Product Description: John Digweed concludes the first chapter of his Transitions series with a bang Since it's launch Transitions has become one of - if not - the most anticipated releases in the compilation calendar; over the past two years its single disc, twice-yearly format has provided dance music fans a regular, contemporary snapshot of the best in electronic dance music. Transitions Vol. 4 features a whopping 22 tracks and remixes from Two Lone Swordsmen, Claude VonStroke, Loco Dice, Jerome Sydenham and Tiger Stripes, Pig and Dan, Guy J and many more Now the first chapter in the Transitions' series reaches its conclusion with the highly anticipated fourth volume. In support of the album, John has reunited with former DJ partner Sasha for an extensive US tour that includes a highly anticipated Coachella appearance.
Disc 1:
Julien Parise/A5B (Mikro Remix)
Henry Saiz/From Empty Lands Guy J/Geko
Jeff Bennett/In Spite Kabale and Liebe and Daniel Sanchez/Mumbling Yeah (Loco Dice Tribute Remix)
After a smashing start.. what happened? With one of the best starting sequences I've ever in any album, I was excited about transitions 4. However, the truth is there is nothing worth writing home about beyond track 3 (which is absolutely delicious, I may add). What a shame, after that opening.
Deep, dark club house This is a very good set. I didn't like Transitions 3, or about half of Digweeds commercial sets (preferring live sets) but this was a suprise. Great heavy drums in the middle and at the end.
Tight emFire edits & lush soundtrack, mostly weak remixes This is a mixed bag -- the gems here are on the 2nd disc, because most of the remixes on the 1st disc are droney, boring, and don't add substantially to the originals' worth. For example, "Park It In The Shade (Audion Deep Steeple Mix)" is 12:20 min. long, but fails to really evolve aside from formulaic adding/removing elements in 8-bar sections. As background filler, it sort of works, but isn't compelling active listening. Overall, the remixes package is regressive, sad, and aimless -- the only one I'd speak up for is "Mongoose (The Fields Disco Mix)", because The Field has a rare gift to float hypnotic loops without being mind-numbingly boring. That's really rare in electronic music, and to give you a better idea where I'm coming from, I love it when producers can weave loops together with solo melodies, or introduce little bits and edits to spice things up (key example: James Holden's "A Break in the Clouds").
If you're new to Sasha's (and his collaborators) music, the 2nd disc is a fine dish, because the tighter edits are shorter (removing the long intros/outros meant for DJs to mix), punchier by virtue, and the melodies are in fine form. Progression abound! "Who Killed Sparky?" is a fine piece of melodic tech-prog-house-whatever-they-call-it-nowadays, peppered with glitchy edits that a fan of James Holden would love -- infact, it's reminiscent of Holden's ostinato-laden remix of Nathan Fake's "The Sky Was Pink".
The emFire melodies find their way into the "New Emissions Of Light & Sound Film Score", which is overall ambient/chill-out in mood and features variations of some of the aforementioned at slower tempos. For example, the distinctive lines of "Coma" find their way shortly past 13 minutes in. Very nice to go to sleep or relax to. As a mix that goes over 40 min., there are some parallels to past mixes Sasha's done, like Involver (Involver 2 coming up!): long pads, cloppy mid-tempo beats, and swirling arpeggiations bind the groove. It's a seamless, rewarding listening, which makes me wonder why some of the individual themes weren't developed more and included as unmixed tracks instead of the uninspiring remixes.
A very boring mix. I sold it after 3 listens. A very boring mix. I sold it after 3 listens. It's the tracks... very uneventful and flat. Vol. 3 was not very good either. Digweed is either way on point or totally off for me. Never inbetween. Transitions 2 is the best by far. Checkout his djmag mix. It's pretty good overall.
Transition to stardom Masterpiece. Pure and simple.
As a typical Digweed set, this starts off already deeper than most would have it, and obviously finishes off where nobody could ever think about going to. What I believe has Digweed standing from his brotherhood is his "introverted" quality, more a thinker, a "meta-DJ" if you want. Some may find this set to be boring since it is after all not based on a "housy", "clubby", Miami sing along vibration. Each piece flows to elaborate an intricate homogeneous ensemble in tone and rhythm. Some small element of tribal introduces the set ("From/lands"), beats which get a bit tougher and are sustaining a more electro type of vibe ("In spite", some elements of which I would compare to early Sasha's, mysterious...). "Pretty face" then plunges you deep into typical Digweed-land: strong dubbed like beat, singles step, and lighter, tingling percussions with a hint of background wave, dark style...this is before you are hit again with strong tribal and electro elements, the latter taking over as we go, two step ("Wear/medals", "Pitch it")."Elevation" goes back to softer tracks identifiable by their rounded bass, when "Rezolution" again brings back a more tech house feel sturdy and danceable. The last two pieces are absolutely outstanding in their ability to have you take off from the rest and bring you into a new territory: strong electro influence, but deep electro, menacing, dark ("Piknik bugz"'s offset repetitive keys and spaceship tones).
This is remarkable for the fact that it never, ever, ever lets you down, has any soft spots, lame wanderings, or "accidents" which veer from the main path: it is very coherent and mastered. Well thought out and perfectly executed. Digweed's strength is his ability to surf with the changes in genres (,tech,tech-house, wave, trance, electro etc) but remain faithful to his "cerebral" and "intellectual" style which gains appeal as you listen to the pieces over time.
For fans of Digweed, this is a no brainer. For those who can't spell Digweed...I would in fact recommend this one because it is a beautiful proof that DJs can show us the way to "smart music".
Anything Goes Trivia
Last Kiss
Megaton Man
Trevor
