John Digweed - Transitions Volume 4

Since it's launch Transitions has become one of - if not - the most anticipated releases in the compilation calendar; over the past two years its single disc, twice-yearly format has provided dance music fans a regular, contemporary snapshot of John. Now the first chapter in the Transitions' series reaches its conclusion with the highly anticipated fourth volume.

"This was perhaps the hardest one yet," says Digweed, "The proximity between releases meant each new volume was strongly influenced by its predecessor - as we moved from one to the other they had to relate and make sense. "

So, a real challenge. Just how did John go about tackling it?

"I've developed the amount of tracks and layering over the series," he elaborates, "And we've taken it to the next level with this latest volume, it's the most intense and intrinsic yet, which meant replacements, additions, editing and a lot of time consuming assessments and re-assessments."

Over the course of 22 tracks and 73 minutes John weaves a unique musical thread. From favourites such as Ink & Needle, Guy J and Pig & Dan through to welcome debuts from Henry Saiz, Myers Briggs or Soliquid, all are concisely constructed in the mix to the point where 3 are often playing at anyone time. Infact, due the resulting complexity, John decided to re-structure the trackmark points to better reflect the more developed passages – and so 22 records became 10 (see full tracklist below), as he elaborates, "In trackmarking this way I am able to highlight the unique qualities of the mix. Whilst it hopefully retains that signature Digweed sound, I've used modern production techniques to create an album that's unlike anything you'll ever hear me do in a club."

And the future? "Let's keep it about this latest volume for now," John affirms, "Otherwise I think I'd be doing it a disservice!" We couldn't agree more: Transitions Vol.4 is one of the most original compilations you'll hear this year and a fitting finale to the series in its current guise.

Look out for the mini Podcast of this later this week on [|www.johndigweed.com|www.johndigweed.com] which will give you a rough idea of what to expect as well as a chance to win 1 of 10 signed copies.

You can pre-order any day now from [|www.recordsstore.co.uk/johndigweed|www.recordsstore.co.uk/johndigweed] with the first 200 signed by Diggers.