   #copyright

Sasha (DJ)

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Actors, models and
celebrities

                              Sasha
   Sasha at a performance with Lee Burridge on April 27, 2006
   Sasha at a performance with Lee Burridge on April 27, 2006
                     Background information
   Birth name    Alexander Coe
   Also known as Sasha
   Born          4 September 1969
   Origin        Hawarden, Wales, United Kingdom
   Genre(s)      House
                 Trance
                 Progressive house
                 Electronica
                 Breaks
   Occupation(s) Disc jockey
                 Record producer
   Years active  1989 – Present
   Label(s)      Deconstruction
                 Boxed
                 Ministry of Sound
   Associated
   acts          Sasha & John Digweed
   Website       http://www.djsasha.com/

   Sasha (born Alexander Coe on September 4, 1969), is a Welsh DJ and
   record producer. Sasha began his career playing acid house in the late
   1980s and became a central figure in the development and popularisation
   of electronic dance music. He partnered with fellow DJ John Digweed in
   1993, touring internationally and producing a series of mix albums.
   Through their track selection and mixing techniques, Sasha and Digweed
   were instrumental in the evolution of progressive trance and house.

   Sasha has produced multiple UK-charting singles and has remixed tracks
   for such artists as Madonna and The Chemical Brothers. His remixing
   earned him a Grammy nomination for his 2004 remix of Felix Da
   Housecat's "Watching Cars Go By". Sasha's remixing and production often
   combine electronic genres, making it difficult for critics to pinpoint
   a single variety of music as Sasha's. This was most prevalent on his
   debut artist album Airdrawndagger, which surprised many critics with
   its unusual cross-genre style.

   Sasha worked with younger DJs and producers such as Brian Transeau and
   James Zabiela, greatly affecting their musical styles and techniques.
   Through his use of Ableton Live, Sasha helped popularise modern
   technological innovations among DJs who formerly relied on records and
   turntables. Despite the changing trends in electronic dance music,
   Sasha continues to attract crowds at dance clubs. As of late 2006,
   Sasha is on an intercontinental tour and gathering material for future
   mix albums.

Early years

   Sasha was born in Bangor in 1969, but spent most of his youth with his
   mother in the Welsh town of Hawarden. Sasha's early musical tastes were
   primarily Top 40 pop music, including bands such as The The and The
   Police. After an "idyllic childhood", he passed the entrance exam for
   Epsom Public School at age 17. However, he did not like Epsom and left
   before completing his A-Levels. Instead of continuing his schooling,
   Sasha moved to Bangor to live with his father and stepmother. Sasha's
   stepmother forced him to take piano lessons, which he disliked them at
   the time; however, Sasha ultimately found the lessons to be beneficial
   to his music career.

   Sasha became aware of electronic dance music through Manchester dance
   venue The Haçienda in 1988. Drawn to acid house music and the
   rebellious attitude he associated with it, he made weekly visits to
   Manchester and soon moved to nearby Disley. Sasha purchased many acid
   house records and began to teach himself how to mix. At a club Sasha
   frequented, a local DJ announced he was looking for other DJs to travel
   with him on a regional tour. Sasha volunteered and made his first DJ
   appearance in nearby Stockport. Sasha retrospectively said of his
   debut, "I'd never even touched a Technics: I thought the pitch control
   was the volume, I didn't even know where to plug my headphones in! I'm
   sure I was absolutely horrendous."

   Sasha soon found himself in debt due to the low pay he received for
   performances and the large number of records he bought. In order to
   finance his record collection, he performed at illegal warehouse raves
   in the Blackburn and Blackpool areas. With the assistance of another
   local DJ, Jon DaSilva, Sasha secured work DJing at The Haçienda. At The
   Haçienda, Sasha refined his ability to beatmatch and learned key mixing
   from DaSilva. Though he enjoyed playing at The Haçienda, in 1991 Sasha
   left for the club Shelley's in Stoke-on-Trent. There, he established
   part of his signature sound by mixing euphoric trance music with hard
   techno and emotional a cappellas. Because of his increased popularity
   and visibility at Shelley's, Mixmag featured Sasha as the first DJ on
   the cover of Mixmag, where he appeared under the headline "SASHA MANIA
   - THE FIRST DJ PINUP?". While continuing to DJ, Sasha began production
   on several dance tracks of his own. Sasha released his first single
   "Appolonia" under the name BM:Ex ( Barry Manilow Experience) with
   producer Tom Frederikse on Union City Recordings. After DJ-ing at
   Shelley's for several years, Sasha left his residency due to increased
   gang violence in and around the club. As a result of his growing
   reputation, Sasha was offered work in several London and Australian
   clubs. Instead, he accepted a consistent spot in the DJ rotation at
   Renaissance.

   Later in 1993, Sasha produced "Together", his first single under the
   name Sasha. "Together", which he produced with Danny Campbell for Pete
   Tong's FFRR, peaked on the UK Singles Chart at #57. With this success
   in hand, Sasha began a series of records for Deconstruction Records
   with the singles "Higher Ground" and "Magic" (for which Digweed
   performed a remix) as well as The Qat Collection with Frederikse and
   vocalist Sam Mollison.

Digweed era

   In early 1994, Sasha partnered with fellow Renaissance DJ John Digweed.
   Sasha and Digweed honed their DJ-ing skills, often performing in tandem
   and focusing on track selection and technical mixing abilities. Pleased
   with Sasha and Digweed's performances, Renaissance had the duo compile
   the triple CD mix album Renaissance - The Mix Collection and released
   it on the club's own Renaissance Records label. The album featured
   tracks from artists such as Leftfield, Fluke, and 2 Bad Mice, as well
   as original productions and remixes from Sasha and Digweed. The Mix
   Collection was released soon after Sasha's April 1994 departure from
   Renaissance. Following his success at Renaissance, Sasha was again
   featured on Mixmag with the tag line "SON OF GOD?", though he resented
   the accolade. After touring together for two years, Sasha and Digweed
   became "true superstars" with the release of their double CD Northern
   Exposure on mega-label Ministry of Sound. Around this time, Sasha began
   his recurring mentorship and partnership with fellow producer BT with
   the album Ima. As well as providing guidance for BT, Sasha produced a
   "euphoric" and "introspective" 42 minute rendition of the album for a
   second "bonus" disc. Sasha continued to advance his own production work
   by pairing with vocalist Maria Nayler to produce the single "Be As
   One", which reached #17 on the UK singles chart.

   In 1997, Ministry of Sound released Northern Exposure 2, Sasha and
   Digweed's next double CD entry in their Northern Exposure series. To
   support the album, the duo toured internationally, defining the sound
   of trance music in the late '90s. After extensive touring, Digweed and
   Sasha took up residency at New York City's famous Twilo nightclub,
   where they would often DJ for up to nine hours per night. In 1998,
   Digweed and Sasha released separate mix albums on Boxed as part of the
   Global Underground series, with Digweed's Global Underground 006:
   Sydney and Sasha's Global Underground 009: San Francisco, which drew
   from Sasha's experience of touring on the West Coast of the United
   States. That same year, both DJs formed their own record labels; Sasha
   created Excession Records and Digweed created Bedrock Records.
   Excession Records released fewer than ten records, the last of which
   was in 1998; however, this led Sasha to found the management agency
   "Excession: The Agency LTD." Excession remains a booking agency for
   many popular DJs including Hybrid, Nick Warren, Steve Lawler, James
   Lavelle, and Desyn Masiello.

   Sasha reached more mainstream audiences with his remixes of Madonna's "
   Ray of Light" and Gus Gus's "Purple" for their single releases. His
   success in pop music led to Sasha scoring the music for the PlayStation
   video game Wipeout 3. In 1999, Sasha and Digweed reunited in the studio
   to record their third edition in the Northern Exposure series: Northern
   Exposure: Expeditions. In addition to mixing and DJ-ing, Sasha joined
   Charlie May of Spooky to produce the Xpander EP, which many clubbers
   still view as "one of the greatest trance tracks of all time". He used
   the title track as a centerpiece for Global Underground 013: Ibiza, his
   second Global Underground release. Sasha continued his collaborations
   with BT on the track "Ride", which was released as a single on
   Yoshitoshi Records and on BT's Movement in Still Life. Soon after, he
   worked with Underworld's Darren Emerson on the single "Scorchio",
   Sasha's first charting single in four years. In between touring and
   producing original material, Sasha and Digweed released the mix album
   Communicate in 2000, prompting them to temporarily leave their Twilo
   residency in order to promote the album with a United States tour.
   Communicate had mixed reviews including Spin, who stated that despite a
   "few stellar moments, [Communicate] is ultimately a let-down".
   LAUNCHcast, too, described Communicate as "boring and lackluster" and
   that it "stalled in a monochrome world of dead beats".

   During the late 1990s, the increased popularity and visibility of
   "superstar DJs" led to the creation of superclubs such as Cream and
   Gatecrasher. However, by 2003, the popularity of electronic dance music
   languished. The Guardian's pop critic Alexis Petridis attributed the
   "terminal decline" of dance music to its over-commercialisation by
   big-name DJs, such as Sasha, as well as their demands for increased
   fees for performances. Though dance music had been declared "dead" by
   many figures in the dance industry, Sasha continued to tour despite the
   closing of many superclubs, including his resident club Twilo in May
   2001.

Delta Heavy Tour

   After the closing of Twilo, Sasha and Digweed embarked on their
   ambitious Delta Heavy Tour of the United States in 2002. Featuring
   veteran tour producer Kevin Lyman and opening act Jimmy Van M, the tour
   covered 31 cities and played to 85,000 people. The appearances,
   complete with laser shows and video production, were more akin to rock
   concerts than typical DJ events. This was new for the DJ-ing scene and
   compelled other DJs to host similar concerts. A DVD of performance
   highlights, interviews, and behind-the-scenes footage was later
   released as Sasha & John Digweed present Delta Heavy by System
   Recordings. Ben Turner, creator of the DanceStar awards,
   retrospectively described the Delta Heavy tour as "a landmark moment
   for electronic music". Though the duo of Sasha and Digweed never
   explicitly split up, demanding schedules and frequent independent
   touring prevented them from substantial collaborative efforts for a
   long period after Delta Heavy.

Post Digweed

   In the later half of 2002, Sasha began collaborations with big beat
   artist Junkie XL on the single "Breezer." Junkie XL, along with Charlie
   May, also assisted Sasha on his first album of original material,
   Airdrawndagger. Airdrawndagger took several years to produce due to
   Sasha's desire for the album to be "as near to perfection as possible."
   A March traffic accident in which Sasha suffered a perforated ear drum
   further delayed the album's production. Though the accident temporarily
   impaired his hearing, Sasha drew inspiration for the album from his
   ordeal. Sasha managed to finish production on Airdrawndagger and it was
   released with much fanfare in August 2002. However, Airdrawndagger was
   "received with a lot of head scratching", as Sasha described it, which
   he attributed to the unexpected combination of genres. The album did
   not feature the heavier "club sound" of Sasha's previous mix albums and
   instead bore a closer resemblance to ambient music. Airdrawndagger
   generally received favorable reviews, though critics noted it for not
   being as consistent and well produced as his DJ mixes. Sasha himself
   described it as "a selfish, slightly self-indulgent record", though he
   maintains that he is still "happy with it to this day." Some critics,
   however, called it "sleepy", including E!Online who described it as
   being "more in league with Yanni than Moby". To encourage listener's
   interest, Sasha held an amateur remix contest for the album's first
   single, " Wavy Gravy". Because of the contest's success, Sasha released
   elements of all Airdrawndagger tracks on his website to be downloaded
   and remixed by fans.

   After the release of Airdrawndagger, Sasha took young DJ James Zabiela
   "under his wing." Sasha introduced Zabiela to the CDJ1000 and signed
   Zabiela to the Excession talent agency. The two toured the United
   States together, which extended Sasha's influence to already popular
   American DJs such as Kimball Collins.
   Sasha on stage with Charlie May of Spooky.
   Enlarge
   Sasha on stage with Charlie May of Spooky.

   Sasha signed with Global Underground to do another standard mix album
   in 2004, but he found the process of creating a normal mix album
   unrewarding. Instead, he decided to combine his production and DJ-ing
   talents for a mix compilation that resembled a "real" album – that is,
   one featuring original material. Sasha's next studio album, Involver,
   was "a fusion of mix album and production record", consisting mainly of
   Sasha's reworkings of tracks by other artists. For this project, Sasha
   explained that he "tried to take all the separate sounds to all the
   tracks [and recombine them], and it allowed me to mix the tracks
   together on a much deeper level." To accomplish this, Sasha sequenced
   the album using Ableton Live as well as Logic Pro.

   In 2005, Sasha produced his next album Fundacion NYC, which was based
   on his nights DJ-ing in New York at the Fundacion club nights. It was
   the first album to be mixed using Sasha's Maven controller, which he
   co-developed with Ableton. Fundacion NYC received positive reviews for
   its originality, though JIVE Magazine found it "too complicated for the
   ear". Sasha has commented that he is pleased with the album and plans
   on making an entire series of Fundacion albums. The next year, Sasha
   released 10,000 copies of a June 2006 DJ set for sale using Instant
   Live, making him the first DJ to use Instant Live's licensing and
   publishing services. While continuing to regularly DJ, Sasha is working
   on material to produce another Involver mix and the next Fundacion mix.
   Global Underground announced that Sasha's Involver 2 will be released
   in 2007.

   Though frequent performing kept them apart for several years, Sasha and
   Digweed announced that they would be reunited for a few Australian
   performances. In November 2006, the duo performed at several venues
   including Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne. Sasha's current tour has
   destinations in North and South America with several dates for a trio
   of UK performances.

   Sasha lives and runs a music studio in New York City, though he also
   maintains a house in London. He is married and brings his wife with him
   on his frequent tours. Sasha finds the constant touring to be
   physically tiring, though he feels that he thrives on it. While fans
   may regard Sasha to be a DJ "hero", he is uneasy with fame; Sasha
   considers himself "shy at heart" and is typically uncomfortable
   discussing his personal life. He has mentioned on numerous occasions
   that he is so busy with DJ-ing and production that he rarely has any
   free time. However, when Sasha does have free time, he enjoys watching
   football, cooking, and sampling the cuisine of the countries he visits.

Musical genres

   Sasha performing July 8, 2006 in Bucharest, Romania, playing
   electro-house.
   Enlarge
   Sasha performing July 8, 2006 in Bucharest, Romania, playing
   electro-house.

   Influenced by the early sound of The Haçienda, Sasha began his career
   playing acid house records. By the early 1990s, he had moved towards a
   more European house music style, though by the time of his Shelley's
   residency he had begun to experiment more with American house and other
   styles he described as "happy". His tastes further developed as he
   moved to Renaissance, and he began to incorporate the popular house
   music sounds of Moby, Spooky, and Leftfield. Sasha's second Digweed
   collaboration, 1997's Northern Exposure, was described as "epic house",
   and subsequent releases went on to feature the progressive trance sound
   of artists such as Sven Väth, Matt Darey, Tilt, and Armin Van Buuren.
   Along with his Xpander EP, his mix albums of the late 1990s were
   distinguished by their progressive house influence. In Sasha's constant
   rotation around this time were records by artists such as Space
   Manoeuvres, BT, and Breeder, as well as Sander Kleinenberg's single "My
   Lexicon".

   The 2000 album Communicate saw the duo's work move towards a deeper
   house music sound and featured tracks by Morel, Mainline, and Jimmy Van
   M. This shifted focus away from the melodic themes of previous releases
   in favour of a stronger emphasis on the bassline. The Delta Heavy Tour
   and Airdrawndagger marked a dramatic shift in style and introduced the
   influences of ambient and electro music to Sasha's work. These
   influences led to his use of strong melodies with minimal percussion
   and breakbeats on Sasha's artist album. Involver was primarily a fusion
   of breakbeats and progressive house characterised by UNKLE and Lostep.
   With 2005's Fundacion, Sasha's new style was mostly progressive house
   and electro-house tracks with work by James Holden, Tiefschwarz, and
   Swayzak. Because of his success with progressive house, Sasha has
   commented that he feels people try to "pigeon-hole" him into playing
   the genre. Rather than calling it progressive house, Sasha considers
   his most recent material to be between house, trance, and breaks,
   though Sasha has stated that he prefers not to associate himself with a
   specific genre of music.

Techniques and technology

   Sasha using Ableton Live during a July 15, 2006 performance at Panama,
   an Amsterdam nightclub.
   Enlarge
   Sasha using Ableton Live during a July 15, 2006 performance at Panama,
   an Amsterdam nightclub.

   Sasha attributes his success as a DJ to his technical skills and his
   ability to "connect with his dancers". During performances, he tries to
   maintain a balance between new and experimental material while ensuring
   "the party is still rockin'". His spontaneity carries over to studio
   work, where Sasha typically only possesses a vague idea of the
   tracklist for the album when he begins creating a new mix album.
   Because of this, his albums never turn out exactly how he expects them
   to.

   Sasha is renowned for applying new music technologies to his studio
   work and live DJ-ing. He and John Digweed used Pro Tools for mixing
   their compilation albums, unlike their live performances where they
   used turntables and records. For their remixes, however, they used an
   Atari ST (which was considered obsolete at the time) with Notator
   software. For recent albums such as Fundacion NYC, Sasha used Ableton
   Live for sequencing, partially on account of Pro Tools' higher price.
   In live performances up to the late 1990s, Sasha exclusively performed
   using records. Before he started using the CDJ1000, he had previously
   had his digital music specially cut to acetate before each tour at
   great expense. Once he integrated CDs into his live act, Sasha operated
   CDJ1000s with Allen & Heath mixers and FireworX. While he is now known
   for heavily utilizing audio technologies, Sasha was one of the last DJs
   to begin using CDs for live performances. Sasha began DJ-ing with
   Ableton Live in his live act as well, using it in tandem with
   turntables. Having exploring its functionality, Sasha found he could
   perform entirely through Ableton Live. He then co-developed the "Maven"
   controller, which he uses as a physical interface to the Live software.
   During DJ sets, clubbers often believe he is playing new, unheard
   remixes; in fact, he is often playing modifications of tracks created
   in Ableton. Sasha most often uses the built-in Ableton plugins,
   preferring their superior stability and performance over third party
   plugins. For the first public performance of Involver material, Sasha
   used a PowerBook running Ableton, but has since shifted to a setup
   including an iMac G5 and Ableton Live. Despite Sasha's insistance that
   Ableton Live allows for greater creativity and spontaneity, "vinyl
   purists" have accused him of taking much of the challenge and mystique
   out of DJ-ing by using software in performances.

   In addition to new DJ-ing technology, Sasha has found that the internet
   has greatly affected the way he uses and obtains tracks for
   performances. Formerly, he used to hunt through record shops for new
   records; now he regularly receives new tracks from producers and labels
   via the internet. These tracks, which number in the hundreds each week,
   are edited by Sasha and others for use in his live DJ sets.

Popularity and honours

   Sasha has remained consistently popular among dance music fans. He has
   been voted into the top ten DJs in the world by readers of DJMag every
   year since 1997, including finishing #1 in 2000, and #2 to partner John
   Digweed in 2001. At the annual Winter Music Conference, Sasha has won
   the "Best Techno/Trance 12"" award for the Xpander EP and "Best CD
   Compilation" awards for Global Underground: Ibiza and Involver. He was
   also nominated for "Best European DJ" and "Best Remixer". At the 1999
   Ericsson Muzik Awards, he received an award for "Outstanding
   Contributions to Dance Music". Sasha has been nominated as the top DJ
   in his genre every year since 2000 in the DJ Awards, but has yet to
   win.

   In 2005, the Grammy committee debated whether Involver was eligible for
   nomination as Best Electronic/Dance Album. The Recording Academy
   decided that the album was eligible, though Involver failed to receive
   a nomination from the full academy. However, Sasha did receive a Grammy
   nomination for his remix of "Watching Cars Go By" by Felix Da Housecat,
   which was featured on Involver.

Selected discography

   Albums:
     * 1994: Renaissance - The Mix Collection with John Digweed (
       Renaissance Records)
     * 1996: Northern Exposure with John Digweed ( Ministry of Sound,
       Ultra Records)
     * 1997: Northern Exposure 2 with John Digweed (Ministry of Sound,
       Ultra Records)
     * 1998: Global Underground 009: San Francisco ( Boxed)
     * 1999: Northern Exposure: Expeditions with John Digweed (
       INCredible, Ultra Records)
     * 1999: Global Underground 013: Ibiza (Boxed)
     * 2000: Communicate with John Digweed (INCredible, Kinetic Records) (
       Billboard 200 #149)
     * 2002: Airdrawndagger (Kinetic Records, BMG) ( UK Albums Chart #18,
       Billboard 200 #157, Billboard Top Electronic Albums #5)
     * 2004: Involver ( Global Underground Ltd.) (Billboard 200 #200,
       Billboard Electronic #1)
     * 2005: Fundacion NYC (Global Underground Ltd.) (Billboard Electronic
       #4)
     * 2006: Avalon Los Angeles CA 24/06/06 ( Instant Live)
     * 2007: Involver 2 (Global Underground Ltd.)

   Singles/EPs:
     * 1993: "Together" with Danny Campbell ( FFRR) ( UK Singles Chart
       #57)
     * 1994: "Higher Ground" ( Deconstruction) (UK #19)
     * 1994: "Magic" with Sam Mollison (Deconstruction) (UK #32)
     * 1994: The Qat Collection (Deconstruction)
     * 1996: "Be As One" with Maria Nayler (UK #17)
     * 1999: Xpander EP (Deconstruction, Ultra Records) (UK #18)
     * 2000: "Scorchio" with Darren Emerson (Deconstruction) (UK #23)
     * 2002: " Wavy Gravy" (Kinetic Records, BMG) (UK #64)

   DVD:
     * 2006: Sasha & John Digweed present Delta Heavy with John Digweed (
       System Recordings)

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasha_%28DJ%29"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
