French producer and remixer Joakim has sustained an eclectic career since his 1999 debut, which fused jazz, turntablism, hip-hop, and indie rock, extending that breadth through his own recordings as well as his roles as producer, collaborator, remixer, and founder of the influential Tigersushi imprint. Left-field house, neo-disco, post-punk, and Krautrock currents shaped 2007’s Monsters & Silly Songs, after which the artist turned toward more refined pop structures on 2011’s Nothing Gold and 2017’s Samurai. A more experimental, downtempo direction surfaced with 2021’s Second Nature, whose companion remix set appeared the next year.
Born Joakim Bouaziz, the prodigy began intensive classical training with piano lessons at age six. Upon completing studies at the National Conservatory of Versailles, he absorbed jazz, American and British indie rock, and hip-hop. Those and additional influences informed his first release, the largely instrumental and jazz-inflected Tiger Sushi (issued under the Joakim Lone Octet moniker) in 1999. Greater notice arrived with the more dance-oriented, electronic follow-up Fantômes in 2003. After devoting four years primarily to label operations, remix commissions, and scattered solo singles, Joakim resurfaced in 2007 with the wide-ranging Monsters & Silly Songs, which included the 12-inch “Lonely Hearts.” The My Best Remixes compilation followed in 2008, succeeded by Milky Ways on the !K7 label in 2009.
Nothing Gold, released in 2011, centered on the single “Forever Young” and other songs reflecting the artist’s entry into his thirties. Camille Henrot’s artwork adorned the cover of 2014’s Tropics of Love, an album shaped by the French artist’s work. Two standalone singles, “Daemon” and “Boipeba,” preceded the 2017 Tigersushi album Samurai, whose sound drew from New York City—where Joakim had relocated several years earlier—as well as early-’80s Japanese synth pop and new age. Downtempo ambient explorations continued on 2018’s The Studio Venezia Sessions and 2021’s Second Nature. The latter received a 2022 remix treatment, Second Nature Remixes, featuring contributions from Mad Professor, 808 State, Russell E.L. Butler, and additional artists.
