apdiddy Posted March 14 Report Share Posted March 14 Digweed Exposes a Dark Side on Global Underground Los AngelesIt is no stretch of the imagination to say that John Digweed is the biggest DJ in America at the moment. Sure, a few years back he looked like an unlikely candidate for the honor as an anything-but-braggadocios type who wasn't afraid to express his elation in a hip Hollywood club at throwing down a new Underworld track for the first time. But Digweed proves that nice guys can finish first – a point he drives home loud and clear on his latest, and perhaps best, release, Digweed 019 Global Underground Los Angeles. So how did this shy Brit emerge as a dark horse purveyor of club music in the US when few even knew who he was just four years ago? It all began when an unassuming John Digweed accepted a residency at New York's famed Twilo with buddy Sasha, who everyone thought was the fated golden boy in the duo. About the same time, the two DJs, who were also esteemed producers and remixers, released a series of mix albums in the US called Northern Exposure under the Sasha and Digweed moniker. Eventually came Communicate (Kinetic), one of the highest debuting critically acclaimed mix albums in the 2000 Billboard charts (and it wasn't just dance charts). That one was under the name Sasha and John Digweed. Now, the name is simply Digweed on the Global Underground release, and basically that's all you need to know.As a dark and driving 2-CD album with very few vocals and hard-hitting breakdowns, this one is not for the faint hearted. Nor is it for beginning connoisseurs of dance music. It's the future sound of the genre. Either you can handle it or you can't because it's in your face and intense – even sinister in the best sense of the word. John Digweed also had the guts to stage it in Los Angeles at the Mayan Theater, in a city that's a lot easier to hate than to find qualities of depth in – but when you find them, there's nothing in the world that compares.Ah, but Digweed has always taken the road less traveled and he's all the better for it. Below are some side-of-the-road glimpses into what went into the making of this extraordinary release.Virginmega.com: Tell us how you went about choosing the tracks for Global Underground 019 …Digweed: Basically, I knew the LA gig was going to be the party in which the next album was going to be based on. So when you're going into that, you have to find out what the lead-time is before it gets released. Obviously I realized there was going to be a three to four month period from when the party was and when the CD was released. You have to think ahead, but I'm fortunate that I get a lot of material upfront from London. When I played the party at the Mayan (last winter), I played for five and a half hours so when I got back, I had to break down five and a half hours of music into two and a half. Basically, I wanted to make sure that it was reflective of the party. So there are tracks on there that have already been released but I still think they have longevity and deserve to be there. They were very important to the way the compilation was compiled, because they were big records of the night. I wanted people who were at the party to have some sort of flashback. I also played a lot of stuff that hadn't been released on that night so it's also included on the CD. It's so important these days to bridge the gap between having new music, but also having good new music because there is no point putting a lot of tracks on there that haven't come out yet, but when they do come out, they're crap. Virginmega.com: I agree.Digweed: I'd rather have a CD that is a whole body of work that fits together nicely and feels right - like a whole album rather then something that's a bit disjointed or thrown together where after six months you go back and listen to the tracks and go ‘Oh, god I don't want to play that one.' So it's very important to me that when I'm listening to the tracks if I'm not sick of them after, say, ten or 12 times, then hopefully the people who are into what I do won't be either. I don't want people to just buy my records and listen to them a couple of times then put something else in. I want people to keep coming back to it and keep listening to it and keep enjoying all the work that has gone into it. Virginmega.com: You definitely have a knack for that. In fact, all these months later Communicate is still in my car (the ultimate compliment from an LA person). Can you sense your own talent or not?Digweed: Basically I've been making mixed tapes since 1984. It was just something that I always did. I was the guy when there was a party everyone was asking to compile the music for it. Even if I didn't have a mixer, I was just putting stuff together track after track. So I think I've always had a kind of knack to the way the order of the night goes. And I think that has definitely helped me in the long run when it comes to producing compilation albums. You know that bit in High Fidelity where he's making a tape for his girlfriend (laughs). There's a lot of truth in that. I'm trying to make a CD that is for thousands of girlfriends and thousands of people listening. I'm trying to get into everyone's head at the same time. I'm trying to make it for a specific kind of person. That's the whole way I look at it - I don't just want it to be a compilation of records on a CD that people listen to and say "Yeah, okay, next?" It is very much an important part that whatever I do, I'm happy with it for one. I never let anything out unless I'm really happy with it. It's your business card. Virginmega.com: What do you feel are some of the standout tracks on the album? Digweed: I really like the Electric Tease track (“Your Lovin'” on disc one. I think that's a really, really cool track. That's one of the tracks that really starts to lift it a little bit. The Dirty Harry track, “Musica,” … ah, Bipath “Paranoize.” On the second disc, the Jimmy Van M track (“Sanctuary” is a really good track to start things off. The Aria (“One” track and Salt Tank (“The Energy” towards the end of disc two really lift off. Virginmega.com: Was there anything that you wanted to get and couldn't get licensed?Digweed: No, not really. If anything the problem was I had too much. I had five and a half-hours worth of tracks to choose from and, if anything, it would be better if it was a four CD pack ... because I just really put the tracks in as it was on the night and I was really happy with the way the party went.Virginmega.com: Speaking of parties, why haven't you played Giant in LA (biggest superclub that goes off every Saturday night)? You're the only one of the really big DJs who hasn't. Digweed: I really like doing the mid-week stuff. I just know what I do at the Mayan on a Wednesday that every single person is there because they want to be there, because they want to hear what I'm going to do. Sometimes you do stuff on a Saturday when people are there to hear you play, but there are also people who are like “Oh, it's a Saturday night so let's go out … let's go clubbing.” I just really like the fact that you can do the Mayan and those people come out specifically to hear what you're going to do. There is that element of like “Wow, it's a great crowd!” and there just so into what's going on. I've had fantastic times at the Mayan and also when we did that Grand Avenue and we did the Shrine, which is a little bit too big and we were a bit too far away from the crowd. Virginmega.com: That was the worst event I've been to where you were spinning. It was far too amateur of production with the sound system and the lights that were just all wrong. It was horribly organized – waiting in line outside for more than an hour to be told they ran out of water at the bar. Ridiculous.Digweed: I'll definitely be back at the Mayan.Virginmega.com: It's great how you've just sort of made that venue your own. I have a question about when I interviewed you around the time of the first Global Underground album three years ago. We talked at the Viper Room bar. Compared that to when I saw you backstage at the Mayan for this Global Underground party with the guys from the Groove movie (Digweed had a small role in the film), it just seemed a little odd, maybe because you just have so much going on now? Do you feel that your life has changed to the degree that it affects your interactions with people you knew before? Digweed: It's just quite weird. I mean, literally, it's a bit like being on a roller coaster that's going faster and faster and faster. But I can't say that anything in my life is not good at the moment. The record label (Bedrock) is doing really well. The DJing is fantastic, every gig I love. The CD, I'm really happy with and all the reactions have been great. I have a radio show, which is getting really good reactions. There's just a load of stuff going on. Then there's the saying of stop and smell the roses. The one time you think you can't forget to stop and smell the roses, you have to do this and you have to do that. Because the higher the statue you are, the more demands that come in for you. The more interviews, the more record remixes … you just get busier. You think “Oh, when I get more successful it'll become easier.”Virginmega.com: Mmm.Digweed: But it doesn't. It becomes harder. There are times when literally I've gotten off a ten-hour flight and am told “You've got press all day.” Sometimes I just feel like going and having a look around New York or I just want to go around LA. But in the back of your mind, you know you've put a lot of time and effort into the CD and you need to promote it. I realized that's the next cycle - to do the press. It just goes with the territory now. It's not something that bothers me, it's just a natural thing now. Eight years ago all there was to do is go down to the record shop and listen to records and DJ. Now that's totally out the window. The thing about my personality is that I've always been a really hard worker. So, I'm not really someone who shies away from it. This is what I wanted to do. I'm living the dream. I'm living what I've always wanted to do from a very early age. I'm very happy, basically.Virginmega.com: At the end of the day, that's the most important thing. One last question: Who in dance music do you respect most? Digweed: Danny Tenaglia. He's done about 25 years in DJing and he's just now peaking. The last few years you've seen his career explode even though he's been doing it a long time and he's always had kudos as a “DJ's DJ.” He's still very much at the top of his game and he's so professional about what he does. He's definitely someone I really aspire to be like.- Kim Taylor ------------------Chronic gives you cancer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa_boy Posted March 14 Report Share Posted March 14 nice article, nuff said!Virginmega.com: At the end of the day, that's the most important thing. One last question: Who in dance music do you respect most? Digweed: Danny Tenaglia. He's done about 25 years in DJing and he's just now peaking. The last few years you've seen his career explode even though he's been doing it a long time and he's always had kudos as a “DJ's DJ.” He's still very much at the top of his game and he's so professional about what he does. He's definitely someone I really aspire to be like.------------------"At the peak of tremendous and victorious effort, while the blood is pounding in your head, all suddenly comes quiet within you. Everything seems clearer and whiter than ever before, as if great spotlights had been turned on. At that moment, you have the conviction that you contain all the power in the world, that you are capable of everything, that you have wings. There is no more precise moment in life than this, the WHITE MOMENT, and you will work hard for years, just to taste it again.''Yuri Vlason. -----------PM sux email is better-------> boa_boy@yahoo.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abstrakt Posted March 14 Report Share Posted March 14 Kick ass article. Pooh, just for that, you won't get an ass kicking from me when I see you ------------------Burning...burnnnning... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apdiddy Posted March 14 Author Report Share Posted March 14 Originally posted by Abstrakt:Kick ass article. Pooh, just for that, you won't get an ass kicking from me when I see you he says 2 words bout danny and you're on his jock now? biznich...------------------Chronic gives you cancer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowchaser Posted March 14 Report Share Posted March 14 diggs is the messiah. . . ------------------give into pressure. . . shadowchaser076@aol.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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