In 4 days, on March 30, 2011, it will have been a decade since Digweed's epic solo set for the 4 year anniversary of Sasha and Digweed at Twilo. I was there that night and Digweed was too and he's reminiscing by putting his Kiss 100 set from the night back up for listening on SoundCloud:
John Digweed - Live at 4 Year Sasha and Digweed Anniversary PartyAnd check out what he says about Twilo:
Twilo - It`s almost 10 years since I played my last set in the best club in the world. I’ve got so many good memories from that period. I played there every month for four and half years, and anybody who ever went to any one of those Twilo nights will remember it. Every single one was special, memorable.
It was more intense than crazy, every month just seemed to get better and longer. I think the music that was around at Twilo suited that sound system and era, and now we are in a different era."
America and clubland lost something very special when Twilo closed.
Lost but never forgotten
Here is a recording of one of the last sets there from me enjoy
John
In case you weren't there, here's my decade old review of the night...
John Digweed & Jimmy Van M @ Twilo [March 30] [New York, NY]Early in our childhood we all learned that the science of mathematics contains all kinds of numbers. There are the rational numbers, the integers, the whole numbers, the irrational numbers, the prime numbers and even the real numbers. And the ability to distinguish between all of these numbers is fully dependent on learning quite a few mathematical definitions. For instance, where does the number 3 belong? For starters, it's an integer. It's also a real number and a whole number. Oh yeah, it's a rational number and it's a prime number because it's only factors are 1 and 3. Are you confused yet? Well, it is exactly this confusion that makes folks stray away from mathematics. There are so many definitions and so many rules that it makes it hard to get a grasp on exactly what is going on. But, in all of this confusion, there is one set of numbers that folks don't confuse. That set is the constants. Constants are great because their value never changes and once you have memorized them you can recall them forever. Thus, almost everyone knows that the constant Pi can be approximated to 3.14. This was value of Pi one thousand years ago and this was the value of Pi yesterday. That's the beauty of constants. So, in all my experiences of going to Twilo, there has only been one constant. His name is John Digweed.
Each and every time I've gone to hear Mr. Digweed spin, his performances have been purely brilliant. On any given night it's possible that he might play deeper, trancier, longer, and even harder. There's also a chance that his mood could be jovial or a chance that it's just the opposite and quite gloomy. But, regardless of the music style or his general mood, the performance is always brilliant. That's the constant value of John Digweed and last Friday there was no deviation.
We arrived to 530 W 27th a little past 0100 and there was absolutely no line. I really could not believe my eyes. Even though the Sasha and Digweed 4 Year Anniversary had been postponed due to Sasha's medical condition, I thought for sure that the queue would be somewhat long. But, to my surprise, there was no line. Thus, we were all able to get in quite quickly, check our coats and head to the bathrooms. There was word that decks, mixers and speakers had been placed in the bathrooms along with a DJ and this was exactly the case. Indeed, there was a caged DJ spinning some ambient tracks in the men's bathroom while I did my duty. This is another reason why Twilo never ceases to amaze me. Soon after that, I headed to check out the little party that Twiloboss was throwing in order to meet some fellow Twiloites and grab a few drinks. Like the Twiloboss party in February for Carl Cox and Danny Tenaglia, this one was a success. I met a load of folks from the message boards as well as the boss himself. Thank you Twilo and thank you Twiloboss. Now, let's get to the music.
I am not sure how long Sean Cusick spun or if he was even on the decks but when we arrived, Jimmy Van M was already on the decks and he had the place really rocking. I had not heard Jimmy Van M spin since last year. At that time he was the opener for Sasha and Digweed and he was very good back then. But, on Friday, I realized that he had gotten much better. The crowd was already going crazy and the lights were going ballistic. Twilo wasn't warm, it was hot.
Finally, Digweed hit the decks sometime around 0230. From then until about 0400 he grooved some housier tracks and kept the momentum building. And then, the oddest thing happened. Twilo was no longer hot, it was on fire; and yes I mean the literal definition. It was a pretty insignificant fire but as soon as smoke started to permeate, Twilo management informed each and every attendee that the building had to be evacuated. So, in the early hours of a cold March 31 morning, Twilo street was suddenly filled with hoards of sweaty clubgoers as the fire department came and inspected the building. It was not at all convenient but this is not to say we didn't have fun. Soon after the evacuation, an uproarious cheer could be heard from the parking garage across from Twilo. Some folks had decided to leave in their car and were playing disk 1 of Digweed's GU019 Los Angeles. As soon as the first beats of Pole Folder & CP's "Apollo Vibes" were heard, the masses encroached upon the car and surrounded it. Digweed wasn't spinning inside Twilo but everyone was still listening to him through the speakers of a Volkswagen Jetta. It was definitely a beautiful sight.
After almost an hour, we were allowed to reenter the establishment. I would love to say that Digweed lit the place on fire with this repeated pounding sets but I am not sure what caused the fire. Regardless, we were back in the warmth of Twilo and Mr. Digweed himself was on the microphone. He thanked everyone for attending the last four years and gave his sentiments about Sasha not being able to attend. Then, the lights dimmed and we were back in business.
The first track following the evacuation was unbelievable and from there until when he ended at 1100, Digweed laid down a set that I will always remember. I am not sure if he was purely reminiscent or simply prepared his record boxes for the fourth anniversary but there were a lot of familiar, yet punishing tracks. If I am not mistaken, some of ones I heard were Way Out West's "The Fall" (Bedrock Mix), Fat Boy Slim's "Star 69" (X-Press 2 Mix), New Order's "Blue Monday" (Hardfloor Mix), Underworld's "Cowgirl" (Bedrock Mix), Jimmy Van M's "Sanctuary", Teimoso featuring Shelly Preston's "Riding", a mix of KC Flight versus Funky Junction's "Voices", Pete Heller presents Stylus Trouble's "Sputnik", Leftfield's "Not Forgotten", Luzon's "The Baguio Track" (Bedrock Mix), an interesting, yet moving Hybrid mix of Radiohead's "Everything In Its Right Place" and finally a mix of Kosheen's "Hide U".
But, there was one track I didn't recognize that really hit me hard. It was a track that had a man reciting the words to Psalm 23. It was the first time I've heard anyone spin the track and the reason that it connected with me is that back in January I wrote a review of his performance at Twilo and made the analogy of Digweed's set being like the story of Psalm 23 where one walks through the valley of darkness to reach the ethereal light. Whether or not it was a coincidence I will never know but that was definitely an interesting moment..
And so, another night at Twilo has passed and John Digweed has come and gone. But, this is not at all saddening because I can look forward to seeing him again in two weeks with Danny Tenaglia on April 14. I believe I can be fairly confident that his performance then will be like his performance last Friday and thus nothing less than pure brilliance.
John Digweed's new album "Structures Two" is out as of this past Monday. It includes 43 tracks in total where two of those tracks are continuous mixes. The first continuous mix is titled "Blissed Out Electronica" and is a blend of the tracks on the album and the second is a live set from Avalon in Los Angeles. The rest of the 41 tracks comprise "Structures Two" and the atmospheric direction Digweed has chosen for the second installment in the series. If you're coming back from a late night out and need to unwind or you're en route to work during the week and you need relaxing music this album is for you. The album is artisically strong as it focuses on the elements in the music rather than keeping the attention on the dancefloor. Check it out on iTunes.
