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by Don Crispy
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Alexander
Coe aka Sasha makes up one half of DJ team Sasha and
Digweed
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Sasha
The prog-house legend spins at Womb while Peaches works her
magic at Vanity
A prince of progressive house,
new album in hand, drops in to headline Womb next Friday.
Tonight, meanwhile, sees an electro-punk goddess make her
Japan debut with a cameo DJ set at La Fabrique.
As one half of the Sasha and Digweed DJ/production team, Sasha
(b. Alexander Coe) came to be synonymous with the progressive
house movement of the ’90s. Through their Northern Exposure
mix compilation series, and their packed residency at New
York’s Twilo in the late ’90s, the pair brought
the sweeping, symphonic, and psychedelic elements of trance
to house music, in the process helping to forge the progressive
house sound.
But Sasha’s story goes back even further—like many
DJs, to the days of the legendary Hacienda in Manchester,
where he had moved in the late ’80s. Transformed by the
acid house movement, Sasha launched his DJ career, soon establishing
a residency at the influential Renaissance parties of the
early ’90s.
By 2001, Sasha and Digweed’s Twilo residency had become
so successful, with lines around 27th street, that the pair
embarked on an extensive large venue tour, dubbed Delta Heavy.
The first shows to put DJs on an equal footing with rock and
pop acts, the tour remains the high-water mark of dance music
in America.
Sasha has also proven a huge draw in Japan, performing before
10,000-plus at the 2002 Electraglide party. For his upcoming
Womb appearance he commands the highest ticket price for a
DJ this year—even higher than Junior Vasquez—although
Fatboy Slim should give him a run for his money next month.
While Sasha’s Electraglide set coincided with the release
of his last artist album, Airdrawndagger , the current appearance
for Womb’s Womb presents W event sees him just having
released a new DJ mix compilation, Involver, for BMG.
Airdrawndagger was a typically expansive set of prog-house,
but for the new disc, Sasha worked with tracks from varying
stylists including Felix Da Housecat, DJ Spooky and the Chemical
Brothers. Not a mix album in the pure sense of the word, Sasha
remixed the tracks with his own material, blending it all
together with vocal tracks, guitars and samples.
In an interview about the album with DJ Times, Sasha said
his future lies in production. “I want to use this project
as a calling card for production work, because in another
ten years, I can’t see myself on tour nine months out
of the year...”
Tonight, meanwhile, sees another special edition of Tokyo’s
leading electroclash party, Vanity. Launched last year by
Canadian Paul James, the event has been going from strength
to strength, with hundreds turned away from a recent installment
featuring the Nag Nag Nag crew from London.
James’s own electroclash band, Stockholm Filmgroup, recently
returned from a tour of China, which he says is currently
in take-off mode, just in time to begin preparations to host
electro-punk goddess Peaches for a special installment of
Vanity.
A celebrity DJ, rapper, producer, actress and pop icon, Peaches
debuted with Teaches of Peaches in 2000, and was then catapulted
from cult icon to global fame with the success of her work
on Felix Da Housecat’s 2002 opus, Kittenz and Thee Glitz.
More recently, she appeared in John Malkovich’s short
film, Hideous Man, alongside Iggy Pop, and she has also taken
her act on the road with The Strokes and The White Stripes.
Peaches’ second album, Fatherfucker, featuring new remixes
by Tiga and a duet with Iggy Pop, seems to have guaranteed
her position as rebel queen of the dance floor.
Womb presents W@Womb, Aug 13, 10pm, ¥8,000 (¥7,000 until midnight).
Tel: 03-5459-3939. Vanity@La Fabrique, Aug 6, 11pm, ¥3,000.
Tel: 03-5428-5100.
Credit: Womb
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