Why is this only rated 4.5/5? Sometimes it's better not to rate a release if you just don't get it.

Quite easily the best drum n bass mix in the entire Fabric discography and a contender for best overall mix in the Fabriclive series. It gets deep, soulful, abstract, dark, heavy and fast, with changes in the tempo. For comparison, consider Kasra's FABRICLIVE 62 - a good mix, but the whole thing sounds the same. FABRICLIVE 50 has moods, movement, with peaks and troughs. I think the climax of the mix is "No Future", with extends for over five minutes and is mixed through several tracks. It's like the soundtrack to a science fiction film - think a more badass version of the Matrix score. Could just as easily be the soundtrack to a video game, too, much in the way of what Amon Tobin did for Chaos Theory. Ask anyone who the two most talented producers (or DJs) in DnB are today, and you could very well receive both Instra:mental and DBridge as an answer. It's not pure DnB of course, influences abound from everything from house and techno to dubstep. Play this mix continuously for the entire 74 minutes for the full effect.

this and Shackleton's Fabriclive mix are the best of the series. So forward thinking and diverse

Moving on to a selection of more established artists in the drum'n'bass and dubstep arena, is an impeccable mix of over 30 tracks from D-Bridge & Instra:mental. This is the 50th installment in the Fabric's FabricLive series, and it instantly shoots up to the list of my favorite mixes from this London based label. Compiled by Darren White (aka D-Bridge and former member of Bad Company) and Alex Green & Damon Kirkham (collectively known as Instra:mental), the sound traverses the depth of deep and vocal micro d&b, to hip-hop influenced dubstep and smoky intelligent downtempo. Inspired by their Automic club night and podcast, the mix takes that club sound into the spacey head-nodding lounge or air tight headphones. Featuring a wide roster of artists, mostly from the Exit and NonPlus+ labels, we are treated with top notch selections from Consequence, Distance, Alix Perez, Vaccine, Scuba, Meleka, Skream, Genotype and of course, D-Bridge and Instra:mental. Another important note: all of the tracks for this mix were written exclusively by invitation, so they have not been previously released as singles. "The people behind it are not setting out to make a drum & bass track; they are setting out simply to make music, producing compositions that are emotionally charged, personally edifying and organic."

Wow, this mix is simply stunning, all the tracks are either gorgeous or wonderful in other ways, and the mix is beautifully composed. But more than that, it is breaking new ground. Although nominally a Drum&Bass mix, only a few tracks on here are close to the conventional D&B template. Contrary to its critics, D&B continues to evolve by stages, and at the moment the Liquid scene has been undergoing some rapid changes. Prompted by the emergence of dubstep, producers have started experimenting with half-tempos, and the results are at times astounding. D&B has always been a melting pot of styles, it owes its very existence to cross-fertilization, and this CD sees influences as disparate as dubstep, IDM/electronica, 80s Synth experimentation, and soul coming to the fore It seems ironic that in this release, the art of D&B is seen to be advancing by the abandonment of one of its defining characteristics - the speeded up breakbeat, yet by introducing minimal half-tempo drum patterns that somehow retain the urgency of the parent style's tempo, these producers have cast off a set of shackles and are now exploring new territory. I think that "Liquid Funk" has truly found its own identity here- rather than simply being a sub-style of D&B, where the breaks are accompanied by smooth, jazzy or R&B stylings rather than more technical or hardcore sounds, it is now a musical form in its own right. It remains to be seen, but I would not be surprised to see this evolve further. A landmark release in my book.