2
0
TOP100
0
8
SASHA
Style: Doggy
Best known for: My punctuality.
Tune of 2008: Myomi ‘Sun In My
Eyes (Paul Woolford MDMA Dub)’
(Southern Fried)
Producer of 2008: Veerus and
Maxie Devine.
First record you ever
bought? Rainbow ‘All
Night Long’
Weirdest thing you’ve
seen all year? The cat’s
penis... and it changed
my life.
Top gadget of 2008?
Blackberry Bold,
because I’m always on it.
Your year in five
words... Intermissions
CONSISTENTLY at the vanguard of dance music since
of light and sound.
his heady DJ beginnings in 1990, when he innovated
Most important
a unique DJ style at Shelley’s, in Stoke-on-Trent,
thing you’ve learned
Sasha has blazed a house music trail.
Never out of the Top 10 DJs since 1997, he returned
recently? After many
to the production fray in 2008 with the momentous
attempts, please don’t
‘Invol2er’ — a stunning mix of new cuts and mix vodka and Red
reconstructions of artists as diverse as Ladytron, Bull…
Thom Yorke and Apparat that still has DJmag reeling
from its mysterious majesty.
“I’ve been really blown away by the way it’s been
received, I’m not normally used to that!” smiles The production of ‘Invol2er’ also saw the Welsh Meanwhile, his label emFire went from strength-
Sasha. “It was a lot of work so it’s great to see people wonder embrace recondite studio techniques, using to-strength this year. Set up as an outlet for his
get straight into it.” found sounds and recorded audio from street scenes productions, the distinct sleeve art and techno-
Deliberately veering outside of his musical comfort in New York City to create an intensely spacious themed flavour of the tracks — such as ‘Who Killed
zone, the DJ/producer decided to work with vocals atmosphere. Drawing influences from Burial’s audio Sparky?’ and ‘Mongoose’ — saw his tunes crossover to
from the indie rock world to augment his 20,000 evocations of London, Sasha set out to capture new fans, and further blurred the boundaries between
leagues-deep excursions into electronic house. the sensations of NYC in sonic form, making for an progressive house and darker tech flavours.
“It was a conscious decision to cast the net wider, album as enjoyable as a listening experience as on a Collected in the double CD opus, ‘The emFire
looking to other places for inspiration for a more dancefloor. Collection: Mixed, Unmixed & Remixed by Sasha’, it
eclectic tracklisting. But funnily enough, the sound is proved one of the strongest sets of 2008. And there’s
a lot purer on this one,” Sasha suggests. The DJ gigs have continued apace, including a jaunt plenty more emFire goodness to come.
across the US with DJ amigo John Digweed. Touring “We’re gonna be releasing ‘Three Little Pigs’ off
A particular coup was securing Thom Yorke’s blessing the States with John on a bus again was “fantastic”, ‘Invol2er’, coupled with some new mixes, and we’ve
for a remix of solo track ‘The Eraser’, which appears while a set at the opening of Space this season was got four or five new tracks lined up, so we’ve got lots
exclusively on ‘Invol2er’. The Radiohead vocalist was “one of the best gigs of the year”. of ammunition for emFire,” says Sasha.
apparently so taken with Sasha’s treatment that he Indeed his resonance in Ibiza remains pronounced,
posted a video of Sasha playing it online. with Sasha scooping the award for Best Progressive Looking forward, Sasha ponders: “I haven’t really got
“Thom Yorke posted a video of me playing the mix House DJ in Lenny Ibizarre’s prestigious White Isle- a plan for my next big project, I’ll see how the dust
on his website and when I saw that I was absolutely based DJ Awards recently. And before the year is out settles after ‘Invol2er’. I’d like to do another project
buzzing. So we called him and asked if we could do Sasha will have played more US and Canadian gigs as like that in the future but maybe I’ll leave it a while.”
something official with it, and he was really into the part of his fall tour, touching down everywhere from Be sure that when it comes the next project from
idea,” Sasha froths. Dallas to Montreal, NYC to Toronto and Miami. Sasha will be similarly special. BEN MURPHY
042
www.djmag.com
DJ467.top100_7.indd 42 8/10/08 14:20:46
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228 |
Page 229 |
Page 230 |
Page 231 |
Page 232 |
Page 233 |
Page 234 |
Page 235 |
Page 236 |
Page 237 |
Page 238 |
Page 239 |
Page 240 |
Page 241 |
Page 242 |
Page 243 |
Page 244 |
Page 245 |
Page 246 |
Page 247 |
Page 248 |
Page 249 |
Page 250 |
Page 251 |
Page 252 |
Page 253 |
Page 254 |
Page 255 |
Page 256 |
Page 257 |
Page 258 |
Page 259