TIGA at Circa (126 John), Friday (June 5). $15. circatoronto.com.
Each new release from Montreal electro-house kingpin Tiga comes with a press release more absurd than useful. For his newest offering, Ciao! (Last Gang/Turbo), he’s printed an “interview” in the CD booklet that gives fans a glimpse of the frustration he can inspire in music journalists. On his relationship with his fans, for example, he says, “My role is to descend from above, sprinkling the crowd with unimaginable spices, leaving them at the brink of Tex-Mexstacy.”
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See what we’re dealing with?
So why does the cheeky DJ/producer have no interest in playing the music publicity game?
“I’ve had a label for a long time, and I started really young,” an exhausted Tiga explains from Denver as he heads to the airport. “When you take a step back and see the overwhelming mass of generic shit that’s generated in the music business, you realize how senseless it is to add to that landfill. You also realize that none of it is even effective – it doesn’t even mean anything.
“Since I don’t think much of this stuff, I might as well have fun with it and amuse myself. The truth is, otherwise I couldn’t bear to sit there for 45 minutes and write a press release.”
Tiga’s never taken himself too seriously and has always played with parody, one of the reasons he collaborated with legendary trickster Gonzales (aka Jason Beck) on much of Ciao!, his second studio album.
“I was always intrigued by [Gonzales] from afar. I didn’t know his music that well or really get what he was doing, but I was very interested in him as a character and a personality.
“I remember reading an interview with him when something just clicked – I knew he was someone I’d get along with. We share a sense of humour, playfulness and adventure.”
The partnership also allowed him to focus on songwriting before beats – they worked out much of the material on piano and vocals first.
But don’t let this mislead you into thinking Tiga has made a pure pop album. Gonzales has definitely helped him channel his inner pop star, but overall Ciao! is club-ready dance music – exactly where Tiga belongs.
music@nowtoronto.com
