Shonky

In music, one hit record is lucky. Two? That’s talent. And the talent everyone is talking about at the moment is fresh faced Frenchman Shonky. But with over 50,000 tracks in the Beatport database, how does a modern electronic music artist distinguish himself ? For Parisian techno and house producer, DJ and remixer, Shonky the answer is simple. He took his profound passion for making music and created a signature sound, delivered a few solid EPs, topped the charts, landed a nice place with a “few” big labels, moved to Berlin, & spun in the hottest euro Tech clubs and . . . Voila !
Indeed, his natural aptitude for producing was immediately evident with releases like Let Me Ask U, his remix of Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia’s Far Away.. Back in 2007 every underground club was echoing to the sounds of Olympia – a slab of panoramic techno that seemed to have been custom-engineered at the bottom of the sea; Or dancing to his massive remix of Danton Eeprom’s All I Can Say. In 2008, Shonky took another bold leap forward by releasing his first full-length album Time Zero. More than a haphazard assortment of tracks, Time Zero is blended together with a common theme: getting your groove on at a party and the art of celebrating life.
Incredibly, music was a second-choice career for the 30-year-old. “I studied mathematics and statistics for five years. I was supposed to get a job in a bank,” he grins. But as a dedicated clubber since his teens the lure of electronic music and culture proved too strong. Shonky bought a pair of decks though he admits he had no idea what to do with them at first. He picked up many of his tips at Dan Ghenacia’s infamous Batofar after-parties, where he struck up a friendship with Dan, Dyed, and the rest of the Freak n’ Chic crew.
Immersing himself in the rave scene in Paris, Shonky’s musical roots were then found at the “Batofar club”. More so, it was the deep house, soul and funk infused sounds hailing from the mid-90s West Coast house scene and the historical Chicago house movement that left an everlasting impression on his future. Inspired by pioneering deep house figures such as Gemini and Kerri Chandler, Shonky has dubbed his own innovative style of mixing, writing and producing.
Shonky was to be one of the hottest young stars of 2008 and simply a star in 2009 with still big releases, on Freak n’Chic and Contexterrior his home labels. Shonky’s hit tracks “Carnage” & “Coco Feel and Love Shonk,” unmistakably portray this development and expansion within his production, marking a musical crossroads in his passage towards a new sound –one that revealed sonically groovier house dimensions infused with stronger vocal representation. The result was a lighter feeling, less minimal with the same hypnotic overtones. 2010 shows no sign of slowing down, as Shonky delivered the summer Bomb Cluborama (FNC051) and Les shonkettes, contexterrior’s autumnal anthem.