Shonky

The Batofar afterhours and West Coast house

At the Kwality nights at Batofar, the Paris boat-club, the psychedelic house of San Francisco —DJ Garth, Rasoul, Kerri Chandler, Gemini— defined the afterhours of the late nineties. That is where Shonky started DJing in 1998, while still a math student with a future mapped out in finance, and where he crossed paths with Dan Ghenacia. What began as a clubber's hobby became a profession in 2005: his first twelve-inch, Let Me Ask U, was released on Freak n'Chic and placed him at the center of the French capital's underground resurgence.

Olympia, Time Zero and the groove of Le Velour

The Shonky sound —hypnotic house, polyrhythms, insistent basslines, and an almost naive touch— was refined on EPs like Olympia and Phantomas, on August in Paris with Jennifer Cardini for Mobilee, and on his debut album Time Zero (2008, Freak n'Chic), ten tracks of cosmic house and hypnotic techno. He passed through Crosstown Rebels, Contexterrior, Culprit, Sub Static, Resopal Red, and Real Tone. Le Velour became a dancefloor classic and reappeared with remixes by Mr. Fingers, Delano Smith, and The Martinez Brothers. He also signed the remix of All I Can Say by Danton Eeprom and, later, reinterpretations for Ellen Allien or Maya Jane Coles. In 2009, Roudor & Capulet and Chocotox shifted his palette toward a more vocal and groovy house.

Three decks, one record each: Apollonia

In 2012, with Ghenacia and Dyed Soundorom, he launched Apollonia as a trio and a label. The format is their signature: back-to-back-to-back sets lasting from five to twelve hours, one record each, at DC-10, fabric, Amnesia, or the great clubs of Ibiza. Shonky opened the catalog with The Minneapolis Touch and returned with Tyrolien in 2017; the trio released the LP Tour à Tour in 2014. As a solo artist, his map includes Rex Club, Panorama Bar —a club he has attended regularly since moving to Berlin in 2009—, fabric, Club der Visionaere, Louche in Leeds, or Gipsy in Moscow.

Kreuzberg, Stoned Pilot and On The Run

His Kreuzberg studio, packed with analog synthesizers, defines his recent phase. After a production hiatus linked to his seasons in Ibiza, he returned with On The Run (2022, Third Ear), his second album fifteen years after Time Zero, and with Stoned Pilot, a vinyl label dedicated solely to collaborations —Otis, Giammarco Orsini, Alexander Skancke, Robin Ordell—. He continues to bring the Parisian afterhours groove to major dancefloors, with the same obsession for rhythmic detail that made him recognizable since those first Freak n'Chic vinyls.