While not the daftest idea for a mix CD, it certainly was unprecedented at the time. Starting an off club-night in the north lands of England featuring the chiller side of dance music was all fine and dandy, but getting a promotional tie-in release fronted by the emergent Ministry Of Sound was just ludicrous. Unless, of course, it's Sasha and f'n Digweed running the night, the hottest DJing duo in UK. Well shit, son, give the boys what they need (studio time, record rights, and that), and watch the money roll into the coffers!
Though the impetus for Northern Exposure coming into being's now relegated to a mere footnote, the impact the series had on purveyors of progressive house has not, many citing this CD as one of the all time greats. Listening to it nearly two decades since it dropped, it can come off a bit dated and quaint in terms of genre (so many ethnic chants), but in offering sublime musical moments, Northern Exposure remains top grade.
A major reason for this is Sasha & Diggers weren’t making a traditional DJ set; rather, Northern Exposure opts for the mixtape route, showing off older tracks that’d likely never get a live rinse-out. Really, that was the premise behind the club-night too, but since few even knew of it (I don’t think it lasted long), most folks figured this was Sash-el-‘Weed getting all conceptual and shit in a growing mix CD market. Like, whoa, The Future Sound of London, Rabbit In The Moon, and Banco de Gaia all on one disc? What is this, another ‘ambient house’ collection? Nah, guy, it’s a future-classic DJ mix, is what.
Truth is, ambient house/techno/dub/beat compilations were about the only places you’d find such names on a non-album CD, the market for chill-out mixes almost non-existent in the mid-‘90s. To have tunes like Cascade, Raincry, and Water From A Vine Leaf (Xylem Flow Mix) as part of a flowing DJ set was rare, and primarily the domain of deep underground releases (likely bootleg tapes at that). The Sash’Weed pedigree opened many a younger listener’s ears to a field of electronic music you just wouldn’t find on the mainstream market, and that ‘first exposure’ experience helped cement Northern Exposure’s classic status. It didn’t hurt Misters Coe and Digweed’s selection and arrangement of tracks here was impeccable. The Raincry-into-Out Of Body Experience portion’s long considered the highlight of the whole series, though Northern Exposure: Expeditions has one up for consideration too.
As for CD2, well... I don’t have it. Hell, I haven’t even heard it, despite a stream being easily found on the interwebs (I savour its mystique). Ultra Records, who handled the American distribution of Northern Exposure, continuously fumbled these mixes, their first erroneous behaviour the removal of 0°/South from this release. Maybe it was label rights complications, but I see little on that disc that couldn’t be solved with an edit or two. Maybe they felt having ‘south’ in the title defeated the concept?
ACE TRACKS:
The Future Sound Of London - Cascade (Part 1)
God Within - Raincry (Submerged)
Apollo 440 - Liquid Cool (Deep Forest Ice Cold @ The Equator Mix)
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