I am IOAKIM. I’m not new to the music biz, actually it’s quite the opposite. Over the last 10 years I released and performed music under my former alter ego IOAKIM SAYZ. However, based in Berlin at that time, I felt the desire to reinvent myself as well as my music. This transformation process took me a couple of years before I was finally able to let go of the past and dare to take a new path. Consequently I changed my artist name to IOAKIM. I’ve dropped the SAYZ to show that I’ve left the past behind but continue with IOAKIM since I’m still me… just different.
Meanwhile based in Germany’s southwest, just half an hour away from the French border I’ve learnt to appreciate the solitude that comes with the decision to choose the countryside over the capital. Besides my work as a teacher of English and History at an integrated school I spend as much time on music as possible and try to refine my skills continuously. Yes, no joke, you heard it right… I’m a teacher.
With a different environment came a new musical direction and by the end of 2018 I decided to realize a long-felt want: an album. Now, a year later I’m proud to finally share “Monster” with you, a collection of very diverse productions stretching from World Music to Chillout via Breakbeat and Downtempo. I’ve always enjoyed being unpredictable and “Monster” is the evidence of this yet again.
As a firm believer in independent music distribution due to the lack of positive experiences with most of the labels I worked with, “Monster” as well as future projects of mine will be released by myself without anyone else involved. This – considering the fact that I’m starting from scratch again – is risky and will make it take longer to spread my music. In the long run however it feels just great to be completely independent and to be able to stay real… no matter what.