Media Blog

Sasha was born Alexander Coe in Wales in September 1969.

He first became aware of the house music scene in the late 1980s during visits to the legendary Hacienda club in Manchester. He became hooked immediately The smoke machine, the strobe lights, everyone trance dancing, wearing bandanas and smiley T-shirts, he recalls. It definitely had a fuck-you attitude compared to the rest of pop music.

He moved to Manchester to become more involved in the scene just as house music exploded into the nations consciousness, and began to DJ in a local club under the name of Sasha.

His first big break came when he was offered a residency at Shellys in Stoke in 1991, and his unique style of playing acapellas over instrumental Italian piano house tracks won him many fans and plaudits. Later that year, he became the first DJ to feature on the cover of Mixmag.

His first production was under the name BM:Ex Appolonia on VC Recordings, an epic track with several remixes that would begin to define the Sasha style long, fluid, hypnotic tracks, with gated vocals and synths swirling in and out of the mix. His Qatmix also came with a healthy dose of piano to keep the italo-house heads happy.

Sasha was invited to take a residency at Renaissance in 1993 where he went on to meet John Digweed. The pair produced the first ever DJ mix CD Renaissance The Mix Collection, a 3 CD epic that contained many of the big tracks they were spinning at the time as well as some of their own productions and remixes.

The pair went on to create the Northern Exposure brand a club night that they would go on to take on several tours around the country, and also a set of mix CDs that were made using production software rather than decks a trend that caught on quickly.

In 1994 Sasha released two singles on Deconstruction Records Magic and High Ground. These tracks showcased his progressive house sound long intros and outros, pianos, 303s, and emotional vocals.

Sasha formed a friendship with producer BT in 1995 that led to him remixing BTs seminal Embracing The Sunshine and the two co-producing the B-Side of Sashas biggest hit to date the epic Be As One.

In the same year they also worked together on perhaps one of the greatest remixes ever the majestic Atraxion Future Mix of Seals Im Alive. This mix contains everything in its 13 or so minutes massive builds, huge drops, pianos, guitars and a singalong chorus. Its a big favourite here at Second Hand Vinyl.

Sashas production work took a less commercial slant between 1996 and 1998, until in 1999 he release the four-track Xpander EP, the title track of which contained hugely uplifting and melodic synth parts that brought him a whole new set of fans.

In 2000 he teamed up with Underworld supremo Darren Emerson to record Scorchio, another uplifting synth track that charted in the UK.

Sasha is still producing and DJing today, and is still as popular as ever.

Aliases: Qat

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Aliases: Qat

If you enjoy watching movies or you just appreciate a well-made movie then it is a certainty that you are interested in a facility that allows you to watch your favorite movies anytime you want. Nowadays, this is a very easy thing to do as there are many of sites that offer such services. You can easily watch movies from your own room without having to spend a small fortune on renting the DVD or going to the cinema. This method allows fans to watch movies shortly after their release by downloading them or watching them streaming.

Speaking of movies, the fans can enjoy not only movies released in the United States but also from other countries at only a few clicks away. Locating movies is a very easy thing to do as the sites that provide the latest links to online movies and online television shows have the facility to locate the movies by categories or countries. Another method of searching for a certain movie is by the movie title, a certain actor or other similar movie characteristics.

If you understand foreign languages you can watch a foreign TV station and enjoy a movie in your native or second language. A brand new technology called satellite television for PC allow computer users to receive and access as many as approximately 3,000 TV stations and over 1,500 radio stations. Sites that offer these kind of services, with other words, sites that provide the latest links to online movies and online TV shows are worth a try as they are not only easy to use but reliable and safe. Basically, some of the main advantages for movie fans are:

Visitors can download the movies legally and in a safe way.

Users have the ability to watch the movies streaming.

Movie fans can watch their favorite movies in a very high quality imagine.

Besides movies, users can view television shows, sports, documentaries and others.

All these shows can be watched onto the computer monitor, television or even a projector.

This is the perfect solution for movie fans that are looking for certain old movies that are almost inaccessible. Young people enjoy watching new movies online nowadays as they have 24h access to the Internet and they spend several hours in front of their personal computers rather than watching the TV. The satellite TV on PC gives the visitor access to stations, some of them arent even available on conventional satellite TV. Users can watch dramas, comedies, action movies, anything they want, the offer is rich.

All things considered, it looks like the Internet has another big thing for visitors thanks to these sites that offer links to online movies and online TV shows which are getting more and more popular among Internet user as this method is not only safe but also fast and cheap. Searching for your favorite movie was never as easy as it is now, at only just a few clicks away, without headaches, without having to run down to the DVD store to rent/purchase it. What else movie fans can desire?

I probably started listening to Fleetwood Mac when I was about 10, 11 or something like that because I remember getting their Greatest Hits album and it had only just been released and at the time I didnt really know who they were but because I always listen to all sorts of music people just used to buy me music instead of toys. When I listened to it I knew most of the tracks and I now think of it as one of my top 20 albums of all time.

Fleetwood Mac are an English/American cross breed who formed in 1967 in London. The group have gone through far too many changes in members to list them all but the most notable members of Fleetwood Mac are, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

Fleetwood Mac are probably one of the most hard working bands of all time and have released many albums (sometimes three or four in a year). 1968 saw the releases of Carousel Ballroom, Mr Wonderful and Peter Greens Fleetwood Mac. In 1969 there were four albums, English Rose, Live In Amsterdam, The Pious Bird Of Good Omen and Then Play On.

Only one album was released in 1970 which was Kiln House, one in 1971, Future Games and one in 1972, Bare Tree. Mystery To Me and Penguin were released in 1973. Heroes are Hard to Find in 1974 and another two released in 1975, Fleetwood Mac which contained the hits Rhiannon, Say You Love Me and Landslide and In Chicago which again was a great album and a compilation. In 1977 they released the collaboration album Fleetwood Mac And Christine Perfect Albatross which contained the massive hit Albatross and they also released another of their most successful albums the same year which was Rumours and is another of my favourite albums of all time and contains the songs You Can Go Your Own Way and You Make Loving Fun.

In 1979 Fleetwood Mac released Tusk and the song of the same name became another huge success along with the songs Sara and Think About Me and the album has sold over 4 million copies and they went on a tour of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, France, Belgium, Germany (where they toured with bob Marley), Netherlands, and the UK. During the tour they recorded the music for the Live album which was released in 1980.

Mirage was released in 1982 and contained the hits Wish You Were Here, Gypsy and Oh Diane. After this release they went on tour again and released the Boston Live album. 1987 was the release of Tango In The Night which went to #1 in the UK charts three times in one year and after this album Lindsey Buckingham left Fleetwood Mac. In the following Decade they released several more albums (Greatest Hits, The Blues Collection, Behind The Mask, 25 Years The Chain, Oh Well Live, The Blues Years, Time, Live At The BBC and The Dance (which saw the reunion of the old Fleetwood Mac).

In 1998 Fleetwood Mac were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and it is reported that they will be collaborating with Sheryl Crow in 2009 and there are plans for a new album and a supporting tour.

My Top 10 Fleetwood Mac Songs are:

01. Everywhere
02. Black magic woman
03. Rhiannon
04. Gypsy
05. Landslide
06. Go your own way
07. Little lies
08. Albatross
09. Seven Wonders
10. Buddys Song

You love playing the piano but are increasingly frustrated with only being able to reproduce what is in front of you. No sheet music, no play. Oh you only have it in the key of Eb? Well sorry I cant play that. Does this sound like you?

Several years ago I could only play exactly from the piano sheet music in front of me. If I looked up from the music for a fraction of time I lost my place. I was only comfortable in the keys of C, F, and G. Sometimes D and Bb. But I longed to play and smile at the congregation in my church. Or check the worship leader to see if he was going to add another stanza. Then I started to learn Pachelbel Canon in D. Ever heard it? A study on the D scale. It opened my eyes to improvising or embellishing on a song at the piano.

Here are five key things to remember to help you do the same.

1.Learn and practice your scales in all keys. Nobody likes this. Its not fun but it can greatly increase your playing proficiency if you are diligent.

2.Learn and practice chords. Especially the odd ones such as diminished, augmented, 6ths etc. These can quickly give color and style to your songs.

3.Fake it. Use a fake book to play. This will greatly encourage you to add to the harmony and melody because you only have a chord symbol and one melody line in front of you. It will sound very dry so you will be motivated.

4. Use the whole piano. Play those same notes just an octave higher. Now try one more octave

5. Dont get discourage by your first results: You may not like your first results but dont give up.

Visit the Struggling Church Musician Piano page for more resources to playing the piano by ear and chord piano.

While the subject of karaoke elicits a roll of the eyes for many people, theres no doubt that karaoke has had a huge cultural impact, first in Japan and then around the world. For a myriad of reasons, people enjoy singing and performing, and theres no device thats more successfully leveled the playing field for public performances than the karaoke machine.

Traditional karaoke machines incorporate a microphone, a recording of the instrumental tracks of a song, an audio output device, and a video screen that displays the lyrics of a song. Singers (or those who consider themselves to be singers) use the microphone to sing along to the music while following the lyrics on a video screen. Karaoke singing gained popularity in Japan in the 1980s and then spread throughout the world in the 1990s. Typically, people would gather in bars or clubs for Karaoke Night, although some clubs featured karaoke every night of the week.

In the new millennium, karaoke machines got much more personal. Singles and families started buying home karaoke machines for their own enjoyment, as well as for entertainment at parties. It was easy to simply hook them up to the television, put a disc in the DVD player, and have a blast. Karaoke continued to evolve when Karaoke Revolution was released for the PlayStation 2 gaming console. The player used a USB microphone or headset to sing along and received a score based on his or her performance. Subsequently, several more versions were released, including a Party Bundle for the PlayStation2, Nintendo GameCube, and Xbox. The latest offering in the franchise, Karaoke Revolution: American Idol, built on the smashing success of the TV series, American Idol. In this version, up to eight people can compete in duets, in teams, or as single players.

Theres no doubt that American Idol has been a factor in the continuing popularity of karaoke. The premise that almost anyone has what it takes to become Americas next singing sensation (and that, even if you dont, you can still get sympathy votes) has aficionados singing their hearts out whether at home or in public.

The television series has also brought about the next evolutionary step in karaoke turning MP3 players and MP3 downloads into hot gadgets that are perfect handheld karaoke machines. These specialized MP3 players allow aspiring American Idol contestants and anyone else who enjoys singing out loud to buy and download any song, input the lyrics, then remove the vocal track and record their own voices over the music while reading a display of the lyrics. The internal speaker and microphone, as well as the display screen, make recording and playing karaoke-style songs a breeze. Thats probably why this type of MP3 player is touted as the most widely used, pocket-sized karaoke player.

These types of hot gadgets, the continuing success of American Idol, and the spawning of similar television shows like The Singing Bee and Dont Forget the Lyrics! all prove that karaoke is alive, well, and evolving to new heights.