Award-winning multi-reedman, composer and producer Finn Peters is one of the UK’s most accomplished and exciting musicians, with an envious musical CV that encompasses jazz, hip-hop, electronica, funk, contemporary classical music and much more besides.
He comes from a family of musicians, which can be traced back to the 1600s and started playing the flute aged five. Fortunate to be surrounded by famous musicians as he grew up, he decided on a career in music and has been studying ever since. After spending his teens practicing non-stop, he studied musicology at Durham University, then completed a post-graduate course at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has traveled the world as a much-in-demand session player and has continued to learn about music from around the globe. This explorative nature has lead him to work with such pioneers as Frederick Rzewski, Bill Frisell, DJ Spinna, Sam Rivers and Sa-Ra creative partners, to name a few
Finn Peters latest project Music Of the Mind, pulls together two years of extensive research into the mapping of brainwaves and translating them into sound. The resulting album and live show has attracted fans from Gilles Peterson to Thom Yorke, and earned Peters praise from across the media including appearances on GMTV and BBC Radio 4 as well as a forthcoming Channel 4 documentary.
"Purple and Yellow" came out of an idea to explore synesthesia, something which I experience myself and is more common among artists than you might imagine. I relate the colours purple and yellow to the key centres of E flat and B respectively. Yee King actually designed a computer programme to try and "measure" synesthesia in improvising musicians.
"Virus" came out of the idea that computers can improvise like humans. Yee King wrote an algorithm that enabled his computer to play a Virus synthesiser. When we were recording one day we left the tape rolling and went for a smoke. By the time we got back to the studio Yee King's computer had written the track for us. He has also devised a programme that writes drum and bass by itself - you simply enter certain parameters - hey presto - jump up!!
The SYNESTHESIA EP for Ism Records has 3 glorious remixes arriving courtesy of Yam Who? & Crewdson and they sound like instant vintage classics.
Yam Who?s ‘Purple & Yellow’ rework rolls towards a downtown 81 direction. Ruff & tuff street boogie for the 21st century, with layered & chopped synth stabs and slamming disco beats with pop sensibilities, infectious hook, looking backwards but very futuristic.
Crewdson steps up and delivers a wonky future beats soundclash over a buoyant cosmic soundscape. This is causing serious reactions from the DJ & producer community already and is set to stand the test of time of the dancefloor.
With a deliberate hint towards Pharoah Saunders, the Yam Who? rework of ‘Virus’ reaches autumnal depths, a true journey that touched on influences from as far the middle east through to Detroit accelerating towards a climatic off kilter and uplifting finish.