Late-90’s dance kids will remember Pepe Deluxé as the Prodigy sampled pop stars behind the critically acclaimed album Super Sound (1999), the Top 20 hit ‘Before You Leave’ (2021), and the massive tune ‘Woman In Blue’ from the iconic Levi’s TV ad. However, the last decade-and-a-half has seen Pepe Deluxé evolve into musical archaeologists, their albums Beatitude (2003) and Spare Time Machine (2007) saw them ditching samples altogether in favour of tracking down obscure studio gear and new inventions, followed by the conceptual album Queen of the Wave (2012) which featured – among other musical oddities - The Great Stalacpipe Organ, the largest musical instrument in the world, located deep down underground in the Luray Caverns, Virginia.
In between, they have soundtracked the wildly successful Angry Birds Go! mobile game and even had time to compose a theme for an un-made film collaboration between The Marx Brother and Salvador Dali, Giraffes on Horseback Salad.
The playful underground hip hop DJ attitude is still audible, but Pepe Deluxé are now as much a madcap professorial fusion of Joe Meek, Phil Spector and a young DJ Shadow. They have reached an apex of eccentric brilliance with their forthcoming album, The Phantom Cabinet Vol. 1. They call it “an impossible adventure” and it is one, capturing the ghosts of endless lost instruments, and placing them amidst music abuzz with life.
New album "Phantom Cabinet Vol. 1" due out 22 October 2021.
