Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The champ is here

I've been mixing it up a lot this week, bouncing around my listening tastes from rock to hip hop to electronic to classical. The wheel just so happened to stop on a sweet blend of a few of those genres about the time I was ready to write again.

DJ Champion (aka Maxime Morin) is a name which you may not know, but his music, you probably will. Based in Montreal, Morin spent years in rock bands as a youth, however, slowly made a transition to electronic music. By the mid 90s, he was spinning under the name Mad Max.  It was around this time that he also collaberated with a Quebecois composer to form Ben and Max Studios.  The studio focused primarily on corporate work, generating jingles and soundtracks.  Over time, Morin would come to hate his life as a jingle-shucker.

At the turn of the millenium, he'd had enough and Morin went back to his roots to create something more creative.  Under the moniker Champion he began blending heavy, distorted rock guitars with electronic beats.  His live performances would even feature a band of 4 guitarists, a bassist, a vocalist and himself on the tables, or at times a drum kit.  While he's been dormant in recent years, his 2005 release Chill 'em all turned heads and rocketed Champion into the spotlight.  After long wait, his softmore, Resistance,  was released at the end of last year.



-Trying to wear my heart on my sleeve, but can't decide what shirt to wear