The
origins of Montreal born DJ-producer-incipient Teutonic legend Tiga lie to the
vague and troubling East, where he was weaned on the nefarious milk of the
notorious 1980s Indian club scene.“To the unforgiving eye,” he says of the
sybaritic night-kingdom,“a world of filth and decadence is revealed. For
example, I’m fairly certain that more than a few club owners had an unsavory
arrangement with the man who brought the folding chairs. I was at once appalled
and enraptured. After that, I had no choice in the matter.”
By 1990, Tiga had returned to Montreal,
prodigiously nightwise and unsatisfied with the existing local club scene
(calling it “the plumage of a bird I cannot bring myself to want.”) With the
help of a core group of friends, he began to throw a series of small parties
infused with the sense of dead-eyed ennui gleaned from a past littered with
acid whores and crazed Indian gamblers. Other innovations which Tiga introduced
to Montreal party culture include guest DJs, intense street promotions
featuring rival gangs of street acrobats, color flyers, multi-dj sets, and
leading the supplicant crowd through the innermost corridors of one’s soul.
It was this heady time of dizzying innovation and ravenous
sexual ambition, which culminated in the birth of 1993’s “Solstice,” generally,
considered to be Montreal’s first genuine rave. (A year earlier, a
hyper-prescient Tiga staged “Eclectricity,” the first online rave, a project
whose utter failure remains a source of bafflement: “It broke my heart, given
my views on diversity . . . I am, I feel, a very interactive person.”) Tiga has
since helped to orchestrate no less than ten major events, including “The Orb
Live,” “Pure,” and the very first North American appearance of continental
illusionist Jean-There.
 In 1994, Tiga bought DNA Records, a small medical data
concern, and parlayed it into Montreal’s premiere electronic music boutique.
“We’ve always believed in putting the customer first, from helping you find
that one minimal house record that will make your collection to offering
concerned looks as you wade through the enormous backlog of test results to
discover if you are in fact afflicted with a congenital disease.”
In 1996, Tiga privately sang about the death of actor and poet
Tupac Shakur.
That same year, the Montreal dance community found a haven for
the boldest feats of dance, where fools are in love with mystery and sex-valor
is prized above all else. Sona (meaning literally ‘Liar-dancer’) was initially
conceived of by Tiga and his two partners as “a perverse, jeering monolith,
because nothing is sacred anymore” but it has evolved into much more. In
addition to its place among the pantheon of urban groove centers, on weekdays
it rents out its facilities, at a very reasonable rate, to a local program
dedicated to teaching homeless men to dance properly (“I just think it’s an
important project,” Tiga said at the time).
In 1998, Tiga started Turbo Recordings as an outlet for his
wildman organ escapades but he soon found a host of other artists who were
willing to be paid to record for him. Turbo has released over 20 albums, 2
samplers, and 12 vinyl twelve inches as well as secured global distribution
with Prime, Intergroove and Caroline. Notable releases include Peter Benisch’s
“Soundtrack Saga,” Christopher Handlebar’s “To a Time of Asia” and Tiga’s own
“Mixed Emotions” and “American Gigolo”
By 2001, however, overwork and media saturation began to show
their strain, as evidenced by Tiga’s hysterical outburst at a fashion
photographer during a promo shoot:
“I’ll sit for your venal cigarette pictures, but I will not
indulge you in your game of ‘Eyes! Lies! Surprise!’ I dare you, coward—call out
your cloakmen! What are you waiting for? The truth?!”
Following a month spent riding horses and caring for his
voice, Tiga entered the studio with producer Zyntherius “Jori” Hulkonnen and a
singular vision: “electro, but mainly about my eyes.” The result, a searing
rendition of his former Mother Mio bandmate Corey Hart’s solo smash “Sunglasses
at Night,” challenged dancers and seduced critics alike, yet Tiga is coy when
asked about its impact, particularly in Germany: “’Sunglasses’ is a sinless
child, a gleaming medallion. But is also a trick, a trick of memory. You must
understand – on a whim, we revealed the hidden fire of Europe.”
But fires need tending and lumber. And so be advised of the
onslaught of Tiga-powered releases, both recent and forthcoming. They are his
craft, his life, his living craft-fire:
If “Sunglasses at Night” marked Tiga’s coronation as the
steely Wolf-King of Dance Mountain, then his remixes for the likes of Martini
Bros., Alpinestars, Linda Lamb, Crossover, FC Kahuna, Cabaret Voltaire,
Telepopmusik, Felix da Housecat, Fischerspooner, FPU, The Devils (Nick Rhodes),
and Danni Minogue have birthed his dewy-eyed heir, Darian. Says Tiga, “I have
also produced remixes for City Rockers, and singles for Turbo Recordings,
Intec, Drumcode, and Electrix with Mateo Murphy under the name TGV. I am also
the hidden hero of the ongoing NHL lockout. I will break the players’ will –
you have my solemn word.”
In 2003, Tiga took his conqueror’s tools to the streets, with
a heralded mix CD for !K7’s DJ Kicks series, and an ethereal reading of Nelly’s
“Hot in Herre,” which became a stalwart success and was subsequently licensed
in the UK by Skint (in the UK) and Warner Music (the GAS region). The video,
which can be seen at http://www.eyeballnyc.com/tiga, is a revelation of
neo-urban dazzle-do, courtesy of the puppet wizardry of Tiga’s brother, the
Lord of the Marionette (www.lordofthemarionette.com).
More recently, Tiga has been gracious enough to lend his
wind-shattering vocals to Richard X’s “You (Better Let Me Love YouX4) Tonight,”
as well as “Heartbreak/Ananda,” by Beyer & Lenk (Adam Beyer and Jesper
Dahlback), and Rik Stamina’s “Dancing Inside You.” His remix work on Alex
Kidd’s “Come With Me”, Neon Judgement’s “TV Treated,” Scissor Sisters’ cover of
Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb,” “Da Hype,” by Junior Jack and Robert Smith,
and Peaches’ “Shake Yer Dix,” and Soulwax’s “E Talking” comprises a merciless
Crimson Romance, lapping at the shores of eternity.
Tiga’s smash single, “Pleasure From The Bass,” a two-fisted
jackal that drew a line in the dancefloor sand, was released in 2004 on the
Belgian imprint PIAS, and left scores of club DJs desperate to pack Tiga’s
musical foxhole.
2005 saw mixes for Depeche Mode, The Vests, Moby, LCD
Soundsystem, Mylo, Philippe Zdar, Chelonius Jones, Drama Society, Thomas
Andersson and hundreds of others.
“You Gonna Want Me”, the smash duet with jake Shears of
Scissor Sisters fame is set to set the earth on fire in October……clearing the way
for….
Sexor, his full-length album of original material, is due
early 2006, and will sound the clarion call of an emergent Nation-Man.
http://www.gigolorecords.com
http://www.myspace.com/officialtiga
http://www.tiga.ca/
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