Hailing from Bangor, Wales, born, Alexander Paul Coe on September 4th 1969, is DJ Sasha. He stumbled across electronic dance music at an establishment called The Haçienda in Manchester. He naturally gravitated to the sound of acid house, with it’s raw sound. He would make regular trips to Manchester, and eventually moved to Disley just outside of the city. It was around this era that he began to teach himself how to mix. It was a gradual rise to success for Sasha, as he struggled financially, whilst trying to maintain his career performing at low paid gigs. Fortunately, he landed a residency at the Hacienda, but decided to move on to a club named Shelly’s Laserdome in Stoke-on-Trent. His music was growing, in popularity and musically, drawing influences from Italian piano and acid house. Through his efforts, he landed a recording contract.
Moving on, in 1993 he crossed paths with John Digweed another DJ on the circuit. Together they released “Renaissance – The Mix Collection”. The single “Be as One” which he produced with Maria Nayler on vocals, peaked at 17 in the UK Singles Chart. Sasha eventually came to the attention of Ministry of Sound, who released the album “Northern Exposure 2”, this earned the Sasha and Digweed an international tour, which notably cemented and crafted the sound of trance. They earned themselves a residency at Twilo nightclub in New York City. It was around this time that Sasha produced remixes of Madonna’s “Ray of Light”, and also went on to score the PlayStation games Wipeout 3 and Gran Turismo. This was now the age of “superstar DJs”.
Following further international tours, and a successful album, the 2000s saw Sasha part ways with Digweed, and continue working on his own success. He released his sophomore album of original material, entitled “Airdrawndagger” in August 2002. It was pursuing another style of music, a less heavy and more ambient project. “Involver” was his following project, released in 2004, which was debated amongst the Grammy committee as to whether it was up for an award; unfortunately it didn’t receive a nomination.
Sasha’s career took all sorts of twists and turns, especially with his September 8th 2008 release, “Invol2ver”, which was more of a progressive house record. He is always voted into the top 10 DJs in the world in the DJMag each year, achieving the top spot in 2000.
Legends within the house scene don’t come often but Sasha is definitely one. Coming from as far back as the illegal raves in the hacienda day in Manchester’s derelict warehouses – to now, still going and still pleasing a new and even younger crowd to what he is used to due to house music finally breaking the walls down and falling into mainstream music.
With the elongated intro to get the crowd pumped and enough strobe lighting to make 4 Star Trek films, it’s clear who wrote the book on how to do today’s EDM/ house music. Best of all is, Sasha doesn’t “Drop the Bass” or anything of the ridiculous kind. Instead, he moulds his live intros into the next song and then mixes the rest of the music together – how it should be done of course. There aren’t any ridiculous noises that are considered cool, and there are some sampled vocals over the top of some of his shimmering beats.
A gig in which he celebrated the 20th year release of his essential mix showed that the guy has still got it and he isn’t afraid to flaunt it.
If you’re looking for a night of nostalgia, and to gain the feeling that you belong in the hacienda days, then a night at a Sasha gig is definitely for you.
SamMeaghan
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