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11 postsSasha plays a set at the DJ Mag TV studio in London to promote his new label. The mix includes tracks from Kwabs, Alex Niggemann, Walter Ego, Santiago Salazar, Luca Bachetti, and Caribou. DJ Mag:
Sasha is recognized as one of the worlds’ most innovative icons of the electronic genre, he was joined by Thermal Bear for a Last Night On Earth Label takeover
Sasha and Pete Tong play a back-to-back Essential Mix at Privelege in Ibiza. The set includes tracks by Deadmau5, Gardens of God, Sasha Carassi, Gui Boratto, 16 Bit Lolitas, Dubfire featuring Miss Kitten, and Maceo Plex.
Sasha records a podcast for Sunday School Sessions 7 ahead of the Electric Zoo festival in New York on Labor Day. Sunday School:
This week we’re bringing you an exclusive set recorded specially for us by a man who needs no introduction
Sasha announces his website launch:
So Finally here is my little surprise for you all…… I have launched a brand new iPhone friendly website at www.djsasha.com
Sasha is interviewed in Ibiza Voice about his new label, Last Night On Earth. He says the label isn’t intended for big releases but should help give a push to forward-thinking melodic house artists:
Well, we get sent a lot of music and I’m always digging around. Plus the guys who work for the label in London are always at weird warehouse parties in East London at 8am on Sunday morning, hearing the latest dope shit. They’re my ears on the ground.
As EDM has taken over, not being on the main stage any more isn’t a problem:
There was a time three or four years ago when I was playing music that I wasn’t 100% into and I realised that I didn’t belong on the main stage at festivals anymore. I felt that I needed to shift what I was doing at festivals and start to play music that was closer to my heart again, and that was around the time we started the label.
Sasha releases his remake of London Grammar’s Hey Now. It adds a progressive bassline and tech-house synths under the original’s female vocals.
https://plus.google.com/108031786033955191644/posts/EwPNXfm4AjA/
Sasha talks to Vice.com’s Thump site about the state of the dance music scene:
I really love playing in the UK at the moment. I think there was really a reaction against the big commercial sound, and people really enjoy going out and listening to underground music again. I think between the UK and Germany, that’s where a lot of the sounds are broken, and that keeps their scenes moving forward so well. No one is afraid of breaking the rules, because that’s the only way to innovate a sound.
EDM has taken over:
I think ten years ago, you would go to a main stage and expect to hear a house set, a techno set, all mixed up together, whereas the sonic relentlessness of EDM, there’s nothing that can work alongside it. It really is about the biggest breakdowns, the biggest drops and the biggest buildups … You know I grew up in the Hacienda where they mixed up De La Soul, hip-hop records, Italian house with piano breaks; it was one big, glorious mishmash. That’s how I learned to DJ.
While he no longer features on festival main stages there are plenty of options:
I think ten years ago, you would go to a main stage and expect to hear a house set, a techno set, all mixed up together, whereas the sonic relentlessness of EDM, there’s nothing that can work alongside it. It really is about the biggest breakdowns, the biggest drops and the biggest buildups. I just don’t fit in there anymore … the commercial end of it has gone beyond what anyone ever expected. You know, it did its thing in England and kind of died out, then America got a hold of it and went ballistic, but there are always those parties and those people making this scene unique. And those are the ones I focus on.
Sasha plays a set at Avalon Nightclub in Hollywood, spinning tracks from Kidnap Kid, Kerri Chandler, Audiojack, Dubspeeka, Eric Sneo, Daniel Avery, Ame, and Holy Ghost. Sasha:
Had a brilliant night playing with Doc Daneeka and it was great to be back at one of my favourite clubs.
Sasha tells Fabric London’s blog that if he could work with any artist, it would be Blondie:
She was my first crush!
On the dance music scene:
I think electronic music over the last few years has seen an explosion in new talent, and new artists – it’s really bursting at the seams with great music. Everyone’s come through and they’ve got their own sound and have built their own niches. It is always inspiring for me to hear although I don’t always have time – if I get a weekend off then I don’t go to a club I tend to chill at home on that rare occasion. But things like Miami, playing at festivals and Ibiza are great for me to get to hear what’s going on – and it’s great.
Sasha launches his label Last Night On Earth with the official anthem of the Ibiza International Music Summit, Cut Me Down featuring the Swedish vocalist Krister Linder. At the conference, he explains the song’s composition to an audience and hands over the parts of the track to Layo and Bushwacka, who remix it without hearing the original. The original and the remix are the first two songs on the new label.
Sasha plays a two-hour Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 using Ableton Live, believed to be the first live set by a major DJ exclusively using the software. It is also the first live broadcast from the BBC’s Maida Vale studios. Pete Tong:
For the first time we’re broadcasting the show live from the BBC’s famous Maida Vale studios here in London where everyone from the Beatles to Blur have recorded live for the BBC. What you won’t hear is any CDs or records but what you will hear for the next two hours is music reedited and remixed live on the Ableton Live software … this is a worldwide first.
The set starts out with a downtempo intro from Detroit Elevator Company and moves on to a progressive house sound with original tracks and remixes featuring Ian Brown, Gorillaz, Sasha, Timo Maas, Sia, Egg, M83, Moby and other artists.
