10 Iconic Tiga Moments

The year was 1993 and underground music was just starting to simmer in Montreal. With a hungry following from his parties at local club Crisco, Tiga and his inner circle decided to catalyze the revolution and throw what many denote as the city’s first real rave.

Sontag, along with the Bus Company and his radio show co-host G’nat organised Solstice, a 4,000 person event in a converted museum space featuring Richie Hawtin and John Aquaviva. Every club owner, artist and player took notice, gravitating towards a completely unseen type of energy promoted only by word of mouth and an informational rave hotline run by Tiga.

The party was like nothing Montreal had ever experienced and single-handedly redefined what the city’s electronic music scene was capable of. What followed was the paramount rave movement that put Tiga’s native grounds on the map as an underground behemoth.

In the years following up to the launch of Tiga’s seminal Turbo label, he bought DNA Records and SONA nightclub.

The two outlets became incubators for Montreal’s growing scene, spaces where artists and fans could come to educate and explore their tastes.

With Tiga evolving into a club culture icon, his SONA afterhours became a legendary entity in itself, pulling the world’s most sought after DJs and bringing a constant influx of crowds as every other club closed its doors for the night.

1998 was a great year. Not only was Armageddon released on the big screen, it also marked the beginning of a musical revolution for Tiga. Turbo Recordings began as an outlet for Tiga to house his dancefloor rockets but even from early on, it was evident it would become far more than that.

His dedication to launching the careers of numerous musicians and producers has been pretty unstoppable.

The early days of the label saw early releases from Chromeo, Boys Noize, Brodinski and Duke Dumont. In fact, these artists called Turbo home and now they've all reached great heights since their appearance on the imprint.

The common denominator here, King Tiga of course. Hell, Gesaffelstein was an unknown entity before Tiga hand-picked him for super-success. His ear for talent and ability to nurture it is second-to-none and to this day, Turbo remains a hot-bed of techno and electro madness.

A stone cold classic. A sign of the times. A goddamn piece of art.

Tiga and Jori Hulkkonen (under his Zyntherius alias) catapulted their cover of Corey Hart's 'Sunglasses At Night' onto soundsystems around the world back in 2001 and the emotion-laced track can be attributed as an early catalyst for the start of the electroclash movement.

It's also one of the first times, if not the first time we heard Tiga's dulcet tones. A voice we would come to love, a voice we would soon call home, a voice that's got better and better over the last 15 years.

Enter the nostalgia hit.

Yes, that's correct. Tiga starred in a movie called Ivory Tower and it focuses on two brother's rivalry in the high-intensity chess world. Chilly Gonzales (yes the Canadian pianist) and Tiga play the two brothers and the film also stars Peaches and Feist.

The Canadian theme runs strong with this one and if you're thinking, fuck this sounds amazing, that's because it is. It has heaps of Tiga's dry humour and wit and is an undiscovered gem.

Once you've watched the trailer you'll want to see the whole thing. Thank us later.

There's no denying that Tiga's first album 'Sexor' was an amazing introduction to long player territory but his second album 'Ciao!' was loaded with so many bangers it's actually crazy how he got away with it.

We're talking heavy hit after heavy hit, the absolute pinnacle of dancefloor cruiser. Sure, his newer stuff like 'Bugatti', 'Plush' and 'Fever' all do the damage but let's take it old school to the first wave of classics. In short, it was the sound of 2009.

The irrestistable swagger or 'Shoes'.

The face-screwing gnarliness of 'Mind Dimension 2'.

The fist-pumping sexiness of 'What You Need'

The list goes on. We're actually feeling quite emotional reminiscing about it so we're going to listen to the whole thing, in a darkened room with a cold one. We may even stick in on repeat.

Self-evolving and continuously making his mark, Tiga once again held the reigns of the scene in 2013 with the year’s biggest club track ‘Let’s Go Dancing’. The infectious, high energy beat and vocals of his collaboration with Matthew Dear’s Audion took dance floors by storm, making an appearance in thousands of sets across the world.

The goliath’s original Turbo release was followed by equally tremendous remixes from Solomun, Maya Jane Coles, Adam Beyer and an edit from Eats Everything.

Tiga’s victory streak continued the next year with his obscurely captivating track ‘Bugatti’. Its playful lyrics and bouncing, dissonant chords scored it as an immediate hit, with Tiga gaining a second wave of younger fans drawn to his quirky, promiscuous style. The production’s official video thrusted excitement higher with its snapping, colorful visuals and oddly surrealist presentation of everyday objects and hyper-eroticism.

‘Bugatti’ has become synonymous with Tiga’s name, a definitive mainstay in almost every one of his sets following its release, acting as another success to his profile as a boundary-pushing artist testing how wonderfully weird a club hit can be.

Tiga debuted yet another evolution to his artistic identity with a debut live act which centered around solo productions of his originals and collaborative performances with Hudson Mohawke, Boys Noize, Matthew Dear and Martin Buttrich. The onstage presentation was developed alongside Pfadfinderal, the design team behind Modeselektor and Moderat’s live shows.

Perhaps one of Tiga’s most defining qualities is his profoundly quick wit and intelligent humor. Blink too fast and you might miss the depth and ingenuity of it all.

Fans first caught wind of Tiga the comedian in the pseudo-serious interviews Ciao! Means Forever that coincided with the release of his 2008 album. Lit dramatically with the artist and interviewer Michael Lesliejack sitting across each other amidst an all black background, Tiga poses as an egotistical, self-proclaimed icon brilliantly taking a stab at the conceited nature of the modern artist.