Serotonality (1998)
10 tracks, 47 minutes (original CD release)
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Graham Wiggins gained the nickname Dr Didg while studying a DPhil in solid-state physics at Oxford University, where he became known for experimenting with the physics at play in his chosen instrument – the didgeridoo – in his spare time. He even invented a keyed didgeridoo and presented it on Tomorrow’s World with his square hairstyle. What a nerd. But then, of course, he was also the eponymous member of the band Dr Didg, one of the funkiest groups on the world dubtronica scene in the 90s, presented rocking out with his long hair and huge hippie clothes. A man of many faces, then.
The band’s whole focus is towards building up an almighty temple of groove, a sonic headspace in which trance-seekers can worship and dance. The didgeridoo is obviously at the heart of their sound, but it’s mostly used as a percussion instrument (a bit similar to beatboxing – didgboxing, maybe) and to interject its singular roars, which are drawn together in loops and form the basis of their sound. So, don’t expect deep Aborigine traditions here. Instead, there’s layers-on-layers of synths, drums, bass, guitars and horns creating something in the mid-space of funk, dub, jazz, house, techno and psytrance, often with a vaguely Egyptian-sounding lift to it too.
A weird brain connection for me on listening to Serotonality with fresh ears is its stylistic similarities to the techno-funk of the Jazz Jackrabbit soundtrack I wrote about months ago. My favourite track from the album, ‘Brand New Shoes’, with its too-funky-for-its-own-good groove and saxophone-synth lines, would fit right into that soundtrack, I reckon. I actually had to stop writing this for five minutes while I went a bit nuts to that track. Wonderful stuff.
In the early 2000s Dr Didg as a band slowly gigged less and less and eventually stopped being a permanent thing, although there were occasional reunion shows here and there. Wiggins carried on with his career as a physicist, co-writing such riveting papers as ‘Direct parallel image reconstructions for spiral trajectories using GRAPPA’ and ‘A 96-channel MRI System with 23- and 90-channel Phase Array Head Coils at 1.5 Tesla’ and helping to develop important technology in the field of biomedical imaging. I find it so impressive that someone can reach such high levels of achievement in such different arenas. When he passed away much too young in 2016, Wiggins left behind important legacies in medical technology and world dubtronica that will keep people living and grooving for a long time yet.
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