Q&A: Ghislain Poirier

After remixing everyone from British ragamuffin Lady Sovereign to micro-minimalist Pole, Ghislain Poirier has proven that his subsonic riddims offer much more bounce than your everyday bassline blog suspects. Whether it’s his acclaimed sets at Montreal’s “Bridge Burner” parties or his recently released album, No Ground Under, Poirier constantly proves there is no limit to his post-grime, hip-hop paradigm. XLR8R recently caught up with the French-Canadian revolutionary to uncover the secrets behind his proto hip-hop production history.

XLR8R: How did you initially start producing music?

Ghislain Poirier: As an early teenager, I listened to a lot of hip-hop. At age 15, I heard techno on the radio in Montreal. I was like, ‘Bang! Okay, I got the rhythm, but this is twisted.’ I still listened to hip-hop, but slowly I integrated the roots of each genre [into what would eventually become my own production]. I dug old dub stuff, soul, funk, and, at some point, I decided to do radio, too. A couple years after that, I felt like I wanted to do music–I was interviewing artists, working with a computer, and the program was able to create music, so I decided to leave the radio and produce, writing as much as I was able to. I released my first album in 2001.

When you left radio, did you have another day job or simply dive into music full-time?

To be honest, I never worked full-time for anybody. I never wanted to and never did. I was working in record stores and concentrating on production, shows, managing my own thing. It’s not even a question now. You’re a journalist, and I’m a musician.

You’ve obviously worked with a lot of musicians and MCs. How did you link up with folks on No Ground Under?

Face-T and I had a radio-host friend in common. He was a very social person and he knew we should meet each other. I owe him a lot. Face-T and I went to a couple of reggae concerts, I gave him some beats, and we decided we should work together. We were both so busy, it took us two years before we really recorded, but it was worth it.

Ambiteux from France I discovered on MySpace. Abdominal, I had no idea he was from Toronto because I heard him in a DJ format, but I’m there often so we linked up. Omnikrom, it’s our sixth collaboration and it was natural, while Nik Myo is a friend of Face-T and Abdelhak Rahal is a violinist for DJ /rupture and improvised over my files.

In a perfect world, who would you like to collaborate with?

I really like Dizzee Rascal. I’m fascinated by his skills, voice, and tone. I like Roots Manuva too. He is one of my earliest influences; he pushed me to do music.

I like doing production alone. I like controlling my side of things. I like doing the rhythm and structure of the song, and when people give me good elements on the melodic side, I’m usually happy with it.

As a DJ or producer, would you consider yourself a purist?

Well, I use CDs when I DJ, so no. I’m comfortable with CDs. When I’m DJing, my main focus is selection. It’s not about the technical side. It’s about following the crowd and giving them a surprise. You [could] be the most technically skilled [DJ] in the world, but with a poor selection, you’re simply not a good DJ.

No Ground Under is out now on Ninja Tune.

Listen to “Blazin'” feat. Face-T.

Panther “On The Lam (Copy Remix)”

The remixes for Panther‘s recently released 14kt God, are already streaming in, the first of which is this gem from Portland producer Copy. For the new album, Panther mastermind Charlie Salas-Humara explored the territory of singer/songwriter tracks. Here, Copy puts the manic electronic dance elements back into the mix with his sped up, synth-heavy version.

Panther – On the Lam (Copy Remix)

Simian Mobile Disco, Dizzee Rascal to Play Free Yr Radio Events

Toyota Yaris and Urban Outfitters launched their Free Yr Radio Campaign at South By Southwest 2007, where Sonic Youth, Klaxons, and Man Man played various events all geared towards raising awareness and money for indie radio.

The campaign will return to Austin this year, with several events promoting all things indie. Simian Mobile Disco and Times New Viking will play the launch party at La Zona Rosa on March 12, which will be co-hosted by Austin’s KVRX radio station. Then, March 13 – 15, Minnesota station The Current will broadcast live from the Free Yr Radio Broadcast Corner, with performances by Dizzee Rascal, She & Him, and the Raveonettes. Yaris will have shuttles taking folks to the various events during the day, and were even nice enough to provide transportation to and from events and parties in the evening. Rumor has it they might be doing airport pick-ups as well.

Above, from left: Simian Mobile Disco and the Raveonettes.

Diplo, Boys Noize, Spank Rock Confirmed for Sonar 2008

The Beastie Boys will not make a repeat appearance in Barcelona for this year’s Sonar festival, and the initial line-up for the 2008 edition doesn’t appear to be hurting from that fact. Instead, everyone from synth-pop legends Yahoo and Underground Resistance, to Boyz Noize, Neon Neon, and DJ Mehdi are confirmed for the three-day music and multimedia festival, making for one of the strongest line-ups in some time.

Several showcases are also in the works, including a BBC Radio 1 event with Mary Anne Hobbs and Flying Lotus, an Ed Banger Records party, a Ninja Tune showcase featuring Daedelus, and others.

The festival will take place June 19, 20, and 21 in various locations around Barcelona. Advanced tickets are on sale now. Go get ’em.

Confirmed Lineup
Antipop Consortium
Asstrio
Basquiat Strings
BC vs JC feat Darren Emerson
Ben Watt
Boys Noize
Cabo San Roque
Camille
Chloé
Diplo
DJ Key
DJ Mehdi vs A-Trak feat Kid Sister
Erol Alkan
Frankie Knuckles
Goldfrapp
Hercules and Love Affair
Justice
Kalabrese Pres. The Rumpelorchestra
Konono No 1
Little Dragon
M.I.A.
Miss Kittin
Neon Neon
Northern Sstate
Rósín Murphy
Spank Rock
Tara De Long
Tender Forever
The Duloks
The Pinker Tones
X-10 discovers The Rings of Saturn
Yazoo
Yelle

Photo of Boys Noize by Sir William.

Sascha Funke Mango

Somewhere between dancefloor utility, lazy-time pop music, and an audiophile’s workout lies the perfect techno album. Sascha Funke’s Mango, the Berliner’s first long-player in four years, is almost that album. Indeed, Mango reaffirms Funke as a current master of the minimal techno form but, more than that, it affirms that the genre still has much more going for it than just its benchmark thup. Granted, Mango’s a bit more slippery–and moody and sexy and Euro–about the style’s tropes than Supermayer’s super-minimal-cum-electro-pop/rock effort Save the World, but the grooves here are at once ad-friendly and wonderfully deft diagrams of dance-music osmosis; elaborate sketches that showcase Funke’s talent for bleeding pop into even the most by-the-books minimalism.

At times, Mango just feels like an incredibly somnolent rock record, something Morr Music might deliver in a particularly ballsy release cycle; in other spots, it’s full of blinds-shut, bell-toned–oh, how he loves that sound–brooding ambience. Of course, there are plenty of Funke micro beats, perfectly placed, always developing in some way, like compass points leading from a wet winter street into the club that never sleeps yet never really pulls out of its dream state.

The sly and alluring “Feather” drapes itself on you in 40 seconds of warm, clean synth tone, approaching and receding in a sort of aural ellipse. A couple of gentle electric guitar notes introduce what sounds like a iron-cast, reverbed hand drum, itself receding and approaching, receding and approaching. Bits of metallic musique concrète and other warmer sounds offer themselves with similar push-pull tension and, about three minutes in, you’re at the center of a solar system that Funke has set in motion around you, its gravity the tiniest bed of dwarfish kick drums.

Some tracks on Mango are less crafty about setting that disorienting mood, instead diverging into straight ambient. “Summer Rain,” as the title implies, is a tad hokey and sentimental; all sampled rain falling on sampled piano and sampled harp, it barely saves itself in deep-space mega-delayed synths, so over-the-top and cheesed-out it feels like Funke is probably laughing to himself. The similarly beat-stripped closer is all descending, funereal tones with erstwhile Funke vocalist Fritz Kalkbrenner reciting, “The revolution won’t be televised/Won’t be live/Won’t happen at all” over the top in a voice so drawn and monotone, you can hear him winking.

You also know he’s winking because you’ve just been listening to what, in the end, is a monumental dance record, insofar as it’s one that could lure you to sleep. It never bangs, but it never needs to. “Chemin des Figons,” the album’s “rock” song, moves itself along on a sampled snare and cymbal which drop out just barely long enough to catch you dancing to the umpteenth repetition of the same hypnotic guitar line (courtesy of M.I.A. guitarist Tim Tim).

Other songs here are far more straightforward. The title track–though it introduces a beat pattern bordering on tribal–stays strictly minimal, while “Lotre (Mehr Fleisch)” is propelled by the sharpest kick drum on the album. Never mind its signature ethereal bell tones, Mango’s most obvious 12”, “Double-Checked,” captures almost everything about what makes this record stellar: It’s a dense, just-fast-enough-to-be-house package of nearly colliding kicks, handclaps, and hi-hats crafted for listening, dancing, and sleepwalking.

Various We Are Punks 2

Something about this title really irks me: What is “punk” about Anthony Rother’s label mix? Is it the constipated blasts of distorted synth grinds that interrupt the groove? The neutered calls-to-arms like “This is iconic warfare”? Considering punk’s long-co-opted dogma, I suppose it doesn’t take much to think of oneself as “punk.” Datapunk boss Rother shows off his own work alongside fellow Moroder/EBM/industrial heads like Gregor Tresher, Billy Nasty, and the much-welcomed Miss Kittin and the Hacker. There’s no denying that Rother maintains good dread over rib-hitting beats, but the energy runs dry with its electroclash clichés and unintentional camp. Steer clear of this while sober.

Various Bippp: French Synth Wave 1979/85

Maybe, just maybe, the Francophilia surrounding Daft Punk and Justice will draw more kids to the ghosts of French rock’s past. Here’s a good gateway drug: Bippp documents a dozen bands that absorbed the wiles of Devo, Human League, and The Buzzcocks. The key elements are rhythms that wear pants a few sizes too small and snarky vocals that ta-WEAK up VOW-els. Act’s grooves take The Stooges’ frenetic energy to a ping-pong match and TGV’s Casio synth-pop is a soundtrack for middle-school science fairs. And then you have Mary Moor robotically telling the world “it’s a pretty day to die,” and Casino Music’s catty, spy-flick funk. Genuine Gallic weirdness.

Pon Di Wire: Joe Gibbs R.I.P., Grammy Controversy, Danchall Queens in Paris

The reggae community continues to mourn the loss of producer Joe Gibbs (born Joel A. Gibson). The legendary reggae producer died February 21 of an apparent heart attack. He was 65. Gibbs was responsible for dozens of hits by Culture, Dennis Brown, Jacob Miller, and Althea & Donna.

Reggae historian and author Roger Steffens has again defended his role on the committee that facilitates the reggae Grammy Awards. Since Stephen Marley’s win February 7, at the 50th annual Grammy ceremony, rumors have circulated that Steffens, a Bob Marley archivist, influences who wins. Wailers’ members and Marley children have won nearly half of all reggae Grammy awards since the events’ debut in 1984. Steffens told an audience at the Global Reggae Conference in Kingston, “I have been the chairman of the Grammy Screening Committee. We do not choose the nominees, we do not choose the winners. We screen to make sure that it is only reggae music that gets into the category. This is the four thousandth time I am saying this in Jamaica. I’m not responsible for you not winning the Grammy.”

Dancehall artist Deva Bratt will return to court on March 27 to answer to charges that he had sexually assaulted a 14-year old girl earlier in February. Bratt, one of Jamaica’s young, rising dancehall deejays, has been saddled with controversies for the past several months, but adamantly maintains his innocence. Meanwhile, he has several songs, including “Everybody Knows What Right From Wrong,” in the charts.

Big Youth’s son, the rapper Tafari’s new single with Junior Reid, “Ain’t No Stoppin,” is causing a buzz across the internet. “We’ve noticed a wave of requests coming in from DJs across the United States,” says Karamo Rowe, Chief Executive Officer of Hy-Grade Entertainment, Tafari’s management company.

YardFlex’s Passa Passa news section is reporting that Bounty Killer has parted ways with his publicist Julian, and that Tony Matterhorn has had a fall-out with his manager as well, reportedly over tax payments. “Tony a manage himself now,” writes the anonymous reporter.

Dub master Adrian Sherwood and drummer Style Scott will release Dub Syndicate Overdubbed, a collection of classics mixed by Bristol’s Rob Smith, on Collision end of April.

A major dancehall queen contest (pictured above) took place February 16 in Paris, France. Dancers clad in vibrant costumes, including military fatigues, plaid school uniforms, and Jamaican flag skirts competed head-to-head in three rounds, until finally Amazone was declared winner. See photos of all the contestants and dance moves at Rebel Radio.

A number of young, new Jamaican singing groups are looking to have breakthrough moments in 2008. Jamaica’s Star thinks three-man dance and vocal group Voicemail will be the ones to create a buzz. Member Craig says, “We’ve done a song called ‘Modeling A Gwaan,’ produced by Stephen McGregor, a next song called “I Need You,” produced by Don Corleon, plus a video for that is now in heavy rotation.” Also hyped and ready to breakout is Rootz Underground, whose album, Movement, drops March 4 on Riverstone. The band will tour the American south and Midwest throughout March.

A recent commentary in the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper decried the negative messages in current dancehall music. “What we have in the dancehall,” writes Ian Boyne, “is the glorification of the gun; the inciting of violence. And when we don’t have the vulgarity [that] is hailed as the expression of ‘female liberation’ and the gun talk, we have the promotion of bling bling and Western materialistic and hedonistic values–the values of Babylon.” Boyne laments dancehall’s betrayal of reggae’s core values; however his piece acknowledges the popularity of dancehall, and the violence expressed by militant reggae artists over the years.

Visit Reggae News UK to download their crucial, hour-long “Roots Garden” podcasts, which highlight some British reggae best roots and vintage artists.

Out-A-Road’s Top 20 Charts
1. Erup “Click My Finger” (Truck Back
2. Queen I-Frica “Daddy Don’t Touch Me There” (No Doubt)
3. Busy Signal – “Pon Di Edge” (Star Kutt)
4. Serani feat Bugle – “Doh” (Daseca)
5. Demarco “Fallen Soldiers” (Star Kutt)
6. Mykal Rose “Shoot Out” (John John)
7. Demarco “Duppy Know Who Fi Frighten” (John John)
8. Bugle “Journey” (Daseca)
9. Mavado “Gangsta Life” (John John)
10. Sean Paul “Pick It Up & Drop It” (Birchill)
11. D’Angel “Blaze” (Hot Shot)
12. Harry Toddler “Don’t Run In” (Truck Back)
13. Beenie Man “Buffer Zone” (Truck Back)
14. Busy Signal “Nah Go A Jail” (Jam 2)
15. Fantan Mojah “Stronger” (Maximum Sound)
16. Deva Bratt “Bagga Talking” (Truck Back)
17. Bugle “What I’m Gonna Do” (Daseca)
18. Jimmy Riley & Taurus Riley “Pull Up Selector” – (Taxi)
19. Beenie Man “Wine Gal” (TJ)
20. RDX “Everybody Dance” (Apt 19)

Top 5 New Joints
1. Junior Gong “Mission (Warfare)” (Baby G)
2. Mavado “On The Rock” (Baby G)
3. Busy Signal “Curfew” (Shane Brown)
4. Bugle “What have I done” (Daseca)
5. Serani “Everywhere I Go” (Firelinks)

HEALTH “The Problem Is (Thrust Lab Remix)”

Currently on tour with Crystal Castles and being hailed as the band to watch in 2008 is Health, the Los Angeles-based noise-rock outfit with a reputation for making crowds dance with its antics. Get a taste of these guys’ self-titled debut album with this track, remixed here by Baltimore trio Thrust Lab.

The Problem Is (Thrust Lab Remix)

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