During the latter half of 2002, Sasha collaborated with big beat artist Junkie XL on the single "Breezer". Junkie XL, along with Charlie May, also assisted Sasha on his second album of original material, Airdrawndagger. Airdrawndagger took several years to produce due to Sasha's desire for the album to be "as near to perfection as possible." That March, Sasha suffered a perforated eardrum in a traffic accident, further delaying the album's production. Though the accident temporarily impaired his hearing, he drew inspiration for the album from his ordeal. Airdrawndagger was finally released, in August 2002, to much fanfare. However, the album was "received with a lot of head scratching", according to Sasha, which he attributed to its unexpected mix of genres. The album did not feature the heavier "club sound" of Sasha's previous mix albums, bearing a closer resemblance to ambient music. Airdrawndagger generally received favorable reviews, though critics noted that it was not as consistent and well produced as his DJ mixes. Sasha himself described it as "a selfish, slightly self-indulgent record", though he maintains that he is "happy with it to this day". Some critics, however, called it "sleepy"; E!Online described it as being "more in league with Yanni than Moby". To encourage listeners' interest, Sasha held an amateur remix contest for the album's single, "Wavy Gravy". Due to the contest's success, Sasha released all the tracks from Airdrawndagger on his website, so that fans could download and create their own versions.
