[b]He may not be the most fashionable artist in dance music, but there are few underground heroes as cherished and revered as John Digweed.
Whilst many of his contemporaries have involved themselves in everything from hair gel commercials (David Guetta), to concentrated Hollywood schmoozing (Paul Oakenfold) and playing gigs at the Olympics and Disneyland (Tiësto), Digweed has always adopted a more no-nonsense approach to both life and music.
Indeed, for more than a decade the man known to millions as simply ‘Diggers’ has transcended virtually every dance music fad, to remain one of the industry’s most enduring icons.
In an industry dominated by the anthemic and the obvious, Digweed is the master craftsman of subtlety; his sets are thought-provoking sonic foreplay, gradually building up and teasing the dancefloor, before bringing them to a drawn-out climax.
Although his status as the progenitor of progressive seems unlikely to be challenged, in 2005 Digweed’s sound is far from uniform. Browse over some of his recent set lists and you’ll find the likes of Swedish techno/house heroes John Dahlback and Eric Prydz feature strongly, whilst on his recent 'Fabric 20' mix CD techno artists Slam, Joel Mull and rising German minimal star Superpitcher, make appearances.
Clearly Digweed has found a new passion in minimal. “Taking stock of the music that’s been coming out of Germany in the last few years has been just amazing! There has been no shortage of quality music – it really has crossed a lot of genres in the DJing stream. It’s not unusual to have myself, Deep Dish, Danny Tenaglia and Carl Cox all playing a similar record, which shows the strength of a particular tune when you’ve got that diversity of DJs playing it,â€
