- Three years in the making Tiga finally delivers his debut artist album in "Sexor", and he doesn't disappoint. A passionate album with the fun-loving Canadian tackling themes such as lost love, depression and brotherly love (and all with those trademark Tiga phat basses), 'Sexor' is definitely one of the best releases so far this year, though it does have its flaws.
Nearly every track on the album features Tiga singing and one of the questions you should ask yourself before buying the album is: Do you enjoy the voice of someone who could have been an '80s power ballad star, had he been born in a different era?
After a Blade Runner-esque intro comes “Far From Home”, a radio-friendly blissful pop song (where Tiga harps on about how good his friends are) with a bass guitar that rescues it from being just an album filler. The song appears again later on the album (Speed of Sexor Reprise Mix) and is another example that Tiga clearly knows the recipe for causing ruckus on dancefloors.
The album is full of tracks that instantly show their class such as the recent single “You Gonna Want Me”, an altern8 cover and update of an acid house classic which utilises the help of Jake Shears from the Scissors Sisters. Other obvious standout tracks are the Public Enemy cover “Louder Than a Bomb” and "Pleasure From The Bass“, one of the best tracks of 2004 and a blueprint for any hopeful electro house producer.
Some might question Tiga's creativity given his penchant for covers but luckily he never gets them wrong, His cover of Talking heads "Burning Down The House" is a sleeping giant that will no doubt be seen on many compilations and in clubs worldwide very very soon.
On "High School", Tiga is at his electro pop best, collaborating again with Jori Hulkonnen (who co-produced his 2001 breakthrough "Sunglasses at Night"). Yet again the pair illustrate their considerable skill together in the studio and one would expect this track to be released as a single at some stage.
"Down In It", a depressing downbeat electro song and Nine Inch Nails cover reminds us that Tiga is not just a one trick pony while "3 Weeks" and "Brothers" (with its haunting hidden track "Sir Sir Sir") aren't disappointing so much as they are overshadowed by some of the other better songs on the album.
With so many highs on this album there was always going to be some lows. "Good as Gold" opens with the intent of Tiga pushing his electro house sound as hard it can go but it fails to go anywhere and for once, his voices takes away from one of the most menacing basses the album has to offer. Other disappointments include the pointless interlude "Who's That", which is an ode to Batman’s romantic interest Vicki Vale while "The Ballad of Sexor" is a piece of '80s retro gone too far.
The album "Sexor" with its eighties feel and '80s and early '90s covers is like a peanut butter sandwich with camembert cheese. Everything tells you it couldn't possibly work but then somehow it does and you have to wonder why it was never thought of before.
Tiga is just what 2006 needed.
Try "Sexor" first...and then the sandwich.