Joachim Garraud: Biography, Discography and More | EDM Encyclopedia
Introduction
Joachim André Garraud is a French DJ, music producer, and remixer from Nantes, France. Active from 2013 to the present, Garraud has built a career spanning over a decade in electronic music production, performance, and broadcasting. His work extends well beyond solo releases: he has served as a producer for a diverse roster of artists including Paul Johnson, Deep Dish, David Bowie, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), Kylie Minogue, Mylène Farmer, Cassius, Saffron Hill, and Culture Club. This production work spans multiple genres and decades, connecting Garraud to both underground dance music and mainstream pop.
Garraud is recognized for his collaborations with prominent figures in electronic house music. He has worked directly with Jean-Michel Jarre, Bob Sinclar, and David Guetta. These partnerships have informed his production approach, giving him access to different perspectives within house and electronic music. His collaboration with Jarre links him to the legacy of French electronic music that dates back to the 1970s, while his work with Guetta and Sinclar connects him to the French house scene that achieved international reach in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Beyond the studio, Garraud hosts a weekly radio show on Radio NWO called Zemixx. The show is also distributed as a podcast, making his mixes and selections available to listeners outside traditional broadcast range. Zemixx functions as both a creative outlet and a promotional platform, keeping Garraud’s name current between album cycles and live appearances. The weekly format requires consistent preparation of new material, which may contribute to his steady release schedule.
His discography includes five confirmed albums and two confirmed EPs released between 2013 and 2025. His first release arrived in 2013, and his most recent album is dated 2025, covering twelve years of recorded output. This consistency distinguishes him from producers who release sporadically or exit the scene after early material.
Genre and Style
Garraud operates primarily within house and electronic music. His style reflects a broad understanding of dance music production, shaped by years of work both as a solo artist and as a producer for other musicians. Rather than adhering to a single subgenre, his productions draw from multiple traditions within electronic music.
The house Sound
His collaborations with Jean-Michel Jarre introduced synthesizer-driven textures and progressive structures into his work. Jarre’s influence appears in Garraud’s attention to atmospheric elements and layered arrangements, qualities that distinguish his solo material from more straightforward club tracks. At the same time, his partnerships with David Guetta and Bob Sinclar reinforced his connection to club-oriented house, prioritizing rhythmic energy and audience engagement over pure experimentation.
As a producer for vocalists like Kylie Minogue, David Bowie, and Mylène Farmer, Garraud developed techniques for integrating vocal performances into electronic frameworks. This experience gave him a producer’s ear for structure and pacing, skills that transfer directly to his solo material. His remix work for artists like OMD and Culture Club further expanded his range, requiring him to reinterpret existing songs within electronic formats while maintaining recognizable elements from the original recordings.
His solo releases demonstrate this range across the house spectrum. The albums and EPs in his catalog move between vocal-driven tracks suited to radio play and instrumental productions designed for club environments. This versatility reflects his background in both pop production and DJ EDM culture, two worlds that often overlap in French electronic music.
Garraud’s production choices favor clarity and impact: prominent basslines, steady four-on-the-floor rhythms, and synthesized melodies define his approach. His work with Deep Dish connected him to progressive house, while his collaborations with French artists anchored him in the domestic scene that produced many of house music’s most visible figures. The diversity of his production credits informs a style that borrows from multiple electronic traditions without being limited to any single one. His tracks balance functional dancefloor utility with enough melodic and textural detail to reward repeated listening outside a club context.
Key Releases
Garraud’s confirmed discography includes five albums and two EPs released between 2013 and 2025.
- EPs:
- Born and Left EP
- Kenia
- Albums:
- Fever
Discography Highlights
EPs:
Born and Left EP (2013)
Kenia (2014)
Albums:
Fever (2016)
Hungry 5 (2018)
Greater Message (2021)
The Winning Line (2022)
PHANTOMGRID (2025)
The Born and Left EP arrived in 2013 as Garraud’s first confirmed release. This EP established his presence as a solo recording artist in the house music scene after years of producing for other artists. The year, he released the Kenia EP in 2014, building on the foundation of his debut with a second short-form release before transitioning to full-length projects.
Fever, released in 2016, marked Garraud’s first full-length album. The record represented a shift from the EP format to longer projects, allowing for a more complete statement of his production style across multiple tracks. Two years passed before his next album, Hungry 5, which arrived in 2018 and continued his exploration of house music conventions.
The gap between 2018 and 2021 saw Garraud continue his EDM radio work and live performances before returning with Greater Message in 2021. The year brought The Winning Line in 2022, giving him two album releases in consecutive years for the first time in his discography. This period represented the most concentrated stretch of album releases in his career.
PHANTOMGRID, dated 2025, is his most recent confirmed album. This release extends his recorded output into a twelfth year, bringing his total album count to five alongside the two EPs from earlier in his career. Together, these seven releases form the core of Garraud’s solo catalog, documenting his development as a producer across more than a decade of studio work. The spacing of his releases, typically one to three years apart, suggests a deliberate approach to album creation rather than rushed output.
Famous Tracks
Joachim Garraud’s studio output spans over a decade of consistent releases. The Born and Left EP arrived in 2013, followed by the Kenia EP in 2014, both serving as early indicators of his solo production direction outside of collaborative work.
His debut album Fever dropped in 2016, marking a pivot toward full-length projects. Two years later, Hungry 5 continued that momentum. The subsequent period proved particularly productive: Greater Message appeared in 2021, The Winning Line in 2022, and PHANTOMGRID is slated for 2025.
Each release showcases Garraud’s preference for tight, club-ready production rather than extended headphone listening. His catalog favors functional dancefloor material built for DJ sets and festival stages rather than ambient home listening.
Live Performances
Garraud’s background as a remixer for artists like David Bowie, Kylie Minogue, and Culture Club gave him early exposure to large-scale touring and stagecraft. His transition from behind-the-scenes producer to headlining DJ shaped how he approaches live sets: technical precision paired with visual spectacle.
Notable Shows
His weekly radio show Zemixx, broadcast on Radio NWO and distributed as a podcast, functions as an extension of his live performance identity. The show serves as a consistent touchpoint with audiences between festival appearances and club dates.
EDM collaborations with Jean-Michel Jarre exposed Garraud to elaborate concert production values. Those experiences inform his solo shows, which integrate hardware mixing, live sequencing, and crowd interaction rather than relying solely on pre-programmed sets.
Why They Matter
Garraud occupies a specific niche in French electronic music: the bridge between underground production credentials and mainstream accessibility. His remix work for Deep Dish, Cassius, and OMD established credibility within dance music circles, while his partnerships with David Guetta and Bob Sinclar connected him to commercial audiences.
Impact on house
His production for Mylène Farmer and Saffron Hill demonstrates range beyond house music production. Garraud adapts his approach to serve the artist rather than imposing a single aesthetic across every project.
The Nantes-born EDM producer‘s consistent release schedule across multiple formats reflects a work ethic rooted in studio discipline. Seven confirmed releases between 2013 and 2025, spanning EPs and full albums, illustrate an artist who prioritizes regular output over extended gaps between projects.
Garraud’s willingness to collaborate across genres and decades keeps him relevant in a rapidly shifting electronic landscape. His catalog documents a producer engaged with both the technical demands of club music and broader pop sensibilities.
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