When Melbourne based label EQ announced earlier in the year that they had invited Jimmy Van M to mix the tenth installment of their acclaimed Balance series, the response across various internet forum boards was probably typical of the state of progressive music in 2006 – fairly polarised. While half of those logged on expressed an enthusiasm reserved only for those DJs around the world held in the highest regard, the other half were not sure what to think, or in many cases didn’t even know who Jimmy Van M even was. With the past two Balance compilations being put together by Paolo Mojo and Desyn Masiello, two DJs who have risen to the top of the pile in recent years, pushing a housier, more upbeat brand of progressive sounds, the choice of Van M to mark Balance’s milestone of ten compilations is most certainly a nod to progressive’s deeper, richer sounding past.

Most progressive fans would agree, in recent years the Balance series has pushed past the likes of Global Underground into the position of the benchmark of progressive dance music. The fact that Van M has never mixed a GU, something that most of his contemporaries have, probably has as much to do with his reputation for being a little more forward-thinking than other DJs going around (something that unfortunately doesn’t generally translate to commercial CD sales) as much as it has to do with the fact that for the majority of his career, Jimmy Van M has been focusing on his work behind the scenes with his management company The Collective Agency (formerly called Balance ironically enough) and other projects – as opposed to focusing on building his profile as a DJ. With an impressive roster of artists, (TCA manages the US interests of Sasha, John Digweed, Chris Fortier and James Zabiela, just to name a few), building and overseeing such an organisation has been nothing short of a huge task, and definitely would probably constitute a full time job for most. “After focusing for so long on the business side of things I’m really looking forward to focusing on my DJing for while,” I’m told as we start to talk about the world of Jimmy Van M. It seems as Balance has chosen to look back in it’s choice to mix Balance 10, Jimmy Van M is now looking forward – literally.

If Jimmy Van M is an enigma of sorts in the world of progressive music, then he’s even more so to an Australian audience. His warm-up set for Sasha and Digweed at Welcome 2001 (held at Melbourne’s docks) is legendary. Ask anyone who was fortunate enough to be there, and most of them will tell you that he easily showed up the headliners that night. Later in 2001, Bedrock released it’s second self-titled mix compilation, with John Digweed giving Jimmy the big task of following on where he left off. What he delivered was two discs that almost perfectly represented the broad array of sounds and influences that progressive dance music was drawing from at the time. At the time it was a mix that made this budding jock realises that DJing was about dropping the right track at the right moment – not necessarily the newest track at any moment. Following the release of his Bedrock compilation Jimmy was set to tour Australia again, this time in a solo capacity, however in the days after September 11, 2001, like many other touring acts at the time, Jimmy was forced to cancel his impending Australasian tour for safety reasons. It was rumored that new dates had been scheduled for the beginning of 2002, but that tour never eventuated. From an Australian punter’s point of view it would be fair to say that with no follow up to the Bedrock mix, and no tour eventuating in the end, that it was the last that many of them thought they would hear of Jimmy Van M – which is why it’s also somewhat understandable that when Balance announce that Jimmy Van M would be mixing the tenth outing for Balance, some Australian punters were a little confused.

So just what has Jimmy Van M been up to in the last five years? Well firstly there was this “little” tour called Delta Heavy in 2002 which involved Sasha, John Digweed and Jimmy touring across the states for 31 dates. Normally the realm of a traditional “band”, Van M devised the tour much like a concert tour, with its own production, lighting, staging and visuals – something of a first of its kind for a group of DJs. A DVD was released earlier this year which is a must see for any progressive fan. Jimmy’s commentary is an excellent insight into his thoughts on electronic music, and also his approach to DJing and performing. In the DVD he explains that the name of the tour was inspired by ‘Delta Waves’ which occur in the brain, and ‘Heavy’ sensory moments created on the dance floor through the combination of sound and visuals (and probably a few more things…) While the fact that Delta Waves actually occur in the brain during deep sleep may be the cause of some amusement to some, after listening to a Jimmy Van M set you can understand exactly what he means when he talks about those “Delta Heavy moments”. It’s the combination of a DJ with an excellent ear for subtlety and progression, along with that uncanny knack of knowing just the right moment to drop that track that nobody knew they were waiting for.

With a career spanning 15 years, the opportunity to compile the tenth mix in the Balance series was an ideal opportunity for Van M to showcase some of the many influences and sounds that have shaped his sound over that time. Having grown up with close friend and fellow DJ and producer Sean Cusick, another DJ with a diverse ear for forward-thinking music, has had a major influence in shaping Van M’s musical journey to date he explains. The sleeve notes to Jimmy’s Bedrock mix talk of after-hours parties at his house in Orlando where he and whoever else was dropping by at the time would mix for hours on end. As another close friend and peer Chris Fortier notes, “Sasha and John [Digweed] would be there and Jimmy would play these records that were so whacked out and so different in the way they were put together. I really think they were influenced by those parties, thinking back now. I really think that was where it started. Their sets started getting longer and longer and they would be playing for 4 or 5 hours, and those kind of warm-up records, or records that would only be played at after parties or very early in the night when no one was there, were getting played later and later in the night, and that basically pushed the whole sound forward.” Sasha adds, “Jimmy helped trigger so much for me. From his vision to advance forward thinking music to his tireless efforts to make things happen, on every level. As a DJ his programming and taste in music has always been an inspiration.” With such glowing praise from his peers, perhaps it becomes a little more understandable why, despite the lack of focus and time he’s been able to give his DJ career in recent times, the impending release of a new mix from Jimmy has been a cause for such anticipation.

With such a wealth of music to choose from, it became clear after mixing the first disc that there may not be enough room on 2 CDs for what he had planned. “The first disc starts around 70 or so bpm, and makes it’s way up around 100,” explains Jimmy. “I knew that the other disc would be sitting around 124 to 128 bpm, but I realised that there was still so much music in between that I hadn’t managed to fit it, so I decided to do a more mid-tempo mix to kind of link them.” The outcome was an eclectic and moody mix across three CDs with music drawn from artists such as Bill Laswell, Brian Eno, Boards of Canada, Cold Cut, Aphex Twin, Cocteau Twins, Solieb, Ellen Alien & Apparat, DJ T, Booka Shade and 16 Bit Lotitas. Definitely not your usual progressive mix compilation, but that was always to be expected from both Van M and Balance really.

Earlier in 2006 Jimmy released his first production work for some years, collaborating with 16 Bit Lolitas to offer the first release on Oliver Lieb’s new label Monofleur. A deep, brooding track, Stereo Control reflects some of the influence that minimal techno has had on the progressive music scene in recent years. Do we have anything else to look forward to, well it seems we do. “I’ve done a new track with Nick Warren called One and Only [soon to be released on Hope Records and currently I’m trying to organise some studio time with a few guys when I get down to Australia, so we’ll see what happens, but hopefully something will come of that.” As hard as I try, that’s all the information he’s letting out of the bag at the moment I’m afraid.

As for what local punters can expect from Jimmy Van M this time around, if his Balance mix is any guide it could be anything – and I have a feeling that’s just the point. If you read any of the progressive leaning music forum boards after a Jimmy Van M set, one of the most common comments made is that he always manages to play his timeslot perfectly. Whether it be warming up the room for Sasha and John Digweed, or as the main event himself playing into the early hours of the morning (or even into the next day if you’re lucky enough to catch one of his after hours sets), he always manages to play perfectly for the moment – a skill that probably only a handful or DJing going around at the moment can claim to really have. But if he stays true to his intention of focusing more on being a DJ these days, rather than producing tours or managing other artists, then hopefully dance floors across the globe will be feeling a lot more of Jimmy Van M in the future.

Balance 010, mixed by Jimmy Van M, is out now on EQ/Stomp. Be sure to catch the man on his first Australian tour in 5 years this month:

Fri 13th Oct – Logic @ Empire, Brisbane
Sat 14th Oct – Famous @ Queensbridge, Melbourne
Fri 20th Oct – Sweetchilli @ The Cross, Sydney
Sat 21st Oct – Fibre @ Sugar, Adelaide
Fri 27th Oct – Metrocity, Perth
Sat 28th Oct – Velvet Underground, Cairns