Vol. 1-Northern Exposure [Import]

Amazon.com essential recording
The Rolls Royce of trance-house mixes, and every bit as cool as the polar bear on the sleeve, this first edition of Sasha and John Digweed's Northern Exposure sets is the tightest and most effortless of the series. With 11 superbly arranged cuts from the likes of William Orbit, Rabbit in the Moon, and the Future Sound of London, not one moment is wasted. The disc's flavor is decidedly organic and wholly evocative of all-night mountain raves or desert parties. Starting with the early-morning stretch of Keiichi Suzuki's delightfully sunny "Satellite Serenade," the duo swiftly build the tempo up to the breezy ambient plateau of Morgan King's "Free" before heading into harder house territories. The metronomic pulse and atmospheric chanteuse vocals of Fuzzy Logic's "Obsession" form an incremental crescendo with Orbit's "Water from a Vine Leaf." Being a condensed version of the European release, the closing salvo from Banco de Gaia's "Last Train to Lhasa" confirms the since-validated fact that these Exposure journeys have infinite potential; Sasha and Digweed are among the first DJs to create mix sets that tap into earthy, human emotions. It is precisely this unique flavor that will make you yearn for a dance floor, beach, or campsite, packed with deliriously dancing bodies. Yes, really. --Steffan Chirazi

Product Description
Mixed by Sasha and Digweed, 2CD'S featuring 22 Tracks by Fsol, Drum Club, William Orbit, Underworld, Banco De Gaia, Apollo 440 and More.

Tracks:

Satellite Serenade - Keiichi Suzuki
Cascade - Future Sound Of London
These Waves - Young American Primitive
Raincry - God Within
Out Of Body Experience - Rabbit In The Moon
I'm Free - MORGAN KING
Ultraviolet - Kites
Obsession - Fuzzy Logic
Water From A Vine Leaf - William Orbit
Liquid Cool - Apollo 440
Last Train To Lhasa - Banco De Gaia

Amazon.com essential recording

The Rolls Royce of trance-house mixes, and every bit as cool as the polar bear on the sleeve, this first edition of Sasha and John Digweed's Northern Exposure sets is the tightest and most effortless of the series. With 11 superbly arranged cuts from the likes of William Orbit, Rabbit in the Moon, and the Future Sound of London, not one moment is wasted. The disc's flavor is decidedly organic and wholly evocative of all-night mountain raves or desert parties. Starting with the early-morning stretch of Keiichi Suzuki's delightfully sunny "Satellite Serenade," the duo swiftly build the tempo up to the breezy ambient plateau of Morgan King's "Free" before heading into harder house territories. The metronomic pulse and atmospheric chanteuse vocals of Fuzzy Logic's "Obsession" form an incremental crescendo with Orbit's "Water from a Vine Leaf." Being a condensed version of the European release, the closing salvo from Banco de Gaia's "Last Train to Lhasa" confirms the since-validated fact that these Exposure journeys have infinite potential; Sasha and Digweed are among the first DJs to create mix sets that tap into earthy, human emotions. It is precisely this unique flavor that will make you yearn for a dance floor, beach, or campsite, packed with deliriously dancing bodies. Yes, really. --Steffan Chirazi

Album Details

Mixed by Sasha and Digweed, 2CD'S featuring 22 Tracks by Fsol, Drum Club, William Orbit, Underworld, Banco De Gaia, Apollo 440 and More.

Customer Reviews:

A Ballad of Trance.......2007-06-05

Sasha and John Digweed team up in compilling this novel album although it definitely has more of a "Sasha-feel". A ballad of soft trance that is best suited to lazy Sundays or post-clubbing come downs.

For the most part, the individual tracks and the set overall does not sound that outdated when related to the album's release date of 1997.

I like this album for its sheer creativity. It the album cover and title have any true purpose in conveying what type of setting Sasha and Digweed were going for with their track selection...chilly, untamed, and isolated...then they sure succeeded. I just don't understand why they decided to open with a track using a vocal clip of the BBC's premier documentary narrator, David Attenborough talking about the Amazon instead of the Arctic or Antarctic?

This review is for the single disc album with the tracks featured above. 4/5 stars.

LOVE.......2007-05-15

i loveeeeeeeeee this effing cd, but mine is scratched to hell and now i'm having a hard time finding it :(:(:(:(. This cd is soo sososo good; lots of good beats, and some relaxing songs and just an all around great cd.

Ten years on and still amazing..........2007-04-04

Wow....time flies...I've owned NE Vol 1 for 10 years....and it still doesn't fail to blow me away every time i listen to it. I own all the NEs 1-3 and Vol 1 is still the best. If you haven't listened to it....give it a shot and discover how timeless this S&D mix really is.... Also, I spent all winter listening to the NEs while snowboarding every weekend....it's the closest thing to heaven at 13,000 ft!!!!

Sunsets And Snow.......2007-02-13

Sasha and Digweed dip their pens into a dark and sultry ink for this lanky, lazy trance mix. It is almost as stirring as their harder house numbers, but without all of the thumping back-beats or aggressive propulsion. Inspired by daydreams and infused with liquid sighs, this album is an attempt at soulful transcendence.

Unfortunately, the record gets off to an almost aggravatingly slow start. The Suzuki number that kicks the disc off is about five minutes too long and features an irritatingly incessant chandelier-and-wind-chime jangling. A later track, "Raincry," succumbs to the deadly repetition of a monkish whine that, after seven minutes, starts to sound like a dying whale. The third track of the album is a Native American-themed chorale by The Future Sound of London; it's suitably sensual (think pan-flutes and fairy-whispers), but the mood is almost ruined by an escalating mish-mosh of weird electro-swoops and kinetic synth.

These minor mishaps, however, are all overshadowed and overpowered by the rest of the record, which is not nearly so twilight-toned. The sound coasts up higher through the angelic sparkles of "These Waves" and then dives down into the cool, murky waters of "Out Of Body Experience."

"I'm Free," "Ultraviolet," "Obsession," and "Water From a Vine Leaf" form the nerve-throbbing core of this record, and they are crafted and coalesced with S & D's usual fine eye for detail. The music picks up speed without losing its airy effervesence. Textured alto serenades, strobe-heavy splashes of sound, urging and sexual half-moans: it recalls bare feet kicking up surf around a beachside bonfire, sweaty and shadow-soaked club couches, or candle-lit house parties.

This delightfully dirty block of trance brilliance is followed by some last-minute theatrics (the up-and-down robotics and the silk-weave organ chords of Apollo 440's "Liquid Cool/Deep Forest Ice Cold") and a steady, patient, Indian-influenced come-down that recalls the life and lushness of the record without any of the awkward false starts. This trip may have a rocky beginning, but it ends, in true S & D fashion, with a dreamily perfect fade.

Earthen Organic Frost.......2007-01-11

If the phrase "heading South" implies a progression towards Hell, North would have to be the direction of Heaven. In 1996, Sasha and John Digweed certainly exposed us to a little slice of Heaven.

This album as a single unit was perhaps as influential on modern mixing as the duo's Renaissance: The Mix Collection was to the introduction of mixing itself. The mixing is flawless, but unlike the acclaimed Global Underground series' mixing, this was done by Sasha and Digweed themselves, not a professional studio mixer using 21st century computers - making the album all that much more special.

The track progression is seamless; I love the ethereal sounding beats mixing, melding, churning subtly together to form this astounding musical mosaic. The music is now eleven years old. 1996-2007. But it is as fresh, as seamless, as illusory and divine as it was in the mid '90s.

One thing to be said - for years, I owned the U.S. release (long after the UK release had been discontinued) and was ignorant of a second disc to this release. And I cannot convey to those out there with enough urgency that the second disc completes this epic journey, even though the first disc (North) could very well stand alone as a 5-star album and has for quite some time.

The second disc (South), never released in the United States and only limitedly available around the rest of the globe, matches the mysticism of the North disc. Yet it is so very different. While the North disc is a bubbly landscape of dreamy, beautiful and luscious ear candy melded into one long 11 part track, the South disc adds the balance necessary to call this a real trance album. There are solidified beats on the South disc, straight from the get-go. This disc has an icier feel to it, a bit more cryptic whereas the North disc feels somewhat organic and earthen to my ears. I love it. Phased vocals, beat crescendos and chopped inserts lay the foundation for the rushing peaks that the North disc lacks. The North disc still remains my favorite because it is a humble work of beauty, but the South disc feels a bit more like the perfect segue into the future Northern Exposure releases.

The biggest complaint with these masterpieces is that the songs sound too dated. NOT SO WITH THIS RELEASE. I promise that anyone, from an older ex-raver to the trance newcomer will find these songs accessible. This album surpasses that boundary which can snag some listeners' appreciation for the music.

If you want something truly historical, aurally divine, musically enigmatic and a work of technical genius, then purchase this album. Sell a kidney if that should be the prerequisite to getting the South disc. I have finally found the whole package, and I refused to review this album without having experienced it first in its 1996 completeness.

~Lex