
The names on this tracklist will only be familiar to those still up to date with minimal. “Jazzocorason,” a track from the relatively well-known Cristi Cons and Vlad Caia (who produce together as SIT), kicks things off without any fuss, with hushed vocals and skippy drums paving the way for cuts from up-and-comers Yourayo and Visullucid. A Craig Richards remix of Wulf-N-Bear’s “Raptures Of The Deep” (the original, according to Cilinca, has been a staple “for the last 5-6 years”) seems to be the only track not produced by a Romanian, and gives things a nice boost. Two-thirds of the way in, Barac Nicole’s “Frou Frou” emerges as the highlight of the mix, its snappy drums and catchy midrange standing out among the comparatively restrained efforts before it.
By the time fabric 72 comes to a close, Cilinca’s skills as a selector have been proven. The mix’s transitions are flawless, and the interplay between the tracks is often just as interesting as the source material itself. Every selection is of the highest quality, with virtually no weak moments across the entire 70 minutes. But rather than encompassing Cilinca’s 20-odd-years in the business, fabric 72 seems more like snapshot of the current state of Romanian house. In this task, he’s succeeded. But if the time comes 20 years from now to look back on minimal, this CD is unlikely to be one you’re dusting off.