Martin Joseph Léonard Bresso, better known by his stage name Tchami, is a French record producer and DJ from Paris. A founding member of the Pardon My French collective, he is best known for his solo work and regarded as a pioneer of the future house genre alongside Dutch DJs Oliver Heldens and Don Diablo. Tchami often performs with the persona of a priest and a church theme. He wears a clerical collar and includes visuals such as an altar and stained glass windows. In an interview he explained that "it is message, being spiritual. I think my music is about that too."
Musical style
Tchami most commonly produces future house music, and came into widespread recognition after releasing a remix of "Go Deep" by Janet Jackson. Tchami has done several supporting tours with successful electronic music artists such as Skrillex, Diplo, and DJ Snake. Tchami began using the stage name while in Africa, and is also attributed to a number of remixes and collaborations with DJ Snake, AlunaGeorge, Kaleem Taylor, Oliver $ and Jimi Jules, Mercer, Martin Garrix, Candyland, Jack Ü, and AC Slater. The original single "Promesses" attained a peak position of number 7 on the UK Charts. He first started using the term "future house" as a tag on his SoundCloud posts, which eventually became recognized in the electronic music industry.
Career
2013–2014
On 5 December 2013, Tchami released his first EP "Promesses" for free under the Fool's Gold Records label. Both of the EP's tracks were re-released as singles; "Shot Caller" on 17 December 2014, and "Promesses" on 4 January 2015 under Ministry of Sound, which features vocals from Kaleem Taylor. The latter peaked at number 7 on the Official Singles Chart. On 18 April 2014, Tchami released his debut single "Untrue" under the Spinnin' Records label. Tchami had co-wrote DJ Snake's and Lil Jon's hit single "Turn Down for What".
2015–present
He launched his own record label, called Confession. On 12 March 2015, he announced his debut extended play titled After Life. He uploaded his new song "After Life" featuring vocals from Stacy Barthe and is part of the After Life EP along with "Missing You", which has also been released by Tchami and AC Slater. In October 2015, Tchami and fellow electronic producer DJ Snake were injured in a car crash. Consequently, both artists missed a scheduled performance at Toronto's . His remix of AlunaGeorge's "You Know You Like It" was featured in the soundtrack of the 2015 movie "We Are Your Friends". After an 8-month break following the After Life EP, Tchami released "Siaw" on his own record label Confession as a free download on 18 August 2016. The track was an experimental bass house influenced track which sampled KRS-One's Step Into A World. He then went on to release his only single of 2016, "Prophecy", on 20 September 2016. The track was a collaboration with mysterious Parisian producer Malaa, and again featured a more experimental bass house element compared to much of Tchami's earlier work. On 3 February 2017, Tchami released "Adieu", widely believed the 1st single of his rumoured upcoming second EP. The track was once again experimental, this time calmer than much of Tchami's earlier work. Tchami also released "World To Me" featuring London singer MNEK on Spotify, however the track was quickly made private although not taken down for unknown reasons. The track was included in his second EP, "Revelations EP", with new vocals from Luke James, alongside Adieu, Taiki Nulight collaboration "Godspell", "Zeal", "Adieu, pt.ll" and Kaelyn Behr collaboration "Don't Let Me Down". The Revelations EP was released on 25 August 2017.
Pardon My French
He is currently part of the Pardon My French team, a collective of four French DJs composed of DJ Snake, Mercer, Malaa and himself. Throughout the year 2016 and early 2017, DJ Snake did a world tour with Pardon My French Tour with Tchami and Mercer.
Confession
In 2015, Tchami announced that he would be launching a new record label called "Confession". Throughout late 2018 Tchami toured North America with other DJs signed to the Confession label for the Confession tour.
