Vadim Peare, known professionally as DJ Vadim, is a prolific DJ and producer born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and raised in London, England from the age of three. He is also a promoter, record collector, radio presenter, occasional painter and writer, whose music combines hip hop, soul, reggae and electronica. He previously ran Jazz Fudge. His 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" and an artist who "cannot be ignored".
Career
In 1994, Vadim founded his own independent record label, Jazz Fudge, but signed to Ninja Tune the following year, 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. Throughout his career, he has worked with a variety of musicians, singers and groups, including DJ Krush, Stevie Wonder, The Roots, Prince, Public Enemy, Dilated Peoples, Kraftwerk, Sly and the family stone, Fat Freddys Drop, Super Furry Animals, and Paul Weller. He is also known for having worked with a number of unsigned artists who later went on to find commercial success. 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 Spanishhip hop group7 Notas 7 Colores, and, in 2001, was nominated alongside them at the Latin Grammy Awards. His album, U.S.S.R. Life from the Other Side, featured Scratch Perverts, Iriscience, Blade. To promote the record, Vadim put together a live group - The Russian Percussion - consisting ofMr Thing, Killa Kela, Blu Rum 13, John Ellis. The tour consisted of 200 live shows taking in twenty four countries throughout Europe and North America. He is the founder member of the hip-hop group One Self. Their album, Childer of Possibility, was released on Ninja Tune Records in 2005. U Can't Lurn Imaginashun was his return on BBE records in May 2009 that featured the single "Soldier" by Big Red. To promote the record, Vadim put a live group together consisting of Sabira Jade, Ste Keyz, Pugs Atomz. 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 in 2010. His album, Don’t Be Scared was praised for the "inventiveness of the beats" by Q reviewer Paul McGee who rated it 4/5 and tagged "The One to Buy!" He has made many remixes from The Cure, Erykah Badu, Alice Russell, Paul Weller, Prince, and CL Smooth. On average he performs 170-180 shows a year and has played in over 63 countries.
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.
