Line-up

Headliner
Sasha Last time in Athens: 1 year ago

Venue

Manko Athens

Leof. Poseidonos 110, Glifada, 166 74, Athens, Greece

www.mankoathens.com/

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Sasha biography

Originally from North Wales, Sasha is a DJ who burst onto the scene in the late 1980s. He has worked Madonna, Hot Chip and the Chemical Brothers, and he earned himself a Grammy nomination in 2004 for his remix of Felix da Housecat’s “Watching Cars”.

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.

Live reviews

Alexander Paul Coe, aka Sasha, is Wales’ contribution to the Electronic Dance Music scene, and damn is it a good one. Grammy nominated for remixing Felix da Housecat’s “Watching Cars Go By”, he has remixed tons of artists, from Madonna and The Chemical Brothers. Like most established EDM artists, his live sets are nothing short of epic. An inclusive light show that is perfectly synched with every track that flawlessly transitions into the next. He does a great job of building anticipation for the beat to drop by a continual tone progression that just repeats and repeats, and slowly builds upon this one tone repetition. This all leads to the fast-paced first track that erupts the huge crowd into dance. He doesn’t speak much, but really doesn’t need to. His sets are centered on his tracks, and they are more than capable of speaking for themselves. He includes the remixes he has done, in addition to his original songs. An hour long set usually results in the best dance time you have in a long time, and you leave completely knackered but with absolutely no regrets about it. There is even a point where the entire crowd is so deeply entranced by the music that everything outside of the tent disappears.

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