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Sasha troubleshoots into town for SW4
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| bobba lou |
Sasha will tell you that nothing should be read into the fact that both the name of his concept, the Spanish word "Fundacion" and the word "Bedrock" (the dance music entity championed by John Digweed) both have the same meaning. That is, 'foundation'.
The similarity exists only in the translation. And he's dead right.
While John Digweed's Bedrock stable encompassing his London residency, mix compilations and 12" catalogue has been firmly rooted at the centre of the global dance music scene as far back as we can remember, it's really only in the past 12 months that Sasha has taken concrete steps to create his own dance music legacy; having entered the brave, not entirely new but rather, not fully explored, world of digital mixing and thrown away his decks (although not literally in the pool as he once did in the past) for the much-talked about mixing console, the Maven and revolutionary software Ableton Live.
This year he has brought his Fundacion concept to no fewer than three cities, New York, LA and Ibiza with a fourth to follow and released the first compilation, fundacionNYC, in what looks like being another long-running new mix series. Along the way it would seem there has also been a shift in Sasha's musical direction and the odd battle with technology that is still far from perfect.
Next weekend Sasha returns to London for the South West Four festival where, in addition to his solo DJ set at Clapham Common, he will join John Digweed at the Brixton Academy for a rare back-to-back London performance.
With one week to go before his SW4 appearance we had a chat with Sasha to discuss his Fundacion residency in Ibiza, the possibility of a follow-up CD to his acclaimed GU Ibiza, his latest residency, the merits of old-fashioned mixing and those occasional computer crashes.
I wanted to ask you about how you came up with the name ‘Fundacion’, which is the Spanish word for ‘foundation’. Interestingly enough ‘Bedrock’ also means ‘foundation’. So, what's the story?
It IS interesting but I guess my thinking behind it was more like an art foundation; how artists use foundations to present other talents and present other artists. I’ve never actually had a residency where I’ve been inviting people to play with me so the idea was to host a night where I could invite my friends and new DJs that aren’t established and promote them. It doesn't really mean like a house.
OK then. So how is the Fundacion Ibiza residency on Thursday nights at Space going?
It’s good. We originally were going to split it up and do separate rooms but now Steve and I have joined forces on the terrace and we’re playing back to back there each time. Steve and I played together in Toronto a couple of months back and it just went really really well. It was the first time we’d actually played back-to-back and it just went off so we just decided to join forces instead.
I think when people think Sasha and Ibiza, your Global Underground Ibiza quickly springs to mind. Is it too early to ask whether there will be a Fundacion Ibiza CD following this summer residency?
Not this year but definitely in the future. I’ve started this series off in order to do things like that; to do CDs based on different residencies. There’s Ibiza, LA and Tokyo coming up in November so the next one will definitely be from one of those three places.
Hypothetically speaking, how do you think a fundacionIBIZA CD would differ from your Global Underground Ibiza both from a technical perspective in the way you put it together and also musically, since it’s been six or so years since the GU release?
Well things have moved on so I think it’ll be less proggy, more funky, a bit more electroey, stuff that probably reflects what gets played on the terrace. Housier, funkier.
The "Sasha build' was a definitive trademark of your sets prior to you DJing with the Maven. Some of your fans have commented that your sense of building is no longer quite as apparent but more ethereal. Have you or did you make a conscious decision to move away from that style of set?
Yeah, I think there has been conscious change in musical direction. I think I’m just playing stuff which is a bit funkier, a bit lighter, not so kind of dark and serious.
It just depends on the club. A CD is just literally a snapshot of that month with the little musical direction you take. I think the [fundacionNYC] CD really captures where my head’s been at for the last six months but I think already my sound has changed since I made that.
You rely on what records you get the month that you’re recording but then people kind of take that CD as a reflection of where you’re at so it’s hard doing them. Whatever direction you take, it’s like you’re sticking a flag in the ground and saying this is me.
It’s almost easier to do a double-CD because that allows you to show two different sides. Doing a single CD is very difficult because you kind of have to capture everything in one 70-minute mix which is not always easy.
On the Bank Holiday Weekend you’re playing at the South West Four festival in London with John [Digweed]and you’re playing back to back with him at the Afterparty at the Brixton Academy.Now that you're using the Maven and Ableton, how is playing back-to-back with John different to the days when you were both on decks, mixing vinyl and CDs?
Not just with John but with every DJ I’ve played with it has taken some getting used to. I mean just logistically with DJs that play with vinyl, I have to set my stuff up, which makes the DJ booth very big and then sometimes it doesn’t quite work as well. The DJs that I’ve played with that play CDs - it ‘s a hell of a lot better - but when I first started doing it, it was a bit tricky. Now I’ve been going backwards and forwards with different DJs for about 6 months and I’ve got very quick at mixing. I’ve got very used to mixing over the top of other people’s records with the computer and it’s starting to feel quite natural.
It’s still fragile technology and I’ve definitely had a few ball-ups, cock-ups in the last month, little sorts of technical things going wrong. I think the technology needs to become a little more user-friendly in order for people to really jump on it.
When I first started using the computer, I was just using it 100% while I was DJing for 4 or 5 hour sets, which was pretty draining. What I’ve found recently is that I’m enjoying DJing much more by going back wards and forwards between the two; playing CDs, then going back onto the computer for a bit and then going back to CDs.
There is a story from the past about a gig you did with John where a guy nicked off with some MDs of the set that he’d recorded after telling you that he hadn’t resulting in you throwing the decks into the pool.
I guess my point is that now that you’re on the Maven and Ableton it’s pretty unlikely that if that something like that happened again, you’d find yourself throwing your computers in the pool, wouldn't you say?
No definitely not!
It seems like you’re moving closer towards something which might be regarded as a live performance. I think you're not simply just mixing records anymore.
Well, It’s still a DJ set. I’m just using a different set of tools. I’m really nervous about people calling it live, people coming and expecting me to be completely remixing songs live. That’s not really what it’s about. It’s just an evolution of DJing, a fusion but first and foremost it’s a DJ set. I mean I can do some pretty good tricks, layer up four or five tracks at the same time, drop in accapellas and do fun stuff like but it’s still a DJ set.
The reason I ask is because every guitarist hates to break a string when they are performing live. So now, given that the way you DJ has changed, what is the equivalent to breaking a guitar string for you now?
Well you know, definitely things have gone wrong in my set. In the middle of a live set I’ve had things drop out probably 3 or 4 times, all for different reasons. One time a plug-in crashed the program and then the computer, another time the soundcard flipped out, another time we had a power surge thing.
I was just DJing at Dance Valley and I guess one of the files I’d been playing got corrupted somehow so you know it’s all kinds of stuff. But out of all the gigs I’ve been done it’s only a few times. It’s a problem I have to deal with but I always have CDs as back up and I’m ready to go to CDs as soon as something turns off my computer.
I don’t like it but you know a lot of the time it’s festivals where things go wrong because you don’t have a lot of time to set up. Whenever I DJ at a club I always get to go to the soundcheck.
So do you think the next generation of DJs who start off using Ableton Live or other digital mixing software without ever having messed about on a pair of turntables/CDJs can acquire other necessary DJ instincts?
I think you have to know one to understand the other. I’ve had to teach myself how to DJ again because I found that I was getting into certain habits with the computer that weren’t actually sounding that great. So it’s like I’ve had to teach myself how to make a set again.
Unless you know how to beatmatch and you know how to build a set with vinyl/CDs if you just start off with a computer, you’re really going to have a hard time building a set. I think you have to take the knowledge of how to build a set using CDs or vinyl and apply that to the computer otherwise you won’t get a very structured set
It’s almost like I’ve had to teach myself to emulate my vinyl DJing while playing on the computer and I have to keep checking myself to use tricks that I would use when I was playing with vinyl. It’s really hard to explain.
Finally, you mentioned earlier about your upcoming Fundacion residency in Tokyo. How many dates will you be playing at Womb?
Yeah I guess you could call it a residency. I’m going to be based in Tokyo for a month and hosting Womb for four nights, maybe five.
In the past two years Jeff Mills has had this type of residency at Womb and has invited different guests each week. Will you be doing the same?
Yeah I saw Jeff was doing that and I thought that it was a fantastic idea so when we talked about doing an Asia tour again I mentioned to the guys at Womb that I’d love to do something like that.
It’s going to be great. Hopefully I’ll do one big night on my own and then have guests on the other nights like at my other residencies.
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good stuff. |
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| DOOMBOT |
| Awesome interview. Thanks. :) |
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| [B-O-F-H] |
| Why do people insist on cutting and pasting content from sites when a simple link to such features would suffice? |
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| flavdave |
| quote: | Originally posted by [B-O-F-H]
Why do people insist on cutting and pasting content from sites when a simple link to such features would suffice? |
Actually I prefer when people post the actual article as long as they include the link to where they found it. |
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| bananas |
Cause TA design is warmer and closer to the heart than teh sites where the interview is originaly posted.
well that's my opinion, it's more relaxing to read in TA's background. |
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| PEZ68 |
| quote: | Originally posted by [B-O-F-H]
Why do people insist on cutting and pasting content from sites when a simple link to such features would suffice? |
If you have something specific to say about the interview, it's easier to quote.
Great interview |
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| ThomB |
| SW4 is gonna be a crazy time - cant wait to hit up Clapham! |
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| dj_bas |
god dammit what is this sash & diggers playing everywhere but la :mad:
on a semi related note...anyone know if luke chable is using ableton? |
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| ThomB |
| quote: | Originally posted by dj_bas
on a semi related note...anyone know if luke chable is using ableton? |
HRFQ : On the production side could you talk us through your studio set up, 'cos I think I read that you were a big fan of logic.
Luke : Yeah, just Logic and Ableton live that's it....end of story.
Yes |
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| dj_bas |
| quote: | Originally posted by ThomB
HRFQ : On the production side could you talk us through your studio set up, 'cos I think I read that you were a big fan of logic.
Luke : Yeah, just Logic and Ableton live that's it....end of story.
Yes |
do you think he's usin it in terms of djing? im listening to his kiss100 set and it sounds very abletonish. lots of sampling, re edits stuff like that |
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| ThomB |
| he wasnt when he and Dave Seaman visited Atlanta earlier this year - probably using in production mainly at the moment - I dunno - not really a Chable whore |
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| dj_bas |
| quote: | Originally posted by ThomB
he wasnt when he and Dave Seaman visited Atlanta earlier this year - probably using in production mainly at the moment - I dunno - not really a Chable whore |
fair enough
anyway enough of my thread jacking
still hate everyone going to sw4 :D |
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