DJ Vadim

Hardest working man in show business? Trouper? 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-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.

"Scratch Live is really right now the best shit out there for any serious DJ whether you are in your bedroom or touring the world. You are actually using vinyls to play computer files which do not skip and now you can do loads of tricks like loop, set countless start points and loads of features are getting added all the time like effects etc... It's taking DJing to the next level."