John Digweed is a DJ who needs no introduction and by now, neither should his Transitions series of CDs. Each instalment is designed to be an up-to-date snapshot of the sort of music John favours. He has a devout following amongst progressive music fans, in spite of the fact that quite often his music can be quite challenging to listen to. I think of his sets as being the musical equivalent of magic eye paintings. You listen and listen to what initially sounds like chaos, but suddenly the pattern of the music emerges and when you finally ‘get it’ – a thing of true beauty. It’s no wonder that John is such an influential artist and that his fans anticipate his intricately spun musical webs with such levels of anticipation.

The third volume in the Transitions series sees John Digweed move up through the gears with a more energetic release. It was apparently John’s intention was to create a mix that builds “that special kind of energy that you get in a club between 3 and 4am”, and in order to build momentum quickly and keep the energy bubbling along he’s crammed a massive twenty tracks into this mix. The cynics among us would say that not only is John playing techno these days, he’s actually mixing like a techno DJ! But I could hardly contain my excitement; after all, in my opinion this is exactly when John Digweed is at his magical best. But the question that I, and no doubt you, want answered is: “Has he achieved this?”

Things start off extremely promisingly as the intro Coma 1 segues into a wonderful track called Spheere. Dark melodies fuse with sensual bass lines to provide the perfect start. John’s choice immediately signals that this mix could quite possibly contain more magic than the entire Harry Potter series! And he mixes in the third track so beautifully that you’re halfway through the song before you even notice that it has arrived. It’s a piece of programming brilliance that has me quite stunned and even on my umpteenth listen it never fails to amaze.

The layering on this album is particularly impressive. The sleeve notes state that during the seventy five or so minutes on the album John is actually mixing tracks for longer than tracks are playing on their own. I can believe it. The first time you actually notice a discernable change in the pitch of the music is when he mixes in the fantastic Maferefeumeco which has a synth riff that sounds like it has been ripped straight off one of the tracks on Digweed’s original Renaissance release The Mix Collection that he did with Sasha some thirteen years ago. This sound is hauntingly familiar and at the same time it sounds utterly modern. Pure genius.

Suddenly the tempo dips and I hold my breath. The shimmering tech synths of Chest in the Attics join the party over a nervously skittery bass line, and the rolling motion of the music begins to picks up again. This is one of those tracks that, when heard in a club, you grab the person next to you, look deep into their eyes, grin like a lunatic and convey in one look, more than you could possibly say if you sat down and talked to them for the next three days.

So do you get the feeling that I’m enjoying this mix?

Up until this point, John’s choice of music has been as close to perfection as anything I’ve heard recently, and everything is pointing towards this mix being the complete package. As the halfway point is fast approaching, most DJs would probably choose this moment to increase the tempo, especially seeing as this is a supposedly peak time set. John however, actually chooses this moment to ease off the gas before commencing on what can only be described as a holding pattern. It’s as if he’s teasing his audience, making them wait until they’re at the point of breaking before unleashing that peak time Digweed music that we all love so much.

The mid section of the mix follows a familiar pattern – dark sounding, slow paced drums combine with dark bass sounds to give a monotonous rhythm, whilst minimal tech sounds bring occasional melodies into play. Almost every track has a long build, a small breakdown and a final build again before morphing into an almost identical track – or so it seems until you’ve really listened to this CD several times. Then of course the ‘magic eye’ metaphor comes into play, as you begin to see the inherent brilliance in the construction of this whole piece.

For the first ten or so listens, in fact probably more than that, I kept waiting for something to happen during the second half of the mix. It took me some time (a frustratingly long period of time actually) to realise that instead of quantum leaps in tempo, John is taking us on a far subtler trip indeed. From the wonderfully cheeky Genesis, past the brilliantly twisted Kore and on to the filthy rasping darkness of lowdown brittle, John mixes his sounds together with (as Dom Phillips once put it) “a rally driver’s cool” before unleashing the brilliant finale. And what a finale it is! But I’m not going to do the work for you and give the game away. If I did that, life might get a little tedious. My recommendation is that you should check it out for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.

Put aside your pre conceived ideas about this being a ‘peak time’ mix, because it’s not the epic journey that John may have taken us on two years ago, despite the early hints. In fact, during your first few listens you might even think as I did that John has missed the mark and spends far too much time playing ‘dirges’. It’s true that this mix suffers slightly from an over reliance on ‘serious’ tunes and could possibly have benefited from the earlier inclusion of some more ‘uplifting’ tracks. But the energy is undoubtedly there. Just keep listening for that intricate web of audio wonderment to reveal itself to you, as it surely will.