Poirier | |
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Birth name | Ghislain Poirier |
Born | 1976 (age 40–41) |
Origin | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
Genres |
electronic music Canadian hip hop |
Occupation(s) | DJ, record producer |
Years active | 2001–present |
Labels | Ninja Tune |
Associated acts | Omnikrom, Beans, TTC, Face T, MC Zulu |
Website | http://www.poiriersound.com/ |
Ghislain Poirier, often known simply as Poirier, is a DJ/producer from Montreal who is signed to the Ninja Tune record label. He has, however, also worked with other labels such as Chocolate Industries, Rebondir, Shockout, Musique Large, Intr_version and 12k. His work mainly consists of original instrumental mixes and mixes featuring Montreal hip hop MCs including Omnikrom, Face-T and Séba. He also has collaborated with Beans, TTC, Lotek HiFi and Nik Myo. He is noted for popular remixes of tracks of rock and hip hop artists such as Les Georges Leningrad, Clipse, Editors, Bonde do Rolê, Kid Sister, Pierre Lapointe, DJ Champion and Lady Sovereign. Though he has worked in many different genres of electronic music, he is known for his eclectic taste in music and appreciation of tropical bass sounds.
From 1995 until 2000, Poirier was involved in campus community radio at CISM-FM (Université de Montréal). During this time he had a radio show entitled "Branché: Monde". He began his career performing and recording under his full name with his debut album, Il N'y A Pas de Sud being released in 2001. It has been described as "an uncompromising minimal electronics record that fit part and parcel with the laptop zeitgeist". Along with Deadbeat, Tim Hecker and Mitchell Akiyama, Poirier was part of "what became known as the Montreal minimal techno movement".Sous le manguier features cover art by Poirier himself.
The middle few albums were more hip hop in genre. Conflits and Beats As Politics were all mostly instrumental, though Conflits features two songs with Poirier doing spoken word (he also was responsible for the cover art). Other hip hop vocalists who collaborated on these records are Québécois rappers Séba and Diverse. Poirier's fifth album, Breakupdown, was more a combination of hip hop and techno sounds, described as "big synth sounds ripped from angrily forgotten techno, gooey basslines, and choice samples". Soon after the album's release, Porier was remixing Buck 65, Lady Sovereign, Pole, Bassnectar, Cadence Weapon, and others. He then founded Rebondir, his own imprint and released an EP.