quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Pretty disappointed by him, in all honesty. There were flashes of brilliance but so many frustrating, counter-intuitive moments as well. He came on after Steve Parry, who had played a perfect warm-up set. You can listen to it here: By the last tune of Parry's set the club had filled up and people were jumping up in down with excitement. It was one of those moments where the main DJ is coming on at peak time and you can feel the whole club is ready to explode. So Digweed stepped up immediately poured cold water all over the vibe, playing a good 45 minutes of stripped down, utterly unexciting tech house grooves. Completely flattened the crowd. It took almost an hour for him to really get going, and when he did there were 20-30 minute sections where he'd string together a cavalcade of dark, growling Digweed drivers and it felt like the party was back on. But then every half hour or so he'd strip it right back down to more tech house drums, and then build it up again from scratch. Towards the end he did build up a consistent head of steam, but the big moments of the final act were provided by one of my pet irritations of current clubbing, namely "breakdown techno". You know the shit: peak hour techno tunes with ludicrously convoluted breakdowns, 2-3 minutes long apiece, as tedious and manipulative as anything from the snareroll era of uplifting trance. I swear at one point it sonded like he mixed out of one massive breakdown straight into the start of another massive breakdown. There must have been 5 straight minutes without any bass. The crowd always gives a massive cheer when these kind of tunes finally drop, but I just find it fucking boring to stand around for minutes on end waiting for something I can dance to. I don't understand why he flatlined the energy for so long at the start and kept letting it wind back down mid-set. It's clearly a deliberate set building decision but it's so fucking frustrating when the club is bouncing and just wants straight up destruction. The hell with your clever-clever journey paradigm Diggers, just give the people what they want.

That's a damn shame. Your first time seeing him, right?

That was a nice set from Steve Parry, however. I didn't know he was behind Selador, with Dave Seaman. Would be nice to catch them at a label showcase event sometime.

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Quarantine Classics Brunello di Montalcino (In Transit) Edition [Progressive Classics] (August 2020)
Quarantine Classics - Puligny-Montrachet Edition [Progressive Classics] (April 2020)
What Is Progressive Anyways? [Progressive House Classics] (November 2019)

quote:

Originally posted by Sykonee later attended a Hospital Records tour, followed by a RAM Records night a few weeks after that.

Words don't suffice to say how envious I feel right now

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[ I May Upload Something Someday ]

went to see Sam Paganini last weekend, wasnt expecting much and all I got was some boring over-compressed techno, horribly loud, thank god i had my ear plugs

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Upload from Digweed's set in Leeds last night- anyone got an ID for the first and second tracks?

I haven't heard anything beyond this 15 minute segment, but this by all measures sounds like the exact opposite of how SYSTEM-J described his particular night out with Diggers:

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He traded sands for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand. Afari, Tales

That first tune is Would definitely get me on the floor in a hurry. Spoke to soon. Second tune would have me carving out my space

Yeah, I've seen that clip doing the rounds on FB. First tune sounds like a Montel tune, but if so it must be unreleased. Second tune is this:



It seems like everyone I know went to that Diggers night on Friday, but I didn't bother going. I was still thinking about grabbing a ticket a couple of hours before, but I've been a bit ill this weekend and I've got a big night out in London next weekend (Cattaneo and Nick Warren) so I swerved it at the last. Even worse, I dodged Weatherall and Sean Johnston in Manchester last night because I had a driving lesson at 9am on Sunday morning.

Mint's a small club with a good system. I can imagine it brought out a different side of Diggers - perhaps he would put away the silly big room breakdown techno. Overall though, I can't remember the last contemporary Digweed set I've heard that was solid all the way through. His meandering flow winds me up too much.

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Mixes:
> Back To Deep [Deep Trippy House]
> Terra Nova [Modern Progressive Trance]
> Rough & Ready [Modern Trance]
>A Different Energy [Good Modern Trance]
> The Edale Mix [Panoramic Beats]

I saw Digweed the night before that clip, actually, doing an open-to-close set at Ministry. It was better than I was expecting, but overall still too much breakdown big-room techno for me. It was quite good, definitely not bad, I'm very happy I went, but I guess I was slightly hoping that in 2017 he might be playing a bit more melodic techno (and maybe a classic or two ). There's just a bit of a limit to how much of the stuff I can handle before I need some more melody and progression.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J I've got a big night out in London next weekend (Cattaneo and Nick Warren)

...yeah, I'm going to need a write-up of the night.

And an ID:



Seriously, where is this prog coming from? His radio show is a lukewarm. His disc 2's are forgettable. And yet it seems every weekend he packs a box that utterly obliterates everything in front of the speakers.

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He traded sands for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand. Afari, Tales

Last edited by Paradox Lost on Apr-23-2017 at 11:42

That was almost exactly what I said to my mate on the train back. Where does he find these tunes? Nothing you hear online with Cattaneo's name next to it prepares you for the driving monsters he plays in a club. On sheer quality of music, Friday night was as good as it gets. There wasn't one bad track, not one moment that made me feel I could go for a chat, a sit down or even a toilet break. I was on the dancefloor for five hours almost continuously. And so many of those tracks were absolute monsters of the "I absolutely need this track in my collection, if only Shazam knew what it was" variety.

Now don't get me wrong, it wasn't a perfect set. I don't think Warren and Cattaneo gel together particularly well. Mainly because Warren just can't match Cattaneo's mixing, or the energy levels he brings. Warren brought plenty of great tunes, but the mixing between them was functional, and he kept playing more floaty, melodic tunes to drop the energy. The majority of Cattaneo's stints on the deck were non-stop bombing runs.

The result was basically four hours of peak time, with anthems and breakdowns interspersed every 20-30 minutes or so. Enormously enjoyable throughout, but no real structure to the set, beyond the obligatory 15 minutes of happy, hands-in-the-air closers. It made me realise that having a clear structure to a set helps you remember the night a lot better. I can remember fragments of many great tunes from Friday, but it's difficult to put them in any kind of order.

What I will say is that The Box was a lot more tolerable than the last time I was there. The Ministry is still, in so many ways, a really shitty club. It's probably the only prominent "VIP and bottle service" club in the UK, and the other rooms are packed full of clueless idiots and awful music. But the main room on Friday did have a good crowd and a good atmosphere, especially from about 3am onwards when the tourists got too drunk and went home. Some credit here has to go to the warm-up guys, especially Soundexile who played from 1-2. Last time I was there for Cattaneo, Lonya and Khen really failed to heat the place up, and the vibe was still flat up to 2am. This time round, Soundexile were playing muscular, driving tech from 1am onwards, and it got the place moving. It goes to show the importance of a good warm-up, but also that a good warm-up isn't always about staying below fourth gear. Sometimes the warm-up needs to get a sluggish crowd moving, and that can require an injection of energy.

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Mixes:
> Back To Deep [Deep Trippy House]
> Terra Nova [Modern Progressive Trance]
> Rough & Ready [Modern Trance]
>A Different Energy [Good Modern Trance]
> The Edale Mix [Panoramic Beats]

Also, if you go on Hernan Cattaneo's Facebook page, there's almost an hour of the set in really good quality sound spread over a couple of clips.

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Mixes:
> Back To Deep [Deep Trippy House]
> Terra Nova [Modern Progressive Trance]
> Rough & Ready [Modern Trance]
>A Different Energy [Good Modern Trance]
> The Edale Mix [Panoramic Beats]

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Now don't get me wrong, it wasn't a perfect set. I don't think Warren and Cattaneo gel together particularly well. Mainly because Warren just can't match Cattaneo's mixing, or the energy levels he brings. Warren brought plenty of great tunes, but the mixing between them was functional, and he kept playing more floaty, melodic tunes to drop the energy. The majority of Cattaneo's stints on the deck were non-stop bombing runs.

I was originally thinking they'd be a solid pairing, but yeah, it doesn't seem like Warren's crates can keep up with Cattaneo's torrent of drivers, however pleasant his tunes are. They probably still compliment each other well, just not as a back to back.

I'm also late in realizing, on that note, that podcasts and compilations really aren't a reliable gauge of what someone sounds like on the floor. Even on Cattaneo's uptempo mixes, he still sounds like he's wrapping up the tail end of a warmup set, but on the floor he's just pure savagery.

Out of curiosity, the track in the clip I posted clocks in at around 124 bpm- was he playing at around that range the entire night?

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He traded sands for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand. Afari, Tales