Welcome To Planet Sexor

Tiga's first full-length is finally out. Well, *officially* out: the promotional version of Sexor leaked last November and has been circulating since.


With the high expectations surrounding the album's release it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that it has already generated so much interest from both the music press and musically-inclined bloggers.

For my first certified article on Mirror Balls & Mirror Shades I will also be taking a stab at Sexor, now that the disc has reached store shelves, thereby verifying that "sexy lightning" does indeed "always strikes twice", as the disc's introduction indicates. Does imagination rule the nation on planet Sexor? Let's see…

My Heart Takes a Hit and then My Heart Hits Back
A number of Tiga's songs have been substantial hits over the last few years. "Burning Down", "Hot In Herrre", "Louder Than A Bomb", "Pleasure From The Bass" and more recently "You Gonna Want Me", to name just a few. All have been played to death by every electro DJ on the planet. Three of these made the "cut" for Sexor. So why was the Sexor promo met with such mixed emotions?

One could easily theorize that Sexor suffers from "The Reverse Album Effect": all of Sexor's best tracks were already being played everywhere well before the promo's leak. However, this doesn't mean that the songs are not as fine or not as pertinent as they were when we first heard them in the discos.

After all, Tiga's version of Talking Head's "Burning Down The House" was released as a hard-to-find promo in 2004 under the Petr Dove moniker. Why doesn't anybody seem to be putting it in the same bag as the other so-called "old songs"? Perhaps because the illusion that "Burning Down The House" is a fresh track remains intact.


The Speed of Sexor
It was natural for everyone to expect an unstoppable collection of dance floor thumpers, but what we got instead was a collection of club-friendly songs that always fell one step short of dance floor greatness… on purpose.

Tiga recently revealed in a BBC interview about Sexor that he "consciously took off some high energy tracks", because he "didn't want it to be too clubby."

The truth is that Tiga cleverly used the album format to veer away from his traditional approach, presenting us with an "electro-pop" album targeted at a larger, general audience. These new tracks, as they are presented on Sexor, would've been relegated to B-side status had they been released on vinyl without being severely reworked to highlight their club appeal. The fact that they remain "club-friendly" only underlines their incredible remix potential.

Furthermore, since the songs were written and recorded over a period of years in different cities and with different producers they bare no thematic resemblance. Normally this would've greatly endangered the cohesiveness of any album, but Tiga cleverly, if somewhat superficially, circumvented that particular setback by disguising a collection of unconnected songs as a concept album. This witty ploy ensured that even the most demanding listeners could feel comfortable with some of the albums lower points. After all, "filler" tracks are an expected part of every full-length.

That man is indeed a smart man.


A Bit Like Me, A Lot Like You
Sharing Sexor's production credit are Belgian brothers David & Stephen Dewaele, better known as Soulwax (or 2 Many DJs), and prolific Swedish electronic artist Jesper Dahlbäck.

If you listen to electro, then these names should already sound familiar. Otherwise I strongly advise you pick up Soulwax's Any Minute Now as well as Disarmed, from Jesper's DK7 project.

At any rate, both Soulwax's and Jesper's respective production styles are well harmonized with the album: you know who's behind which songs, but it all feels like a Tiga record.


A Song For Any Season
"You Gonna Want Me", the first single off Sexor, was released last year. Simply put, Sexor is worth its price if only to get your hands on this amazing piece of music. The song is incredibly catchy and features an amazing chorus by guest vocalist Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters). If you get it on vinyl, you'll find "Do It/Don't Stop" on the flip side, a nice mellow track which didn't make the cut for Sexor. The remixes are good, but not spectacular. The video, directed by Olivier Gondry (Michel's brother), is definitely worth a look and easily confirms that talent runs in the family.

"Far From Home", is an upbeat and catchy little ballad that instantly sets the album in motion. It will also be the object of Tiga's next single, which will feature a revamped, catchier (yes – it's possible) version of the song as well as a remix by ours boys from DFA. The "Speed of Sexor Reprise" version of the song that appears on the album is the only song that wasn't on the promo. It's quite similar to the version Tiga has been including in his DJ sets over the past months, and includes an incredible disco bass line and some driving beats.

"Louder Than A Bomb", a Public Enemy cover, and "Pleasure From The Bass" are the album's core songs. Both are instantly addictive dance floor smash hits, and are already considered electro classics.

I mentioned "Filler Tracks" earlier. With Sexor we only get two of those: "Who's That" and "Down In It". The former is a short interlude that seems to be an offbeat tribute to Prince's Batman soundtrack, and the latter is a version of a Nine Inch Nail song. Both are worthless pieces of junk that demand to be skipped.

Sexor features another ballad in the form of a melancholic anthem called "The Ballad of Sexor". The cheesy 80s wave clone "Sir Sir Sir" rounds out the album's mellow tracks.

"High School" and "3 Weeks" are both good-but-not-great songs. Perhaps they will reveal themselves to be the album's sleeper hits if they get the remix treatment. Their position on the disc, respectively "the 4th one" and the "one before the last one", confirm their unfortunate status.

I don't like "Good as Gold", a song about Tiga's girlfriend Tiala. It's ordinary and plain. Just before the holidays it was released as a 2x12", featuring a dub by Philippe Zdar (meh) and a "remix" by Morgan Geist (meh again…). If both these guys can't save the song then I don't know who can. I know its supposed to be an Italo Disco piece and if it qualifies as such it still does not alter the fact that the song is boring.

"Burning Down The House", as mentioned earlier, is a Talking Heads cover, and a good one too. The production has been cleaned up a bit since the vinyl release, which truly brings this little gem into the light.

The New-Wavish "Brothers" is perhaps the best song on the disc with its instantly addictive, emotional hooks about friendship and brotherly love. Oddly enough, it's the most Soulwax-ish track on the disc.

"Move My Body", a hectic rollercoaster ride of a track aimed at electrifying dance floors, is NOT on there! I'm the first to admit that I'd very much like to get my… err.. ears on that fantastic song, but it would've definitely been out of place on Tiga's "electro-pop" Sexor. Nevertheless, let's hope "Move My Body" resurfaces soon…

Finally, those who don't care about such things as booklets and jewel cases will benefit from an added bonus. If you obtain Sexor from certain music download services you will have access to an extra track called "Type Of Guy". It's one of those "too clubby for Sexor" tracks, and it's not bad at all.


I Was Never Meant to Be Without You
Sexor is a fun ride, so why not get on. If you don't like it that's fine too, although make sure it's for the right reasons and not because you didn't get what you expected.

Tiga has been surprising us for years. Why should it be any different with his first full-length?

Sexor is peppered with some of the tracks that defined electro over the last few years, and provides a good guess at what some of the defining tracks of 2006 might be, and that's fine with me.

So, you know, stop bitching and enjoy Sexor.

Have a look at Tiga's Official Web Site, which should be updated sometime soon. In the mean time you can preview the songs of Sexor at 7digital, including "Type of Guy". I also recommend the "You Gonna Want Me" Video (Hi Quality Quicktime).