Sasha: The emFire Collection

If you’ve heard of electronic music, you have heard of Sasha. Along side partner John Digweed, he was instrumental in taking the former footnote genre from an underground micro culture in the late ’80s to the worldwide scene it is today. However, despite several charting singles in the UK, Sasha’s production has typically taken a backseat to his career. His only real studio album came out in 2002 and he has since mostly released remixes. Then in 2007, he launched the emFire label with a couple of 12-inches that heralded a return to form. Coming along less than a year later, the two-disc emFire Collection jumps the gun a bit.

His two emFire released singles, all four tracks, have been handed over to four of today’s most hyped producers set with the task of providing one remix for clubs and another aimed at home enjoyment. Only The Field’s progressive mixes are particularly worthy. Slam’s are merely okay, Radio Slave’s are largely forgettable, and Audion’s are intensely boring and inanely repetitive. That’s all disc one has to offer.

Disc two is where the money is. On top of a couple interesting rerubs, the previously bootlegged surf movie score New Emissions of Light and Sound is here in its entirety, presented as a single 40-odd-minute track. Densely atmospheric and unimaginatively deep, it’s a breathtaking work that ranks among Sasha’s greatest achievements. As such, though it’s thoroughly disjointed, this collection is essential for fans of the legend himself and ambient house in general.