Simian Mobile Disco / Various

Simian Mobile Disco is Fixed is the first release celebrating the Fixed parties at NYC's Tribeca Grand Hotel. Launched in 2004, the parties have hosted a huge roster of names such as Justice, Erol Alkan, Soulwax, LCD Soundsystem and Booka Shade. While the tone at Fixed has always been on the deeper end of techno, the first release in the series struggles a bit to gain its footing. Despite it being done by SMD, the mix initially stews in monotony for far too long for it to be enjoyable. The tone of the disc doesn't shift gears until the fifth track rolls in ("Malphas," by Andre Walter) and finally drops a heavier beat and thick distortions and continues on with a warbled remix of DJ Hell's "U Can Dance" by SMD. Midway through the disc picks up with SMD's most recent single, "Nerve Salad," a brash techno track that screams with aggravated synths and flits nicely into the deeper "Behind the Stars" by Pantha Du Prince. The lacklustre Carl Craig remix of Hot Chip's "One Life Stand" doesn't pick up until the end of the track, spilling into Chateau Flight's "Baroque," the bouncy, glitchy electro sliding nicely from behind the vocals. While Simian Mobile Disco is Fixed does redeem itself with a handful of tracks, on the whole it falls flat.