"No Ground Under" by Ghislain Poirier

Montreal-based DJ Ghislain Poirier is a busy man with a busier passport. He's remixed everyone from Clipse and Lil Wayne to Lady Sovereign, and he's also a global traveler well-known for his fiery and brilliant mixes of African hip-hop. In his own music, Poirier favors no-nonsense beats underpinned by generous dollops of sub-bass. Just as often, though, he complicates a hip-hop and dancehall palette with production trickery that can occasionally be hit-and-miss. Poirier's strengths and weaknesses are writ large on his third album, No Ground Under. The hypnotic intricacies of the instrumental track "One Hand Can't Clap" are a great example—at the heart of a swarm of bells and drums is a direct and compelling rhythm that's stated at the beginning. You have to admire the densely-programmed beat acrobatics that follow, but it does end up a bit scattered. The track's title is a nod to the wisdom of a Wolof. While "One Hand Can't Clap" (the track) is, in fact, Poirier's work alone,
	Published: 2008-02-22 Provider: Artist Direct