Some musical partnerships seem to require a leap of faith or a suspension of our collective disbelief; others progress come along so naturally that the synergy almost seems fated, their work resolutely undeniable. Brooklyn-based Metro Area (Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani) is of the latter group without doubt: a beautifully harmonious relationship wherein the duo push and pull in all the right directions without compromise.

Although both listened to pop RnB/electro of the mid 80s growing up in quiet pockets of the East coast (Darshan in Poughkeepsie, New York and Morgan in New Jersey), they independently found themselves drawn to synthesizers and the techy side of producing long before they discovered one another.

As Morgan and Darshan migrated towards equally remote areas of America for college (Darshan staying in the east coast and Morgan relocating to the Midwest) and gradually coaxed releases from the closed confines of their dorms (Morgan even started his label, Environ, in his dorm room), they simultaneously lived their formative years feeling somewhat misunderstood and somewhat misplaced musically.

It’s a sentiment that’s rung true from when they met each other on email lists in the days before internet forums through their early days when the two first teamed up as an avant-garde, creatively unbound production/DJ team.

“It’s a really mixed bag of music, but it’s all really groovy stuff. There’s some not so obvious disco, there’s some sort of really spare and weird NY house tracks – we had to figure out how to make it cohesive. We did a few of our own custom deep tracks and made some little drum tracks and little mixing utilities to throw in there as well… We’re trying to not put in the classic records that we’ve played forever. We wanted to explore an area that’s not mined so heavily, but still have an emphasis on the older disco stuff. So we thought we’d do a mid 80s sort of thing, which is kind of a neglected time period but there’s some really nice records from then. With fabric mix CDs, it can sometimes be so homogenous; it’s like this perfect, classy, very coherent single thought. But that’s not how we DJ, so I think we decided we’d try and touch on a lot of different things, almost like a party mix.” – Metro Area

Fabric 43, an artistically arranged and brightly coloured journey through Metro Area’s vast record collections, remains as reflective as it is forward-thinking. Metro Area deliver a peerless jam-packed mix of Easy Street dance classics (World Premiere’s “Share The Night”) through to 80′s club hits (“Work For Love” by Ministry), with a generous helping of disco and boogie anthems and electropop output from the likes of Premiere Class. Infectious, retro and yet timeless, Fabric 43 dazzles with uplifting dancefloor gold.

Tracklisting

• Babla’s Disco Sensation – Ghar Aya Mera Pardesi [Intro] [Babla's Disco Sensation]
• World Premiere – Share the Night (Breakdown Mix) [Demon Music Group]
• Ministry – Work For Love [Dub Mix] [Arista]
• The Disco Four – Move To The Groove [Instrumental] [Enjoy Records]
• Skratch – You Should Have Known Better [Instrumental] [Passion Records]
• Barbara Norris – Heavy Hitter [Dub Version] [United Performers/Nelwin Records]
• Gary’s Gang – Makin’ Music [Dub Mix] [Radar Records]
• Voyage – Souvenirs [GTO]
• Five Special – Why Leave Us Alone [Long Version] [WEA]
• Ray Martinez – The Natives Are Restless [Importe/12 Records]
• Dreamhouse – I Can Feel It  [United Sounds Of America]
• Mascara – Baja [Instrumental Dub Version] [Oh My! Records]
• Play By Numbers – Cloud Nine [Ready Mix] [Ice Water Records]
• Midway – Set It Out [Funky Breakdown Mix]  [Personal Records]
• Heaven 17 – Penthouse and Pavement [Virgin]
• Data – Blow [Remix] [WEA]
• Atmosphere – Swede’s Scandal [Superradio]
• Wiretap – X-Rated Man [Blue Stripe Records]
• Plez – Can’t Stop [Acid Rainforest Mix]  [Plezure Records]
• Baby Oliver – Feelings 2 [Environ]
• Jean Luc Ponty – Open Mind  [WEA]
• Première Class – Poupée Flash [Première Class]
• Devo – Freedom Of Choice [Virgin]