Benoelie & Mo have the honor to rip-into Fabric’s mammoth sound system, and they’ve got the coveted mixed compilation to prove it. Onbeat wades through the ripples to find out more.

The term ‘eclectic’ might be the most over used word in dance music. Adding insult to injury, using it to describe a DJ set is as cliché as it is uninventive. But every so often, there are some artists that truly understand its meaning and embrace the concept; juxtaposing tracks not to be ‘ironic,’ just trying to make people dance. Enter The Glimmers, David Benoelie and Mo Becha, the Belgium DJ duo who have established an international following through a variety of mix CDs and ‘anything goes’ DJ sets. The artists formally known as ‘The Glimmer Twins’ have the amps turned up to 11 with their latest mix FabricLive.31: The Glimmers.

Marathon DJ Sets and Beautiful Mistakes.

The Glimmers got their start torching the feet and ears of the Ghent underground, sometimes via 12-hour marathon sets. They view that time as “a very good learning school,” and the base of how they play now. Focused on covering the whole musical landscape as much as possible, their “musical landscape” covers everything from classic rave and EBM to DFA and Neneh Cherry. And while their mixing isn’t without the occasional hiccup (Mo says, “…leave enough space for mistakes to happen because from mistakes, beautiful things can happen.”), their mixes are drenched in sincerity. They are always looking for the perfect beat, making sure their mixes are never boring and always interesting. Never ones to limit their creativity by current trends, The Glimmers look to fill your ears with timeless mixes. Mo says, “It is quite easy to pick up the big tunes that we know people go crazy for, which we don’t hesitate to play, but we don’t want to choose those for a mix CD because after four months you can’t listen to the CD anymore.”

The Art of Mixing

Which brings us to their latest mixed compilation, for the FabricLive series. Like many DJs who play there, The Glimmers have a special connection with Fabric. “When we were first asked [to perform there,] we were very excited to play in the club,” says Benoelie. “It’s nice to be part of it. It’s a nice venue, [with] a great soundsystem and wide musical spectrum.” It’s that wide musical spectrum that plays right into The Glimmers’ more than capable hands and has encouraged the Fabric crew to invite the bass-friendly Belgians back month after month.

While they are no strangers to the mix compilation game (having released a DJ Kicks CD and multiple mixes on Eskimo), their approach to creating this one was a little different. Mo proudly states, “We’ve been playing [Fabric] for the last three years…so we tried to recreate on the CD what we do [at Fabric], a good mixture but very up-tempo”: acidic disco [Neal Howard] and post-punk [Fingerprintz] rub shoulders with b-boy electro [Freeze] and heady dub [Black Slate] in perfect harmony.

Notorious for their own re-edits, The Glimmers drop a few of them in the Fabric mix, with their slamming remix of Roxy Music’s “Same Old Scene,” a hands down party starter. Benoelie explains, “We try to make dance versions like the ‘80s extended versions – not really remixing, but more extended versions of the tracks…That’s our approach to making a remix – and the goal we have in mind is we want to play the mixes in our DJ sets.”  It’s this formula which has made them highly sought after remixers, already giving the ‘Glimmer touch’ to tracks from The Killers (Benoelie: “The Killers was surprisingly a very dance/crossover track already but we stripped it down, really stripped it down, just kept the bass and drums and dubbed out the vocals a bit”), New Order (Benoelie: “New Order was very nice to work on- we had the chance to meet Peter Hook – he’s a great guy”) and KAOS.

With clubs from Australia to Berlin begging to have The Glimmers stop by to play some records, it looks like their already hectic schedules show little signs of slowing down. Then again, it’s just part of their everyday grind - just don’t call it ‘work.’ As The Glimmers say, “We are unemployed. We just play music.”

FabricLive.31: The Glimmers is out now on Fabric Records.

Look out for monthly releases from The Glimmers new label Diskimo Records

Keep tabs on them at : http://www.myspace.com/theglimmers

FabricLive.31: The Glimmers Tracklisting

1. Roxy Music – “Same Old Scene” (Glimmers Remix) (Virgin)
2. Fingerprintz – “Wet Job” (Virgin)
3. The League Unlimited Orchestra “Things That Dreams Are Made Of” (Instrumental Remix) (EMI)
4. Pop Dell' Arte - “No Way Back” (Different)
5. The Glimmers - “Kobe's In Columbia” (Diskimo)
6. Prins Thomas Vs. Blackbelt Andersen – “En Real Tjukkas” (Trailerpark_
7. The Holy Ghost – “The Word” (The Dub) (Holy Ghost Inc)
8. Sons and Daughters – “Dance Me In” (JD Twitch and The Truffle Club's Optimo Remix) (Domino)
9. Neal Howard – “The Gathering” (Neal Howard)
10. Freddie Mercury – “Love Kills” (More Oder ReWork By The Glimmers) (EMI)
11. Mekon – “Boy Bitten feat. Rita Brown” (Padded Cell Remix) (Wall Of Sound/PIAS)
12. Freeze – “I.O.U.” (I.Dub.U.) (Beggars Banquet)
13. Chris 'The Glove' Taylor and David Storrs – “Reckless”
(Universal)
14. George Kranz “Din Daa Daa” (George Kranz)
15. LCD Soundsystem – “Disco Infiltrator” (DFA)
16. Urban Jungle – “ad Man” (Black Dog Bite Mix) (Virgin)
17. Black Slate – “Sticks Man” (CNR)
18. Urban Jungle – “Bad Man” (Black Dog Bite Mix) (Virgin)
19. Howie B – “My Speedboat Is Faster Than Yours” (Pussyfoot)
20. Pierre Henry – “Too Fortiche” (Mercury)
21. Arpadys – “Monkey Star” (Music Code)