Tiga Albums (4)
What The Critics Say
In the wryly cheeky interview video "Ciao! Means Forever," created to correspond with the release of his second artist album, the preposterously pseudo-pompous Tiga Sontag affects a perfectly deadpan disdain to describe his aversion to touching musical instruments, explaining how he's "forced to use his voice" as his only means of musical expression. The impish Montrealer is in fact credited with co-production on each of Ciao!'s tracks (and, in one case, 808 "live programming," whatever that means) which probably gives the lie to that particular bit of eccentric-artiste whimsy, but in any case he's enlisted some highly qualified operators to handle much of the menial knob-twiddling here, mostly longtime collaborators and friends who just happen to include several leading lights of 2000s electro-house: the Belgian Dewaele brothers (better known as Soulwax and/or 2 Many DJs), Finnish producer Jori Hulkkonen (aka Zyntherius), Sweden's Jesper Dahlbäck, fellow Canadian Jason "Gonzales" Beck, and James Murphy of DFA and LCD Soundsystem renown. Tiga acknowledges their contributions in the liners with his allegedly well-known "false humility," admitting that without them he'd be "just another extremely funny guy who is amazing at football" -- but in all seriousness their generous and readily discernible input helps to make Ciao! one of the most assured and enjoyable electronic pop/dance albums, front to back, in recent memory. Of course, "seriousness" is hardly the point here: Tiga's lyrical and vocal approach (which is indeed quite expressive, a definite step up from his sometimes undercooked past efforts) makes sure of that, with a slew of tongue-in-cheek tracks playing on his self-obsessed, hyper-glamorous persona -- "What You Need," "Sex O'Clock," "Overtime," "Luxury" ("this is my reality but for you it's just a dream") and the quasi-novelty self-duet "Shoes," which plays like the missing link between the Kelly (Liam Kyle Sullivan) YouTube sensation of the same title and the Black Leotard Front's eccentric-erotic "Casual Friday" -- all with club-ready, bassline-driven funky electro grooves and squelchy acid-laced synths to match. The covers that dominated his earlier output are absent here, happily enough, though there are a few notable musical "borrowings," particularly on the album's more subdued and genuinely sensitive latter half: slow jam "Gentle Giant" (co-written with Murphy, and sung with Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears) cribs its hook (wittingly or not) from the Beta Band's "Dry the Rain," while the touching, lilting "Turn the Night On" compounds its '80s homage with a groove lifted directly from Joe Jackson's "Stepping Out," and a melody (and lyrical sentiment) that recalls Bowie's "Modern Love." But calling out Tiga's influences and sources (something that his covers have obviously done throughout his career) should in no way be seen to diminish what he, and his estimable crew of machine manipulators, have accomplished here: Ciao! is at once a tremendously enjoyable piece of dancefloor fluff and an impressively unified statement from a master synthesist of electronic pop pleasures. ~ K. Ross Hoffman, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Quebec DJ and artist extraordinaire Tiga introduces Sexor with "Welcome to Planet Sexor" before moving into the retro-dance sound of "(Far From) Home" that sounds like a cross between a funky version of the Cars, Queen, and T. Rex. The bass nestles into a deep groove early and from there the song shines, almost being impossible to screw up. Add in a nice, subtle piano and it is hard not to appreciate this tune. Tiga then moves to a slightly faster, dance-oriented format on "You Gonna Want Me." Here the tune resembles any retro-pop or electro-pop outfit like Controller.Controller or Franz Ferdinand without the guitar hooks but with plenty of hi-hat being used. Meanwhile "High School/Jamaican Boa" sounds eerily like early Depeche Mode with Tiga keeping the energy high and the beat infectious. Rather than relying on hard, punishing, and rapid-fire beats often associated with dance music, Tiga falls in line with acts like Fatboy Slim and especially Chemical Brothers with the rap-meets-electro rock of "Louder Than a Bomb," the Public Enemy classic. A few of these songs miss the mark, particularly the quasi-soulful and sultry "Pleasure from the Bass," which relies on a repetitive bassline. But it's his choice of covers that shows how he can mold some tracks into his own realm, particularly the version of "Down in It" by Nine Inch Nails that has the same industrial tones but doesn't opt for the hostile, angry, or angst-riddled delivery Trent Reznor excels at. And he also gives "Burning Down the House" by Talking Heads a similar treatment. As for his own material, Tiga gets the most out of ordinary electro-pop songs like "The Ballad of Sexor." The first true "dance" song comes along in the form of the seven-minute "Good as Gold/Flexible Skills" that closely resembles the opening to Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell," with a nice bass and a militaristic backbeat. And the closing "Brothers" keeps the intensity up with a no-nonsense tempo and a terribly strong backbeat that resembles a remix Tiga might do of a radio-friendly pop tune. ~ Jason MacNeil, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
When he gained a surprise hit in Europe with his jokey cover of "Sunglasses at Night" (produced with Jori Hulkkonen, as Tiga & Zyntherius), Tiga began receiving the kind of attention most techno producers don't want: mainstream attention. The campaign to rescue his underground reputation began with this edition in the increasingly essential DJ-Kicks series. His third mix album, it doesn't have much in common with the mimimalist techno and electro of Mixed Emotions (on his own Ultra label) or the throwback American Gigolo (another favor to the Gigolo label he'd blessed with its biggest hit single in five years of business). Tiga spends his time on DJ-Kicks digging deep into the dance underground, staying far away from the type of crossover electro that soon became more about fashion spreads than phono jacks, and quickly halted the momentum of true artists like Felix da Housecat, Christopher Just, and DJ Hell. An understated blend of tech-house with streamlined electro and occasionally a synth-pop nugget, DJ-Kicks aims for the mind instead of the gut and deftly hits its target: to avoid the present tense of contemporary musical trends and simply exist as great music. Easing the way are remixes from a trio of artists with the same viewpoint as Tiga's on the existence of electro as a blessing and a curse -- Detroit neo-electro heroes Adult. and Mo' Wax survivors Playgroup and DFA (the latter with a crucial version of Le Tigre's "Deceptacon"). Still, listeners will have to wait nearly an hour for the best (remix, that is), of Märtini Brös' "The Biggest Fan" by Black Strobe. By making sure any commercial impulses are subverted to the will of musical excellence, he's ensured he won't be forgotten by the fans; bring on the Tiga & Zyntherius cover of "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades"! ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
'Mixed Emotions: Montreal Mix Sessions, Vol. 5'
Release Date 2/6/2001
Tracks 39
Label Ultra
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Tiga's Mixed Emotions: Montreal Mix Sessions, Vol. 5 is a pensive brew of techno and house, new and old. The first of the two discs breaks out with the formidable minimal techno of Elias and Stewart S. Walker. The latter's "Cleopatra's Needle" is a driving force that sends the entire mix in an upward motion. Where most dance mixes suffer from the inclusion of cheery, trancy tracks to boost sales, Tiga stays true to form and pulls out only the best from his record crate. He is able to seamlessly switch gears from industrial-electro by Tomba Vira into DJ Hell's laid-back tech beats in just a few links. Not only does he exhibit a wonderful range of dancefloor tastes, but his ability to patch them together so succinctly is a testament to Tiga's success as one of Canada's and the world's best mixers. Though Mixed Emotions' first disc is wonderful, the true gem is the second disc of electro-funk. Featuring a pair of tracks from I-F, including the dancefloor hit "Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass," and more from Stewart Walker and Bergheim34, Mixed Emotions' second side is an absolutely brilliant mix of drop-beat minimal electro. Though all of the tracks were recorded in the latter part of the '90s, it's impossible not to feel nostalgic for the '80s. Reminiscent of old synth-pop from Human League and John Foxx, tracks like FPU's "Crockett's Theme" and DMX Krew's "End of the Night" extend the disc's reach way back and act as a definitive reminder of where this music began. ~ Ken Taylor, All Music Guide
