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Hardest working man in show business? Trooper? Tireless? However
you want to put it, be sure of one thing, when DJ Vadim first
heard the phrase "Don’t sleep" he obviously
took it literally.
Over the last decade few people can have
put so much time and energy into the culture they love. Founder
of Jazz Fudge in early 1995, A&R, producer, DJ, promoter,
record collector, radio presenter, occasional painter, writer,
and in-house producer/dj and cohort of Latin Grammy nominees,
Spanish hip hop super group 7 Notas 7 Colorez, Vadim has certainly
been keeping himself busy. And that’s before we even
mention his DJing itself which has seen him perform in virtually
every country in Europe(east and west), all over North America,
Australia, New Zealand. Japan, Israel, Turkey, South America
and South East Asia in just the last year. He has also performed
with the likes of DJ Krush, Company Flow, The Roots, Pharcyde,
Public Enemy, Beat Junkies, Dilated Peoples, Kraftwerk, Ed
Rush, Morcheeba and Paul Weller as well as at events like
Glastonbury and the Moscow Street Ball festival (to over 40,000
people!). To describe the man as an internationalist almost
seems to sell him short.
In 1992, Vadim Peare bought a sampler and
started working on the music that would become "Abstract
Hallucinating Gases" and "Headz Ain't Ready"
(both released on his own label, Jazz Fudge). Later in the
year he signed to Ninja Tune and began work on his debut LP,
"USSR Repertoire". From these early recordings came
a remix LP, "USSR Reconstruction," featuring DJ
Krush, Kid Koala, Mark B and Silent Poets, plus various 12"s
both for Ninja Tune and Jazz Fudge, and a mixtape and CD with
DJ Primecuts (International Turntablist Federation world champion
‘99 and Scratch Pervert). In 1999 there was the abstract
funk collaboration LP, "The Isolationist" produced
by Vadim, scratched by DJ Primecuts and vocalled by New York
avant-garde rappers Antipop Consortium (now signed to Warp).
Relentless international touring followed with Swollen Members,
then Company Flow, then Jazz Fudge, all of which led to the
purchase of yet more obscure and dusty vinyls to add to an
already burgeoning collection.
This all culminated in his critically-acclaimed
last album, "USSR: Life From The Other Side" (Ninja
Tune 1999). The record featured Co Flow, the Scratch Perverts,
Iriscience(from Dilated Peoples), Blade and many others and
caused quite a storm in USA with the track "Your Revolution,"
featuring Sarah Jones. This song was banned by the FCC (USA
radio regulators) for explicit and provocative lyrics, despite
Jones actually satirising the attitudes and words of the mainstream
rap and r&b that could be heard pumping out of the radio
every day.
To promote the record, Vadim put together
a live group - The Russian Percussion - consisting of Mr Thing
(turntables), Killer Kela (beat box), Blu rum 13 (mc), John
Ellis (keyboards) and himself. They notched up a mere 200
shows in about 24 countries including most of Europe and North
America.
Feeling tired yet? Hang on in there. Vadim
has also presented radio shows for the BBC, including the
Sony Award-nominated programme "Around The World In Eight
Relays'. He has toured with Sarah Jones, Killer Kela and as
support and collaborator for Super Furry Animals. Oh, and
he went to Latin America with the aformentioned 7 Notas 7
Colores and, and, and….
We’ll stop now. Our guess is that the
average human mind would actually struggle to take in everything
that DJ Vadim has done in the last ten years, let alone do
it. There really is only one way to revive yourself now –
reach forward, slip "USSR – The Art Of Listening"
into your cd player and soak it all up. It is, after all,
where he gets his energy from. And where he’s putting
it, too…
http://www.djvadim.com
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