Words by Jesse Serwer—
Over the years, Montreal’s Poirier, originally known for his experimental hip-hop beats, has become increasingly influenced by—and proficient in making— soca. The aptly titled Soca Road EP, out this week on New York’s Mixpak Records, sees him channel his energies entirely towards carnival soundtrack-age. But this isn’t your Trini uncle’s soca party: cross pollination is Poirier’s forte, and here the beatmaker brings South African femcee EJ Von Lyrik and Haiti-via-Montreal’s Imposs on for lead vocal duties on “Bring It On” and “Sak Te Gen Tan Gen La,” respectively (If you’ll remember, we actually featured that last one on the site a year back). In advance of the EP’s release tomorrow, the kind folks at Mixpak have given us an exclusive stream of the record’s four tracks. Listen below, and cop Soca Road tomorrow on iTunes, Juno, Beatport and the usual MP3 outlets.