Pepe Deluxé: The shy retiring types

Celebrate the new Pepe Deluxé album Spare Time Machine by checking out three tunes from that album and watching some great videos from our Finnish friends

For nearly 10 years, Finnish beatmasters Pepe Deluxé have been entertaining and amazing with their special brand of sonic manipulation. We have a super deluxe feature for you to enjoy with the entire album Beatitude available to download for free (yes, free) and a trio of funk-tastic videos to whet your appetite for new album Spare Time Machine.

Pepe Deluxé hit the music mainstream when their Woman In Blue was used for Levi Jeans' Twisted advert but for years prior to that they had been experimenting with all manner of sounds and samples as a trio of James Spectrum AKA Jari Salo, JA-Jazz AKA Tomi Paajaanen and DJ Slow, delighting both fans and press supporters alike.

The band's first collection Super Sound was originally so laden with samples that the guys had to keep stripping it back and back so that eventually there were three iterations of the album. However, with next album Beatitude in 2003, they confounded expectations, despite losing founding member DJ Slow. A lesser reliance on samples on that album meant that the upbeat party spirit could shine through. Sounds of India and wah-wah organ-fuelled rock abounded and from Just Let Go onwards, the album was a delight for music lovers of all hues.

Now, the flying Finns are back with a new collection Spare Time Machine and in the case of latest single The Mischief of Cloud 6, the samples are gone entirely. That said, some old habits remain: "I think the main driving force with Pepe Deluxe is the playful underground hip hop DJ attitude that's been there since day one," explains Spectrum, "I've always been fascinated by the challenge of getting people to listen to music they'd normally ignore or even dislike - something Beck did with country. Naturally we try very hard to sound like no other group in the known universe, to create something that didn't exist before."

Check out three tracks from the album, we have the opener The Mischief of Cloud 6, Pussy Cat Rock and the intriguingly titled and seriously groovy Forgotten Knights.

Now, in 2007, they're moving out of the studio and into the live arena, a prospect that promises much with their lyrical flights of fancy and super funk sounds being brought to live on stage. Keep an eye out for dates!

The Mischief Of Cloud 6 is out now; Spare Time Machine released 25 June. If you can't wait for your new Pepe Deluxé fix, you can buy the album Spare Time Machine from iTunes one week earlier, from 18 June.

Spare Time Machine

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