Peekay Tayloh is actually electronic collage artist PantelisKakaroglou, and his first CD is a valiant effort that sadlyaccomplishes little but reveal some of his influences and portray aderivative style. That's not to say there isn't potential, or that hedoesn't master some amazing beats on the debut, which he doeseffectively and consistently. Peekay Tayloh just utilizes a tried andtrue formula — big beats and jazz structures plus a love for hip-hopwith odd and new sound samples or live instruments mixed in for goodmeasure — without doing something incredibly original with it. There'sa real taste for the talent involved, but an overwhelming feeling of"I've heard this before" clouds the entire release. Sure, there's noway to protect against this sort of thing from time to time, but whenI'd swear I heard the exactsnare or cymbal sound that I've heard on several records, and can evenpull them out for a quick reference listen with no real trouble, I'mnot impressed. I wanted to step into the music with an open mind,however, so I let that go after a while and just basked. A few tracksjust plain smoke, like "Rumbus Rooms to Let," where the track moves ina certain direction but switches it up and puts the pedal to the metaltowards the end. And the use of guest alto sax and vocals wasn'toverpowering, just intriguingly added to the mix, which said that notonly does Peekay Tayloh not ram something down your throat but hechooses artists who will complement not take over the music. The piecesare all there, but the resulting product doesn't make the cut.Interestingly, the last cut is a remix by Beefcake of a track earlieron the record that takes the same elements essentially and ups thewattage by 150%. It's all about showmanship, and for his next projectmaybe Peekay Tayloh will show some more. Read More
