GHISLAIN POIRIER
conflits
CD, intr_version
Hip Hop and Rap, like punk and jazz, have become global languages able to
state protest, to revolt and to be used for artistic expression. Very
complex and elaborated languages, indeed. Of course, all three genres are
dominated by business-led, customized bands used to sell products and, of
course, in all three genres the USA are the main focus of everyone’s eyes.
So much, actually, that turning your head around and trying to find cool
artists from anyplace else has become an almost revolutionary act in itself.
Punk has a long tradition of supporting punkbands from exotic and far away
places like the Malaysia or Israel. During the Eighties free jazz from
Poland or Hungary was a political statement that could bring the artists
into prison. Some weeks ago I heard a report on the radio about some Tibetan
rappers. Usually, these bands are artistically bland and more about
rehashing the same concepts they have heard via obscure paths from the USA.
So we have a self-inducing circle here and that is a pity. Because in the
end the supporters are going to support what they have come to hate from the
USA only a few years later and with less expensive equipment. Which means,
it is even harder to find people in far away places who are trying to bring
their chosen genre a few steps into the future. As far as Hip Hop and rap is
concerned Montreal is as far off the map as possible, French is not a
language really fit to be rapped in and artistically worthwhile expansions
of the genre have been reduced to the Abstract Hip Hop-scene in the educational centres
of the USA. But, as all the time with music, at some point what you have
been looking for is going to surface.
And this time around, it comes with a bang, and even though Ghislain
Poirier sounds quite relaxed and pensive, he makes it clear, that he is not
going to step back and shut his mouth. Unfortunately, I don’t speak
French, but I can understand titles like “Inégalités”, “Terrorisme
allimentaire” or “Un siècle de génocide” enough to know that Poirier
is all about politics. Coming from Quebec and putting importance on his
native French tongue, it is easy to guess what his statements are. In
opposite to most rappers he is not all about his friends and his crew, nor
about his money or his girls, but rather raps about geopolitical, social and
economic problems. It is the view of the underdog in more than just one
respect. Canada might be far away, but Europe has a lot in common with the
third biggest nation on earth (except for the vast stretches of space)
culturally. Funnily, I haven’t yet heard a good rap-crew from France.
Poirier’s music ranges from straight forward beats to askew,
overtoppling drumloops, but all tracks are filled with little distortions,
tempo-changes, where he sometimes just leaves out a few bars, topped with
all sorts of traditional and electronic instruments. He obviously prefers
big, echoic drumbeats that give headbangers a hard time and then tries to
stack layer upon layer of very diverse music on top of that. “Plus gros
qu’énorme” features a drumline even Timbaland couldn’t have thought
of, whereas instrumentals such as “résister” or “les maladies, le médicaments”
are scratching at the door of avantgarde-dance-music (if there is such a
thing) played by a big band with lots of distorted glockenspiel or tumbling
through time and space with lots of backwards-masking. Actually, Poirier has
released a mini-album on Chocolate Industries from Chicago as well, so he is
no stranger to the more progressive and weird sides of music, maybe he even
wants to drive his music at that point. Poirier also uses a lot of
electronic trickery but manages to never lose life and humanity in his
tracks. Even when they are humming and whirring with electric static, there
is still the atmosphere of home-made around them.
