RENNIE PILGREM
PERFECT SKIN WORDS | Dr Khan
Where to start with Rennie Pilgrem? The fact essence, which was the breakbeats. We’re is essentially a dancefloor album. It is also
that he was there at the dawn of rave back in in the situation now where you could go to a informed by Rennie’s musical background and
1989 performing and producing as Rhythm breaks night and you’d hardly hear any proper his TCR Allstars live outfit who continue to rip
Section? The fact that 1995’s ‘A Place breakbeats, so the scene literally needs to go up shows all over the world. “I’ve been mixing
Called Acid’ brought the sound of breaks back to its roots and remind people why they it up and working with some real musicians,”
to the attention of a worldwide audience? liked it in the first place. reveals Rennie, “but trying to get the balance
The fact that his very own ‘Explicit Beats’ right between the technology and the live
compilation from 1998 was instrumental in “If people want to hear house they’ll go to a stuff. I didn’t want it to sound like an indie
the emergence of the nu-skool sound? Or the proper house club and hear the real deal,” dance album!”
fact that his brand new ‘Skin’ LP is available he continues. “This is pretend house and it’s
to buy for a mere £3 by simply sending a text bizarre, how the fuck did we get here? I think And it’s available to purchase by way of a
from your mobile? part of the reason is a lot of people are scared simple text. “I’ve been giving out cards at gigs,”
because they’re trying to earn a living and explains Rennie, “with a number for you to
As Kmag settles down to a nice cuppa and they’re thinking electro is doing really well text and the easy thing is it gets added to your
a chat with Mr Pilgrem in his West London and breaks isn’t flavour of the month, but you phone bill. We text you a link and you download
studio, it is apparent that he has lost none alienate people who are into you. Last year I the album to your computer. So it’s a really
of the fire and energy which have propelled did a tour of Australia and everyone was saying simple way of buying the album because some
him through the last twenty years. He has how breaks is fucked, everyone’s gone electro people haven’t got a credit card or don’t want
somehow managed to maintain his place at the now, so I went totally the other way and I had to use it online, but with this it gets taken off
forefront of the new technological age, forever the best tour ever! People were coming up your phone bill. It’s only £3 for twelve tracks,
pushing forward and exploring the boundaries. and saying ‘at last...we can hear some proper it’s something totally new but people are
He is refreshingly frank and forthright with breaks!’ It’s got to go back to that, I can hear getting used to buying things by text so it could
his opinions, especially when we broach the more breaks in dubstep than breaks now!” be big in the future.”
subject of his beloved breaks scene.
True to his word, Rennie’s brand new album As for his motivation after all these years,
“I’m very much back on trying to have real ‘Skin’ is a streamlined assault of the funkiest, Rennie is suitably modest in his reply: “I think
breaks in my music,” begins Rennie, “because phattest breakbeats known to man aligned what motivates me now is to do stuff that I
I think the breaks scene has really suffered to his usual futuristic sensibility. This is 21st really like rather than it being put in a little
by being a bit ploddy and some producers century breaks twisted into new shapes and pigeonhole. I love making music, however
making ‘almost house’ music. I’m trying to forms by one of the scene’s true masters. much it changes. Technically you can make
bring my sound back to where it originally Featuring collaborations with heavyweights some music, upload it somewhere and you
came from, which is raw breaks. It’s a bit like such as Arthur Baker, BLIM and Uberzone could be selling it the next day! That’s a pretty
when d&b went all techstep in about ‘98, you and vocal contributions from the likes of amazing thing to be able to do.”
could see why they did it because it had more Alabama 3’s Larry Love and Ruth Minuit, ‘Skin’
powerful sounds and beats, but d&b lost its carries a dizzying mix of ideas and styles, but
www.kmag.co.uk
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