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. 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 since. Their first single hit – under the moniker One Last Riot – hit select stores in 2007. Their live debut took place a year later.
Since throwing the live show into full throttle in 2014, PL have toured across the UK, and around the globe. 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, and now at Kelburn which will be a very highly anticipated live show on the Landing.
