Clubs
www.list.co.uk/clubs
‘WE DON’T TWIST AND TURN WITH THE TRENDS’ Hitlist THE BEST DANCEFLOOR ACTION*
Tiga
✽✽ Beltane Festival Afterparty Keep it pagan and tribal as live musicians and techno/trance DJs go head-to- head after the fire ritual up Calton Hill. The Caves, Edinburgh, Fri 30 Apr. ✽✽ Pinup Nights Scotland’s bloggers join forces in DJ support of Glasgow’s biggest indie night, featuring local live acts Louise Against the Elements, Carmine and Kung Fu. Flying Duck, Glasgow, Fri 30 Apr. ✽✽ Chase & Status So it’s an early gig, but you’ve got one of the biggest D&B outfits (pictured) in the world playing live on a Saturday night and plenty of time to head out after. ABC, Glasgow, Sat 1 May. ✽✽ Keep the Tories Out Mayday Bank Holiday Special A clearly politically impartial post-Optimo bank holiday special, with Matias Aguayo (Kompakt) and JD Twitch. Sub Club, Glasgow, Sun 2 May. ✽✽ Kitty Kat Klub Bosco and Craig Moogroove welcome DFA’s Shit Robot for an electro- heavy bank holiday special. Universal, Glasgow, Sun 2 May. ✽✽ Numbers Yes, this lot again. But they’ve only just gone and booked the up and coming dubstep might of Joy Orbison, so who’s complaining? La Cheetah, Glasgow, Fri 7 May. ✽✽ Ghantin Hang onto your brain cells as Kanji Kinetic unleashes a full throttle bass insanity bomb. The GRV, Edinburgh, Say 8 May. ✽✽ Sick Note Saturdays Ably justifying their Saturday slot with a guest set from dirty electro specialists Filthy Dukes (Kill Em All). Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Sat 8 May. ✽✽ StepBack UK techno stalwart Jim Masters keeps the bass heavy at this intimate soiree. Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sat 8 May.
Turbo boost David Pollock talks to Turbo Records founder Tiga as the label takes over Pressure this month
I t must be a good position, to be so on top of your own game that one of the only things left to achieve is helping others to success. That isn’t quite what Tiga’s doing here, but his own label Turbo Recordings is no vanity project, and he’s as hands on with it as he is his multiple DJing commitments around the world. So what better way to introduce people to the acts you’ve signed over the years than to headline a massive touring show?
‘I’ve been touring for so long on my own this past year,’ says Tiga, born Tiga James Sontag in Montreal, Canada 34 years ago, ‘that doing a label showcase tour seemed like the best way to keep things interesting for me.’ For Tiga, that last year has involved promoting his second album Ciao! across the planet, particularly since its lead single ‘Mind Dimension’ has grown to be a bona fide dancefloor- defining track. Still, he should be used to it: ‘Sunglasses at Night’, ‘Burning Down’ and ‘You Gonna Want Me’ have all been there already.
‘I think we’ve been a consistent label,’ says Tiga of Turbo, which is in its 12th year. ‘That’s why we’re still around. We don’t twist and turn with trends. Our artwork, our identity, the artists we sign – there’s a common thread, a consistency to what we do.’
It’s not a bad run, for something that was originally conceived as just a way of getting out of running a nightclub, a job he hated. ‘The label was intended purely as a segue from the nightlife world to the life of a producer,’ he says. Initially concentrating on DJ mixes, Turbo was ‘clawing its way to legitimacy’ for the first few years
34 THE LIST 29 Apr–13 May 2010
– after all, running a small dance label based in Canada is hardly a way to go about getting noticed. It first came to wider attention around 2002, just as Tiga was gaining attention for his own music. Since then, he and Turbo have scored some respectable hits. ‘I was proud that we discovered Chromeo,’ he says. ‘That was a proper, old-fashioned A&R mission. It was more than just signing a finished product, it was seeing long term potential and being involved in the creation of an actual band. It happened the right way, and it’s been great to see them go on to big success.
‘Proxy’s another one. He was really plucked from the middle of nowhere in Russia. He’s a real genius in my opinion, the best of the post-rave genre, he reminds me of early Prodigy. Any time you can have the best on your label, that’s the ambition. And for me, he is.’ Sadly neither of this pair will be appearing here, but Boys Noize, Thomas Von Party and Zombie Nation (who Tiga records with as ZZT) will be representing Turbo alongside Pressure’s guests Riton, Slam, Sei A and more. ‘We’ve never had a record that’s really blown up to the extent that it’s transformed our situation,’ says Tiga, who is looking at starting work on his third album in the autumn, ‘but it’s worth it for the points where we create a cover we’re really happy with or a poster campaign which works out just right. This label has been a series of small victories, more than anything else.’
Tiga’s Planet Turbo Tour is at Pressure at the Arches, Glasgow, Fri 30 Apr.