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When Sasha gets involved

19/2/2021

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Music is a kind of art, but not everyone engaged with it can be called an artist. We live in a copy-paste world, where one and the same idea goes on indefinitely, where instant tracks come and go faster than you manage to remember them, and where hyper-production is a reality where rarely anyone wants to spend more than a few months on creating a work. Alexander Coe is one of the few.
 
Much could be written about Alexander himself, but it is enough to google his nickname under which he became famous, and which he shares with millions of people of different nations and religions, to understand what greatness he is. The first page the search engine will refer you to is the one that mentions Sasha with the “dj” attribute in front of the name. I don't want to go any further and mention that he has been at the very top for more than a decade. There is no need. Everyone knows who Sasha is.
 
It is a difficult task to live up to expectations, especially if they are huge. After the legendary compilation released for the cult label Global Underground, GU 13: Ibiza, hordes of fans fell in love with the progressive sound in house music. Everyone hoped that every next edition signed by Sasha would be even better or at least on a par with the famous "thirteen". A heavy burden.
 
If you pick up a disc with the letters "involver" written upside down (or maybe Sasha is written upside down?) And look at the list of tracks on it, nothing will attract your attention too much. Yes, you know who the performers are, you've heard their tracks before, but… Only ten tracks were on the compilation. There is something wrong. And why there is not a single remix anywhere? You will find out the answer by looking a little better at the disc or by listening to it. Each and every track is remixed and behind every is Sasha's name, so the question is whether this is actually a compilation or a production work.
 
The involver opens Talk Amongst Yourselves, which is a great addition to the psychedelic ambience of Dorset Perception. The track signed by Shpongle, behind which are the big names of the psy trance scene Raja Ram and Hallucinogen, take you far from the clichés that were already present on the scene at the time, and which will reach their peak a few years later. These Days and What Are You To Me are so conceived that it is almost impossible to determine when one stops and the other begins. Later, there will be attempts by certain DJs to separate these two tracks and play them individually, but in the end it came down that these tracks are seen as mashup, although it never was.
 
The melancholy of the vocals emanating from the UNKLE duo was the starting point for Sasha to make his own vision of their production. Thus, two remixes were created for In A State, both signed by Sasha. One has a sad sound that is further enhanced by piano accompaniment with a slight calm. It can only be heard in a limited edition package as a single, and the other has found its place on the original Involver, with amazing cut vocals followed by a melody with high modulations. It is interesting that Sasha cut the vocals into countless parts and then started merging them separately.
 
Smile is one of those tracks that have an exceptional text and a very good concept, but which had their real success in someone else's vision. The drama line that Sasha brought into it, the gradual construction and the climax that is reached only after the seventh minute, make no wonder this track is in the middle of the compilation. After all, it was this track that initiated the construction of the entire Involver concept.
 
Spooky's Belong is just another track that was created a few years before the release of this disc and which Sasha dragged around his case at numerous performances, to finally shape it to his liking, in a way that fits as part of the puzzle which he composed over the years and eventually presented under the name Involver.
 
Phil K and Luke Chable, gathered behind the Lostep project, once sent Sasha their demo called Burma, and he privileged them with his remix of the track, including it later on this legendary release. Sasha once said that he fell in love with Burma at the first hearing, in the original version, but he still wanted to weave a part of himself in it.
 
The disc is closed by two creators facing a completely different target group. While Felix da Housecat built his name on Chicago’s new wave of house music, Ulrich Schnauss is one of the acclaimed producers in ambient environment. Sasha put them together in such a way that they link perfectly, bringing the disc to an end, leaving no feeling of incomplete. It is noticeable, from this perspective, that Watching Cars Go By had a great influence on future creators of electronic music, especially Marcus Schossow, who used the motif of a computerized female voice for his big hit Mr White even to the point of certain motifs and lyrics they almost coincide, so it could be said that Marcus actually made a sequel to this track. Sasha rounded off the whole story by inserting a sample of the legendary track Smack My Bitch Up, just to tickle the imagination. Switching from this to the last track is just a story unto itself. Sasha raised the beat from 132 to an incredible 560 bpm and then turned it to 140 to mix On My Own. What to say, it's Sasha!
 
Sasha managed to do a timeless work with Involver. One of those discs that you never get bored of and in which you can always recognize new moments. The release of the sequel has been waiting for a full four years. Electronic music forums are full of speculation when it will come out. As for me, Sasha doesn't have to hurry. The 2004 involver will be in my player for a long time.
 
Sasha - Involver
 
01. Grand National - Talk Amongst Yourselves 10:22
02. Shpongle - Dorset Perception 9:31
03. Petter - These Days 2:54
04. Unkle - What Are You To Me? 4:07
05. The Youngsters - Smile 9:33
06. Spooky - Belong 7:38
07. Unkle - In A State 5:39
08. Lostep - Burma 12:02
09. Felix Da Housecat - Watching Cars Go By 8:11
10. Ulrich Schnauss - On My Own 7:42
 
 
Text originally written on the 16th of April 2008 for Pulseone, a portal of electronic music

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The quest for silence

23/5/2012

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This is a story of the quest. The quest for a song. Nowadays it sounds weird, because everything is so easy to find with the Internet. But, twelve years ago it was a different era. It will be even more weird to realize that this particular track became a worldwide phenomenon.

It all started in the year 2000, when I caught a glimpse of a refrain, performed by amazing vocalist, which ended with the shout "I am free". I was stunned completely. When I found out the name of the track and the artist, I began my search in many cd shops in Belgrade. No luck. That track was still underground and very hard to find at that moment, especially because of the fact that electronic music wasn't represented that much in the stores in Serbia. That amazing music was in my head all the time. I used to wake up in the middle of the night hearing Sarah's beautiful voice singing about sinking in the white wave. Like somebody put a spell on me.

One day I picked the movie from a local video store. It was Brokedown Palace by Jonathan Kaplan. I sat down and pushed play button. Classical way to begin with, black screen with some text. Out of nowhere, familiar voice begins "give me release, witness me...". I couldn't believe it. You can imagine my reaction, as I watched the film many hours later, playing the first scene over and over again.

I never felt that sort of obsession for a song again. And after so many years, I still think it's probably the best track in the history of electronic music. From the Enigma style original to countless versions, remixes and covers.  

There are many different opinions about the lyrics of this song and what do they mean. Like all great poems, it is good when you have the audience who will try to get their own impressions. For me, this is a song about the girl who is searching for a release of the pain that she feels. The pain is deep inside her and is haunting her. She is singing about a person who is in the heaven, while she is very angry and she feels in some way responsible for the loss of her loved one. The chorus at the beginning of the original version is called "Gloria in Excelsis Deo", also known as Angelic Hymn. That gives another argument that the person in the song has left this world and moved to heaven.

The second verse can be seen as a description of the reason why the person passed away. The words used in this verse are very close to the state of cancer (possessing... hungry still for more).  She feels like she is holding everything inside and she can't take it anymore. While you listen to the song, you can actually understand her pain and sense the gradation while reaching the refrain.

Many people tried to get into the lyrics of the song and most of them got confused about the refrain itself. What is the white wave? Of course, you can see it as a wave in the ocean, but it looks too obvious: she is drowning in the sea and she is getting close to see her loved one. When you look at the video for this song, the person is jumping from a cliff chained to another person, together diving into the ocean. The ocean is often associated with the silence.

My point of view is a bit different. To explain it, I would need a little help from science. The white noise is a combination of all frequencies of sound spectrum, in a way that it drowns all the other sound. For example, in medicine the white noise is often used to resolve problems with sleep. This phenomenon of white noise is often called absolute silence, where there is nothing else you can hear. If you try to talk, nothing will come out of your mouth, because the machine can catch the frequency of your voice and annul it. 

If you look from that point of view, the person in this song found a relief. She didn't find the substitute for her loved one, but she did found a way to heal her wounds. When I wrote this text, I had to stop and rethink: how can she heal and where can she find inner peace? I thought a lot, but it was right in front of me. Just hear the original version of this song. It starts with the Angelic Hymn, the religious chorus. Silence is behind the walls of the monastery...    


Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan - Silence

Written by: Bill Leeb, Rhys Fulber, Sarah McLachlan

Lyrics:
Give me release, witness me
I am outside, give me peace
Heaven holds a sense of wonder, and I wanted to believe
That I'd get caught up when the rage in me subsides

Passion chokes the flower, till she cries no more
Possessing all the beauty, hungry still for more
Heaven holds a sense of wonder, and I wanted to believe
That I'd get caught up when the rage in me subsides

I can't help this longing, comfort me
I can't hold it all in, if you won't let me
Heaven holds a sense of wonder, and I wanted to believe
That I'd get caught up when the rage in me subsides

In this white wave I am sinking, in this silence
In this white wave, In this silence I believe
I have seen you in this white wave, you were silent
You were breathing, in this white wave I am free

I am free...
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Ski jumping

9/3/2012

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I really dig ski jumping. It is a sport where skills and technique meets the great courage. You have to make a decision in a split second, whether you will land or try to fly for few meters more. If you fail in that decision you will fall. This is a sport in which science has a major role: the mass of the flying object, timing, wind, speed, air positioning, etc. The world record has changed numerous times and at this moment is 246,5m. Amazing!      

What is very strange is the fact that there are more competitors with the variation of my name than in any other sport. This is the list of some of the competitors in the last 10 years, many are still active:

Anders Bardal (NOR)
Andreas Kofler (AUT)     
Andreas Wank (GER)
Anders Fannemel (NOR)
Andrea Morassi (ITA)
Andreas Stjernen (NOR)
Anders Jacobsen (NOR)
Andreas Kuettel (SUI)
Anders Jacobsen (USA)
Andreas Aren (SWE)
Andreas Vilberg (NOR)
Andreas Widhoelzl (AUT)
Andreas Goldberger (AUT)

They are good because of their name, no doubt about it. :)
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