- Pepe Deluxé
Infobox musical artist
Name = Pepe Deluxé
Img_capt = Pepe Deluxé's James Spectrum (left) and JA-Jazz
Background = group_or_band
Origin = flagicon|FinlandHelsinki ,Finland
Genre =Breakbeat Big beat
Hip hop
Years_active = 1995–present
Label =Catskills Records Emperor Norton Records
URL = [http://www.pepedeluxe.com/ Official website]
Current_members =James Spectrum JA-Jazz
Past_members = DJ SlowPepe Deluxé is a Finnish
electronic music oriented band which was created by two DJ friends, Vellu Maurola aka DJ Slow and Tomi Paajanen akaJA-Jazz in the mid 90s inHelsinki ,Finland . In1995 ,James Spectrum aka Jari Salo, joined the band and they started to experiment with sounds ofhip hop ,big beat ,breakbeat anddowntempo . DJ Slow departed the band in2001 to pursue his solo projects.History
One of Pepe Deluxé's first tracks, called "Call Me Goldfinger" was picked up on the compilation "Return of the DJ 2" in
1996 .The band's first
EP , "Three Times a Player" (Tiger) was released in1998 and it was chosen as the downtempo album of the month on the revered "Muzik " magazine in the UK. This led to a record deal withBrighton 'sCatskills Records .The band's first album, called "
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 inFrance ,Italy ,Spain ,The Netherlands , USA,Australia andGermany .The album was noticed by Paul Malmström from
Fallon Worldwide advertising agency inNew York and the band was asked to write music for an upcomingLee Jeans ad campaign. Later on, Pepe Deluxé's sound was also noted by another jeans company,Levi's which chose the track "Woman in Blue " for their worldwide advertising campaign in2001 .During this time Pepe Deluxé did several remixes for Finnish underground bands as well as for artists such as Tom Jones &
The Cardigans andEminem . The success of the Levi's ad and the album ensured the band lot of concerts around Europe and USA. After heavy touring, DJ Slow decided to depart from the group.In
2003 the band returned with their first single from their second album "Beatitude ". The single, "Salami Fever ", was composed together withPaul Malmström who had by this time become a recurrent collaborator with the band. They also created a hilarious music video for the single, which was chosen as as Video of the Decade by "Bizarre Magazine"."Beatitude" also cemented their reputation as wild experimentalists of sound equipment and
sampling . The album features 34 different visiting musicians.In
2005 they were invited to Australia for Terminal 9 tour withMix Master Mike ,Salmonella Dub and others.In
2006 Pepe Deluxé performed live for the first time in their nativeFinland .In spring
2007 , they released the first single, "Pussycat Rock ", from their third album "Spare Time Machine ", released in June 2007, with a follow-up single, "Mischief Of Cloud 6 " released in September 2007.On October 10,
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 ".Discography
Albums
* "
Super Sound " (1999)
* "Beatitude" (2003)
* "Spare Time Machine " (2007)Remixes
* Tom Jones &
the Cardigans - "Burning Down the House (Pepe Deluxé Mix)" (1999)
*Jacknife Lee - "Bursting off the Backbeat (Pepe Deluxé Mix)" (1999)
*Bad Meets Evil - "Nuttin' to Do (Pepe Deluxé Dub)" (2001)References
External links
* [http://www.pepedeluxe.com/ Official website]
*MySpace|pepedeluxe|Pepe Deluxé
*Discogs artist|artist=Pepe+Delux%C3%A9|name=Pepe Deluxé
* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/music/time-on-their-sides/2005/08/18/1123958136525.html Interview with The Age newspaper]
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