Pedro:Pedro

Artist: Pedro

Date Released: January 1, 2004

Label: Schema

Produced By:

Tracklisting:
 * 1) Intro
 * 2) Fear & Resilience
 * 3) Dead Grass
 * 4) These Pixels Weave a Person
 * 5) The Water Ran This Way Back and Forth
 * 6) 123
 * 7) All Things Rendered
 * 8) Seven Eight
 * 9) Outro

Review: Pedro, aka Manchester’s James Rutledge, has been floating under the radar of some of the more well known laptop concocters like Four Tet, Caribou and the lessy glitchy side of Guillermo Scott Herren, though he may be creating the most to-the-point folktronica/acoustica/folk-hop/whateverthefuck out there. While the earlier mentioned artists release mounds of sounds, some great some fumbles, Rutledge’s concise catalogue is potent and remarkable across the board. His minimalistic laptop manipulations of acoustic samples derive from hip-hop, folk and free jazz owing as much to Tortoise and Fridge as they do Sun Ra or even the RZA (in a skeletal beat sort of way). This was his first proper full length released on the first day of 2004 following Early Pedro, a collection of three early EPs; and re-released by Mush in 2006. It’s a solid album from beginning to end that warrants repeated listens to catch every sample snippet and oddly timed snare smack. Mpardaiolo