Various - Choice: A Collection Of Classics - John Digweed (2022 Update)

Azuli Records: 2005

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review)

In my original review, I waxed on a bunch about the need for compilations such as these. A chance for famed DJs with deep crates to show off the influential but outdated tunes from their collections. Music they could no longer reasonably rinse out on the weekends, but hold special or sentimental value to their developed playing styles just the same. Granted, the '00s compilation market grew rather bloated with multiple series covering similar ground, such that a few are all but utterly forgotten nearly two decades on. Yes, I'm including Choice in that category. Don't get me wrong, it had a decent run. It didn't last past 2007 though, bowing out when Azuli Records went into liquidation by the end of the decade, and isn't brought up in The Discourse anymore. Gosh, maybe I can find a couple on the cheap-cheap now!

I'd like to assume, had the CD market not collapsed in the wake of streaming services, such compilations would still exist. Would it, though? Like, you'd think curated favourites of famed individuals would be big business with so much music available to the masses now, but I don't see much hype around it. Yeah, a Drake or a Kardashian or a Gorillaz might share some mixtape release on social media, but I'm thinking more than that.

Like, those artist Radios you get on Spotify. Wouldn't it be neat if they were actual radios, music they'd play over radio waves, each their own version of a college rock station show? Instead, it's just another algorithm generated playlist, featuring a selection of artists that are similar to the one you clicked the Radio button for. Maybe handy for those just getting into some genres or producers, but wholly redundant if you've been at this a while now. Why can't the algorithm provide some proper deep dives, yo'?

Or maybe there actually is a thriving social media community out there making ample use of such services, one I simply haven't stumbled across. For sure outlets like Mixcloud or Twitch should provide the means, but then you're kinda' shouting into the ether-void to get attention. Unless you already have a brand with a prominent base, establishing yourself as some modern John Peel is an almost futile gesture. And to be fair, a series like Choice would never have gotten off the ground if it hadn't relied on DJs with some brand reputation behind them, ensuring some curiosity from consumers in such a product. These were always an additional item of interest though. You needn't get a Choice from Digweed when he still had Bedrock or Transitions as his primary outlets.

I dunno. Feels like this is just more 'old man yells at cloud' musing. Why can't things be like it once was, and such as. I'm sure music compilations like Choice or Life:Styles or Back To Mine still exist out there, even as a nebulous streaming service concept, but it sure was easier finding them back in the day.

Various - Bedrock: John Digweed

Ultra Records: 1999

Many folks consider this Digweed's proper debut solo DJ mix, which is funny considering how long he'd been spinning records up to that point. Heck, he'd just done a set for Global Underground the year prior, and a solo follow-up to his and Sasha's seminal Renaissance set half a decade earlier. Not to mention various odds and ends that slipped through the radar for various reasons. Most of those were in service of other brands though, but by the end of the '90s, Digweed was a brand unto himself. And what better time to expand that brand than by propping up his newer brand, the freshly minted label Bedrock.

Bedrock became a short-lived series itself, but this inaugural outing clearly overshadowed the follow-ups. When people think Bedrock, they think Digweed, and all the artists featured on his label were there because of his blessing keen sense of club weapons for the progressive elite. This was his opening statement for a new phase in his career, dictating where progressive house would go. Also, a shameless way to plug his new big single Heaven Scent to help launch the Bedrock brand proper-like. All the way at the end of the double-disc set. As if it didn't really fit with the new manifesto. Hmmm...

Forget Heaven Scent. What matters is all the music before it on that tasty CD2. Prog has plenty of criticisms, some of which rear their heads in this set (only ten tracks, what?), but I cannot deny the tunes included here do the business proper-like for my earholes. The opening track alone (Ba Ba (Human Movement Remix) from Pob & Taylor) gets on that hard, techy brand of prog that Steve Porter would launch a career from. The Bedrock rub on Heller & Farley's The Rising Sun practically defines the dark, chugging style that prog would build its reputation around (“deep, deep, dub”). And while it's no Breeder, Sandra Collins' Flutterby pulls closely enough from the the same tech-trance lane such that the sound gets its just representation in this set. Oh, and Markus Schulz is here too, his early Dakota track Swirl offering one of the few melodic moments. Guess Digweed needed something to make the anthemic melodies of Heaven Scent not seem as out of place.

All this gushing over CD2, but what about CD1? Yeah, about that. Two decades later, and with multiple attempts, including most recently, this one just doesn't stick in my head that well. It's the dreaded other critique against prog, its more vapourous tendencies for long stretches, and believe you me, this problem would persist in the following editions of Bedrock.

Maybe CD1 is just too sluggish compared to CD2, and thus always forgotten whenever I play them back-to-back. Oddly, the vocal stuff leaves the only impression, like in Moody from BPT, the Fluke-ish True from Morel, and the quaint robotic Hawkins-speak in We Are Connected from Jodi & Spesh. Who'd have thought vocals would be the best part?

John Digweed - Transitions, Volume 2 (Original TC Review)

Thrive Records: 2007

(2016 Update:
Holy cow, 2007 Sykonee, can you talk about the actual music on this CD at all? This review just peaks over the thousand-word mark, and I probably spend maybe one-hundred fifty going over the tracks. Granted, I needed some time devoted to re-introducing Diggers to the modern audience, where his career had gone since his peak years, what developments had led to his current sound, and all that. Probably not as many words spent here, but some, sure. But then I totally derail the review for some overlong tangent regarding genre demarcations and the like, and I'm reading it in the here and now thinking, "who fucking cares!?" There's a kernel of an interesting discussion lodged in that mess, but as with so many of my early writing efforts, is hopelessly lost in unfettered, ramble-bramble thought salads. Also, who'd have believed dubstep would be the first electronic genre claiming the "post" affix?

And as for our pal John, he kept Transitions going into the next year, realized the trends were a'changing once again, and moved onto heavier, groove orientated tech-house, with a few nods to melodic prog for good measure. He's found about as comfortable a niche in his market as any DJ could hope for at this late stage of his career, and shows little sign of shaking the gravy boat anytime soon. Aw, it'd have been funny hearing him try on some 'future garage' for size.)


IN BRIEF: Proggin’ along.

Ol’ Diggers certainly seems to be on a roll lately. These past couple years have seen his output rival even that of his time at the top of the DJ domain. Is it a renewed vitality after some downtime away from the glaring spotlight of superstardom? Might it be a rediscovered love affair for music after indulging in his roots with his Choice collection? Could it really have something to do with the hair?

Whatever the case, John Digweed’s career is proving to be quite durable. Of course, anyone who’s followed his DJing since the Renaissance era shouldn’t have doubted his ability to find a comfortable niche within current trends, but there were many who did: the prog house that made him a star had grown stale as this decade took form, and new sounds and ideas were engulfing clubland, many of which sounded radically different from the Bedrock template we all knew and loved. But with the cool confidence of a man who’s seen many such changes, Digweed rode the shaky initial waves of musical transition and held on for the ride until things settled back into clear forms, leaving those who couldn’t adapt in the backwash of the surf. (I’ll stop with the metaphors now)

For those still not clued in, Transitions is John’s radio show, and would also appear to be the namesake of his commercial DJ mixes now as well. This is the first time we’ve had a direct sequel to a prior DJ mix with Digweed the only man behind the decks, and word is this will be an on-going series. Perhaps it’s about time for such a series from him, as it helps keep his discography tidier than having all these seemingly randomly titled releases scattered about. In fact, it’s quite remarkable he never did establish one in all this time, but then it did take him a while to free himself from being joined at the hip with his buddy Sasha like a DJing conjoined twin (er... and the similes too), much less finally produce a track under his own name.

The first Transitions was met with lukewarm responses, as it seemed to try covering too much modern ground without much of a coherent theme. Additionally, while few wouldn’t figure it for a Digweed mix, it had the feeling of John attempting to fit in with what was trendy rather than carve out his own sound. Does 2 fix these problems? Considerably so.

This mix has the feeling of a traditional prog house set: you have your mellow intro tracks, followed by tension builders, a couple of scenic detours, and a climb to the climax to cap the disc off. Aside for one instance (the drunk-on-experimental effects Boul de Nerf by David K - Digweed’s duffed attempt at interjecting some glitch-wit, methinks), each track in John’s arrangement offers something intriguing enough to keep your attention maintained for the long haul as curiosity holds your interest. Well, um, that is if the initial ‘minimal’ overtones don’t send you fleeing fir-

Y’know, I’m getting really sick of having to use apostrophes around a buzzword to describe an unfortunate term for a stylistic trend. I suppose I could just break and accept it like so many others, but that would be doing proper minimal an injustice. Look, folks, because a pile of producers have reduced overproduction so harmonic frequencies are given a chance to breathe again doesn’t mean it’s suddenly a new sub-genre. It just means they’ve gone back to basics. Unless, of course, you’re all willing to call nearly everything produced before 1995 minimal. Yeah, thought not.

So, if the tracks on Transitions 2 aren’t ‘minimal’ (and first one to suggest electro gets a bitch slappin’), what are they? Easy answer: prog house with some splashings of tech house in the middle. Yes, that’s right. Structurally, the tracks on offer here aren’t all that different from the sort you’d have heard Digweed play back in the 90s; the reason why this mix works like a prog house set is because Digweed has managed to find prog house that has shifted from the old into the new.

While folks may be calling much of the sonic tricks here minimal, what we actually have been hearing lately is an infusion of IDM experimentation; many of the IDM artists from the 90s loved to tinker and toy around with oddball sounds, quirky effects and bizarre timbre. Aside for rare instances though, hardly any of it registered beyond only the most ardent fans, usually of the nerdish sort. However, it has been given a chic make-over this decade, and is now quite fashionable to produce. Oh, and with new sound patches and plug-ins. Can’t forget the new sound patches and plug-ins. These factors have contributed towards a new prog house sound that is quite different from the sort John used to play out, yet still with enough familiar attributes to make it unmistakingly the Digweed we all know.

The big question, then, is what this new form of prog should be tagged, to entice those who think John is still all about Heaven Scent. Obviously, minimal and electro are out, as those styles have nothing to do with what we have here. And IDM-prog is just stupid. This is rather more like nu-prog. ...or, to be really chic these days, neo-prog. Hmm, but if we wish to pursue this question courageously, even neo’s already passé - it’s soooo 2006. How about then... post-prog! I don’t think any sub-genre of EDM has a ‘post’ yet.

Actually, all of those are ridiculously redundant. Prog itself more or less meant ‘new house’ all those years back. And to be honest, that’s all it has ever meant: a form of house music that continues to morph and change with the times, to always remain the leader in new sounds that house music can provide -interestingly, by usually borrowing from other genres (trance, for instance at one time, and now IDM it seems). And with Transitions 2, Digweed finds himself once more the leader in prog house, digging up some of the most current sounding cuts available for us to enjoy. All you prog heads out there shall not be disappointed.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2007. © All rights reserved.

Sasha & John Digweed - Northern Exposure: Expeditions

Ultra Records: 1999

The growing marketability of double-disc DJ mixes must have finally convinced Ultra to treat these Northern Exposures properly, no longer releasing each CD separately. What I think, however, is INCredible, who took over the series’ distribution from Ministry Of Sound, wasn’t gonna’ put up with Ultra’s bullshit, and strong-armed the upstart EDM label into releasing Expeditions right. Okay, probably not, but its amusing thinking of the Sony sub-division as having that sort of clout.

What they couldn’t prevent was yet another label-rights complication, this time removing Fade’s remix of Delerium’s Silence from the American version. And you know what, I ain’t even mad. I didn’t know it was part of the mix until Lord Discogs told me so (the Lord knows all), so as far as I’m concerned, hearing the I Know You Love Me Too vocal emerge within Belfast’s gnarly acid breakdown always made sense. I don’t need McLachlan replacing what’s-her-voice in Chris Raven’s cut.

The fact Silence’s removal from the American Northern Exposure: Expeditions is such a talking point sums up where general consensus over this volume of Sasha and John Digweed’s celebrated series rests. Like most third acts of a trilogy, the hype and excitement surrounding these two CDs had dwindled compared to the previous ones, the market for DJ mixes growing ever more overstuffed by 1999. Misters Coe and Diggers still carried their high pedigree, sure, but their mixes on Global Underground were considered of greater value than this one. Heck, the two were essentially on their divergent paths now, so why even still do Northern Exposure? Did they have an outstanding contract for a third? Did INCredible really want a piece of the progressive trance pie that bad?

Regardless, two moments place Expeditions as solid entrants into progressive trance's canon. The second disc alone could almost serve as one itself, the gradual build showcasing the genre's strengths over the course of an hour-plus long CD, capping it all off with the unabashedly euphoric Tekara Remix of Mike Koglin's The Silence. Its remarkable Sasha & Diggers included such an uplifting tune, the sort of track Oakenfold and his ilk preferred. Putting it at the end of the tough trance business that came before it though, makes it all the sweeter when it does hit.

Even better is the opening of CD1, featuring a lengthy blend of Breeder's Tyrantanic and two versions of Space Manoeuvres' Stage One. I could go on for a whole review just how brilliant John Graham's debut side project was, but I gotta' save something for whenever I get around to Oid. As for setting the tone for Expeditions, its equally brilliant, hinting at high-flying space breaks to follow. Unfortunately, CD1 doesn't reach that peak again, but it's interesting hearing proto-prog psy at the end with Blue Planet Corporation. Oh the places Sasha could have gone had he followed that muse instead.

Meanwhile, Northern Exposure: Expeditions is a worthy finish to the series, despite mostly abandoning its original premise to do so.

Sasha & John Digweed - Northern Exposure 2: Westcoast Edition

Ultra Records: 1997/1998

Ah, that's what Ultra Records was scheming: split Northern Exposure into two separate releases, reaping a little extra coinage in the process. Either that, or they didn't have faith in the American market springing for a double-disc DJ mix – it was a different era, after all. While I don't begrudge Ultra for selling us Eastcoast and Westcoast separate (well, aside that finding mint copies of Eastcoast can be stupid hard and expensive now), but I just discovered they removed the 'track map' inlays Ministry Of Sound included with their versions. I had no idea these even existed, and are such an awesome thing to have, displaying exactly the sort of mixing and layering Sasha and Digweed did in the studio to make these CDs the timeless beasts they are. Boo, Ultra, boo!

As for why I have Westcoast (aka: “the Digweed mix”) over Eastcoast (aka: “the Sasha mix”, though neither exclusively did either), my fine trance sensibility lured me to the classic vibes of the early German sound, with-

Oh, fine, it’s because this was always the easier one to find on shelves. Eastcoast was quite popular, if nothing else than for introducing the concept of ‘trancey breaks’ into the progressive house scene, making it a go-to CD whenever folks wanted, erm, a break from regular ol’ trance. Matters weren’t helped by Westcoast’s choices for up-front tuneage, some tracks becoming near-overplayed anthems soon after. Taucher’s Waters was on dozens of mixes alone, and they wouldn’t come saddled with ‘old, boring trance’ in the beginning either.

Now that we’re over a decade removed from the endless anthem era, folks have come to appreciate the subtlety of Westcoast’s opening half. Such blissy vibes you can float on with Humate’s 3.2 and The Light’s Panfried; or proto-prog moodiness with Orbit and Spooky’s remix of Sven Väth’s An Accident In Paradise. It even makes all the ‘big choons’ in the second half come off a tad dated to the time, thoughts of Oakenfold Cream nights rushing forth rather than chill off-nights at Heaven. Did anyone even remember that was Northern Exposure’s premise anymore, spotlighting unheralded music from the back ends of Sasha and Digweed’s record crates? Then again, I doubt anyone could have predicted Transa’s Enervate would go on to be such a caned track in the ensuing years.

I don’t have much else to say about Northern Exposure 2: Westcoast Edition that isn’t common knowledge at this point. Yeah, yeah, it’s funny seeing an Armin van Buuren track as the closer of a Sasha-plus-Johnny mix, but Blue Fear’s a nice little number all things considered – Hell, Netherworld’s more of an obvious anthem than that one, and Oliver Lieb’s God. If it exists at an affordable rate, getting the original Ministry Of Sound double-disc version’s still the way to go, but this one’s not a bad pick-up on the used market either. It bridges two eras of trance with class, with all the tasty studio-perfect flow we expect of a Sasha & Diggers CD.

Sasha & John Digweed - Northern Exposure

Ultra Records: 1996/1997

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?

Various - fabric 20: John Digweed

Fabric: 2005

*cover art brought to you by fabric's “Negative Suburban Life” period*

Released during Digweed's mid-’00 'wandering' years, fabric 20 isn't as odd an entry as most figured. Maybe that the club would offer their twentieth edition to a prog DJ turned a few heads, but it’s not like ol' John was a stranger to the club. Just about every jock with some tech-house pedigree has played at Fabric at some point in their career, and Digweed's crates run deep with house music of all sorts. Check out his Choice compilation of the same year if you need proof of his eclectic progressive pudding.

Truth is few survive as a top-tier DJ without some adaptability, musical fads incredibly fickle as years wear on. If you’re really damn good at the game, you can dictate how those trends will shift, as Digweed did when he convinced many progressive house was dead, so here’s ‘prog’ instead. Before finally settling on Transitions as his next move, he got to showcase his flexibility on fabric 20, essentially accommodating his skill for set construction into a mix filled with tunes the traditional Fabric audience could appreciate.

Make no mistake, the fabric series built its early reputation as an outlet for house-heads who’d grown weary of prog’s dominance on the DJ mix CD market. Crafty ol’ John definitely knew his audience, then, as there’s hardly any of the sort in this mix. Even the first track, 16B’s mix of Pete Moss’ Strive To Live, has more in common with ambient techno than progressive house; plus, it’s a great track to overlay on Adam Johnson’s Traber, a techno producer that prog DJs adored at the time. Third track Forgive & Forget from Repairs and Richard Davis on the rub is about as proggy as fabric 20 goes, what with its dubby, chuggy beat and soft vocals overtop. Then we’re off to the uncharted realms of ‘other’-house, as far as Digweed’s traditional fanbase was concerned.

There’s disco punk licks (Glass’ Won’t Bother Me (20:20 Soundsystem Instrumental)), bumpin’ funky kicks (Martin Solveig’s Rocking Music), Belgian acid throwback (Billy Dalessandro’s In The Dark), contemporary electro acid (Slam’s Lie To Me (Freestyleman Thirsty Monk Dub)), floaty electro-tech (Superpitcher’s Happiness (Michael Mayer Mix)), and chugging tribal (Joel Mull’s Emico), though this is a sound Digweed’s worked into his sets plenty of times; cool seeing it from another techno guy though. All of which, of course, arranged so you have that vintage progressive house set flow: early lead, mid-set peak, slight dip for tune showcase, strong finish.

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
If you’re a Digweed completist, definitely - the guy’s got a lot of mix CDs, and saving money’s always a solid option. As a fabric disc, it’s one of the more unique ones out there, in that it takes a road hardly traveled before or since; the tunes fit the series, the arrangement doesn’t. Still, I’d take this over dry minimal-tech mixes any day. Most worth it, then.

Various - Global Underground 014: John Digweed - Hong Kong

Boxed: 1999

In a bizarre coincidence, John Digweed’s our next offering of Global Underground on the cheap. Funny, since he and Sasha were still intimately tied at the hip as far as the clubbing consciousness was concerned in '99, such that Boxed likely thought it'd be right jolly having the two DJs release separate editions of their DJ mix series one after the other. Of course, the prior GU to Digweed's Hong Kong was Sasha's ridiculously popular Ibiza, but I get to enjoy the same cheeky fun what with having just done San Francisco.

And why has this particular copy of GU014 made its way to the bargain bins? Well, the jewel case pivots are cracked, and, um... hmm. Gee, there’s nothing else wrong with it. Even the original cardboard sleeve’s still intact, surprising since it’s almost a given you’re not getting those from a resell. Maybe the previous owner ...just hated it?

But... this is a Digweed set from nineteen-ninety-f'n-nine, at the height of the man's clubbing clout. His Bedrock label had become firmly entrenched within the burgeoning prog market (when the term ‘prog’ wasn’t even a thing yet), Heaven Scent was an inescapable hit with critics and punters alike, and he'd even broke Hollywood with his cameo in the movie Groove (pft, Carl Cox did it better in Human Traffic). How could anyone not like GU014?

Well, that second disc is rather muddled in execution. While it’s obviously the ‘peak time’ CD, with tons of big names (Tilt! Breeder! Bedrock! Quivver! Hole In One?) and big tunes, it doesn’t flow like you’d expect a Digweed set to. Track selection and mixing isn’t the problem here, as they all go well together, but that sense of journey most progressive trance sets have is lacking, songs playing one after the other and little else. It’s rather like an anthem trance set in that regard, only this being Digweed, like hell you’ll hear anything the Crasher Kids would cream their pants over – even Heaven Scent is the subdued Evolution Mix.

Most likely, he’d grown bored of trance in general (almost all the old progressive jocks had by ’99), thus he focused more on CD1’s arrangement. This is the Digweed that came to define his sound of the new millennium: deep, dark, tribal progressive tech-house (oh hell, that’s convoluted; just call it prog). While a bit dull in the background, it’s ridiculously infectious and absorbing once you’re locked into it. Hooks reveal themselves in patient, due time, making the peaks that much more rewarding. It’s music that forces the DJ to work harder to keep the listener’s attention, with teases, mixing, and phrasing that coaxes out a track’s full potential, and Digweed pulls off the challenge expertly here.

GU014 isn’t the best pair of mixes you’ll find in ol’ John’s discography, as his transitional period is apparent while listening to it. It’s still a solid Global Underground offering though, and a worthy companion piece to Sasha’s Ibiza, assuming that was Boxed’s intent.

Azuli Presents John Digweed: Choice - A Collection Of Classics (Original TC Review)

Azuli Records: Cat. # AZCD35X 

Released March 28/2005 

Track List: CD 1 

1. Voices Of Africa - Hoomba Hoomba (4:33) 

2. The Grid - Floatation (3:17) 

3. T Tauri - Joy To The World (No Felt) (4:35) 

4. Hypnotone - Dreambeam (Ben Chapman 12" Remix) (3:55) 

5. Smith & Mighty - Dark House (4:00) 

6. Peech Boys - Don’t Make Me Wait (5:05) 

7. Propaganda - Your Wildlife (Red Zone Mix) (4:45) 

8. The Beat Club - Security 88 (Midnight Club Mix) (5:06)

9. Sheertaft - Cascades (Hypnotone Mix) (5:08) 

10. Euphoria - Mecurial (Euphoric Original Mix) (4:29) 

11. One Dove - White Love (Scott Hardkiss’ Psychic Masturbation Mix) (5:23) 

12. Dance 2 Trance - We Came In Peace (John Digweed Re-edit) (4:57) 

13. Desert Storm - Desert Storm (6:06) 

14. Abfarht - Alone, It’s Me (Alley Cat Edit) (5:40) 

15. Underworld - Mmm... Skyscraper, I Love You (Jamscraper Mix) (6:46) 

CD 2 1. Babble - Beautiful (Blue Mix) (6:38) 

2. Waterlillies - Tempted (Spooky Mix) (5:18) 

3. INXS - Disappear (Morales 12" Mix) (5:03) 

4. Megatonk - Belgium (Nintendotone Mix) (3:52) 

5. DSK - What Would You Do (8 Minutes Of Madness Mix) (5:14) 

6. Reese & Santonio - Back To The Beat (With The Sound) (3:34) 

7. Jody Watley - I’m The One (Def Dub Version; John Digweed Re-edit) (4:39) 

8. Saint Etienne - Cool Kids Of Death (Underworld Mix) (6:16) 

9. Hi-Bias - Drive It Home (4:47) 

10. Young American Primitive - Young American Primitive? (4:26) 

11. DJ H. featuring Steffy - Come On Boy (Larry Levan Remix) (5:29) 

12. Secret Knowledge - Sugar Daddy (7:27) 

13. The Cure - A Forest (Mark Saunders Mix) (6:46) 

(2010 Update: Man, I wish I'd spent "only" two paragraphs on the first disc too. Then I wouldn't have ended up with a cumbersome 2000+ word review. Still a fun compilation to throw on once and a while, certainly more so than some of Digweed's more recent forays into dry minimal-tech house. Bring back the classics, Diggers!) 

IN BRIEF: A history of Digweed untouched upon by the media. 

In this era of placing DJs on unreachable pedestals for their fans to idolize, it’s grown increasingly difficult for them to do what they do best - namely bring the listeners a variety of diverse music strung together into a cohesive flow. To quote from the liner notes of this release written by Sean Cusick: “A DJ’s fanbase can have very weighty expectations...invisible limits placed on diversity and the potential creativity that distinct music encourages. A dedicated fan-base comes to expect ‘more of the same’ from their hero and sometimes very little else.” 

While not all EDM scenes are quite this picky, the trance scene, for the most part, can be very guilty of this. How many fans of, say, Oakenfold, abandoned him when he stopped playing tracks from his Tranceport compilation (and don’t give me that ‘his DJing got worse’ excuse - it was always like that; you just didn’t notice it because you liked the tunes he played). For DJs whom grew up exposed to music long before their fan-base’s niche even existed, I’d imagine this can be a very frustrating thing. 

Let’s face it. Good DJs, of any style, have exposed themselves to a lot of music. Their music collections tend to be ridiculously large, even if they only get to play out a fraction of it. Labels realized this and figured out a way to not only introduce a new form of compilation, but also give these DJs a chance to do what every music collector loves: show off their records. 

So maybe you could argue these sorts of compilations are just stroking a DJ’s ego, or are redundant because there’s nothing but old tracks that any connoisseur will already have. Fair arguments, but I tend to take a less cynical route with this. Compilations like Back To Mine, Life:Styles, and Choice serve as a chance for DJs to create a sort of mix-tape for their audience. No scrutiny placed on them to only have the latest tracks, no critical analyzing of their technical skill - just one music lover sharing their tastes and influences with others. 

Prog house legend John Digweed was tapped for this particular edition of Azuli Records’ Choice series (which has featured mostly house legends like Frankie Knuckles and Danny Tenaglia). There’s no need to get into the history of the man, as I’m sure many already know about his raise to super-stardom from the Renaissance days on. Besides, most of that is moot here, as Digweed takes us on a little trip to an era before that. Most of the music on display here dates back to a time when the man was just a fledgling DJ, working from the ground up. As such, much of the music that tells the tale here is a far cry from what his more recent fans have come to expect of him, even if the elements that would come to define the Digweed sound are scattered about. 

Indeed, who’d have ever thought a song like Hoomba Hoomba by Voices Of Africa - a world beat group more akin to Enigma than Banco de Gaia - would ever find its way on a Digweed compilation? Yet here it is, right out of the gate. The first disc is littered with willful genre jumping so don’t expect any kind of typical DJ mix here. Digweed’s aim is to showcase songs, sometimes in their entirety, that have a personal connection to his young DJing career. It also gives his newer fans a chance to hear music they may have overlooked. 

Second song, The Grid’s Floatation, is a prime example. Everyone knows the groups’ ‘spaghetti western’ tunes like Texas Cowboy but who knows they did blissy, downtempo tracks like this? Not many, I’d imagine. A good chunk of the opening act of the first disc dwells on groovey, laid back tunes. It is definitely not a sound Digweed’s newer fans are likely to connect with him but they may stick around to see where he’s going with this. 

With Smith & Mighty’s Dark House, it’s straight into the old Chicago clubs. Rest assured, these are some old songs on display, and folks weaned on the pristinely produced cuts of the 21st Century will probably be a bit put off - provided that infectious bassline doesn’t hook them in regardless. Or, hey! How about some classic disco to make his new fans run for the hills? Despite being made in ‘82, Don’t Make me Wait by Peech Boys (a Larry Levan production) sounds as though it could have come straight from the glory years of disco’s birth (that’s pre-Saturday Night Fever, folks). Well, they use a drum machine instead here, but the spirit of old disco is still present. It’s a groovy song, as most old time garage is, but I’m willing to bet only the most trusting of Digweed fans will buy into his showcase of one of the most heavily sampled tunes around (Lord knows I’ve heard bits of Don’t Make Me Wait scattered about the last thirteen years). 

The eclectic choice of tracks continues unabated: the Morales remix of Propaganda’s Your Wildlife is a great grooving house number, if you don’t mind some of the late 80s pop hooks sprinkled about; The Beat Club’s Security takes us through an erotic trip in freestyle’s dungeon - yes, freestyle proper, as in massive use of the good ol’ 808 drum machine; Sheertaft’s Cascades brings us back to the groovy ambient dub on display from earlier; and Mercurial from Euphoria touches on the chunky prog house Digweed would soon embrace. 

So much musical territory to cover, so little time. I get the impression Diggers had even more than this in his initial selection but was cut short due to trying to keep some sort of cohesive narrative to the whole enterprise; even mixtapes like to tell a story when possible. But our man knows his audience well enough to give them something they’re familiar with. 

Probably striking parallels to the early Northern Exposure series, the Hardkiss remix of One Dove’s White Love certainly is a groovy gem of dreamy prog house done as only the names Andy Weatherall, Scott Hardkiss, and Dot Allison can imagine. It’s a shame these names aren’t given the recognition they deserve today. Well, at least Digweed does here. 

 And, of course, he let’s all of his ‘99 fans have a taste of trance towards the end - classic trance, that is (hah!). No progressive anthem schlock for you. Instead, you get the trance tune that practically defined the genre: Dance 2 Trance’s We Came In Peace. After what seems like a lengthy bit of minimal techno going nowhere, the song’s building tension is finally unleashed with synthy strings accompanied with a sample uttering the song’s title repeatedly. It’s an incredibly simple technique but is still just as effective in putting your mind in space as it must have been fifteen years ago. 

 With the cleverly ironic follow-up Desert Storm, the hypnotic trend continues. Again, nothing fancy with this track: looping rhythms, gently bubbling acid and melancholy three-note chord progression played on spacey pads defines the bulk of it. Yet, it’s far easier to become entranced listening to a track like this than anything with a supersaw in it. As the disc wraps up with Abfarht (hey, it’s Nosie Katzmaan again!) And Underworld, I can’t help but notice this starts to sound like, dare I say it, an actual DJ mix! No, there’s no beat-matching or transitions fancier than brief crossfades, but the final run of tracks have such amazing chemistry together, it sounds just as smooth as any decent mix. How’s that for track selection, eh? 

If you figure the end of the first disc is a sign of things to come in the second disc, you’d be partially right. For the first half of CD2, Digweed takes us on a tour of all sorts of 2nd generation house music: deep house, prog house, tech house, deep prog house, prog tech house, tech deep house, deep prog tech house, and some New York stylings, too. But, most notably, ‘choice’ house (hah, again!). Most of these tracks tend to play out without much mixing, but they all segue nicely together so as things don’t sound too disjointed. 

For the final stretch of this disc, our intrepid DJ digs into his crates an unloads a bevy of rarities and obscurities that collectors would cash in their retirement reserves to own. In case Skyscraper wasn’t enough convincing, Underworld’s remix of Cool Kids Of Death is further proof we should really be hoping for that eventual reunion tour [involving Emerson, that is -2010 Syk]. And the genres begin to liberally jump again, sometimes within the same song (like Young American Primitive, a track more akin to Banco de Gaia than Enigma) before ending off on Mark Saunders’ mix of The Cure’s A Forest, a track that sounds like it could have helped spur the electroclash movement had it not been produced ten years prior. 

If you’re wondering why I’ve only given two paragraphs to describe what goes on in CD2, the answer is I don’t feel it quite lives up to the expectations set out by CD1. Of course, all the songs on display are nice and make for decent listening, but aside from the tail end of it, it lacks the spontaneity of the first disc. As such, it doesn’t engage you with surprises like you might have hoped. But don’t let this nitpick of mine put you off of this whole compilation. For folks looking for some history in either Digweed’s own musical beginnings or discovering older, obscure EDM cuts, this edition of Choice is fine buying. 

In fact, I’d go so far as to say this, and any of the Choice releases, should be required listening for those who wish to explore the rich tapestry EDM has created in the last thirty years. There was so much that was left to the recycle bin by major record executives, we are quite fortunate to have compilations like these to remind us where this music came from and where it is still going. However dated some of these songs may sound, their influences can still be heard over a decade later. 

Score: 7/10 

ACE TRACKS: 

The Grid - Floatation 

Desert Storm - Desert Storm 

Saint Etienne - Cool Kids Of Death (Underworld Mix) 

Written by Sykonee. Originally published 2006 for TranceCritic.com. © All rights reserved.