by RAF KATIGBAK

Ghislain Poirier is still trying to get over the fact that things don't always go as planned. "My goal this season was to take it easy, take a vacation, and a have a smooth summer," says the local electro-hip-hop producer, whose calendar last month alone had him bouncing between an opening slot for Buck 65 at Quebec City's huge Off Festival d'Été, a Lady Sovereign after-party and East Village Radio gig in New York City, and a few of the best DJ sets the Francofolies crowd has ever heard. "Obviously, that didn't happen."

Rest is a precious commodity when you're as busy as Poirier. Along with his numerous DJ gigs and disjointed, experimental collaborations with underground MCs like Beans and francophones Séba and Omnikrom, and the long-awaited release of his fifth album Breakupdown (slated for fall on Chicago's Chocolate Industries label), he's also planning a live tour of smalltown Quebec in the coming months.

But how do you kick back when you become one of the most in-demand beatsmiths in North America's latest buzz town? Well, if you're Poirier, you also start a monthly dance party called Bounce le Gros. With last week's sold-out inaugural night (with special guest DJs from TTC) still making waves amongst beatheads and bootyshakers alike, Poirier is confident that the next event - featuring Boston bloggers and mash-up kings Certified Bananas - will go gangbusters. "Everyone danced until 3 a.m. We were dropping hip hop, ragga, crunk, Baltimore, grime, whatever, and people were so happy to hear all these different styles together. It's giving me a lot of hope. Those sets make the kind of nights that Montreal needs, urban music from all over the world - with bass."

It's actually fun to watch Poirier's face when he says the word "bass." His eyes light up and he cracks a smile like a kid at Christmas. Anyone witness to his work behind the turntables knows he's got a thing for low-end frequencies. But as a longtime community-radio DJ (he did a five-year stretch on CISM's Branché Monde from '95-2000), it wasn't until he started DJing regularly at Blizzarts two years ago that he could actually witness the power that bass has on an audience.

"It's really good to DJ with a dancefloor," he quips. "Blizzarts is really small, but inside you really feel the bass. When I started DJing dancefloors, my production was getting more dancefloor-oriented because I got to test my own songs on the crowd. It was fun, it's all linked."

Experiencing that link not only led him away from the ambient, minimal techno leanings of his first album and back to his teenage passion for hip hop, but also helped him see the connection between his own music and urban music from all over the world.

"Baile funk, booty bass, Baltimore breaks, West African hip hop, most of this music has no exposure here. I want to open that up, but without pretension. We're saying, ‘Oh, you know nothing about this music? We don't care, you can come - and dance like crazy."

With Certified Bananas at Bounce le Gros at Zoobizarre tonight, Thursday, Aug. 4, 10 p.m., $3

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