Joakim - Nothing Gold

* September 2011 sees the release of Joakim’s 4th album, ‘Nothing Gold’. Probably his most song-orientated album to date.

* One of France’s foremost electronic musicians, his first album ‘Tiger Sushi’ was ambient electro-jazz, before he moved onto electronics with ‘Fantômes’ [2003], and later ‘Monsters and Silly Songs’ [2007], on which he combines post-rock, disco and electronics.

* Joakim runs the Tigersushi label, releases a broad spectrum of music including Maurice Fulton, E.S.G, Poni Hoax and Metro Area. Joakim does live sets, DJs and he’s also a remixer; he’s recut tunes from Tiga, Air and Antena’s ‘Camino Del Sol’ - the latter of which was one of the biggest club tunes of 2006. Finally, he also has a live band, Joakim and the Ectoplasmic Band, on which he plays machines, keyboards, guitars and sings. Fingers in many pies then.

* 'Nothing Gold'  borrows its title from the Robert Frost poem cited in ‘The Outsiders’ by S.E. Hinton, which delves into the interplay that unfolds amongst young adults as they make that turbulent transition between youth and adulthood.

* As an observer, it might appear strange that it has taken 4 albums for Joakim to confront a theme that is so obviously omnipresent in his work. But once again, Joakim is having fun misleading us as there is an underlying theme to 'Nothing Gold' : “ each song is about someone I don't want to be or become or about extreme behaviours and deviant habits – with the exception of Find A Way, like an exploration of the human dark sides, a way to exorcise the demons by becoming one of them inside a song”.

* With that said, don’t feel duped just yet, as Joakim is an artist that defies expectation, or, as Resident Advisor recently put it “the only common thread in Joakim's career is his playful disregard for convention.”

- JOAKIM: “It's true, I’ve taken the opposite path from most music producers today. I wanted to sound different. For years I’ve been buying gear to build the studio of my dreams where I can achieve the sound I’m looking for (something between Conrad Plank, Motown and Daft Punk). It's simply not possible to get that sound with a laptop. Philippe Zdar is a good example of what I aspire to; people from all over the world come to him now because he's developed a unique, efficient, big sound that no one can achieve without his mad studio. I also love beautiful “tools”. Things with a life of their own. You can interact with them. Analog synths have this ‘Mojo’. The computer is an amazing tool too but it's not very inspiring”.

TRACKLISTING:

1 Intro, 2 Forever Young, 3 Fight Club, 4 Nothing Gold, 5 Wrong Blood, 6 Find A Way, 7 Paranoid, 8 In The
Cave, 9 Piano Magic, 10 Labyrinth, 11 Perfect Kiss

Be the first to review this record. Best reviewer each month gets £10 off their next order!