| B i o g r a p h y |
The clean streets of Copenhagen are far a cry from the mean streets of
NYC or LA, so it’s no surprise that Scandinavia has produced a
whole generation of pretty mixed up b-booys. Danish Pelding are: Peder Pedersen on keys and scratch, Thor Soerensen on keys and Jonas Engberg
on bas, guitar and keys. The trio meet in 1997 when Peder when The
Prunes recorded at Thor’s and Jonas’ “Funky Fly
Studios” in Copenhagen, and Pelding was formed. Aside from acting
as base camp for both the Prunes and Pelding, Fynky Fly has been the
epicentre of Danish hip hop, with the majority of the countries
burgeoning scene having passed through its doors at some point or other.
With today’s acidic keyboards wizardry of Timbaland, Dr. Dre etc. pushing hip hop away from its foundation of dusty loops into a new direction, Pelding’s live experimentation embrace it, as they play these dusty loops themselves then mix them with their brand of crisp guitar licks and succulent turntable treats. Pelding them selves, call their music space funk, and add that they don’t really like to categorize and explain that their tracks are influenced by old rare grooves, John Barry, the cinematic universe of Enyo Morricone and what ever music they come in contact with. Pelding’s Rhodes stabs over sparse bass and haunting vibes conjures a smoky beat miasma, like the Headhunters on Ketamine.
In 1998 Pelding released ‘The Skunk’, an EP at Jazzfudge record label (UK) and later that same year they released the maxi single ‘Days In Shades Of Grey’ with the Danish singer Maya Albana. In year 2001 their debut album ‘Pelding’ which featured collaborations with the likes of underground rap legends such as Motion Man (Kutmater Kurt’s “Master of illusion”), Virtuoso (Brick Records collective) and Moka Only plus special appearance from, amongst many others, Jonas’ cousin Jan Kincaid (Brand New Heavies) and Danish singers Abdullah S, Camille Jones, Maya Albana, and Rasmus Conway. The album got highly reviewed in Danish press and won the band the “Københavnerprisen” for best music of the year. They were selected “album of the year” in Ekstra Bladet (daily Danish newspaper) and nominated in three categories at The Danish Hip Hop Award.
The following year (2002) Pelding composed and recorded a score for the movie “See the Light of the Day” (Danish Radio, 2002), while still working on new album-material (with singers Kaya Brüel and Rasmus Conway). Two years ago the band hooked up with Danish singer Joy Morgan and together they’ve since finished their collaboration-album ‘Spine’ (August 2005).