EARPLUG INTERVIEW
Nice interview/article in Earplug !
MORE BOUNCE TO THE OUNCE
Ghislain Poirier fattens up Montreal’s sound
When Ghislain Poirier emerged earlier this decade, he came bearing jagged, techno-influenced instrumental hip-hop. But as the Montreal native spent more time behind the turntables after founding influential local party Bounce le Gros, his DJ instincts led him in an increasingly eclectic, dance-floor-minded direction. No Ground Under, his sixth LP and first for Ninja Tune, takes in dancehall, crunky hip-hop, dubstep, massive bass, Arabic rhythms, and, most strikingly, blazingly fast soca. Earplug’s Jesse Serwer spoke to Poirier about his evolving tastes, getting Quebecois hipsters to freak out over Caribbean carnival music, and recreating 162 BPM rhythms on a drum kit.
Earplug: You have soca on the record — something you almost never hear producers experiment with. There’s a huge Trinidadian and Guyanese presence in New York, where they play soca, but no one else knows what it is; or, if they do, they dislike it. It’s not for everybody.
GP: It’s extreme. I discovered soca completely at random. I was record shopping, saw a CD and said, “What is that?” I wasn’t sure if I liked it, but a friend bought it. A couple of months later, I was at his house and I thought, “Hmmm, I like this.”
Earplug : How have you gone about bringing live drums into the mix for your shows?
GP: I’ve busted my ass to have a real live show. It’s hard, man. I have a lot of respect for my drummer. I’m asking him to play for 15 minutes straight sometimes, and in those 15 minutes, there’ll be nine different beats in all different tempos. It’s like a marathon. I decided to incorporate my remix of (JMC Triveni and Bunji Garlin’s soca track) “Doi Festival” in the live show. When I emailed him the track, he called five minutes later saying, “No way, it’s too fast.” It’s 162 BPM and [it comes] at the end of an hour show! He thought he could only play it for 30 seconds, but we rehearsed a lot and now he’s able to do it — and even play after that song. He’s able to do the sprint, finish the marathon, and still run. He’s a beast.
Full interview here.
