John Digweed - Transitions Vol. 2

Excerpts from Transitions Vol. 2

John Digweed has been on a roll lately.  His weekly radio show on London’s KISS FM has been retooled with the “Transitions” title, and while Digweed’s ½ of the show is now more in the vein that he demonstrates in the “Transitions” CD Releases by Renaissance, the second ½ is still the guest mix, and therefore wide open to a range of styles.  He’s been touring worldwide for the last several months, and I narrowly missed seeing him in San Juan when I was there for business.  2007 has also seen the release of the latest two installments of the “Transitions” series – Volume 2 and Volume 3. 

 

Transitions, Volume 2 is a 14 track journey into where “Progressive House” is today.  Gone are the days of trancey synths and heavy basslines over house beats.  Todays progressive is much more akin to a smooth and groovy acid and tech house fusion.  The beats often come across as somewhere between downtempo and house.  This mix really doesn’t kick into a thumpin’ jackin’ house mix, but it is dripping with cool and sexy sounds. Needless to say, this mix has grown on me. 

Here’s what some others have had to say about John Digweed’s Transitions Vol. 2:

 

 Resident Advisor

 

Two volumes in and the ‘Transitions’ series is shaping up to be a bellwether of progressive fortunes. Where the first volume latched onto prog’s 2006 fascination with guns a-blazing electrohouse, T2 is a more subtle affair with melodic productions that draw on a less-is-more but still somehow progressive aesthetic. Each track fits perfectly with the next to create the genre's cliched but trademark “journey”, and that, combined with the fresh vinyl Digweed is buying, adds up to a mix that finds a way to fit progressive’s past nicely into dance music’s present.

 

Roost Music

Digweed's sound is still firmly rooted in tech-house, and the cheeky electronic elements of many of the tracks included here will most likely annoy those fans who stopped enjoying Digweed after his last Global Underground CD. But if you have an open mind and an ear for melody, I assure you that Transitions Vol. 2 is among the finest compilations released in recent memory, and perhaps Digweed and Renaissance's finest compilation in the last several years.

 

Sound Revolt

The second edition of the ‘Transitions’ series is about to be released almost exactly 6 years after GU’s ‘Los Angeles’. I’m referring to the ‘Global Underground’ release for a reason, as this was the first album from John Digweed which truly amazed me. This one is the second one.

 

I Like Music

 

John Digweed hardly needs an introduction; he is undoubtedly one of the biggest and most in-demand artists in the industry. Now following the success of the first in the Transitions series, he returns with the eagerly anticipated second volume, to deliver another characteristically sublime mix.'