Ahead of his collaboration with Prince Club, Poupon sits down with Percussion Lab to discuss life in Toronto, his new EP on Snatch! and his feature mix.

PL: Hey Poupon! Thanks for the mix. To start it out, I know you're based in Toronto. Tell me a little bit about your startup there.

Poupon: I've been djing in Toronto for a few years, started the Poupon work a little under two years ago. Been playing a few gigs in Toronto, got to open for some great artists coming through, and meet a lot of good talented friends who are making waves in other genres and other scenes. Toronto is a really great place to be a musician and dj. 

PL: What's your favorite venue in Toronto? What type of place do you like to play at the most?

Poupon: Yeah, my favorite place is a spot called Footwork. It's definitely that small, dark room style. Their capacity is probably 250-300 max. It's a straightforward, no bullshit dark room with amazing sound system. Everyone who goes there is into the music. That's the most important thing for me, as long as everyone's there to hear good music. The club can be ugly as hell, but if the people are into it, that's all that matters.

PL: Tell me a little bit about the EP and your inspiration behind that.

Poupon: The EP is a collab between me and Prince Club (Max and Zach). "Technique" was made back in January [2012] when they were in town to play a gig with me. Zach had the idea to re-sing the lyrics from Kelis' "Milkshake" (instead of saying 'boys' we chose 'girls'). Zach is trying to sing a lot more and use his voice on the tracks, and it ended up sounding really good. We sent that to Snatch! and they wanted to release it along with a b-side. I stayed with Max in LA and we came up with the block of the track, which of course has the really recognizable sample used by a ton of people. Zach had the drum line already laid out already and just didn't know how to turn it into the song. I had the idea of using the sample in my head for a while, and I thought it would sound good on there. It sounded tight and we decided to roll with it. And that's the EP, just the two tracks!

PL: I noticed you only have some Toronto dates lined up. Is there anything in the works for new productions or are you touring anytime soon?

Poupon: We're working on me going back to Europe sometime in the fall. Gonna try to go back to the West Coast and some other US dates in the late fall, beginning of winter probably. We're just trying to sort all the stuff out right now. I was in the US back in May and I've done two small European twos in November and last summer, and they were amazing. Trying to go back to Europe again and hit some new spots while there.

PL: That sounds rad, we'd love to have you down in New York as well. Moving on, can you give us a little peek into how you work in the studio or inspiration you gather there?

Poupon: I have a pretty basic setup, nothing too crazy. I use Ableton as my main DAW. I'm very sample-based in my production, and that's how I build my grooves. I use a lot of VSTs for effects and sounds, mainly baselines and synths. I try to keep my sound on a more organic than synthesized tip. I like to keep a human element, play my keys, use an electric piano VST but throw some effects on it to make it sound less digital. I have an electric bass and electric guitar, which I sometimes run in and play my baselines that way. I will also sing a sound if I can't find a sample that I need, and I'll use some effects plugins to make it the sound I want. Definitely want to invest in some analog gear in the future, but it's a whole different world.

PL: It's all sounding great, and in regards to the mix, we dig it. Love some Audiojack, some FCL, Julio Bashmore. Do you want to talk a little more about the mix?

Poupon: For sure. I definitely wanted to venture into the deeper side for this mix. I do like to move around from deep house to tech-house to techno, so this was really fun to do just a deep house focused mix and not get into the tech-house stuff. Just trying to keep it really groovy and something you could party to or just chill out and listen to at the same time. It should work for both occasions.

PL: Sweet. Well we really appreciate it, and dig the mix. Best of luck with the release, and say hi to Riva for us!

Take a listen to Poupon's feature mix for Percussion Lab, and pick up his new EP on Snatch! available on Beatport.