Pepe Deluxé
Encyclopedia
Pepe Deluxé is a Finnish electronic music
oriented band, formed in 1996 by DJ Slow
(Vellu Maurola) JA-Jazz (Tomi Paajanen) and James Spectrum (Jari Salo) in Helsinki
, Finland
. They started to experiment with sounds of hip hop
, big beat
, breakbeat
and downtempo
. DJ Slow departed the band in 2001 to pursue solo projects. JA-Jazz has been off-duty since 2008. Multi-instrumentalist Paul Malmström became official member of the band in 2008.
Pepe Deluxé live line-up consists of Tommi Lindell (modular synthesizer, vocoder), Miikka Paatelainen (guitar, bass, Theremin), Markku Reinikainen (drums), James Spectrum (mixing, percussion) and Edward Greendanger (VJ).
. After the release, the band continued making new Pepe Deluxé -music and also remixes for Finnish dance music -artists.
The band's first EP
, Three Times a Player, 1998, was actually a demo released under an imaginary record label Tiger. It was still chosen as the downtempo album of the month by Muzik
magazine in the UK
. This led to a recording contract
with Brighton
's Catskills Records.
The band's first album, Super Sound, was released 1999. Due to clearance problems (the tracks were heavily sampled
), they had to do a new version of the album with many of the tracks re-created with cleared samples or with live instruments. The new version of the album was released subsequently in France
, Italy
, Spain
, The Netherlands, United States
, Australia
and Germany
. The album was selected as an "Album of the Month" by several magazines.
Super Sound was noticed by Paul Malmström from Fallon Worldwide
advertising agency in New York
, and the band was asked to write music for an upcoming Lee Jeans advertisement campaign. Later on, Pepe Deluxé's sound was also noted by another jeans company, Levi's, which chose the track "Before You Leave" for their worldwide advertising campaign in 2001, subsequently winning the Gold Lion for best use of music in Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
. The track reached #20 in the UK Singles Chart
the same year, and it was also used on the end credits for the Channel 4
comedy quiz show, Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong
.
During this time, Pepe Deluxé undertook several remixes for acts such as Tom Jones
, The Cardigans
, Eminem
and Jacknife Lee
.
In 2003, the band returned with their first single
"Salami Fever" from their second album Beatitude. It was composed together with Paul Malmström and it was their first collaboration. They also created a video
for the single, which was chosen as 'Video of the Decade' by Bizarre
magazine. "Salami Fever" was sampled by The Prodigy
on their song Take Me to the Hospital
.
In spring 2007, they released the first single, "Pussycat Rock", from their third album Spare Time Machine
, the latter of which was released in June 2007. Further singles "Mischief Of Cloud 6" (August) and "Go For Blue" (September) followed.
In October 2007, "Mischief Of Cloud 6" was used at the beginning of an episode of the ABC drama Private Practice, entitled "In Which Addison Finds the Magic".
In October 2011, Asthmatic Kitty
announced that they would be releasing the fourth Pepe Deluxé album in conjunction with Catskills. The esoteric pop opera in three parts will be titled Queen of the Wave, and is scheduled for release in January of 2012.
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
oriented band, formed in 1996 by DJ Slow
Slow (Producer & DJ)
Slow or DJ Slow is a Finnish DJ and music producer. His first encounters with hip hop acts such as Run-DMC, Public Enemy and Eric B & Rakim led him to pursue career in DJing, later making music and remixing others tracks...
(Vellu Maurola) JA-Jazz (Tomi Paajanen) and James Spectrum (Jari Salo) in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. They started to experiment with sounds of hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
, big beat
Big beat
Big beat is a term employed since the mid-1990s by the British music press to describe much of the music by artists such as The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, The Crystal Method, and Propellerheads typically driven by heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns in...
, breakbeat
Breakbeat
In 1992, a new style called "jungalistic hardcore" emerged, and for many ravers it was too funky to dance to. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that the breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave" because the ever changing drumbeat patterns of breakbeat music didn't allow for the same zoned out,...
and downtempo
Downtempo
Downtempo is a laid-back electronic music style similar to ambient music, but usually with a beat or groove unlike the beatless forms of Ambient music. The beat is sometimes made from loops that have a hypnotic feeling...
. DJ Slow departed the band in 2001 to pursue solo projects. JA-Jazz has been off-duty since 2008. Multi-instrumentalist Paul Malmström became official member of the band in 2008.
Pepe Deluxé live line-up consists of Tommi Lindell (modular synthesizer, vocoder), Miikka Paatelainen (guitar, bass, Theremin), Markku Reinikainen (drums), James Spectrum (mixing, percussion) and Edward Greendanger (VJ).
History
The band's first release was a song called "Call Me Goldfinger". It was released in 1997 on the "Return of the DJ, Vol. II" scratch-dj compilation album by Bomb Hip-Hop RecordsBomb Hip-Hop Records
The San Francisco-based Bomb Hip-Hop Records has evolved since its humble beginnings in 1991 as a hip-hop publication to "one of the fifteen independent labels that matter" according to Rolling Stone. Bomb’s Return of the DJ series was ranked by Spin Magazine as #25 in their “The 90 Greatest Albums...
. After the release, the band continued making new Pepe Deluxé -music and also remixes for Finnish dance music -artists.
The band's first EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, Three Times a Player, 1998, was actually a demo released under an imaginary record label Tiger. It was still chosen as the downtempo album of the month by Muzik
Muzik
Muzik was a UK dance music magazine published by IPC Media from June 1995 to August 2003.Muzik was created by two former Melody Maker journalists, Push and Ben Turner. Push was the editor of Muzik from its launch until he left the magazine in 1998, at which point Turner took over as editor...
magazine in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. This led to a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
with Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
's Catskills Records.
The band's first album, Super Sound, was released 1999. Due to clearance problems (the tracks were heavily sampled
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
), they had to do a new version of the album with many of the tracks re-created with cleared samples or with live instruments. The new version of the album was released subsequently in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, The Netherlands, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The album was selected as an "Album of the Month" by several magazines.
Super Sound was noticed by Paul Malmström from Fallon Worldwide
Fallon Worldwide
Fallon Worldwide is an international advertising agency headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota with affiliate offices in London, Singapore, Hong Kong, São Paulo and Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Publicis.-History:...
advertising agency in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and the band was asked to write music for an upcoming Lee Jeans advertisement campaign. Later on, Pepe Deluxé's sound was also noted by another jeans company, Levi's, which chose the track "Before You Leave" for their worldwide advertising campaign in 2001, subsequently winning the Gold Lion for best use of music in Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a global event for those working in advertising and related fields. The seven-day festival, incorporating the awarding of the Lions awards, is held yearly at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France...
. The track reached #20 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
the same year, and it was also used on the end credits for the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
comedy quiz show, Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong
Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong
Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong was an entertainment show on Channel 4, presented by Alan Carr. During the first series, voice-over commentary in between rounds on the scores is provided by Leslie Phillips...
.
During this time, Pepe Deluxé undertook several remixes for acts such as Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
, The Cardigans
The Cardigans
The Cardigans are a Swedish rock band formed in the town of Jönköping in October 1992.Their debut album Emmerdale gave them a solid base in their home country and enjoyed some success abroad, especially in Japan. It was not until their second album Life that an international reputation was secured...
, Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
and Jacknife Lee
Jacknife Lee
Garret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including The Cars, U2, R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, AFI, The Hives, Weezer, Vega4 and Editors.-Biography:...
.
In 2003, the band returned with their first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"Salami Fever" from their second album Beatitude. It was composed together with Paul Malmström and it was their first collaboration. They also created a video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for the single, which was chosen as 'Video of the Decade' by Bizarre
Bizarre (magazine)
Bizarre is a British alternative magazine published from 1997 to the present. It is currently published by Dennis Publishing; it is a sister publication to the Fortean Times.-Content:...
magazine. "Salami Fever" was sampled by The Prodigy
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...
on their song Take Me to the Hospital
Take Me to the Hospital
"Take Me to the Hospital" is the twenty-first single released by the British electronic band The Prodigy. released on 31 August 2009, the CD Single includes the Sub Focus Remix and the 12" Single also includes a Rusko Remix. Liam also collaborated with Josh Homme to create the "Wreckage" mix of the...
.
In spring 2007, they released the first single, "Pussycat Rock", from their third album Spare Time Machine
Spare Time Machine
Spare Time Machine is a 2007 album by Pepe Deluxé. It featured the band Husky Rescue, who fleshed out the live aspect of the record. Though sales were slow, the group's third album was a music journalist's dream and earned an Emma, the Finnish version of Grammy, under the "critic's choice"...
, the latter of which was released in June 2007. Further singles "Mischief Of Cloud 6" (August) and "Go For Blue" (September) followed.
In October 2007, "Mischief Of Cloud 6" was used at the beginning of an episode of the ABC drama Private Practice, entitled "In Which Addison Finds the Magic".
In October 2011, Asthmatic Kitty
Asthmatic Kitty
Asthmatic Kitty is an American independent record label founded in 1999 by a community of musicians from Holland, Michigan led by musician Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams. Some were Holland natives, and others had come to attend local colleges and universities...
announced that they would be releasing the fourth Pepe Deluxé album in conjunction with Catskills. The esoteric pop opera in three parts will be titled Queen of the Wave, and is scheduled for release in January of 2012.
Albums
- Super Sound (Catskills Records/Emperor NortonEmperor Norton RecordsEmperor Norton Records, was a Los Angeles-based electronica, hip-hop, and dance-music record label. Among the artists featured on the label were Ladytron, Arling & Cameron, Money Mark, Ugly Duckling, and Fantastic Plastic Machine...
, 1999) - Beatitude (Catskills Records/Emperor NortonEmperor Norton RecordsEmperor Norton Records, was a Los Angeles-based electronica, hip-hop, and dance-music record label. Among the artists featured on the label were Ladytron, Arling & Cameron, Money Mark, Ugly Duckling, and Fantastic Plastic Machine...
, 2003) - Spare Time MachineSpare Time MachineSpare Time Machine is a 2007 album by Pepe Deluxé. It featured the band Husky Rescue, who fleshed out the live aspect of the record. Though sales were slow, the group's third album was a music journalist's dream and earned an Emma, the Finnish version of Grammy, under the "critic's choice"...
(Catskills Records, 2007) - Queen of the Wave (Catskills Records/Asthmatic KittyAsthmatic KittyAsthmatic Kitty is an American independent record label founded in 1999 by a community of musicians from Holland, Michigan led by musician Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams. Some were Holland natives, and others had come to attend local colleges and universities...
, 2012)
Remixes
- Tom JonesTom Jones (singer)Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
& the CardigansThe CardigansThe Cardigans are a Swedish rock band formed in the town of Jönköping in October 1992.Their debut album Emmerdale gave them a solid base in their home country and enjoyed some success abroad, especially in Japan. It was not until their second album Life that an international reputation was secured...
- "Burning Down the HouseBurning Down the House"Burning Down the House" is a song by New Wave band Talking Heads, released as the first single from their fifth studio album Speaking in Tongues.-Background:...
(Pepe Deluxé Mix)" (1999) - Jacknife LeeJacknife LeeGarret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including The Cars, U2, R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, AFI, The Hives, Weezer, Vega4 and Editors.-Biography:...
- "Bursting off the Backbeat (Pepe Deluxé Mix)" (1999) - Bad Meets EvilBad Meets EvilBad Meets Evil is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan that consists of rappers Royce da 5'9" and Eminem . They are best known for collaborating on a self-titled song that appeared on Eminem's major-label debut album The Slim Shady LP in 1999, their early association with Dr...
- "Nuttin' to Do (Pepe Deluxé Dub)" (2001) - Oiling Boiling - "Cyclops Dance (Pepe Deluxé Remix)" (2001)
- Black Grass - "Going Home (Pepe Deluxé Remix)" (2004)
- Don Johnson Big BandDon Johnson Big BandDon Johnson Big Band is an alternative hip hop group from Helsinki, Finland. Their music blends influences from a variety of genres such as electronic music, funk, rock and jazz.- History :...
- "Busy Relaxin' (Pepe Deluxé Refix)" (2006)