Paranoid London

Paranoid London have become synonymous with stripping acid house back down to its basics. Rescuing the sound from smiley faces, rave, and sugary excess. Referencing instead its gay, black, American roots. Taking the underground overground. Knocking out not hands-in-the-air anthems, but rough, rude, raw jack. Not safe, slick, or soulless, but joints purposely over-driven, distorted, and full of tape hiss.

The duo, of Gerardo Delgado and Quinn Whalley, met in 2004, nearly 20 years ago. They confess that, in the studio, initially they were chasing other people's sounds — ballroom vogues from Derrick Carter to Danny Tenaglia — and much of the results are unreleased. It wasn't until Quinn asked Del, "Mate, what are you really into?" and the answer was "Banging acid house," that things really took shape. As Paranoid London — a name born in the aftermath of the July 7th 2005 suicide bomb attacks — the pair have been releasing music for well over a decade. Their first single hit — under the moniker One Last Riot — hit select stores in 2007. Their live debut took place a year later.

The Surrey-born Del began DJing in the early '90s, spinning sets of Balearic beats and progressive house. Mancunian Quinn cut his teeth on the 1s and 2s as a 12 year old breakdancer, and then played at raves organised by pals of his parents. Getting hooked on house, he became a huge fan of legendary London DJ Colin Faver. Both partied through 1988's "second summer of love" at clubs such as Land Of Oz, Rage, and Shoom. In the mid-90s Del did a stint behind the counter at Covent Garden's FatCat Records — a global Mecca at the time for anyone into techno, and electronic music full stop. Quinn recorded under a wide range of aliases, either solo or together with friends, the first of which, Slack, signed a single to Andrew Weatherall's label, Sabres Of Paradise, in 1993. Del also tried his hand at producing, but, until meeting Quinn, hadn't quite managed to capture the music that he heard in his head. Neither have had any kind of musical training, save torturing the recorder at school. According to Del, "House, like punk, is about energy, not the right note or key." One fine example of them refusing to be put in a box, or do what's expected, was, for their second single, getting original Chicago house luminary, Paris Brightledge, to cover Mark E. Smith's iconic post-punk rockers, The Fall.

The pair have deliberately limited their gear to vintage analogue hardware — a TR-101, 808, and 909, two TB-303s, an old Korg MS20, plus sometimes a borrowed, knackered, Yamaha synth — and employ a kind of "first thought, best thought" approach to production — "If something doesn't work within 20 minutes, then it gets scrapped, and we move on." They've also adopted a similar "improvised" approach to live performance. "We know where it starts, and where it ends… everything else is up for grabs," says Quinn. These wired, wild, unpredictable gigs often include likeminded guest vocalists. Key collaborators on record, and on stage, are Mutado Pintado — the beat poet / renaissance man of NYC sleaze — and the UK capital's LBGT+ champion, Josh Caffe. Whalley describes the former as "One of the most creative people I've ever met." Of the latter he's said, "Everything that comes out of his mouth is dripping with sexuality. There hasn't been anybody that's got that level of not-giving-a-fuckness for ages. He fitted in nicely." Both act as MCs / ringmasters for an audience of assembled "freaks & weirdos," riffing off each other, and regularly inviting crowd members to take the mic.

Since throwing the live show into full throttle in 2014, PL have toured across the UK, and around the globe. Packing venues from London to Glasgow. Bringing their brand of barely controlled mayhem to hot spots from Berlin to Marrakech, via their spiritual hometowns of Detroit and Chicago. Along the way, becoming festival favourites — Glastonbury, Houghton, Love International, Dour, Movement and Dekmantel, the long list goes on.

Previous albums have featured contributions from an inspired, eclectic crew — Suicide's Alan Vega, Californian gay activist, Bubbles Bubblesynski, former A Certain Ratio frontman, Simon Topping, and Arthur Baker, the original electro don. The new one, Arseholes, Liars, and Electronic Pioneers, now extends that righteous roll call of sonic seers and heroes, to include star turns from Primal Scream's Bobby G, US house veteran Monica "DJ Genesis" Lockett, the novo-New Romantic / gothic, Jennifer Touch, and Joe Love, from Fat Dog, Brixton's current ones-to-watch.

All bring something unique to the party / proceedings, while integrating perfectly with PL's "Fuck you!" circuitry.

The record, production-wise, may be slightly more polished, just a tad more "hi-fi," but the anarchic attitude remains unaltered, unadulterated, undiluted.