Home
sign up| features / music interview |
 content by: editor |
 joakim interview
 to access audio and video on collective you need real player.Who’s afraid of the dark? A serotonin-starved raver, an anguished Goth, a highbrow classical composer – at times Joakim’s new album, Monsters And Silly Songs, sounds like it could be the result of a collaboration between all of them and more. Yet it’s really just the vision of one man – French producer and Tigersushi label manager Joakim Bouaziz who is quick to emphasise that he is none of those things, nor any other label you might seek to slap on him.“I’m fascinated by people like Goths who are just into one thing,” he says. “But it’s something I’ve always stayed away from personally because I feel very uncomfortable with defining myself. I don’t think about music as genres and I have a very strong contradictory spirit, so if someone says, ‘Your music is this,’ then the next thing I do will be completely different.” Which explains why his third album oscillates between Erik Satie-style piano pieces, post-rock wig-outs, doomy EBM and even bittersweet new-wave pop. If the determinedly obtuse Joakim has been associated with any movement before it’s probably the Parisian house underground, which also spawned Ivan Smagghe and which he soundtracked with such dark club hits as Are You Vegetarian? from 2003’s Fantomes album. But whilst he’s kept one foot on the dancefloor since, with remixes for the likes of Tiga and Tiefschwarz, Monsters And Silly Songs sees him moving further into the realm of actual songwriting.  “It’s not about songs versus instrumentals for me, as much as pop versus experimental,” Joakim says of the difference between penning songs and club tracks. “What I’m interested in is the universal thing in pop music – it’s much more difficult to make pop songs than an experimental record. But what I like about great pop songs is the way they inject something disturbing into something that seems quite obvious – like the weird strings you get on a 60s Scott Walker record, or Sgt Pepper. That’s the music I really like.” Even though he is arguably responsible for shaping the current sound of the French capital with the bands like K.I.M and Volga Select that he’s released on Tigersushi, Joakim is slightly bemused by the spotlight that is currently trained on producers such as Justice and Para One. “I feel like I’m seeing this from the outside because I’ve known some of these people for a very long time, so it’s nothing new for me; it’s just now there’s more attention.” And whilst Paris will always be home, his recent UK tour did see Joakim make a pilgrimage to his own musical Mecca when he and his band played in Manchester. “Manchester’s always had a cult status for me, because of Factory Records,” he recalls, still excited by the memories. “It’s a city where you can really feel the music everywhere. On the bus on the way there we were watching 24 Hour Party People and just sitting back dreaming.” Joakim – so much to answer for.
Paul Clarke
Joakim – Monsters And Silly Songs, released 05 March 07 on K7.
 comments
Read members' comments related to this music.
|
 |
related info
 useful links
note: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
music  music archive Watch music sessions and interviews from 2002 to 2008. books  books and comics archive Author interviews and reviews from 2002 to 2008. |
send to a friend