John Digweed Preps “Structures” Mix Album and Makes Musical Magic At The Mayan

With the highly anticipated return this week of Electric Daisy Carnival, North America’s largest dance music festival, the City of Angels will be treated to plenty of big-name DJs and performers. We’ll be there to bring you the true tale of the festival featuring some of our favorite artists such as BT, Above & Beyond, Armin Van Buuren, LTJ Bukem and Sasha. But we got a jumpstart on all the upcoming action when we headed to the Mayan Theater, which again played host to the legendary sounds of John Digweed for one of his notorious midweek DJ sets.

“I love playing during the week because that’s when you get the real lovers of electronic music out and not just the weekend warriors,” Digweed told me just minutes before he was set to take to the stage. “It’s such a historic venue, and it has been amazing to be in the center of Downtown and just the vibe of being here on a Wednesday night. People are here for a certain reason and hopefully they’ll have a good time.”

Ever since I’ve been coming here, which was in 1994 or 1995, it’s been such an amazing crowd and every year seems to get better and better. I’ve done New Year’s Eve here for the last nine years, bar one, so that tells you how much I love LA!

The last time we were at The Mayan was for one of Lucha Va Voom’s always entertaining Mexican wrestling events, and while there was no bodyslams on this night, there was plenty of tribal dancing to Digweed’s throbbing beats. There are few DJs in the world that have the drawing power to pack a place like The Mayan as John Digweed can. The crowd always keeps coming back for more of his ever-evolving and energetic DJ sets.

“Right now, it’s kind of cool, groovy House music with some sort of good Techno thrown in too,” he explained of his sound’s current incarnation. “It’s Techno with emotion. I don’t play the hard soulless stuff. I like to play music that can move you.”

“The key with any sound is not to overdo it,” he added. “I like to mix up different genres within my set but when you do have that melody that comes in or that big record, it stands out, whereas if you just play one after another, they’ll all sound the same. There’s a key to how you program your music as well, so you can get the best out of those individual records and make them stand out.”

Digweed dropped some stellar new tunes for the faithful and was sure to treat us all to some exclusive selections from his forthcoming mix compilation, Structures. The album is out in the early part of July and is again being released on his long-running record label, Bedrock. It’s the perfect snapshot of the kind of selections that Digweed dropped at The Mayan and includes a couple of brand new original numbers and remixes with longtime production partner, Nick Muir.

“Yea, there’s a couple that we’ve been working on, so you’ll hear those tonight,” Digweed revealed. “We’ve been busy in the studio remixing lately as well, so they’ll be some exclusives tonight for sure.”

For John Digweed, the journey from becoming a respected DJ to premier producer and then label owner has been an adventure that has provided more than enough highs and lows. Like many independent labels, he’s weathered through the steady decrease in physical sales and a shift to today’s difficult digital era, but it’s a challenge that keeps Digweed’s passion and spirit strong as he must stay sharp at all times.

“I feel very fortunate that the fan-base that we’ve had with Bedrock over the years has kind of stuck with us,” he shared. “There was a difficult period for us a few years ago but I think it was hard for a lot of labels that were trying to adjust and figure out how to make some money."

I’m never going to get rich off running Bedrock but it’s something I really enjoy with a passion because it’s a chance for me to showcase rising talent that I really believe in.

During the course of Bedrock’s now decade-plus run, he has helped discover and nurture the talents of now established electronic music heavyweights Danny Howells, DJ Hyper, Steve Lawler, and Pole Folder alongside newer signings such as the fast-rising Guy J. It’s his keen ear for tunes and a willingness to showcase different genres of music that has made him one of the best talent spotters (and supporters) in the business.

“There’s no point in pulling the ladder up after you. If you do well, you want other people to come up and do well too because that stimulates the scene and makes things keep going forward,” he explained.

“If it was just the same five DJs over the last twenty years, it would be boring. But you look at the scene now, there’s so many DJs, so many producers, so many artists, all making some great music. That’s what is keeping this scene moving on and what excites me most.”

He’s perfectly captured that excitement over two discs on Structures, and as Bedrock always does best, he has given back to his fans in a big way with a documentary that will bring closer to John Digweed than ever before.

“The guy that filmed it has taken a different approach with it. Rather than just sitting in a room and doing an interview, he’s really thought about it and used different locations and visuals, so what I’m talking about kind of relates to the images as well. I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out as first, I thought he might be a little crazy but I was really pleased with it how it came out.”

As we danced among the masses who came out to rock The Mayan with John Digweed, it proved to be the perfect way to break up the work week. While there’s always something special about seeing a big electronic music spectacle, there was nothing better than what transpired on a seemingly random Wednesday night in Downtown, LA. Not when John Digweed is in town at least.

“I’d like to think they’re going to be feeling that sense of unity on the dance floor,” he described of people experiencing his DJ set.

I’m not playing to just one person out there, I’m playing to everyone. You can kind of tell that throughout the night as you see everyone slowly getting more and more linked together musically, so that’s what I really want people to come away from one of my sets.

“But we’ll see on the dance floor tonight,” he added before heading to the stage. “That’s what I enjoy most. I love playing to crowds. I really love that feeling of playing new music and getting that reaction as if they’ve heard it twenty times before. That’s the exciting thing for me, playing music and getting those reactions from the crowd week in and week out. Doing my radio show (Transitions), being a part of the record label and just getting to play music I love as well. I’m very blessed.”

Surf: John Digweed.com

Follow: twitter.com/djjohndigweed

Buy (July 12th): Structures

Photos & Video By: Smash LeFunk