A bedrock of house music: One of the dons of the U.K. house music scene comes to Boston

MUSIC

JOHN DIGWEED

Jan. 27

Axis

Were there any chairs at Axis, DJ John Digweed would have had the audience out of them last week. Bringing his successful Bedrock club night across the Atlantic from Britain (where it takes place in both London and the small seaside town of Hastings) and transplanting it into the familiar environs of Lansdowne Street, Digweed, a reticent performer, kept his eyes on his equipment even as he worked his young, 20-something crowd into frenzy of worshipful, happy hysterics.

JOHN DIGWEED

Jan. 27

Axis

The recently remodeled Axis space was arranged to privilege the DJ; he stood at the center of a row of equipment at the focal point of the new, terraced dance floor.

As a DJ, Digweed spins above-average progressive house music, full of rhythm, body and the occasional trance-like zephyr. His style, like many other house DJs, is continuous: only one or two segments stood out as pieces with at least a vague beginning and end, while the rest was a heavily overlapped stream distinguishable only to the attentive ear. Fellow DJ superstar and frequent collaborator Sasha calls Digweed "the best DJ on the planet," but if this is true it is more for Digweed's craftsmanship (evinced by his smooth layering) than for brazen originality or nerve. Still, he does have a showy side. For example, he made heavy use of Axis' headlight-like lighting effects to back up the rare musical climax.

Digweed was discovered after many years of obscurity, but he's currently one of the top DJs in Britain and indeed in the world, notably collaborating with Sasha both at their monthly co-residency at New York's Twilo club and on their successful mix albums Renaissance and Northern Exposure. As a solo artist, he's fared just as well. Under the Bedrock recording name, he released "For What You Dream Of" from the Trainspotting soundtrack and "Heaven Scent," both of which were hit singles in the U.K., while his mix albums under the Global Underground label were both commercial and critical successes.

Indeed, Digweed has been successful enough both in those collaborations and with his solo work to buy the club in Hastings where he performs regularly each week, and for which he still serves as a promoter.

That long history of involvement in the club scene meant that Digweed's age was almost jarringly apparent at Axis. While the 33-year-old soberly put away a slew of Heinekens and concentrated on playing his music, the crowd seemed nave and collegiate by comparison. Many seem to have been pleased simply to have an audience for their various tricks with glowsticks.

That a DJ of such global stature as Digweed attracted only this fairly average crowd is indicative of the difficulties of DJ stardom. He may have flown here to promote his latest double mix album, Bedrock (and indeed, quite a few songs from the night found their way onto his playlist), but listening to the album is nowhere near as fun as hearing him live, even if it's a good recording. Perhaps what the night proved was that DJs--more than any other kind of musician, perhaps--are not suitable to export by compact disc. Lucky thing they can afford airplanes.