To you.. does John Digweed have "a sound"?

NasserAlazzawi

Digweed was one of the influencers for my love of Prog basically because I centred around one Kiss100 set in 2003 and played it on repeat. Sets were less of a commodity then and there were nowhere near as many DJs.

I get that everyone has a big appreciation for his work, but I’ve never followed it closely. Same with many DJs. Yet I’m surrounded by people who absolutely love both him and Sasha.

When I do tune in to the odd Bunker session - or any mix I’ve briefly flicked through over the years - I’ve never found a sound that makes me think: that sounds like Digweed. Sasha’s sound in 2003 was amazing (my first year into Prog) and he did have a sound to me at that point.

I’m trying to become someone who has a sound and I wonder what your take is on Digweed. Did he ever have a sound? Or was his thing to play ‘great new music’ sweeping across genres and the thing is about it being “New”?

I can focus on one thing and entirely miss the point sometimes and wonder if that’s what’s happening here.

zackster

Haven’t listened to him since 09ish, but up until that point I would say he undeniably did have a sound. ✌🏼

SM001

Prog pre 2003 as opposed to 2003 and beyond are completely different imo. The likes of Sasha & Digweed over their 30 odd years have had “era’s”. You had Sasha’s “Shelly’s” era which was piano laden Italian House. Then together you had the Renaissance/Progressive era circa 1992-96 thru to their GU’s and Northern Exposure era 1997-2002. Thru these years their sounds complemented each other. Sasha played more “euphoric/emotive” tracks against Digweed’s “deeper/darker” sound. Beyond 2003 I lost interest in their music a little.

With regards to yourself the best advise I can give you is just stick to your own style/instincts. I wouldn’t stick to one genre per se. Listen to as much music as you can and play tracks that you like regardless of the genre. Stick your guns and you can’t go far wrong. It’s all a learning curve but you eventually hone in on your own style.

Amps

Yeah, reckon up until mid 2000s ish he had a different sound to many, even more so at the end of the 90s and start of the 2000s, now, not so much so, it’s all a bit generic techno to me these days.

Kells77

I don’t typically try to put anyone in a box. Most djs play a variety of styles in a set (well, good ones do). Listen to what you like. Turn it off if you don’t. 🙂

bosstrabs

VORTEXSOUND

jonattonyeah

bosstrabs

Yup. Dunno when it started or when it ended, but he had quite a few years there where his sets were just relentless after he had everyone locked in. Saw him in LA for NYE around 2003 or 2004. 10 hours. From like 3:00 until, I dunno, 8:00 (? - before he started winding it down a bit). It was nonstop. Vortex might sound silly but that’s what it was. He also knew (knows) how to work a system as good as anyone. Only peak time track I remember is Lake/Blades “Filth”. Sounded incredible. Given that was played, my years might be a few off.

rhouses

jonattonyeah Apollo Vibes at 12am? Was there, messy messy night. He mostly always played Avalon LA nye, a good 5-6 years straight.

Diggers kinda lost me when he went the minimal tech house route, that fabric disc is shite. And I wouldn’t say the transition renaissance mixes have stood the test of time. Those live in mixes are gold tho. And live he has never let me down.

alistair

The beauty of the Bunkers is you get to hear the music he loves and a much wider variety of sounds/tempos than he would play in a club which as good as it often is is fairly conservative.

Along_the_Wire

I grew out of the vortex quite a long time ago. My favourite Digweed nights have been the 3am finishes on Thursdays at Bedrock at Heaven and the Bedrock specials he did at XOYO. He definitely had his own sound back in the original Bedrock days. They were fucking brilliant nights.

mono-stereo

John HARDWEED

Smallman1

The sound any aspiring Dj should be looking to achieve is wrecking ball peak time POWER prog.

baggers44

He has played tracks from virtually every conceivable style of electronic music over the last 30 years but the most distinctive periods for me were when he played very percussive tracks - (99-01) think of Gravitec and of course when there was a US house emphasis when he played at Twilo with the other one and Junior V. But you could pick virtually any mix from the last 25 years randomly blind and I reckon you would think it might be Digweed because of the feel of it. Pretty sure it is that way for anyone you have followed for years in granular detail though. Even Judge Jules will have his acolytes - well not him but you know what I mean!

Wasily

I don’t think he has a sound per se, not like Hawtin or Radioslave for example. However, it’s pretty easy to identify a Digweed MIX, in the same way it is to identify a Sasha one. Sasha’s sound I presume is to some extent determined by who’s shortlisting the tracks he’s being sent so I presume it’s the same with the others perhaps to a lesser extent.

Matty

I would say that there are 3 or 4 sounds that I would recognise;

All are underpinned by seamless mixing and a set structure that appears as if he has the whole set thought through from the start;

Typically rolling baselines and deep grooves in the following types;

Acid influence house and uplifting groovy house from 1994 through 1998
Deep progressive - circa 1999 to 2002/3. His essential mix from 1999 and the Compiled and Mixed Bedrock typify this. Also GU Los Angeles.
Electro and Techno house. Tech house and minimalist house from 2004 onwards inparticular. Transitions and Renaissance Releases of the same name. Although some of them drift into 2 above from memory.
Vortex electro progressive house. I’m thinking latterly the Tokyo Live CD as an example example.

I would say he’s also partial to a bit of breakbeat as per Bunker 27 has large chunks.

I would also add that Digweed rarely plays too hard or fast - Essential Mix from EDC probably a rare example. He does typically find a groove and then fills the void by building and layering that sounds and then weaves in and out.

If you want a good example of this diversity Bunker 03 is IMO his finest work in a long time.

mono-stereo

I like it when he goes into GRUMBLEWEED MODE

baggers44

mono-stereo ha- no one will know who they are!!!! Brilliant Panto Grand Theatre Leeds ! I dare not youtube them in case what they did turns out on reflection to have been shit!

Smallman1

Whilst we back and forth the finer points about Digweed’s sound a question we haven’t asked is - Is he sound?

And the answer to that is yes, even though he thinks I’m a “complete idiot.”

alistair

Smallman1 Is he a good judge of character?

alistair

I don’t really think he does which is a good thing in my book. You’re just as likely to hear the latest release from Guy J as you are from say Michael Mayer or Whomadewho or the latest David Morales red zone mix. Without doing a count, I think his bunker sets have included more Kompakt stuff than any other label so make of that what you will.

Smallman1

alistair Is he a good judge of character?

That he is not Alistair.

ScottBailey

Personally I think any “sounds” people have been labelled with back in the day stuck more because over the period of 3 or 4 months they’d play a large handful of the same tracks at each gig, swapping a few out for newer tracks as they came.
The exclusivity to certain records for large periods of time meant they could keep playing them out without sounding like most other DJ’s on the scene (think Sasha is even quoted as saying that, in as many words).
Unless as a punter you were loaded enough to follow them round, there’s a good change you only heard them play the same set a couple of times over, whereas in reality there were probably a half dozen more times it was repeated.
With the advent of the internet, people can’t get away with that as much now (although Sasha tries).

jonattonyeah

ScottBailey

Well said. That is why I understand why some high-profile DJs are apprehensive about releasing mixes - all that does is take the exclusivity and shorten it by months.

Personally, I think there’s enough of all types of dance music at this point - it’s been decades. Not everything needs to be brand new in a set. I think it’s much more interesting to hear a track that’s actually been out for a while, but totally ignored, over some unreleased Innervisions or Bedrock exclusive.

Guess I think only playing new music is kinda lazy - relying on what’s sent to you.

NasserAlazzawi

ScottBailey That’s really interesting because when I say DJs had a sound I hark back to a time when not only did I love seeing some DJs repeatedly warm up for bigger acts, but those were my first impressions too and they always say those out last any other feeling someone can give you.

Plus - during my entire ‘clubbing career’ I was in sixth form at school or in part time work and just didn’t afford myself the time / money to go out that often either - so things could have been changing when I wasn’t seeing it.

I’d still personally like to have a sound because there are occasions where I really want to hear / feel a certain way and some DJs can really bring that out through their sound. Yet who knows, in a year they could change.