Northern Exposure captured the atmospheric, home-listening side of Sasha and John Digweed’s 1996 sound. Their contemporary club sets were tougher. One documented example is Soundsation – “Do You Feel It?” (Full Length Trance Mix, SOS 002): Sasha played it at Cream, Liverpool, before the album appeared and at Better Days/Good Life, Toronto, after its release. John Digweed then named it one of his favourite records of 1996 on Pete Tong’s BBC Radio 1 Essential Selection — Best of 1996.
This is evidence of music surrounding the Northern Exposure era, not a claim that “Do You Feel It?” appeared on the compilation.
Listen to Soundsation – “Do You Feel It?” (Full Length Trance Mix, SOS 002)
| Date | Event | What the evidence establishes |
|---|---|---|
| 15 June 1996 | Sasha plays “Do You Feel It?” at Cream, Liverpool | It was part of Sasha’s club sound before Northern Exposure |
| 27 September 1996 | Northern Exposure is released | The mix album documents the home-listening and after-hours side of the period |
| 28 November 1996 | Sasha plays “Do You Feel It?” at Better Days/Good Life, Toronto | The same record remained in Sasha’s international club sets after the album’s release |
| 27 December 1996 | Digweed selects it on Pete Tong’s BBC Radio 1 Essential Selection — Best of 1996 | Digweed directly identifies it as one of his favourite records of the year while discussing the Northern Exposure campaign |
The surviving Cream tracklist places “Do You Feel It?” at approximately 88 minutes. The timed Toronto tracklist assigns it at 58:40 to Sasha’s section; an independent tracklist archive also identifies it as track 11.
Both documented performances used the version then circulating: the Full Length Trance Mix on the scarce 1,000-copy SOS Recordings promo, catalogue 12 SOS-002. The publicly available SOS 003 and the licensed Stress Records edition followed later.
Sasha and Digweed later described the 0°/North disc as drawing on records they listened to after a night out, including music that was not suitable for their club sets. Their account of making Northern Exposure explains why the compilation should not be treated as a complete picture of what they were playing on club floors.
“Do You Feel It?” therefore supplies a documented piece of the parallel story: the club-facing progressive sound heard around the same moment. It was not necessarily the only such club record. What may be unique is the surviving evidence chain: dated Sasha club plays before and after the album, followed by Digweed’s year-end BBC selection while discussing the Northern Exposure campaign, plus a later Official UK Dance Chart entry. No other currently located public source assembles that same sequence of evidence.
On Pete Tong’s BBC Radio 1 Essential Selection — Best of 1996 on 27 December, Digweed said:
“1996 has been a great year for me… as well as that I’ve been promoting the Northern Exposure album in America and the UK, which has both been really successful. I think one of my favourite records of this year is a track by Soundsation and it’s called Do You Feel It?.”
Hear the actual BBC Radio 1 clip.
The wording establishes it as one of his favourites, not necessarily his sole number-one record. Pete Tong subsequently called it “John Digweed’s big tune of ’96” on the 7 February 1997 Essential Selection, adding that Digweed had been the only person with it “but we can all have it now.” Hear that subsequent broadcast.