The album was announced in July 2002 with live performances of it scheduled for 24 and 31 August 2002.[1] The album was first released on 5 August 2002. It was released in the UK and Europe through Arista Records, a former subsidiary of BMG. The album was distributed in the US by Kinetic Records on 6 August 2002. The vinyl release of the album was given a variant album cover, with the full spike ball shown.[8] A digital download version of the album was issued on 17 May 2010 by Deconstruction Records. The album's single, "Wavy Gravy" was released on 19 August 2002 through BMG and Kinetic, and promoted by a remix contest held in 2003. The single charted on the UK Singles Chart at position 64,[9] and on the UK Dance Singles Chart at position 4.[10]
After a dozen or so years as a high-profile remixer and DJ, Sasha's premiere full-length album has an almost unfair amount of anticipation to live up to. After Sasha assembled a couple solid Global Underground mix CDs plus jaw-dropping remixes for the likes of Madonna, GusGus, and several others, Airdrawndagger sounds a bit anticlimactic by comparison. All his past work earned him the spotlight, but now that he has it he's not sure what to say. It suggests he's better stretching and dissecting other people's material than he is at writing his own. This being said, Sasha and co-composer Charlie May have an exceptional ear for the tension-and-release formula of trance music. Their crispness stays intact here, along with gorgeous production value, but there's a price to pay for all the digital exactness: sterility. Track for track, the CD strains for the visceral excitement that has come so easily elsewhere. As subdued as it is, "Mr. Tiddles" is a warm depth charge to start the disc. It at least succeeds in delivering an anthem, rather than going right for the rave-house glowsticks and 190 beats per minute. It takes the album some time to summon a consistent attention-grabber like "Immortal," which growls through the streets like Orbital in a hovercraft. Immediately following, listeners can finally feel the hairs on the back of their necks start to stiffen as the nine-minute centerpiece, "Fundamental," marries cinderblock beats, acid-soaked squelches, and an opulent synth-bell refrain that digs hard into the trenches of dance club aesthetics. This, and the two subsequent tracks of "Boileroom" and "Bloodlock," is the reason to -- yes -- buy the album. "Requiem" is a lush cloud of sequencers that reaches the twilight of the disc, owing its sound to mid-'80s Tangerine Dream as much as anything in the past couple decades. The two pieces that follow are not especially groundbreaking, but there's enough variety to prove that this is in fact a legitimate album instead of an overstuffed EP like his polished Xpander from 1999. Airdrawndagger has a sharp blade, and hovers with threat, but it takes almost half the album before it draws blood. For Sasha, it's the shape of things to come rather than a triumphant arrival.
Sasha, Airdrawndagger Full Album
Well, that's the reason I'm yelling at you, you plonker! I remember your early days, when you released the don't-call-it-an-album-nor-an-EP The Qat Collection. I remember when your style of club wax was termed 'epic house.' I dug your highfalutin' 13+ minute tracks. But me and thousands of my 'demo' have been waiting nearly ten years for your full-length debut.
When an ordinary person is recognised at a young age for doing extraordinary things it is easy to be misunderstood. Sasha a musician in every sense of the word, many have fallen into that media led trap in the past, but now at 29 years young he forges ahead with projects that will finally allow people to understand who the man behind the myth really is. As plans remain on schedule for his long awaited debut album due early 2000 on Deconstruction, Sasha will release the Xpander EP on July 5th 1999. The Xpander EP will shed some light into exactly where his studio production mind has taken him over the past few years and will show fans everywhere for what is to come. Complete with a remix of Orbital's "Belfunk" (which has been previously released on Northern Exposure 3), Sasha demonstrates a wide range of musical elements with 3 original productions "Baja", "Rabbitweed," and "Xpander." "Baja", a unique ambient track that was written in 1997 while he was spending time with Andy Page in Port Douglas Australia, is as he says, "...one of my most personal and favorite songs I've ever written. "Baja" was written on a portable studio when returning from a diving trip on the barrier reef, and it captures the essence of what it felt like to be under water." "Rabbitweed", a name derived from a computer program was written in his London studio in February 1998, and was designed with the sound system and the crowd at his monthly residency at NYC's Twilo in mind. The "Belfunk" remix and "Xpander" are the first two tracks that Sasha has done with Charlie May (previously from Spooky and is now Sasha's full time musical collaborator) and both productions were created at Sasha's new studio in his home outside of London. "Xpander" is already receiving regular play by Mr. Tong and if you want to know what to expect from Sasha's full-length album, these two tracks say it all. 2ff7e9595c
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