Despite its beauty I was initially put off by the repetitive downtempo start, however this is merely the calm before the storm as the song is quickly transformed through the introduction of gritty electronic bass. If Ratatat and Dabrye were somehow mutated into one the music might sound something like this.

Rove Dogs is tipped for great things according to his inclusion on the ‘Edges – A New French Electronic Generation’ compilation cd, which is a collaborative project between DUM and BECAUSE Records to release the music of up and coming French producers.

A simple song but nevertheless a beautifully pleasing aural experience.

Rove Dogs – Innocence Lost

I rather love a ridiculous looking dog, usually though they’re stupidly small and resemble rats. But these Poodles are quite the exception.

You may have seen these recently covered by a few newspapers (the Guardian and Telegraph to name two) and they are the ‘work’ of American photographer and pet lover Ren Netherland.

It’s not the kind of thing I would normally think of posting but it’s such a miserable day, and they have done a good job of brightening it up for me (and now hopefully for you). To see more of these wonderful transformations, visit The Guardian.

Beautiful melodies, layered build ups and gentle transitions along with the spine shivering voice of Florence Welch and some original samples; Boy 8-Bit has again produced something quite incredible. It’s playable all day long whether at home, in headphones or for party fun. This is defiantly an almighty sound!

Warning: This track may invoke goosebumps.

Florence + The Machine – Drumming Song (Boy 8-Bit Remix)

The first “one week work” western musical cartoon.

Directed by Kapelmeister and Stefano Tedioli
Music by Kapelmeister
Director of photopraphy Stefano Tedioli
Film editing Marilena Benini

Thanks Miranda & Jonny.

I was on lying on an idyllic quiet Croatian beach earlier this week (blue sky, sun beaming, clear water, passing boats) and trying to decide what music to put on. It’s a shame I didn’t have this track. Dreamy minimal featuring crisp sounds with pleasurable pans and echoes. The original and vocal remix are worth checking out too.

Morgan Geist – The Shore (Paul Woolford’s Bridge End Dub)

Jonathan Cooper spent ten minutes face-to-face with London based artist Pure Evil…

The Pure Evil gallery has been around for two years now. Situated on Leonard Street in Shoreditch the space is just a short walk away from Pejhy favourites Concrete Hermit and Black Rat Press galleries.

This month saw the opening of Pure Evils solo show which has had an honourable mention from graffiti store giants Pictures On Walls so I decided to pop down and have a chat with the man behind the art about what he’s been up to, where he thinks the scene is going and what his plans are for the future.

Q) So what have you been up to recently?

A) Last night I did this piece down the road; people were stopping me and asking “are you Banksy?”

Q) I can’t believe that kind of thing still happens. Does it piss you off?

A) I didn’t mind – mothers were taking pictures of me with their kids which was funny. People can be a little dumb. They see somebody doing graffiti round here and they automatically assume its Banksy.

Q) Do you think Banksy will be remembered in 50 years time?

A) Definitely.

Q) What about the street art scene? Do you think it’s dying off?

A) No Way. This scene has probably risen as quickly as the pop-art scene movement did and it’s only going to get bigger.

Q) Do you think prices are getting stupid?

A) I think they are fair for the most part. There are two really interesting films about this subject that I’d recommend “The Mona Lisa Curse” and “The Art Bubble”. I try to price the prints in a way that I think is fair.

Q) How has the scene changed over the years? What’s different now compared to lets say 2001?

A) Well back then you could put stuff up wherever you liked. In 2001 there was so much stuff on the street and it was better because pieces weren’t cleaned off as frequently. Recently there’s been a huge clean up in London due to the 2012 Olympics.

Q) Have you ever been in trouble with the law?

A) At my first show I though the police were gonna turn up and nick me. When I’m doing stuff on the street I’ll just act ignorant so I’ve never properly been ‘caught’. The police wouldn’t think I was a serious graffiti artist if they saw me in the street, they’d just think: “what is that middle aged, middle class white guy doing?”

Q) What really pisses you off?

A) People who break the rules of politeness.

Q) How do you mean?

A) I used to go to exhibitions with my dad and it would feel like we were being looked down at. I hate it when you go to a galley nowadays and the staff just look down at you from their laptops.

Q) What have you got planned for the near future?

A) Well I’ve got a show that’s coming up in Tokyo. I can’t wait; I just love how alien Japan is.

Q) And what’s next for the gallery?

A) With a bit of help from the arts council I’m flying over a load of artists from South America. They’re currently living in a squat so we’ll sort them out with a place to stay while they’re over here. The show is gonna be called “Shoque Culture”. We’re turning the downstairs space into a workshop, hopefully we’ll get a few school parties in so kids can do their own printing and sticker designs.

Pitchfork are celebrating 10 years of German techno label Kompakt (The Field, Superpitcher) by conducting an interview with Kompakt co-owner Michael Mayer. In addition, Mayer has put together a mix of early Kompakt releases available to download for free on the Pitchfork website. For fans of minimal & ambient techno, microhouse and the sound of dustbins being gently tapped.

The Interview

Michael Mayer: Kompakt – The Early Years (1998 – 2004)

Tracklist:
1. All: “Alltag 1″
2. Ehlert & Lohberger: “Vito E.P. 2″
3. Dettinger: “Totentanz 1″
4. Sascha Funke: “Safety First 4″
5. Peter Grummich: “Schleusen Auf 2″
6. Schaeben & Voss: “Tombo’s Revenge”
7. Jürgen Paape: “So Weit Wie Noch Nie (Ata’s Playhouse Mix)”
8. Leandro Fresco: “Cera Uno”
9. Superpitcher: “Heroin”
10. Dorau / Köhncke: “Durch Die Nacht (Geiger Mix)”
11. Closer Musik: “2 the Beat 2 the Rock”
12. Lawrence: “Teaser”

NAPT have produced an exclusive mix of their track Fortune in preparation for their upcoming performance at the renowned London nightclub Fabric. Originally released last year as part of their N-Funk series, this version features all of the original delightful sounds but has been modified specially for the dance floor in a big way – big drop, big bass, big breaks!

NAPT – Fortune (12Inch Dub Mix)

To celebrate the relaunch of Pejhy I have recorded a mix to share with you. It includes some of my favorite tunes (a number of which have featured on this blog) from the past few months. This is the start of many mixes to come.

Mushy Pea – A Blog Is Reborn Mix

[Tracklist]
01. Jack Beats – U.F.O (K-Hole Riddim)
02. Math Head – Turn The Music Up
03. Bass Weazal – Jungle Massive
04. Boy 8-Bit – Baltic Pine
05. Calvin Harris – Ready For The Weekend (Fake Blood Remix)
06. Prodigy – No Good (After Midnight What’s Really Good Mix)
07. Herve – Who Da Champ
08. Jason Sundstrom – Filth & Sex
09. Buraka Som Sistema – IC19 (A1 Bassline Remix)
10. Whole Sick – Whu Dem
11. L-Vis 1990 – United Groove
12. RQM – Bareley Evil (Brain Matters Remix)
13. Hugg & Pepp – Penguini
14. Crystal Fighters – Xtatic Truth (Renaissance Man Remix)

Enjoy.

x

Last Thursday saw the opening of Dan Fords first solo exhibition, All Killer No Filler, at the Moot gallery in Nottingham. Dan graduated from Nottingham Trent last year and has since been fairly quiet whilst continuing with his practice in Devon. For me to describe Dan’s practice without waffling on, is practically impossible. I see and understand what he does, but its one of those which is hard to put into words neatly! So rather than explain it (and do a terrible job!) here’s how Moot describe him….

“Dan Ford examines the industry design aesthetics found in disparate pockets of visual culture such as knitting patterns, S&M magazines, sauna brochures and comic books. From this, motifs are taken and carefully reproduced  and repeated layered to creat painting, drawing and collaged works that expose the quality of their own medium against the artists sense of placement appropriation.”

The show consists of 13 pieces of work, all meticulously executed in their production and presentation, which have been commissioned by Moot. All the pieces within the installation are on a small scale, with the biggest only being around 30cm X 20cm, and vary from paintings and collages to sculpture.

Around the gallery each piece of work is small and intricate, and demands a bit of intimacy from the viewer. The longer you spend with each piece the more you notice, particularly picking out Dan’s use of layering from other elements in the show. You’ll notice familiar shapes emerging from drawings and cut out from packaging, colours swatches which aren’t always where expected and patches of collage on the sides of canvases. Dan leaves no detail untouched, everything he does is done with a certain amount of deliberateness, no pencil mark or ‘left over’ piece of masking tape is there by accident. Dan’s meticulous nature continues throughout all the elements within his show, all his canvases and frames (which are all made by the artist) are finished to such a high standard that they become beautiful objects in their own right.

I was massively excited to see what Dan has been doing since University and not even the huge down pour of rain and extremely wet feet could dampen my spirits. His first solo show is full of pockets of pleasure, and is an abundance of visual joy. I feel the only thing that it might lack is a bossier piece, like a painted wall, something that could pull the massive white space together a tiny bit more.

All Killer No Filler started on 7th of this month and runs until the 30th at the Moot gallery in Snieton, Nottingham. If your in the area its definitely more than worth the visit.

For more information, head over to Moots website.

To finish off, look at the size of this pencil!  That’s going to make it’s way on to my to do list. Bye for now. x

A quick search for English summer festival reviews of the last ten years or so that begin with the words “Despite the rain…” (Or its variants) would probably yield hundreds of results. Such is the regularity of rain soaked summer events that many of us either clear off to the continent, or steer clear completely. Nevertheless, with a pretty solid list of mix leftfield indie pop/rock types (Mogwai, Errors, Mystery Jets) and established DJs/producers (Fake Blood, Skream, Aeroplane, Erol Alkan, Fennesz), you might think that despite the rain, Field Day would have been a big success. Unfortunately, poor sound quality and one or two lacklustre performances will have left the organisers with a few things to think about ahead of next year.

The day began well with Fanfarlo taking the stage forty-five minutes later that scheduled. Not a typical Pejhy band, the group play melody driven indie pop, with horns, keyboards and the like which all combine to create a sound somewhere between early Belle & Sebastian and Beirut. The performance was tight, with lead singer Simon Balthazaar’s voice particularly good, and with the rain holding off, it looked like Field Day was only going to get better. Next up were Errors, a Glasgow band on Mogwai’s Rock Action label. They don’t play many gigs this end of the country and although at times they appeared a little bewildered, their measured post-electro synths and bleeps sound transferred surprisingly well into a live setting. Tracks like ‘Hans Herman’ were given extra bite and sounded more grizzled than on record: a good thing given how easy it would be for them to turn up, press play and sit back. Hopefully we will see them play more gigs in England when their new album is released next year.

By the time Owen Pallet aka Final Fantasy came on stage, the Eat Your Own Ears stage has just about got back on schedule. Pallet is the man behind the string arrangements for the Arcade Fire album ‘Funeral’ and has also worked with Canadian indie-poppers Hidden Cameras. Undoubtedly a gifted musician, the problem with the set was not his own. His voice and violin (+ loop pedal) is more suited to indoor performances, and consequently his sound seemed to be carried off by the frequent gusts of wind and rain. Unfortunately, a similar fate struck Fennesz. Stuck on a stage that would be ill-suited to his kind of fuzzed out electronica in the sunniest of conditions, additional problems with the sound quality meant that the intricacies of his work were lost. A shame that the quality of the equipment was detrimental to the set, but sadly not a problem that was limited to Fennesz.

Four Tet who played the Adventures in the Beetroot Field tent suffered badly because the sound simply wasn’t loud enough. With the rain forcing a number of people into tents they may otherwise have avoided, Kieran Hebden had the impossible task of battling the chatter of drenched London hipsters. He did treat his audience to the brilliant ‘Moth’ and at least Hebden tried, which is more than can be said for Malcolm Middleton. The former Arab Strap member seemed bored through out, perhaps believing that many of the people watching on were only there because it was raining outside. His attitude may be understandable but in the past, Middleton hasn’t shied away from confronting those that interfere with his set. In Norwich 08 he quite admirably said that anyone using their phone during the gig was ‘…not fucking welcome. Seriously. Fuck off outside.’ In Norwich he got a huge cheer; If he tried that on Saturday, no-one would have listened.

Mogwai were the final act to take to the EYOE stage. A performance that for many will have justified the entrance fee alone. They were a staggering climax to a festival which faces a dilemma. On the one hand Field Day is in a great location, and from the start has had interesting, diverse line-ups (where else could you see Mogwai follow Skream?) for a price much lower than many of the more established festivals. But with such diversity comes a cost. Festivals are rarely the best place to see your favourite band, much of the interest is passing at best and consequently passable performances can be reduced to rubbish because some of the crowd would rather talk than listen. Field Day seems to suffer from this problem to significant degree. Things are not helped when the sound quality is poor and the organisers are going to have to try and address these issues if they want to continue to compete in a growing market.

Hello all you pejhy people.

I am happy to present the all new Pejhy website. Please bear with us in these times of change for there are many new things to learn and sort out. There will be a mix coming soon to accompany the relaunch and we have many exciting things lined up.

Please do pop back.

x

It’s not often that a new name comes along and gets you all excited. Well here is one that did just that; Jason Sundstrom. The 19 year old producer from California makes mayhem music with mighty basslines.

Starting out in drum and bass at the age of 16, he soon had two releases under his belt. Two year later at a drum and bass club a kind fellow (now current manager) introduced electro to his ears, and he fell in love with the sound.

With an original track ‘Dead Calm’ gaining hype on myspace, a string of remixes followed. His second original track ‘Filth & Sex’ is here (courtesy of Jason) for you to enjoy. It begins with a string of joyful chords which quickly gives way to a rise and drop into varying bassline mayhem. This one’s pejhy!

“Expect lives sets that will cause you post traumatic stress disorder followed by a string of flashbacks of incomprehensible damaging chaotic mayhem.”

Jason Sundstrom – Filth & Sex 320kbps

Ways Of Seeing

Whats the deal with the black rat press recycling old exhibition pieces? last month I gave Nick Walker a bad review of his “A Sequence of Events” exhibition at the Black Rat Press gallery, one of main reasons I was critical was because the work displayed had been recycled from his last show, which took place over a year ago. It was as though Nick had just been sitting on his arse for a year and the black rat press just threw together an exhibition for him at the last minute. where was all his new work?

This brings me to the biggest problem with the Black Rat Press’ latest exhibition “Ways of Seeing” . “Ways…” is a group show featuring the work of Matt Small, Swoon and Brian Adam Douglas (AKA Elbow Toe) and had the potential to be one of the best exhibitions of the year had it not been for yet more recycled pieces. The guilty party this time is Mr Matt Small, whose work was displayed just a few months ago at his solo show “Youngstarrs” However, I feel that this was more forgivable as it was a group show.

With that said, “Ways Of Seeing” still stands as one of the best exhibitions the gallery has put on this year. The three artists involved are incredibly talented. Matt Smalls’ work (pictured right) has to be seen to be believed. Infact seeing his work in real life is a must. It’s the only way you’ll get a proper understanding of the Smalls’ method as seeing images on a computer screen doesn’t do his work justice. The way he makes seemingly random paint splats form a perfectly rounded and textured face is just incredible.

Ways Of Seeing also introduced me to the wonderful Brian Adam Douglas, and artist who up until now I had never seen before. I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for his next solo show.

The weakest of the three artists – and probably the most famous – was Swoon. To be honest I didn’t think their was anything wrong with the stuff she had displayed – I really like her work – it’s just that she was over shadowed by the much better work on display from Matt and Brian.

It would have been nice to see the 3 artists collaborated on a piece. It is a shame as they all have a similar style of how they present their work, using collages of either paint, paper or wood block prints to create people and faces. A collaboration would have really worked to make the show feel a bit more complete. It does feel like you are at three seperate exhibitions at once rather than a group show as there is no interaction between the artists. A missed opportunity.

My final thought is that although not perfect this was a great show and I encourage anyone in the London area to go see it before it finishes. The talent of the three artist is almost unbeatable, the work on display is amazing and if you didn’t go to Matt Smalls last show or haven’t seen his work before then i promise your in for a treat.

Exhibition Rating: 8 out of 10

(Pictures in order of appearance: Swoon, Matt Small and Brian Adam Douglas)

RQM, an electronic music rapper, is set to release a new EP ‘Bareley Evil’ on the 3rd August. It features four tracks with remixes by Brain Matters, Bass Weazal and Filewile. My personal favorite is the BM remix but courtesy of RQM, and equally as good, we have the BW remix for you.