Tayo: "FabricLive 32"

We have such an attachment to words, labels and categories. Maybe it's the simplest, most rational attempt to project organization onto the chaos of our world. But why try to constrict one of the most freeing, limitless, inspiring ways to express ourselves - music? Most DJs live their musical lives desperately trying to fit into these restrictive categories, not much unlike forcing a square into a circle, but perhaps a few music creations may have slipped between the lines of all of these exacting names and genres. Tayo, a lion amongst the sheep, has used his vast, all-embracing career to point out the absurdity behind these labels. Dipping into scenes across the board as a DJ, record label owner, promoter and press officer, he's continually proved to be the linchpin between the many different subgenres crammed within the wide umbrella of bass and breakbeat culture.

With a background in South London that allowed him to explore across all aspects of dub, hip hop, drum n bass and everything bass-lead, his genre-fighting fate seemed inevitable. When Tayo bumped heads with two relatively unknown producers/DJs named Rennie Pilgrem and Adam Freeland, who shared his love of edgy beats, it wasn't long before the three men found themselves deep in the buzz of the excitement that hovers around a new movement. Breakbeat exploded as a veritable scene with the arrival of their new weekly mecca: Friction, which not only put breakbeat on the map but also gave it a home. Due to success and innovation of Friction, Tayo was concurrently lumped into the category of being a full-fledged breakbeat DJ. Next came Mob Records and, with productions from Rennie Pilgrem, Stanton Warriors and Krafty Kuts, he was soon introducing the globe to his distinctive bass-heavy step.

"You think that you're just doing this for you and your friends - but then all of a sudden, other people on the other side of the world are going nuts for what you're doing and you don't even realise it. That's how though I felt about Skint, Wall of Sound, Metalheadz, the way I felt about Trevor Nelson or how I felt listening to Wilbur Wilberforce or going to see Brian Gee, or obsessing over Giles Peterson...the same way I got obsessed about their labels, their radio shows, their DJing...if you can take a little bit of that and impart it on new people, then that's the key; that's the most satisfying thing. It's a bit cliché to say, but that's why you start a label - because you're leaving a footprint somewhere." – Tayo

On 'Fabriclive 32,' Tayo breaks beats and barriers to prove that he cannot be branded with or simplified by the obligation and repression of musical genres. Tayo flexes his sharp taste in music to show how, in one way or another, every track is laid out on a common ground and stamped with derivatives. Ride the rhythms as he fuses the gutter flavour of Mad Decent, the low-end shudder of Skream and Digital Mystikz and the breakbeat swagger of Deekline and even Tayo's own productions. Tayo stands proudly in the middle of contemporary bass culture and connects the dots – dubstep, baile funk, breakbeat and electro - to form the upfront sound of London's underground.

"Basically what I'm trying to do with this album is show that the breaks that you hear in Room One of Fabric would also fit with the stuff that you might hear down at FWD, or at a Hollertronix night – there's records that straddle the borders. So this mix is a celebration of breakbeat culture and bass culture. It's me being into everything and trying to make it make sense over 70 minutes. You open yourself up to flack from the genre police, but I'm doing what I like and so be it. I'm happy with the music I listen to and my route into it. That's what I'm hoping will come across in this mix." – Tayo