Sasha

If iconism is the lifeblood of fashionable music, then Welshman, Alexander Coe, has been gnawing on its convulsing carcass for an epoch. The notorious demigod pseudonym he is most known for – Sasha - has long been synonymous with dance music’s holy trinity - DJing, remixing and producing.

Recognised as one of the pioneers of the 90s progressive house movement, Sasha was a predominant factor in the establishment of brands like Renaissance, Northern Exposure, Global Underground and The Essential Mix on Radio One. His chameleon attributes have also flitted between scoring console game and American TV show music to remixing such greats as Madonna and The Chemical Brothers. In 1999, he was bestowed with the Ericsson Muzik Awards ‘Outstanding Contributions to Dance Music’ accolade and, in 2004, secured a Grammy nomination for his reworking of Felix Da Housecat’s ‘Watching Cars Go By’. At the present time, he is the highest ranked British DJ in the world, according to theDJlist.com, a poll that is compiled with votes cast by the general strobe-loving public. That puts him above Cox, Digweed and Oakenfold. Basically, as credentials go, he has enough to keep him in socks and pants for the next millenium, or two.

Recently, from his studio in New York, he browsed with me through his most pressing of matters: his love affair with vinyl; the birth of his new baby label, emFire; and his feelings about the imminent homecoming event at legendary London haunt, Ministry of Sound.

‘Getting back into the studio and starting to produce again has been great’ he admits. This, he quantifies as the first time he’s ‘been back on a regular basis since Involver’, the breaks and progressive house compilation from almost three years ago. ‘It’s been great to get the music out and get a little imprint off and running’.

This is emFire, the label he personally founded in August of this year. It delivers a self-confessed combination of house, trance, and breaks. He makes no bones about the reasoning for the label’s timely arrival. ‘At the moment it’s just an outlet for me to put my own tracks out. It didn’t seem like it was worth taking to someone else because it’s a different world in the digital domain’. So far, emFire has released two of its opening trilogy pieces – ‘Coma’ and ‘Park It In The Shade’ – with the third – ‘Who Killed Sparky?’ – set to follow in January 2008. However, as Sasha rightly points out, these highly collectible, one-sided, laser-etched vinyls aren’t meant to compliment one another. ‘There is a sound to them that has some kind of continuity, but in terms of the actual vibes of the tracks, they’re all very different’. And it’s this diversion from any standard mould that Sasha is keen to continue on with as he doesn’t ‘want to define the sound of the label just yet’.

Despite it’s strinking market, Sasha openly entertains his desires for vinyl and sees the bulk of emFire’s sales emanating from limited edition 12inches. This is, he feels, is ‘the right thing to do. It’s an important thing to do’ and one that is keeping with a noble sense of autonomy. ‘It seemed that by doing it myself I would have more control. With vinyl there is a certain level of quality control that a piece of music has gone through that just doesn’t exist in the digital domain’. This ‘domain’, as he calls it, is one which bombards the recipient with choice and over-simplifies the process of issuing music. ‘Whereas, when you see a piece of vinyl you know that that piece of music is loved by the people whose hands it’s gone through. That’s why I’m still buying vinyl. There’s a trust level there’.

This step through the door of artistic direction was the catalyst for producing ‘a really beautiful concept for the sleeve on the record’. Working with design experts, Insect - the team recently associated with graffiti artist, Banksy - Sasha was able to retain the importance he placed on the ‘collectors item’ status. He wanted ‘someone on board in the art department who was really forward thinking and got the idea of doing a series of things’. At the time, he saw Insect as ‘really defining themselves’ and reveals that the work they returned ‘really struck a chord’ in him.

Now that two singles have been set free and another is near-ready to leave the nest, one eye is fixed on the horizon for Sasha. ‘We’ve got another load of music ready to go on it [and we’re] working towards the follow ups and the Involver record. I’m sure as we get closer to completing Involver - due for release next June - there’ll be more tracks popping out’. And just to whet the appetite’s of those die-hard Sasha loonies out there, how about this for an exclusive?: ‘If we can keep up some kind of regular schedule with releases, I think in the future we’ll probably get remixes of my tracks done and put together a compilation’.

Some expectant hand rubbing is also circling the ranks of Sasha’s army as they prepare for their prodigal son’s return to his rightful seat at the throne of Ministry of Sound. This is his first gig at the venue for a decade and, as he explains, the relationship he once had with MOS was indifferent. ‘That club was kind of part of what I was doing a while ago and then we parted ways for some reason. The club itself went off on a few different musical tangents and it didn’t seem like it was the right place for me in London for a while’. Some might question the logic, therefore, behind this unexpected appearance, whereas others would simply agree with his current view. ‘At the moment, with everything that’s going on with the whole King’s Cross redevelopment, it seemed like it was a good time to return’. But there’s more to the story than simple locality, the club’s beating heart is equally as important. ‘I haven’t had a set in London on a really great club system for quite a while now. The soundsystem at Ministry is fantastic. I’m just looking forward to getting locked into a long set’.

The extended set on December 15th is a meaty 5-hours and, as preparation, he shares the secret to maintaining a rampant dancefloor. ‘It’s a mixture of giving people what they want and teasing them a little bit. Not giving them everything they want at three in the morning’.

Once the DJing is over, however, he’s straight back to the other components in axis of employment - remixing and producing. But, as Sasha states, he’s wary of the dual-focused lifestyle. It provides a multitude of headaches as producing, DJing and remixing intertwine, ‘they do tend to eat each other. Whenever I tour too much my studio is neglected, whenever I spend too much time in the studio it’s hard to keep focused on my DJ set. Finding that balance between the two things is quite difficult’.

So perhaps this is Sasha finally admitting that he’s ready to call it a day. Not likely, he insists that the whole kit and kaboodle is still a huge part of his life and that he ‘cant imagine doing anything else right now’. If something were to come along that would defer his attention from DJing, he cites a big ‘maybe’ and then reassures ‘at the moment, I’m still fully focused’. Perhaps with a little bit of hardwork and overtime, he might even make a career out of this music malarkey one day.