John Digweed has set such a high standard with his previous releases in the Transitions series, that it was always going to be hard to beat with Transitions 4. However, I think he might just have done it.
Don’t expect more of the same as Transitions 1 to 3. This one is an altogether more intricate mix, with no less than 22 tracks crammed in to its 73 minutes. And musically it is a darker journey as well. Digweed has cut down slightly on the uplifting melodies, and instead focussed on more bass-driven and percussive elements. The style still sits somewhere inbetween progressive and techno, but this time definitely leaning more towards the techno end of the scale.
Such is the level of layering of elements of different tunes that it is hard to find a single point in the mix where you can really say that you are only listening to one track. Now and then a familiar sound will drop in, such as Claude VonStroke’s remix of Plasmik - Pitch It, but it is not in the form you’ve heard it before, being accompanied by the bassline from another track altogether. As a result you are always kept on your toes, never sure of what clever edit or mash-up Digweed is going to throw at you next.
Highlights would be the first few tracks, which build almost imperceptibly while subtle layers of melody are introduced. Where one track ends and another starts I couldn’t tell you. This is progressive mixing in the truest sense.
And then the closing section of the CD, which features driving percussion with subtle yet sinister melodic elements and throbbing basslines driving you ever onwards, into one final epic 12 minute edit of Soliquid’s `Picnic Bugz’. John has created this edit himself by fusing together elements of the Original and Gone Wild Mixes, and the amount of energy packed into those 12 minutes is just unreal.

Track listing

1. Julien Parise - A5B (Mirko Remix)
2. Henry Saiz - From Empty Lands/Guy J – Geko
3. Jeff Bennett – In Spite/Kabale und Liebe & Daniel Sanchez – Mumbling Yeah (Loco Dice Tribute Remix)
4. Nightguy – Pretty Face/Henry Saiz – From Tangled Seas/Myers Briggs – Forever
5. Sian - Wear Your Scars Like Medals/Kim Runic – Suspicious Blue/Two Lone Swordsmen – Shack 54 (Jet Project Remix)
6. Plasmik – Pitch It (Claude VonStroke Remix)/Jamie Stevens - Keep Her Space (Smith & Selway’s Control Mix)
7. Jerome Sydenham & Tiger Stripes - Elevation (Ink & Needle Remix)/Guy J – Under Pressure
8. Pascal Feos & Marc Mirror – Rezolution/Spector – Mineral Drive (Jamie Stevens Remix)/Jörg Burger – Superpicture
9. Pig & Dan – Dreams Of Bells/Emmanuel - Parade (Original Mix)
10. Soliquid – Piknic Bugz (Original Mix)/Soliquid – Piknic Bugz (Gone Wild Mix)