Submitted by rysh on 28th June, 02:06PM

The fourth instalment in the 'Transitions' series, John Digweed has offered something very new in this single disc mix; twenty-two tunes 'de' and 're' constructed to form ten tracks.

Although still one of the biggest believers in CD, rather than laptop mixing, John uses Ableton in this compilation to form something truly special and unique.
As would be expected, Digweed uses a short intro to set the mix in motion; Mirko's remix of 'A5B' which creates a sombre, monotonous mood with its eerie background noise, warming up for what is yet to come.

The music is incredibly well arranged, each track seems so smooth and it's difficult to work out what parts of each song you are listening to, something not easily achievable. The disc progresses slowly and it's quite a while before any breakdown, but when there is, it's there for a reason. Track three, a merger of 'In Spite' and 'Mumbling Yeah' is a nice blend of rough and smooth. The early bits are soon overshadowed by the deeper sounds later on in the track, something that happens more than once in this mix.

Digweed gracefully intertwines all the different sounds of up to three tunes at once, yet never letting things get out of hand, yet as nice as this sounds there doesn't feel to be that many stand out tracks. A highlight is 'Keep Her Space,' Smith and Selway's Control Mix, gradually building it adds something new to the CD, as does Guy J's 'Under Pressure.'

Approaching the climax of this volume, Digweed does take the sounds to another level with track eight, a combination of Pascal Feos & Marc Mirror, Spector and Jorg Burger, but rather than sustain it, he takes it down one last time before the double assault of 'Piknic Bugz.' Just as Sasha has so often done in the past number of years, Digweed has used different mixes of the same track to make, then build upon each other in an amazing way. This twelve minute affair is very fitting for the close to such an exciting journey - definitely one of the stand out compilations.

As a first attempt it is fairly well produced, the effort really shows, but to be honest it feels as though a lot of the tracks have been chosen and laid down to provide support for the bigger tunes. John Digweed is one of the best, its undeniable, though he is still improving with the laptop. 'Transitions 4' has been an interesting insight into where he is heading, volume 5 is going to have a lot to live up to, and surpass.

3/5