The Pocket Dwellers are a Canadian seven-member experimental

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

group from the

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

area. The band's main genre is hip-hop, but their music is influenced by

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

and

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat ...

History

The Pocket Dwellers began forming together in 1996. That year the band performed at EdgeFest in Toronto. In 1999 the band performed in Hamilton as part of Showcase '99. The Pocket Dwellers released their first full-length record in 2000 after they signed a recording deal with Song Corp, and a second album, ''Digitally Organic'', later that year. Song Corp went bankrupt in early 2001, leaving the second album with no promotion. The next release was the album recorded live during sold-out performances at a club in Toronto called the Reverb. The recording was released under Urbnet records. In 2005 they signed with Blue Note/EMI and released PD-Atrics. The recording was more hip hop based and involved less live instrumentation than had been employed in the past. In 2006 the band was nominated for a Juno award for best new group.

Members

Member roster of The Pocket Dwellers. *Dennis Passley "Deknow" – tenor

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

*Nigel Williams "N.I.Gel" –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

*John Griffith "Quest" – saxophone,

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

*Marco Raposo "Red" –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

*Gord Shields "Jupiter" –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

*Christian McKibbin "Holy C" –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

*Sheldon Moore "S-luv" –

turntables A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...

*Dave Leitao "Epstein" -

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

:: guest musicians: * Brownman Ali –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

Discography

Albums

# '' Limited Edition - EP'' (1998) # '' Digitally Organic'' (August 29, 2002)"Pocket Dwellers Digitally Organic"
''Exclaim!'', By Del F. Cowie. Dec 01, 2000 # '' Lifecheck'' (August 19, 2003) # '' PD-Atrics'' (October 4, 2005) # ''Conception: The Mix Tape Volume 2'' (2005)

References

Pocket Dwellers
at allmusic.com {{Authority control Canadian experimental musical groups Musical groups established in 1996 Canadian hip-hop groups Musical groups from Toronto 1996 establishments in Ontario