Mixing oldschool hip-hop with modern electronics, synth pop, and nostalgic samples and Value Village vinyl cuts, Peter Project (Note there is no "The" in the name) has created his own brand of Disney-core hip-hop. Though mostly instrumental, his collaborations with More or Les, The Wordburglar, and Masia One, have produced wicked results. In the face of boring laptop rock, His live show has become legendary. Manipulating MPCs, Turntables, Keyboards, and a Rapping Television, often at the same time, all to the tune of vintage Sci-fi flicks leave the audiences amused and confused.
His most recent self titled genera crossing release (Fuzzy Logic Recordings) was released in the spring, and has been crashing college charts across Canada.
In addition to Peter Project's solo material he's remixed tracks for the likes of Woodhands, and The Meligrove band. Recently he's been found behind the decks in support of The Wordburglar, and Keys in the Masia One live band, as well as composing original tunes for Sesame Street.
Peter Project’s compositions are the closest thing to old-school hip hop without jumping into a DeLorean and going back to the early 80s.
peter project
A thick, beefy drum track forms the foundation of most of his work on this self-titled release. Synthesizers, horns, and samples fill out the rest of the instrumentation. Anyone who has ever believed that sampling is theft and not real musicianship is first and foremost an idiot, but is secondly very wrong. When done correctly, as Peter Project proves, the end result can be downright amazing. Think of the samples like little robot lions, and Peter Project as the leader of Voltron, reigning in these lions to form one bad-ass robot with a sword that can defeat any enemy with ease.
And speaking of ease, Peter Project is some bastardized form of easy listening, meaning it’s mellow despite its aggressions. The album has a good swing to it and features powerful lyrical swordplay from guests like The Word Burglar and Masia One. The tracks flow into one another and the songs can be enjoyed on their own (as on the Peter Project MySpace page) or as a larger work.
Upon hearing it for the first time, I was reminded of both old-school hip hop and some of the Def Jux artists that I had listened to when the label was making its debut. I only ever had those songs on cassette, taped from a friend’s record collection. They’re packed away somewhere so unfortunately I couldn’t go back and make correlations to specific artists. Maybe that’s a good thing, however. I find myself agonizing over specific samples, trying to figure out where I have heard them before.
Just a reminder to listen in FRIDAY afternoon at 4:30-6 pm CST to hear PETER PROJECT on “This Great White North” an ALL CANADIAN music show from Austin, Texas It’s on 91. 7 KOOP-FM Listen here
