Finland isn’t renown for, well, pretty much anything. Apart from Nokia phones and really, really long, funny looking words, it isn’t known for producing great music artists. So, it comes as a surprise to find Pepe Deluxe come from Finland. They’re a bit of a weird bunch. To give you an idea of how weird they are, their debut single for Catskills, their first album, took the form of a one-sided stereo 7″ accompanied by attention-grabbing artwork, a slice of spiced meat, and a ransom note. The weird becomes the wonderful on Beatitude, their second album after a 4-year absence. The music is pretty much indescribable… it’s a weird mash up of sounds and beats that shouldn’t really go together, but somehow they’ve made it sound good.

Girl! is a one such track. With a funky wah guitar intro and soulful sample of The Presidents, who could be any 70’s funk band really, you’ll be thinking it’s funk until the Arabic style chimes come into play, taking the listener from the seedy bars of New York to the exotic local of the Middle East. Daddy’s Blazin’ BBQ sounds like a very poor recording of a 70s funk-fusion record over phat beats. Black Cadillac has a 50s vibe, including the Surf Beach warning siren, and quite possibly Finland’s answer to Elvis. Other tunes contain samples of telephones, and even the Sputnik 1 Satellite! Indefférence is a French sung rock song with hiphop beats, akin to DJ Shadow.

Then there are tunes such as A Moment In Black & White, a beautiful piano arrangement, and, Lying Peacefully, a wonderful blues song with vocals by Mika Sellens – no idea who she is, but her voice is gorgeous. The last track First Goodbye sounds like it could be in a 60’s airplane movie written by the Beatles.

This CD isn’t for everyone. It has such an unusual mash of sound it should be classed as art, instead of music. But unlike most art, it’s not pretentious or wanky. The tunes are designed to get your butt moving, and they do! It’s just so out there than it can only appeal to those with tastes that go beyond the normal. If you like your music straight up, then give this a miss, but if you like your music shaken, stirred, spilt and then poured back into the cup, then check out possibly the most interesting album to come out this year.