Ghislain Poirier
Drawing from a wide range of tropical riddims and electronic music, the power of Montreal-based DJ/producer Poirier’s blasts through any flimsy attempt to classify his music. Pinpointing the bits and pieces of reggae/dancehall beats, soca energy and electronic intensity, this is a man who just understands what works in the dance. He tears through new genres constantly, leaving a trail of packed, chaotic dancefloors in his wake. He’s a producer and DJ who has no boundaries giving the massive what it wants, yet providing a musical education in what it needs.
Poirier have released 10 albums over a span of 15 years – 8 albums as Poirier and 2 albums as Boundary. He released music on labels like Nice Up! Records (album Migration – 2016) Ninja Tune(albums Running High and No Ground Under), Mixpak (Soca Road EP), Man Recordings (Alert Riddim EP, Gal U Good Remix EP) and Chocolate Industries (albums Breakupdown and Beats As Politics).
Based in Montréal, Poirier is also moving a lot. He played at UK’s Boomtwon Festival, London’s Notting Hill Carnival, Barcelona’s Sonar Festival, Australia’s Big Day Out, SXSW, the Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreal’s Mutek, Mexico’s Cervantino Festival, India’s NH7 Weekender. In Montréal, Poirier have a strong presence hosting legendary parties: Bounce Le Gros (2005-2007), Karnival (2009-2012), Sud-West (2009 – …) and Qualité de Luxe (2015 – …).
Poirier’s signature skill of effortlessly linking disparate genres has led to worldwide collaborations with MCs and DJs. Electro genius Machinedrum, club wizards Crookers, dancehall veterans Red Foxand Burro Banton, tough gyals Warrior Queen and Natalie Storm have all connected with Poirier, as well as longtime collaborators Face-T, Boogat, MC Zulu and Fwonte.
Poirier has also produced work with a range of other artists. Robert Charlebois Tout Égratigné (2013) was an ambitious project ideated and directed by Poirier where he also contributed remix wise. He co-produced albums for Face-T (2012) and Boogat (2013). Like these projects weren’t enough, Poirier composed the original score for the movie Boris sans Béatrice (2016) directed by Denis Côté. Finally, he also started another project as Boundary with two albums released so far: http://www.noboundary.ca
