The Sound of the Pellegrino

Fidget’s long dead and gone – I said it wouldn’t last, didn’t I? Cast your mind back 8 months: all of us (pelski included) dizzy and high on a whim of wonky, buzzy basslines, with entire forums forged around this alleged ‘fidget’ (Potty Mouth Music) and named blogs and artists after it (The Fidgitive?), as thought it was deserved of the whole genre review page it was given in the monthly IDJ mag. Just as the modish nu-rave in 2006 and the noisey, fuzzy distortion of 2007 passed with few remnants, so has fidget. And out of the mist stumbled a more stripped-back sound; a sound there to nurse us through the banging, achey comedown of fidget house; to pick us up from the aftermath of all the maximal clamour. That’s not to say we won’t get bored of bumpy house beats and congo clangs. But for now, one label has risen from the ashes of fidget and maximal to grab the tastemakers attention with its soothing grooves and creative samples: Sound Pelligrino, an offshoot of the ever-excellent Institubes.

Renaissance Man, Solo and Zombie Disco Squad’s releases so far have astounded, with each production sounding as inventive as the next. But never lapsing into anything too convoluted; always keeping it simple.
[n.b. many, but not all, of these tunes have been reduced in bitrate quality as one or two are due for release and the full version should be bought from beatport, juno, etc]

The latest Sound Pellegrino release is from Berlin very own Momma’s Boy (Mikix The Cat’s other alias). Bouncy house riddims jump admist echoey synths and a shouty snippet of a hip hop vocal sample.
Momma’s Boy grabbed my attention a couple of months back, however, with his similarly bumpy remix of Franco-Argentine artist Douster, on Sound Pellegrino:
Douster’s got a burgeoning discography already, having produced some dazzling remixes of Zonora Point, Three 6 Mafia, Crystal Fighters, Bryan Cox, Digital Manges, Lovely Chords, N.E.R.D., among others. His original material’s been top notch too with ‘This Shit’ a personal favourite of mine, mashing house piano chords, squelchy bass, minimal progressions and even an angry hip hop vocal sample – buy it from Juno here. His latest capitalises on those tribal percussion sounds, (‘post-baltimore riddims’ as Sound Pellegrino head-honcho Teki Latex coins the sounds), with some added belched bass:
And here’s another familiar face – or faces, rather – Renaissance Man is not, in fact, one man, but two. And have appeared numerous times on YCCMP. My last post saw Downtown’s (one half of Renaissance Man) stirling remix of Mixhell and a couple of weeks back their remix of Xtatic Truth, as well as Riva’s remix of ‘What Is Guru’.
Released on Kitsune last week Rythym (intentionally spelt incorrectly, before pedantic know-it-alls exact me below), swoons with whispered vocals, techy, soft beats and a bubbling synth hook. Sharklsayer remixed Renaissance Man’s incredible Spray Can and can be found HERE, and now Renaissance Man have returned the favour by offering a gentle pattering, minimal touch to fellow Finn Sharkslayer’s ‘So Sincere’:
Renaissance Man – Rythym [pelski highly recommends]
Bonus:
  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/03041552085224621651 BEATWINS

    Can’t wait for the WedouWedou EP. Need that MF!

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/17294780517198827563 indavao
  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/18150517846783347081 qwerty

    Hey, could anyone tell me who did this remix (Style of Eye – Grounded original song)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvMhjjN1Hi0

  • Enniooo!

    baaaaim :D

    love it

  • Curtix

    FINALLY! I’m glad someone’s fucking talking about Rythym which is seriously SICK I mean come on Spraycan and What Is Guru rock, love these, but RYTHYM? Clearly my #1 pick.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/05462119344465105042 BTDJ

    Man, this ‘minimalisation’ of everything worries me. You can still be jackin’ without being out of date :(

    I want to like these vibes, I just can’t get it :’(

  • Credo

    I completely agree with you BTDJ, I’d just be a bit bored if I heard any of this in a club….bring back party music…..

  • http://wearepajamas.wordpress.com/ Miguel

    Fidget ain’t dead. It’s just not ‘on the hype’.

    People need new things and that ‘minimalisation’ is the answer right now.

    Please don’t look at music in such an objective and limited way. You talk about music as if it all began in 2006. Don’t underestimate music.

    This industry isn’t a big animal that walks in a certain path. You have a lot of labels and artists that think and produce in different ways.

    In 2006, most of the house artists didn’t stop making house. Most of minimal artists didn’t stop making minimal.

    Fidget, electro, distortion artists will continue searching new sounds. Some will change and start making music that fits in the current hype, others will find the new hype.

    And party music and all those ’maximal’ sounds will come back renewed. They’re simply not that underground and trendy thing right now.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/00320901160021649926 Pelski

    im only talking about changing scenes in a tongue-in-cheek manner here, of course. im just joking around about the trendy scenester ‘in-thing’ right now. Don’t take what I say so literally.

    ANd i never said music started in 2006, its just that in this instance am talking about the trends this blog has dipped in and out of since it began (i.e. 2006) not the whole history of music?!

    But there’s no denying tech-house has become a lot more exciting (and gaining alot more attention) in the last year or two. just listen to some of the new sounds the likes of loco dice and justin martin are making right now that are making a big impact.

  • http://wearepajamas.wordpress.com/ Miguel

    The thing is…I agree with your opinions. I’m not against your opinions; I’m against some interpretations people make. Every day I ear/read “oh no, party is dead”. We can’t overuse these dramatic thoughts, lol.

    Party isn’t dead. New things appear, new underground and cool sounds, like the examples you gave. Music is one of the few things in life we can always be positive about. Cheers and GREAT GREAT blog!

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/06754171764858718295 LeGweak

    Haha Miguel totally backed right down there… :D

    I have to say I am feeling similar to BTDJ. Does that make us uncool?

  • Anonymous

    Please stop with your “searching for the new sound” bullshit…
    Thing I hate about bloggers is the way they analyse music.
    It reminds me of when the NME got all he shitty little failed musicians in…
    IF YOU WERE SO SENSITIVE TO AND GOOD AT ANALYSING THIS MUSIC AND PREDICTING TRENDS THEN YOU’D'VE ALREADY MADE YOUR OWN.
    Curbcrawlers, on the other hand… Can’t be arguingwith Dubbel Dutch and L-Vis… They DO make their fucking own… And it’s ace.

  • aaron

    what are you talking bout? as pelski says, he rips it out of scenesters in a tongue-in-cheek way. i think alot of people here are too stupid to read the irony. and this is one of the most diverse blgos out there, though thats not exactly hard with all the shitty blogs around

    SO you only like curb crawlers now that L-vis and dubbel write it? what about before? in my opinion its always been a good blog and a tastemaker, regardless of whether the writers are artists or not.

  • Anonymous

    I’m also struggling with the minimal sound but keep trying to get into it due to artists like Noob which bring out the odd song which I love. Keep posting Pelski, awesome blog.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/07050324328160805214 wizards

    Basically, if you like the party, energy dance (which I prefer) then listen to it, there’s still a lot of exciting new material in that strain of dance music. Pelski’s just trying to show an interesting turn in the trend of underground dance, which is constantly changing and evolving. at the end of the day, people who make this minimal dance, have to be a lot more creative in order to capture your attention. anyone can make a wobbly banger, but its a lot harder to produce something memorable without brash, in your face riddims. I have to say I like those dirty dangers more and would prefer to hear them in a club, but i’m glad that there’s some originality coming out of a bass heavy period. but hey thats my opinion!

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/00815324574004723258 Will

    yeh…spose the minimal thing would eventually catch on. its good and bad, just like all (dance) music. gets boring, but can be quite fun. like Wizards said, the minimal kids may have to be more creative when approaching their production. Style of Eye and Popof are my favs of this sort of sound. Style of Eye’s ‘Girls’ made me really start paying attention to the minimal approach.

  • Chris

    Like alot of the other posters here, I’m really not feeling the minimal thing and I’m sticking with the good ol maximal electro filth, for now at least.

  • Anonymous

    Don’t be a dick Aaron.
    Making t-shirts and affiliating yourself with clubnights..? Yeah, real tongue in fucking cheek.

    The root idea of a blog is completely narcissistic… “Here, I know about this thing that you don’t, so I’ll show you, because you wouldn’t find out any other way…” I just can’t see somebody who struggles as much with his literary style being able to construct such an exquisitely elaborate critique of the whole “scenester” culture.

    I’m not knocking his content… He’s prolific in the volume of stuff he gets across. Good percentage of it is great, too.

    I only say it, ’cause I’ve met bloggers in London and it just grates on you.
    I spoke to Dubbel in Austin in March, when I was over for SXSW and the way he spoke about the whole thing just put the entire British blog attitude to shame. The guy LIVES for music. The reason he puts music of his own out there is because it’s what he lives for. His passion for sharing music that he loves (his own or others’) is so huge and so evident that it makes me real fucking cynical about anybody who doesn’t show that passion…

    “Fidget is long gone..” ?!?!
    WHAT THE FUCK DOES IT MATTER?!?!
    WHAT THE FUCK IS FIDGET ANYWAY?!?! It’s a slightly different arrangement and combination of altogether generic sounds and structure that fall under the umbrella of the behemoth that is HOUSE.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/09613904597454436439 Skipper

    The whole Fidget thing was originally tongue in cheek as was the trem they called it, as with all genres they progress,change and split. Happens with every type of ‘dance music’.Fidgets not dead,its just evolving as does all good genres do. It keeps the music fresh and not stuck in the rut. Seems that when the music genre stales and stagnates too much they have an offshoot and it’s always called Minimal.
    And the irony is,theres nothing new about Minimal!!!
    Enjoy the music and dont take it too seriously,its only life!

    http://skipperchippers.blogspot.com/

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/00320901160021649926 Pelski

    making tshirts is a bit of fun and my two mates run trouble vision so why wouldnt i promote it…? Nothing deplorable about that? awwww, shit, you think I’m aligigning with the fuckin corporations, maaannn? grow up. this is just a blog.

    narcisssism? um… yes that’s not exactly an original point you’ve made there. I’m not saying my blog is journalism (don’t worry i dont have illusions of grandeur), but according to your accusations then any written criticism, or journalism even, is narcissistic.

    and you say you don’t care, is that right? then why have written a page-long monologue and lapsed into angry capital letters. calm down, i was only commenting on a new trend

    i spoke to dubbel dutch the other day – asking him for permission for one of his tunes – and i think you’ll find he respects this blog for exactly that reason.

  • http://wizardsarebetter.wordpress.com/ Wizards

    Wow anonymous you are so pessimistic. WHAT THE FUCK DOES LIFE MATTER!!! WHAT IS LIFE!!!!! wawawawawa.
    how can someone get so angry about whatever the fuck you’re getting angry about.
    I’m a london blogger and i’m fucking passionate about music, its all i think about basically! people appreciate getting amazing music, knowing its origin and what its all about.
    I’ve spoken to many more artists than you have without a doubt about the whole blogging business. Jack Beats and A1 Bassline (if you don’t like em thats just taste)read our blog all the time and give us very positive feedback. artists want us to put it their music up, and if its superb, by god i will!
    Which bloggers have you met? how can they be arsed to run it if they’re not passionate???
    I just find quite hard to beleive and you are very offensive anonymous!

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/11147120996040661784 Larvi

    Yo Pelski, awesome post you perfectly nailed down the developments of the last few years in electronic dance music :)

    Also: Sound Pellegrino wasn’t my cup of tea with the first release, the Zombie Disco Squad one, but after that they’ve ONLY released quality releases, Douster, Harvard Bass (!!), Renaissance man, What is guru is already in my top 10 tracks of this year, and now Momma’s boy! Hells yeah!

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/14352230763610218208 Saoirse

    I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

    Sara

    http://pianonotes.info

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