You can tell when Nick Warren's on the
decks. The music emanating from the man is that perfect club
mix of driving percussion and soaring musicality, bursting
out of the speakers, soaking everyone in melody, drenching
them in sound. On the floor, where it really matters, his
crowd experience all the peaks and troughs that make his music
so unique. Locking on early, you'll hear his deeper take on
house which morphs, as the club mood changes, into harder
territory, music for sweating and losing yourself to. And
at that point when the light are low, when smoke fills the
room and people are dancing on instinct, that's when the melodies
start to rise over the top, washing the worries and exertions
of life away, completing the club experience.
That's why Nick Warren is so respected, because he knows
how to truly work a club, to take a crowd high, then higher
again. That's what comes with vision and, just as importantly,
experience. Nick, a music obsessive who grew up on punk, reggae
and pop was, like so many DJs turned onto the power of house
music in the late 80s. Living in Bristol, he'd been playing
tunes for a few years before, running his own club night,
Wiggle, in the city with a friend and he took immediately
to this new sound coming from America. In 1990, a new house
club, Vision took the city by storm and in a perfect bit of
timing, he was offered the chance to play in the upstairs
room, spinning weird downbeat Balearic records and mixing
house with music by The Clash and Frank Sinatra. Catching
the attention of a group of guys who had their own band, he
was roped in to tour with them as their DJ when they went
to play America. The group was Massive Attack.
As their official DJ, he began working on music of his own,
even joining the Massive remixing team at one stage. At the
same time, people were beginning to notice this quietly-spoken
DJ from Bristol, the way that he really understood what made
people dance, yet never compromised his vision of what good
music should be. He started, unsurprisingly to get written
about in the dance music magazines. Here was someone, they
said, who could rock it with the best of them, yet who also
stood out as a person with their own unique style, mixing
straight up house with trancier material, throwing in breakbeats
to keep the flow going, playing the most up to the minute
music that somehow also reflected a rich musical heritage.
Joining up with another Bristol producer, Jody Wisternoff
in 1994 to form Way Out West, they recorded the seminal 'Ajare'
single together, a huge progressive house club hit.
Three years later, and with the duo now signed to Deconstruction,
it was re-released, this time breaking into the charts and
finally, the nation's consciousness. Then came 'The Gift'.
With a memorable hook line culled from an old hardcore track,
its mix of ambient soundscapes and breaks won it universal
plaudits, sending Nick and Jody onto Top Of The Pops and catapulting
Nick into the league of the superstar DJ. Their album, 'Blue'
took every single one of the pair's influences and shaped
them into a groundbreaking collection of tracks that stayed
in the CD players of the UK and beyond for a long, long time.
Nick was now travelling the world as a DJ, playing in Singapore,
Australia and eastern Europe, taking his sound to places that
he could have once only dreamed about going to. Liverpool
superclub, Cream offered him a residency in recognition of
his talent and in 1999 he recorded a mix for the highly respected
Global Underground mix CD series. At present he has just finished
recording a new Way Out West album with Jody for Deconstruction
and there'll be another Global Undergound mix coming out soon
as well. Nick Warren isn't for standing still, he loves what
he's doing too much for that, but you know that already.
Nick Warren Old Skool Compilation
Nick Warren Progressive House Compilations
1 - 3
Jody Wisternoff Progressive House
Compilations 1 - 3
Way Out West Progressive House Compilation
