Tiga (musician)


Tiga James Sontag is a Canadian musician, DJ and record producer of electronic dance music. He has released three albums, Sexor, Ciao!, and No Fantasy Required. Sexor won the 2007 Juno Award for Dance Recording of the Year. Tiga released a selection of compilations in the early 2000s, featuring mixes such as American Gigolo, and, Mixed Emotions, which put him on the map as one of "the world's best mixers". His compilation mix, Tiga Non-Stop, was released in November 2012, and premiered Tiga's latest single "Plush". The mix also features tracks from artists such as Kindness, Duke Dumont and Blawan.
Tiga has remixed songs from The xx, LCD Soundsystem, The Kills, Cabaret Voltaire, Scissor Sisters, Peaches, Moby, Depeche Mode, Justice, Friendly Fires and Mylo. Along with Zombie Nation, Tiga is half of ZZT, and has released material as The Dove, Rainer Werner Bassfinder, and TGV. He has also co-produced music with Soulwax, James Murphy, Chilly Gonzales, Jesper Dahlbäck, and Matthew Dear, who he worked with on "Plush".
As a solo artist, Tiga released "Sunglasses at Night" with Finnish producer Jori Hulkkonen. The single reached number 25 in the UK Dance Chart. Other successful chart singles include "Pleasure From the Bass", "You Gonna Want Me" featuring Jake Shears, and his 2009 release "Shoes", co-produced with Soulwax and Chilly Gonzales.
Tiga was the host of the BBC Radio 6 Music show My Name Is Tiga, and made his acting debut in the 2010 film Ivory Tower. The film won special mention at the Locarno International Film Festival.
Tiga hosts a podcast entitled Last Party On Earth, Season 1 in 2019 featured guests Annie Mac, Pete Tong, Carl Cox.

Personal life

Tiga was born to hippie parents and spent part of his early life in Goa, India. He also attended Selwyn House School in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Career

1990s

In 1990 Tiga and a few friends started throwing small parties and street promotions in Montreal that evolved into a cult following. Having bought DNA records in 1994, the nightclub SONA was then conceived in Montreal in 1996, with Tiga having a major role to play in the creation of the dance scene at the time.

2000–2003

In 2001, Tiga entered the studio with producer Zyntherius to record a rendition of Corey Hart's solo song, “Sunglasses at Night.” The track also made it to number two on the UK Dance Chart, number 23 on the UK National Singles Chart, number one on the MTV Dance Chart for over six weeks and was in the Top 20 on Germany’s National Singles Chart. Tiga also performed “Sunglasses at Night” with Zyntherius on Top Of The Pops.
Tiga completed remixes for the likes of Martini Bros, Alpinestars, Linda Lamb, Crossover, FC Kahuna, Cabaret Voltaire, Telepopmusik, Felix da Housecat, Fischerspooner and Dannii Minogue in the years that followed the success of “Sunglasses at Night.” In 2003, he commanded the attention of the scene with a mix CD for K7’s legendary DJ-Kicks series.

2008–2009: ''Ciao!''

The release of Tiga's second album, Ciao! took place in 2009.

2010: ''Ivory Tower''

In 2010, Tiga starred in Adam Traynor's Ivory Tower, along Chilly Gonzales and Peaches.

2011–2012: ''Party's Over, Earth''

ZZT released their debut album, Party's Over, Earth on Turbo Recordings in 2011.
Tiga's 2013 song "Plush" and "Bugatti" is the radio station Soulwax FM and Los Santos Underground Radio featured in the best-selling video game Grand Theft Auto V.
2016: No Fantasy Required
In 2017, Tiga released his third album No Fantasy Required on Ninja Tune.

Turbo Recordings

Tiga founded Turbo Recordings in Montreal in 1998. The label helped launch his own career, at the same time as being central in the success of acts such as Chromeo, Proxy and Azari & III. Other names on the label include Jesper Dahlbäck, Gingy & Bordello, Jori Hulkkonen, Duke Dumont, Brodinski, Zdar, D.I.M, Martini Bros, Stu Thousand VI, Boys Noize and Sei A.

Awards and nominations

Antville Music Video Awards
The Antville Music Video Awards are online awards for the best music video and music video directors of the year. They were first awarded in 2005.
D&AD Awards
Design and Art Direction is a British educational charity which exists to promote excellence in design and advertising.
International Dance Music Awards
The Winter Music Conference is a weeklong electronic music conference, held every March since 1985 in Miami Beach, Florida, United States. It is also known as the premiere platform for electronic dance music. The conference brings together professionals such as artists, DJs, record label representatives, producers, promoters, radio and the media for seminars and panel discussions. Thousands of attendees attend the Winter Music Conference each year.
Juno Awards
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music.
Music Video Production Awards
The MVPA Awards are annually presented by a Los Angeles-based music trade organization to honor the year's best music videos.
UK Music Video Awards
The UK Music Video Awards is an annual award ceremony founded in 2008 to recognise creativity, technical excellence and innovation in music videos and moving images for music.

My Name Is Tiga

“My Name is Tiga” is the name of Tiga’s BBC Radio 6 show that features unreleased exclusive music and classic dance tracks. Tiga’s broadcasting career began with the 90s CKUT terrestrial radio show “The Tiga and Gnat Show.”

Last Party On Earth

“Last Party On Earth” is the name of Tiga’s podcast which launched in summer 2019 on Apple Music, Soundcloud and Spotify.
Episode 1: Kolsch
Episode 2: Gerd Janson
Episode 3: Annie Mac
Episode 4: Pete Tong
Episode 5: Carl Cox
Episode 6: Seth Troxler
Episode 7: Four Tet

Discography

Albums