Four years following his album Resistance, carried by the success of Alive Again, Maxime Morin returns as Champion with a brand new project titled °1. The electro-lounge-orchestral record will be available on May 28th through Bonsound. For the first time, DJ Champion brought together many collaborators. In addition to his loyal G-Strings and vocalist Pilou, we can hear the exuberant Fab from Random Recipe, string quartet Mommies on the Run, and trombone player and arranger Jean-Nicolas Trottier.
Well before his collaborations with the OSM and OSQ, DJ Champion had flirted with classical music, whether it be by imagining a remix of a song by Jean-Pierre Ferland or co-producing the soundtrack for Matroni et moi with composer Benoît Charest. Two songs from Resistance (Clear Beach and The Monster) also put forward a type of arrangement closer to this musical genre. With his new album, DJ Champion dives into symphonic orchestras' sonic universe, without ever abandoning electro elements and electric guitars, two pillars of the signature Champion sound.
With °1, DJ Champion wanted to immortalize a precise period of his life with its highs and lows, challenges and joys.Ideally, an artist wants to create a coherent album from start to finish, explains DJ Champion. But because I wanted the album to be a polaroid, a realistic representation of life, I had to deal with the good and the bad, the champion and the loser, because life isn't a just a long quiet river. Even though the record is at times baffling because of its extreme polarity, there's nonetheless a true harmony and identity at its core.
BIO
Present within Montreal’s music scene for over 15 years already, Maxime Morin, better known as DJ Champion, has been making waves ever since the release of his first album, Chill 'Em All (Saboteur Musique), released in 2004, for which he won Electro-Techno Album of the Year at the 2005 ADISQ Gala and received a nomination at the 2006 Juno Awards for Best Dance Recording. Joined on stage by his flamboyant G-Strings, the musician and "conductor" took part in numerous festivals and events of international scale in the last few years, multiplying memorable performances all the while accumulating honours, such as a Félix award for Concert of the Year at the 2006 ADISQ.
Resistance (Saboteur Musique – 2009), the highly anticipated follow-up to Chill 'Em All, revealed a more serious and bold DJ Champion in his genetic crosses, as noted by Nightlife Magazine's Olivier Lalande. Aware of the challenges of re-creating the energy of his live performances, he chose to incorporate elements of rock into his music. This second record saw DJ Champion pen most of the lyrics for the very first time. A strong album built around dense sonorities amplified by uplifting musical compositions, Resistance is the artist’s inner struggle to avoid venturing down the same creative path.
Moreover, this album gave him the opportunity to head out on two pan-Canadian tours and to play at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. Following his concert at the 2011 Festival d’été de Québec, he received the prestigiousMiroir award for Urban and Contemporary Music. DJ Champion now dives into symphonic orchestras' sonic universe, without ever abandoning electro elements and electric guitars.