Event
Heart Beat Presents SIGHA// TOKEN (UK)
► INTRO: This July is time for James Shaw. When you say “Shifted”, you have to say “Sigha”! So we are excited to announce, it is finally time for us to say “Sigha” in Saigon! James Shaw will headline the 27th installment of Heart Beat and everything just falls into place after Shifted, Henning Baer, Antigone and the likes. Our July instalment will be supported by 1DAN and of course founding father Chris Wolter. Visuals provided by Swedish Vietnamese Erol to top it all up.
You already know Heart Beat Saigon as the purveyors of techno in the past bringing you artist like Marco Shuttle, Etapp Kyle, Ed Davenport, Oliver Deutschmann Alex Bau and many more.
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:::::SIGHA▲ Token
:::::::1Dan▲ Batti Batti [ ]
:::::::: CHRIS WOLTER ▲ Heart Beat
:::::::::::VISUALS by EROL ▲ Heart Beat
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► NEWS: Early this year ‘Metabolism’ was conceived on Kriz! Token label. The LP marks James Shaw’s third release on our favorite Token label, following his singles Christ Figures and Our Father. Metabolism represents an arrival: the artist offers his definitive statement on a production aesthetic that has been in development over the last few years.
Shaw’s work as Sigha has always placed the listener at a centrifugal point that invites a clandestine hypnosis rather than an abject hysteria. Cavernous low ends fixed firmly and effectively in a mono space tether the music to the body, while exquisitely executed white noise patterns and crystalline pads warp and hiss around the stereo environment. This keen ear for distinction within the frequency spectrum acts as the central theme on the LP.
►SIGHA [aka – James Shaw] [aka – A Vision of Love = Sigha Live Show] LABELOWNER OF Our Circula Sound// RECORDING ARTIST ON Avian, Token, Blueprint CLR hotflush and many more) Sigha has been exploring the relationship between functionality & art in the Techno genre for some time now. James Shaw emerged out of London’s burgeoning post-Dubstep scene in 2009, a series of carefully executed releases offering early insight into the producer’s long-lasting preoccupation with intricate sound design & rich tonal finish.
At the heart of the artist’s contemporary work is the notion of process – of humanistic development & ritual catharsis through repetition. A binding component of Shaw’s artistic premise is an arcane spirituality – the restrained maximalism & cavernous depth of recent dance floor material draws as much from traditional places of worship as it does from the heady, Brutalist architecture of Europe’s finest clubbing spaces. Fixed at the base by booming low end, warping white noise signals pitch & bend about the sonic periphery and the rising, emotive leads that have since become a hallmark of his work, lift the music above & beyond the sum of its parts.
In tandem to Shaw’s craft as a producer lies notable skill as both a DJ and live performer. Sets channel the same unyielding energy as the artist’s own recorded work, shifting in equal measure between a phasing, elongated mixing style & moments of intuitive dynamism to build a powerful tension on the dance floor. Live shows see Sigha take many of the instruments vital to his production process on the road, tempering complex modular synthesis with a handful of carefully selected drum machines & FX units to offer audiences a cohesive & thoroughly modern take on the live Techno performance.
Over the years, well articulated alias’s have helped flesh out Sigha’s vision of a space where the romantic ideals of post-Rock & New Wave can exist in the same environment as driven, Industrial Techno, Noise & wide-angle Drone. As a A Vision of Love Shaw explored wrought iron mechanics on a two part series for Guy Brewer’s Avian label, and work as Faugust offered an insight into the artist’s more explicitly cerebral leanings with a collection of proto- Shoegaze recordings.
As Sigha, an alliance with James Ruskin’s legendary Blueprint label – sometime home to scene stalwarts Surgeon & Oliver Ho, bore a brace of expansive constructs drawing on a rich lineage of modern, propulsive Techno. A Series of Desecrations, released via the producer’s own Our Circular Sound imprint, is perhaps the most systematic refinement of his more overtly aggressive work – eschewing characteristic high fidelity recording processes in favour of a dry, caustic finish, painting a pure & unadulterated portrait of the genre as functional club fare.
Further releases via the Avian label hone in on this bipartite approach to production aesthetic. 2014’s The Purification Loops riffs on elements of Shaw’s most assertive work – driven, drum- machine hits providing the backbone of the recordings, while white hot noise blasts punch in & out of the arrangements. Furtive drones & careful use of reverb provide some juncture between this material and Techno Derivatives, released the following year on the label. The extended EP offers a more introspective examination of both the artist’s own discography, and the genre itself.
As the name suggests, the music draws on recognisable posits of the wider Techno canon – but looks to confound traditional ideas regarding form & structure. Kick drums are either buried fathoms deep in the mix, omnipresent & rolling – or simply non-existent, while synth lines warp about – eerie & disconnected, inviting a brooding sense of suppressed hysteria.
Most recently, Shaw has a found a home for his output as Sigha in the form of Belgian imprint, Token. In many ways, recent releases on the label Our Father and Christ Figures feel like a coming to bear of sorts – representing a rich and methodical distillation of the finest facets of the artist’s work. Born of the same powerful Romanticism & purgative ideals, but fiercely functional – the material bears all the hallmarks of an artist approaching a rich new creative plane.
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▬▬▬▬▬▬THE STARTERS, SIDE DISHES AND DESSERTS▬▬▬▬▬
►1DAN After cutting his teeth on the Leeds techno scene back in the Mid 90’s, Dan moved to London and was enveloped by the deep sounds of the Heart & Soul parties, connections were made through the legendary record store Eukotech and soon Dan was playing at Londons finest underground parties.
Fast forward; a relocation to Brighton and the infamous free party scene with local heroes Warm System and Positive Soundsystem.
After many years of honing his sound and learning the craft, his first release appeared on respected UK underground deep house label; Atmospheric Existence Recordings. This was followed up by a rash of releases on the Maltese label Batti Batti with support from DJ’s such as Jus-Ed, Huxley, Jay Tripwire, Fred P and many more.
More recently, collaborations with Bittersuite’s Jon ‘Griffin’ Gray have resulted in 2 releases under their Tales Ov Rossi guise with a 3rd marking the launch of UK label, DeepSystems hitting the shelfs and charts at the beginning of 2015.
2015 output continued with Batti Batti once again calling on 1DAN to contribute to the excellent Tribal Roots. soundcloud.com/1-dan
►CHRIS WOLTER hailing from Hanse city Rostock, with a very active scene, as we all have experienced these past years. At least 5 guests from the Rostock area come over to Saigon. Chris is already more than 7 years part of the Vietnamese culture and of course founding father (Papa) of Heart Beat. Releasing his signature sound on Heart Beat’s imprint with his latest techno release of Chanhy by night and “Scorpion” following “Bubi”. Made his debut in 2004 as DJ and in 2008 his first set in Vietnam during the Hanoi Soundstuff Festival. Now also performing and releasing under his Alias Phuc Long on HRBR a new imprint with BAX as head honcho. Listen here
►VISUALS by EROL – no light show will be needed, standing all night besides the DJ’s this one man live show called Erol produces the visuals that will entangle with the sonic typhoon the artist create and release. It is the Lightning going with the storm, the techno Viking god in person and hard NOT to get hypnotized by his creations.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬Intro Heart Beat ▬▬▬ this is the 27th instalment of Heart Beat, also known as the Techno crew of Saigon, enriching its scene with their selection of “ Underground Body Music”, in doing so as a promoter, sound system, tiny community and nascent record label. Heart Beat brings foremost the techno culture to Saigon’s nightlife by regularly hosting nights. Here you can hear international renowned and local talent play classic & grooving minimal techno. They just call it “underground body music” Heart Beat purveyors of techno already brought you names as Par Grindvik, Marc Romboy, Antigone, Shifted, Henning Baer, Marco Shuttle, Etapp Kyle, Ed Davenport, Oliver Deutschmann and many more.
LINKS HEART BEAT:
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬Intro Venue: The Observatory is a nightclub that is focused on underground (electronic) music and the culture[s] associated with it. Now operating from a new hideaway location with a great view on the skyline and Saigon river as well as a sunrise after party experience guaranteed. the ‘Obs’ is already legendary in the whole SEA region. Due to the selection of international guest that performed here and the late night opening hours, the first we might say heart beat did greatly contribute to.
