What is your name?
Sasha Kaktus.
Where are you currently based?
Last 35 years im based in St.Petersburg, Russia.
You’re running a vinyl label called Heisenberg, why did you start Heisenberg?
Heisenberg, began its life as a night club, with the unique music and the atmosphere, then reformatted into a music label, publishing underground house & techno music on vinyl & digital and submiting its Showcases worldwide.
What have been the challenges with starting and operating a vinyl label?
Everything went quite easy for me, cause i was in music business for a long time before, i had my digital labels, and also did management for many vinyl & dgtl labels also, so im quit experienced guy.
Where do you distribute?
For vinyl im with Decks.de they do distribution through they own store for sure and though all other platforms and physical stores worldwide, im happy to work with the guys, they do great job. Digitally i distribute with LabelWorx, also my friends and great professionals.
How do you go about meeting and working with different artists?
I have the underground label, so the community is quit close, most of the artists i release are my friends or very like minded people, so its easy and pleasure to work on the label like Heisenberg.
What are the benefits of releasing on a vinyl label such as Heiseneberg?
Well. The label is getting bigger from every release, we had many 1st places in sales charts worldwide, so i hope its already well known. Also we do showcases worldwide, and our artists have their gigs in nice place like Club der Visionaere in Berlin for example.
Where did the name come from?
I started djing in 1997 as Sasha Kaktus and this was my nickname since many years before, i think my mother once called me like this and some friends heard it, so its kinda stuck to me.
You’ve started a new alias Saktu which is now your main alias for all production and gigs. Why the change of name?
Yes, i used Sasha Kaktus for 20 years of my career, many thing have changed since i started, my taste, my attitude to the process, my production skills and studio became more analog, so new name is the idea to make new step in my professional career and to jump on the next level (i hope).
Does the change of alias come with a change of sound?
Yes, as i said i use more analog gear now in my production.
Tobi Neumann, Dave Vega and yourself started a new project called OGNI and you’ll be releasing your debut vinyl in September of 2017 on a Spanish label Oblack. How did you come to collaborate with Tobi and Dave?
Yes, Ogni is our new baby. Dave is one of my best friends since many years and we decided to start Ogni together, Tobi was his friend before and Dave asked him to remix one of our tracks, but the idea was that we all come to Tobi’s amazing studio and work on it together. We started the remix and had such a great time and very warm vibe all together in the studio, so after remix was done we reworked the original tracks also and thats how our trio was born, Tobi joined us and we are very happy about it.
Have the finished tracks come out as expected?
Making music is always a creative process, so sometimes you start a track in one direction, but after a while make a change. BUt реу main thing is to be happy with the final result. And we are.
Do you discover and share any new producing techniques between the three of you?
Mostly we learn from Tobi cause he is the analog genius and has one of the best studios. But still i make all grooves and most of the arrangement,
Tobi is in charge of the sound, recording and patching his machines, and also guys do the final mixing. But at the end we fit perfectly, it was the reason that we are together now.
How did you get into music?
I was always into music, even my father was a disc jockey in the early 80s. The first time i saw DJ playing i decided that its what i wanna do, and i do all my adult life.
What are you listening to at the moment?
The moment i was answering your question i listened to «Whatness» the Album by my friend Anton Kubikov just released at Kompakt. Great ambient work.
Who are your top 3 influences and icons?
In electronic music. There are so many who I like and whom I follow, but to call someone an icon is difficult, so perhaps I will refrain.
When are you playing next?
I have a vacation now with my family for a month and next time i play in Berlin, 27th september in my fav place Club der Visionaere.
https://www.facebook.com/events/605387093182090
links:
https://www.facebook.com/sashakaktus.music
https://soundcloud.com/sashakaktus
https://www.facebook.com/ogni.music
https://soundcloud.com/ogni-music
https://www.facebook.com/heisenbergclub
https://soundcloud.com/heisenbergspb
