Perquisite (musician)

Perquisite
Background information
Birth name	Pieter Perquin
Born	(1982-04-30) 30 April 1982 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, producer
Years active	1996–present

Pieter Perquin (born 30 April 1982, Amsterdam, Netherlands), better known under the pseudonym Perquisite, is a Dutch musician, music producer and composer.

Biography

In 1996, at the age of 14, Perquisite started making hiphopbeats. Due to his classical musical background he often incorporated classical and jazzy elements into his creations. In 2001 he started his own record label Unexpected Records and made his debut with The Outta Nowhere EP, in collaboration with Dutch jazz musician Benjamin Herman. After this he composed and produced another solo EP Double Vision, which was released in 2002.^[1]

In 2003 Perquisite started collaborating with Dutch rapper/MC Pete Philly, and together they had their break through as the hiphop duo Pete Philly & Perquisite.^[2] They released two albums, and toured around the world for five years. They played multiple festivals, including Lowlands,^[3] North Sea Jazz^[4] and Sziget.^[5] Their studio album 'Mindstate' (2005) received a lot of critical acclaim, Talib Kweli stating; 'Musically, these guys are light years ahead of the game.'.^[6] Studio album 'Mystery Repeats' (2007) came in second position in the Dutch charts and stayed in the charts for 25 weeks.^[7] Together Pete & Perq won multiple prizes, including the Dutch 'Silver Harp', and the 'Amsterdam Prize for the Arts'.^[8] After more than 300 performances in and outside of the Netherlands, including providing the warm up act for James Brown and Kanye West, the duo ended their collaboration in the autumn of 2009 with a last 'Final Celebration Tour'.^[9]

In 2009 Perquisite won a Golden Calf (Dutch: Gouden Kalf),^[10] (which is the award for the Netherlands Film Festival) for composing the music for the film 'Carmen van het Noorden'. Around the same time, Perquisite was also working on his solo album 'Across', that saw its release in October 2010. On 'Across' Perquisite collaborated with twelve different Dutch vocalists.

From 2009 onwards, Perquisite started focussing mainly on composing music for films, documentaries, plays and commercials.

In 2012 he met singer Kris Berry at a weekly jam session in Amsterdam. They started writing tracks together and decided to release an album together. The joint album 'Lovestruck Puzzles'^[11] was released in September 2013 via Unexpected Records.^[12]

Late 2015 Perquisite was invited to function as a judge for performances by students at the Conservatory in Enschede. There he first met Jeangu Macrooy, with whom a collaboration kicked off. Jeangu was signed to Unexpected Records and his debut EP, produced by Perquisite, was released in april 2016.^[13]

Besides his career as an artist/producer, Perquisite has been running his own record label Unexpected Records since 2001. He has also been responsible for the management of Pete Philly & Perquisite and is a member of the board of Dutch copyright organisation BUMA/STEMRA.^[14] In 2015 Perquisite and a number of other musicians (including Tjeerd Bomhof, Torre Florim and Arriën Molema) established BAM! (Dutch Songwriting Society), for which Perquisite became the chairman.^[15]

Discography

Albums

• "Mindstate" (2005), as Pete Philly & Perquisite^[16]
• "Remindstate" (2007), as Pete Philly & Perquisite
• "Mystery Repeats" (2007), as Pete Philly & Perquisite
• "Mystery Repeats: The Live Edition" (2008), as Pete Philly & Perquisite
• Carmen van het Noorden: De Soundtrack (2009)
• Across (2010)
• "Lovestruck Puzzles" (2013), as Kris Berry & Perquisite

EPs

• Outta Nowhere (2001)^[16]
• Double Vision (2002)
• Expressions (2003), as North West Metropolis
• Lotus (2011), with Renske Taminiau, soundtrack Lotus (film)
• Freedom (2011), with SliderInc.

Singles

• "Insomnia" (2005), as Pete Philly & Perquisite^[16]
• "Hope/Cocksure" (2005), as Pete Philly & Perquisite
• "Grateful/Amazed" (2005), as Pete Philly & Perquisite
• "Mellow" (2006), as Pete Philly & Perquisite
• "Time Flies" (2007), as Pete Philly & Perquisite
• "Empire" (2008), as Pete Philly & Perquisite
• "Mystery Repeats" (2008), as Pete Philly & Perquisite
• "Q&A" (2008), as Pete Philly & Perquisite
• "Set Me Free" (2010), feat. Urita & Sanguita
• "Dreams Of Gold" (2010), feat. Jenny Lane
• "Blackbirds" (2011), feat. GMB
• "Hitchhike" (2013), as Kris Berry & Perquisite
• "Let Go" (2013), as Kris Berry & Perquisite
• "Warm" (2014), as Kris Berry & Perquisite

Production

• Co-production/composition "Indy & Wich, MOD, Shogun & The Proov – Flockwork" (From Amsterdam to Praha, Redrum, 2003)
• Production/composition "Nebula" - The Proov (Nebula, Unexpected Records, 2003)
• String arrangements "Schouderklopje" - Terilekst (online, 2005)
• Production/composition "Nothing To Play With" - Perquisite (Project Mooncircle, Luna Orbit, 2005)
• Cello on "Mindstate" - New Generation Big Band (Had Je Wat? 2007)
• Production/composition "Second Blow" - Voicst (A Tale Of Two Devils, Good Busy/PIAS, 2008)
• Production "Lyrical Love" - Renske Taminiau (Waiting To Be Told, Unconventional Records / Challenge Records, 2008)
• String arrangements and cello "Indian Hay" & "Sunday Blossom" - Benjamin Herman (Blue Sky Blond, Roach Records / Dox Records, 2009)
• String arrangements and cello "Motorbike" & "Unbearable Lightness Of Love" - Dazzled Kid (Fire Needs Air, Universal Music, 2011)
• Production "Nieuwe Belofte" - Gebroeders Fretz (Universal Music, 2012)
• Production "Street of Hearts" - Niels Geusebroek (Cats Don't Swim, 2014)
• Production, recording, arrangements, mix and instrumentation "Brave Enough EP" - Jeangu Macrooy (Unexpected Records, 2016)

Filmography

Filmmusic

• Carmen van het Noorden (Jelle Nesna, 2009)^[16]
• Lellebelle (Mischa Kamp, 2009)
• Klein (Sanne Vogel, 2011)
• Lotus (Pascale Simons, 2011)
• De Rekening van Catelijne (Sarah Sylbing & Esther Gould, 2012)
• Cabo (Ivan Barbosa, 2012)
• Kort (Sanne Vogel, 2013)
• Hartenstraat (Sanne Vogel, 2014).
• Wiplala (Tim Oliehoek, 2014).
• Brasserie Valentijn (Sanne Vogel, 2016)
• Hartenstrijd (Janice Pierre, 2016)

TV-productions

• Mama (Sanne Vogel, 2010)^[16]
• Erop of Eronder (Michiel van Erp, 2011)
• Het Snelle Geld (Ijsbrand van Veelen, 2012)
• Van God Los: episode Dead Man's Hand (Steffen Haars, 2013)

References