Fresh and funky. Tracks like ‘Woman To Womb’ happen to be the aural equivalent of opening several windows in some depraved smoky basement in Camberwell; flash brass stabs, the clatter of assorted percussion, some handclaps and some slinky funk-bass. Of course the psychedelic influence is square to the floor and there’s no end of tinkling jazz embellishments rippling beneath Philly’s sleepily skittish vocals. ‘Fish To Fry’ is a classic example: double-bass, a smattering of ivories, some slippery rhymes and flows and the sizzling of something hot just within earshot. It’s fun without being frivolous, not least because the wordplay is fast and infectious and the beats as light and steady as they come. Layering the vocals also lifts the whole thing slightly, establsihing a focus and a charisma rarely achieved in Hip Hop today; a tactic that comes into its own on the gorgeously catlike, ‘Believer’ – purring like a cat and tripping over no end of teasing jazz signatures.
Pete Philly and Perquisite have phrased their mission plan “bringing analog sound back in times of plastic“. They went back to the meaning and inspiration of the past and generated something new and fresh. It took them nearly 2 years of hard work in a small Amsterdam studio, to ‘perfectionize’ a sound they could call their own. The result was the 17-tracker ‘Mindstate’ – which saw the light of day in the spring of 2005.
Since then, the route took the duo from a small upper room ‘Mindstate’ release party, via gigs in Cape Town, France, Spain, Germany, Scandinavia and Los Angeles, performing with the likes of Kanye West and James Brown (RIP) to festivals and sold out shows all over The Netherlands. With a suitcase full of new encounters, touring experiences and new musical inspiration the band travelled to a house in the North of France to write, and worked night and day in their Amsterdam studio to finish their second full length. They named the result ‘Mystery Repeats’.
‘MYSTERY REPEATS’ – RELEASED 18/02/08