Vadim Alexandrovich Peare (Russian: Вадим Александрович Пир, romanized: Vadim Aleksandrovich Pir), known professionally as DJ Vadim, is a Russian-English DJ and record producer. Born in Saint Petersburg and raised in London, Peare is additionally a promoter, record collector, radio presenter, occasional painter and writer, whose music combines hip hop, soul, reggae and electronica. He previously ran Jazz Fudge.[1]
Peare's music combines hip hop, soul, reggae, and electronica. He has been described as "one of the few artists creating genuinely new work in the Hip-Hop field"[2] and an artist who "cannot be ignored".[2]
Career
In 1994, Vadim founded his own independent record label, Jazz Fudge, but signed to Ninja Tune the following year,[1] before his current label BBE, in 2007. Aside from DJing and producing, he has also worked as in A&R and promotion, as well as a radio presenter on the BBC's Around the World in Eight Relays programme.[citation needed]
In addition to his regular album releases, he has also recorded under the names "Andre Gurov" and "Little Aida" and has appeared as a member of the various artists project The Isolationist. He is also the DJ and producer for Spanish hip hop group 7 Notas 7 Colores, and, in 2001, was nominated alongside them at the Latin Grammy Awards.[citation needed]
He is the founder member of the hip-hop group One Self. Their album, Children of Possibility, was released on Ninja Tune Records in 2005.[citation needed]U Can't Lurn Imaginashun was his return on BBE records in May 2009 that featured the single "Soldier" by Big Red (MC). To promote the record, Vadim put a live group together consisting of Sabira Jade (singer), Ste Keyz (Keyboardist), Pugs Atomz (MC). They would later become a group called The Electric and put out an album called Life is Moving on Vadim's on imprint Organically Grown Sounds (OGS) in 2010. His album, Don’t Be Scared (BBE, 2012) was praised for the "inventiveness of the beats" (incorporating dubstep, breaks, bhangra, Afrobeat and vintage house) by Q reviewer Paul McGee who rated it 4/5 and tagged "The One to Buy!"[3]
On average he performs 170-180 shows a year and has played in over 63 countries.[4]
In 2020, Vadim was interviewed by the Data.Wave webzine.[5]
Style
DJ Vadim composes both music for MCs, singers and poets and soulful instrumental hip-hop beats. In both cases, certain stylistic trends emerge;
Dominating rhythmic percussion, heavy use of drum programming which are sometimes broken or stuttering, heavy bass and synthesizer use.
Organic, soulful touches often using studio musicians, with undertones of roots reggae and ragga and driving, hip-hop drum orchestration.
Original sounding compositions, arrangements that fuse many genres from hip-hop and electronica to soul and reggae.
Heavy use of ethnic sounds, including Asian, South American and African.
"Anyone recalling Sly & Robbie's mid-80s exercises in electro-dub fusion might see DJ Vadim’s latest as almost an update of that aesthetic," Paul McGee wrote in Q, reviewing Don’t Be Scared LP (2012).[3]
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