Tiga Sontag is a character who likes to speak and create his truth, however it may manifest. He’s captured our hearts and moved our bo-days for over 10 years now and every record is a little more tantalising than the last. No doubt his latest offering No Fantasy Required will be the soundtrack to grinding bodies and finger sucking the world over – if Planet E and Bugatti are anything to go by – we’re in store for some seriously sexy times. The record – which is dropping on Australia via OneLove Records – will also feature the avant-garde Matthew Dear, insane house mastermind Jori Hulkkonen and my favourite vocalist ever Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters – who recorded his vocal for the record whilst wearing a thong on a boat. Done deal.
We spoke to the dance legend ahead of his album dropping this Friday 4th of March – coincidentally providing some perfect flirtatious bangers for your Mardi Gras weekend. When we jumped on the phone Tiga had just finished playing soccer. When asked who won he said “I love to play so much I don’t care who wins.” Thus, my chat with the perfect human began.
IC: What’s the ethos of No Fantasy Required?
T: I don’t really think there’s a clear philosophy to it or a real change [from the other albums]. I wanted the tracks to mean a little bit more, I wanted the lyrics to be a little more thought out – a little tighter. Just little modifications, there was no real large concept or plan. Sometimes I have a plan but it doesn’t really work out too much.
IC: I guess speaking of plans, the rumour mill says you planned to release the three albums as a trilogy – is this true? Does that mean this is the last of it’s style we’ll hear from you?
T: You know what the truth is – the record label wanted the beginning of the press release to say this was the conclusion of a trilogy but that’s totally not true. It’s the third record but I think there will be more – there’s no big significance to that. I’m not sure how it started. You know what it is? I think a lot of the time when you listen to music you think of more meaning than the person who made it. I make the best music I can at the time and then when I have enough of it I call it an album.
IC: Obviously a trilogy also insinuates that this is your send off – and that’s a bummer of an idea.
T: No there’s no send off – there’s no big dramatic farewell. It’s just a new record.
IC: I want to talk about your collaborations on the record. Lets start with HudMo.
T: Having interviewed him before I get the impression that he burns through work really quickly. That must have been a hectic process.
T: I work very quickly – for me it shouldn’t take so long. I think that most of the time if it’s becoming a real slog for me it means that it’s just not that great. I think that when you’re working with something else if you get the right chemistry and the stage is set it shouldn’t take more than a few hours to put something together.
IC: Do you see that in your signings at Turbo [Tiga’s label] as well – do you think that they emulate your processes? Do you use that skill as a label boss as well as a musician?
T: I’m like that in my decision making – that’s my philosophy in general but I fundamentally think that most people spend an enormous amount of time deliberating and thinking. I find that a lot of successful people, it’s not even that they’re super intelligent it’s that they’re fast and they trust their instincts. We all have a voice in our head that tells us what to do. If you don’t subvert it, if you don’t undercut it with rationale you can make decisions really fast. For me, if you’re head of a label – there’s so much music out there and sometimes you have to be like ‘yes-go!’ It’s not necessarily about technical precision – it’s about getting a feel. It’s not super complicated music, it’s really about a feeling. I had a lot of success early in my career – things like ">‘Sunglasses at Night’ and ">‘Pleasure from the Bass’ – were super simple and happened super fast. That reinforced for me that it’s all it has to be. Especially with dance music – if you have a feeling that’s kind of all you need. There’s no such thing as ‘next level’ for me. I feel like a lot of the time when people start getting really complicated with music it’s just a smokescreen for a core idea that’s not that interesting.
The other side of that is that I’m working with very talented people who help me – I can take a nap for an hour and someone work on compression or something like that so it’s important to remember.
IC: What would you say is most important to you in life?
T: The truth, the truth, THE TRUTH!
IC: Why the truth?
Because it’s all that matters. Everything else is air and noise. The truth never even hurts – it is what it is. The closer we can get to the closer we will get to being free. Any relationship you have, things you love or love itself revolves around truth. Even talking to you and it’s probably 20% bullshit because it’s press but I’m working to get to the truth.
Comments