Pontchartrain
Detroit
For the last 12 years, the way that Detroit-based DJ Pontchartrain has approached music, is centered around two things - learning and sharing. The result has been an interesting change up from the status quo of what comes out of the motor city. Heavily funk-infused and sample-laden original productions, edits and reworks that border on brand new versions of the track, and sets that string together a wide array of sounds that all center around the idea that dancing and feeling music are the main goals.
What started off as a project for edits and DJ tools has turned into a rediscovery of the roots of dance music. This shift in the last few years has pushed him into the new opportunities with some of the greatest labels in disco and house realm, and interesting achievements across the globe.
Currently he serves as A&R for one of the most prominent edits labels in the world, Whiskey Disco, and for the house subsidiary, Lovedancing. In addition to curating these two outlets and putting out his own records on them as well, in the past few years alone he has released on over a dozen labels, including Kolour LTD, Rocksteady Disco, Delusions of Grandeur, Toy-Tonics, Soul-Clap Records, Masterworks Music and more. Output has been nothing short of consistent, hitting #1 chart positions on sites such as Juno, several times.
Wen it comes to performances Pontchartrain believes in the overarching goal of making people dance, and think in equal parts. From the time he brought the Detroit Children’s Choir on stage with him at Movement Festival to sing along, to the bold invocations of poetry and messages of love, the dancefloor is a temple when he’s on deck. A place to worship each other and the feeling of letting loose. Whatever sounds get you there; genre is second to the emotion.
Like many of the great Detroit artists he looks up to, there’s a humble blue collar aspect to his background as well. Pontch still works as a social worker directly with drug addicts getting back on their feet right here in the motor city. He volunteers with groups such as Give A Beat, LRNG, Girls Rock Detroit, local public libraries, and is now a volunteer and teacher at Spin Inc music production school. Music is truly a way of life, part of the greater idea of lifting each other up. His actions, sounds, and personality encompass this idea.
For booking inquiries, e-mail:
dustin@pontchartrain.us
Listen: SoundCloud.com/pontchartrain
Like: Facebook.com/pontchartrainmusic