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Joakim - A Joakim Matter

Author: Carlisle Rogers
Monday, November 10, 2008

Synth bandit Joakim has been one of the producers du jour in the French invasion of our airwaves, and is heading Down Under to party for future classic. Words by 3D’s Carlisle Rogers.

Tigersushi, home of Poni Hoax, Desmond and the Tutus and Panico, is now home to its founder too, Joakim. His inaugural release on Tigersushi is My Best Remixes, a self-explanatory collection of Joakim’s efforts on people like Annie, Cut Copy, DJ Mehdi, Tiga and more. He’s also heading to Sydney this month to play the Future Classic label night.

So how does he know they are his best remixes- “I’m not sure actually,” he ponders, “but it’s what I’ve been told. I tried to make a selection that could be something you listen to at home. Most of my remixes are in a club format, but I didn’t want to have too many long tracks that are not good for listening at home. I made a selection based on that criteria.

“For me,” he says, trying to remember his remixing debut, “it just happened. Some people asked me to do remixes when I started to make music and then some of them were successful and played by other DJs. Then even more people started asking me. It’s not my main goal in life. I’ve been producing for ten or 12 years. I started playing the piano very young. When I was a teenager, I listened to indie rock and that kind of stuff, American bands, Sonic Youth and the Pixies. Then in the early or mid-’90s, I discovered labels like Mo Wax and that was my introduction to electronic music. Then I started to collect records and DJ and I also started to produce when my friends gave me a very cheap synthesizer. From that very moment, I began to make music all day long.”

With his Tigersushi label, Joakim has been expanding things considerably of late, including a move into clothing. “I’m working with some bands I’m producing and we are signing new artists. We also opened a shop in Paris where we sell our own clothes. We just released an EP by a South African band called Desmund & The Tutus. They sound like happy post-punk South Africans.”

Working on his own debut LP, Joakim says it definitely will not be released on his own label. “I prefer that other people promote my album rather than me doing everything. I think it’s healthier to have other people taking care of you sometimes. I still have a lot of control because I work with small labels that let you do whatever you want. It’s not like working with a major label who tells you what you have to do.”

WHO: Joakim
WHAT: Plays Future Classic Label Night at Civic Underground
WHEN: Friday 14 November
MORE: futureclassic.com.au

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