One of today´s most original producers hails from Montreal and his name is Ghislain Poirier. His music, described as “bounce music”, is exactly what you want to hear in a club. His two-series Bounce Le Remix are considered classic and his new album called No Ground Under is reaching the same status. Tired of Timbo? Ghislain Poirier is here to save the good music.
How did you hook up with Ninja Tune?
It just happened naturally. Ninja Tune have an office in Montreal (I signed with the Montreal office, by the way) and we saw each other at gigs and concerts. They liked my stuff and even before I signed with them, they invited me to play at a Ninja Tune party.
How would you describe No Ground Under? What was your major influence on this album?
I like to do dirty beats and explore the heavy bass possibilities right now. I simply describe what I’m doing as having one step in the ragga world, one in the rap world and the other in the electronic world. I’m influenced by a lot of urban music like grime, dubstep, soca, etc.
Is it important for you, as a DJ, that No Ground Under is going to be released on vinyl?
Really important ! But we have to also take into consideration the digital distribution. It’s becoming a key element, especially when lots of DJs use Serato.
Can you tell more about the video for Blazin feat. Face-T ?
We just shot it last weekend and it went well. I think it’ll surprise people because we decided to shoot it partly on a skating rink. Hockey is the national sport in Canada and we include it in the video while keeping it related to the ragga environment with dancehall queens. I can’t wait to see the final editing since it’s my first "big" video !
When did you start making this „bounce music"?
I "publicly" made a slow transition from ambient music to more danceable music like 4-5 years ago. I say publicly because I was doing fat beats since the beginning, but waited awhile before releasing them. I needed to be confident about them and in finding my own sound.
You mention grime and crunk as your influences, so what´s your opinion on hyphy and snap music?
Hyphy is a good thing. It’s bringing back the fun and craziness in hip-hop and the fact that they’re using weird synth sounds is amazing. Snap music ? Hummm… I didn’t even think that was a genre… Just a buzzword that popped up suddenly and disappeared two weeks later like nu-rave.
You change your style and any of your albums sound alike, what direction are you taking now and in the near future?
The latest strong influence to come into my production is soca music. Soca (soul-calypso) is from Trinidad and Tobago and I like the pure and raw energy that emerges from it. I’m also still deeply into ragga these days.
Is it a bigger challenge to remix a well-known song, or some unknown underground track?
Making a remix is always a challenge and I always do my best to bring something personal to a track that already exists. When it’s a well-known track, you have to fight against the fact that people already have the original version in their brain and might be shocked by a remix, so that’s why it’s kind of better to come from a strong & different angle.
How do you choose tracks for remixes? Do you remix songs because of good raps, or because you don’t like the original beat?
I mostly choose to remix tracks that I like. It’s happened maybe twice that I didn’t like the original version, but I was sure that I would be able to do a good remix. The goal for me is to be satisfied enough by my remix that I can play it in my DJ sets.
You did a remix of Fiddle With The Volume for Lady Sovereign. Did you have a chance to talk to her if she liked it?
We actually toured together on her first North American tour in 2005. So yeah, we hung out. She liked my remix so much that she even tried to convince Def Jam to put my remix on her album instead of the original version… but it didn’t happen.
