Just in terms of its sheer volume, this mixed archive of chillout moods and grooves from the early to mid-1990s is an essential audio document. One of the features of this release is a digital-only, three-hour-plus continuous mix that includes tracks by Peter Namlook, Sun Electric, MLO, Theorem, and FUSE. Matthew Hawtin, who often served as somnolent counterpoint to the body-buzzing menace and mania of brother Richie’s main-room DJ sets, does a splendid job of blending together largely static material that had an almost instant expiration date upon its initial release, and whose main function was to calm and de-electrify a battered nervous system.
Party-starting club-tune label Nightshifters has released an EP from Philly’s bass-lovin’ Rx for his single “Bumble.” The Bumble EP features the minimal, low-end bounce of the title track alongside remixes from Nightshifters label head DJ Donna Summer, Nate Day (who’s a part of the eight-member Subdivision crew along with Rx), Seattle’s Tony Rocky Horror, and Berlin’s dubstep newbie Nifian, not to mention it’s all available for absolutely free on the Nightshifters website. You can also check out the totally weird, probably NSFW video for “Bumble,” directed by Bad American, below.
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Philipp Jung (of M.A.N.D.Y.) and Matthew Dear have a new party called Buddies. Hosted by Sigu in the heart of New York City, the party will see the two spinning house, disco, and deep soul every month at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, with the aim of bringing their crowd-pleasing road show to the city they sleep in. With a special spring-break edition of Buddies tonight for all the partygoers unable to make it to Miami, as well as a collaborative slow-motion house track available here, it is certain that the latest venture from the duo is one of the hottest tickets in the five boroughs.
If you’re still working off that hangover from SXSW, why not take a trip down to Mexico tomorrow? On March 25, XLR8R and Hilda55 team up to host a party that will feature performances by Ghosts on Tape and Nguzunguzu. This invitation-only soiree will be held in the HQ El Tinieblo at Morelos 870, Barrio Antiguo, Monterrey. In order to grab an invitation, go here.
Glaswegian bass heads and beat slangers, the Numbers crew is set to launch another raucous night of bouncing, slap-heavy club music inside London’s illustrious party center Fabric. Not since early January has the Numbers label and its band of merry DJs and producers taken over the massive club completely—making April 2 a particularly special occasion. Headlining the event will be dubstep kingpin Martyn, along with a live set from Numbers’ own Rustie and a head-to-head DJ set with Jackmaster and Blunted Robots’ Brackles. The likes of Scuba, dBridge, Peverelist, Redinho, and many others will also be heard throughout Fabric’s three rooms that night. As a special bonus , Fabric is offering fans and potential party-goers the chance to grab two of its stellar mixes, Fabric 50: Martyn and FABRICLIVE 50: dBridge & Instra:mental Present Autonomic, along with a ticket to the Numbers party, all for the insanely affordable price of £20. Check out full details on the event here, and get your tickets here.
When New Jersey’s Todd Edwards headlined London’s club Fabric recently, it felt like a homecoming. Not because it’s particularly rare for Edwards to play London, but because in recent years this Italian-American garage producer has seen his status rise from critical cult favorite to that of an established and accepted touchstone for the UK’s frequently shifting underground dance scene. It wasn’t lost on the crowd, nor the rest of the performers on the night—among them Shortstuff, Deadboy, and Hot City—that this well-timed booking showcased Edwards at the peak of his acclaim to a sea of admirers old and new.
But Edwards has always had a special place in his heart for London, as a new recent track, the stunning “No Place Like London,” testifies. “I Made ‘No Place Like London’ to show my appreciation for the UK and the love I have been shown for so many years,” he says. “It’s something that I never want to take for granted.”
“No Place Like London”
The famous irony with Todd Edwards is that despite being such an important figure in London music, he was born and bred in the United States. But fortunately, his long-overdue moment has come simultaneously on both sides of the ocean. “Todd Edwards has definitely influenced my production, as evident on ‘Mind Reader,’” offers New York producer/DJ Kingdom. “There are sharp syncopated snares, deep bass, and chopped vocal samples strung into a melody, so the track is very much in his lineage. I love that his music is generally very well balanced. It’s at once melody and poppy, and at the same time dark, swinging, and percussive.”
London’s Hot City is also quick to sing Edwards’ praises: “Not only is [his music] a cut-up collage of sound—his structure is very good, too, using bridges, choruses, and verses in an instrumental dance track. I first heard Todd’s ‘Crazy Love’ remix for MJ Cole, and didn’t think it was that great, but then heard [his remix of Sound of One’s] ‘As I Am’ in a club and tracked it down, realized all his tunes were made that way, and started building my collection from the exchange. He still sounds original today.”
In a 2007 interview with Stylus, one of the few in-depth Edwards interviews on the web, he refers to himself as “a suburbanite, [part of] a typical East Coast Italian family.” The son of a carpet salesman, he started making music around 1992, trying to “emulate what was out there: Roger S, MK, Masters at Work, Todd Terry.”
Edwards went on to develop an instantly recognizable style of his own. With a four-to-the-floor beat as the foundation, he chops vocals—sometimes sung himself, then pitch-shifted—down to the individual syllables to create unique melodies on top. It’s dance music on the surface, but at its heart, Edwards’ music is a sincerely personal form of pop, with its own message (he’s a devout Christian), and masterful adaptation of the traditional verse-chorus-bridge structure.
“Historically, I would have to say [my biggest influence] is Stevie Wonder,” continues Edwards, who has also mentioned Björk and Enya as key influences in the past. “A close cousin of mine gave me Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life. I listened to it religiously. If I was never given that album, I would have never composed ‘Saved My Life.’” Edwards’ last LP, Odyssey, featured an entire team of “guest vocalists,” Edwards adopting a different alias for each one. It’s a singular journey in the same vein as Speak for Yourself, the 2005 album by Imogen Heap—another vocalist Edwards admires, and has remixed to glistening effect in the past. “I spent a lot of hours in the studio,” he reflects. “Just me, God, and the sampler.”
Todd’s original productions are only half the story. He’s remixed countless acts in his time, including Daft Punk, Talking Heads, Justice, and All Saints’ Mel B, chopping and cutting the tracks in his trademark style. “He was the first name that came to mind when Fool’s Gold asked me who I wanted to remix ‘Mind Reader,'” says Kingdom. “There are very few significant American contributions to garage music, so I wanted to have him on it. I’m very happy with the results.”
“The Todd-i-fication process is for songs that I really love that I want to fit into my DJ set,” Edwards says of his remix style. “A lot of club tracks may not fit well with a set of Todd tracks [he only plays his own productions when he DJs]. The whole process is about adding a bit of myself to the original without overpowering it… to express what music moved me the most in past and present.”
This is key. Todd Edwards’ music may be driven by an individual journey, but it’s one of tribute—to God, to family, to the music, and music fans who’ve inspired it.
Extended Mix: Five Must Have Todd Edwards Jams
Sound of One “As I Am (Todd Edwards Remix)” (1993)
Edwards’ music often has a snow-capped shimmer to it, but this is one of his more colorful outings, with twilight sax and diva vocals. He’s very careful with his cut-up treatment here, retaining the original’s feel.
Todd Edwards “Saved My Life” (1995)
Famously samples his father’s voice. And just listen to those snares.
St. Germain “Alabama Blues (Todd Edwards’ Dub Mix)” (1995)
One of his very best remixes—the melodies here are something else. You could cut all traces of vocal from this and you’d still have something special.
Todd Edwards “Shut the Door” (2000)
Far from subtle in its religious rhetoric, this has it all: ecstatic breaths bounce like rows of clouds pushed by piston snares, while a lead vocal tells you to let God into your life. So much detail in the production that it’s exhausting to listen to.
Daft Punk “Face to Face” (2001)
This is a simple masterpiece that Edwards co-produced and sang on, and one of the only songs where his vocals are mostly untouched. In his words, again from the Stylus interview, “If I were on my own, I’d be listening to all the flaws. That’s the good thing about collaboration. It becomes a marriage of trust”
The city of Madison, Wisconsin, might not seem like a natural place for techno, but it is certain that at least DJ Homewrecker is keeping the beats coming. “La Bootalla” is a tribal banger that shares an affinity with the works of the Underground Resistance crew, particularly the Latin-infused techno-funk of Los Hermanos and the jazzy flavor of UR’s “Hi-Tech Jazz.” Featuring a lovely, bright sax line riding above massive kicks and sopping hand-claps, the track also includes organ stabs and some raucous vocal clips, making it perfect for mixing with anything from a Detroit slice to a more progressive techno piece from the Cocoon cohort.
Fresh-faced beatmaker and Brainfeeder mix contributor Alex B sent over this premiere of a track from his forthcoming debut, Moments. Entitled “You and I Both Know,” this diddy is a brief look into the type of herky-jerky rhythms and smooth, spaced-out sonics to be heard through the album’s 17 tracks. Within two minutes we are treated to a tweaked soul loop, delayed vocal stabs, sporadic percussive elements, and swirling synth arpeggiations wrapped around a descending bass melody. It all comes off sounding more like an interlude between larger movements, but we can only know for sure when Moments is released April 6 via Alex B’s own Elm and Oak imprint.
If Fela Kuti recruited a nine-person band with modern electronics, fiery guitars, and a full horn section in Norway, Afrobeat might sound like One-Armed Bandit. Like Charles Mingus’ big bands, Jaga Jazzist relies on well-schooled players to navigate multilayered song structures that practically demand 3-D pop-up charts to write out, then charge through them with an interlocking, untrammeled joy that transforms a potentially chin-beardy mix of instrumental jazz and post-rock into something closer to a cerebral-yet-gutbucket funk. Perhaps it’s something in the Oslo water—like fellow Norwegians Röyksopp, Jaga Jazzist transforms potentially icy sonics into warm, clever outbursts with apparent ease.
In anticipation of his performance at San Francisco’s Icee Hot jump-off, UK funky upstart and Blunted Robots label don Shortstuff has put together this exclusive half-hour mix to offer a taste of the tunes he’ll be dropping stateside come this Saturday. The party-starting blend quickly runs up and down tempos with ease, and showcases 13 solid tracks, including Shortstuff’s own remix of the new Lemonade single “Lifted.” Download or stream the mix here, and check out the tracklist below.
1. Dizzee Rascal “Brand New Day” (XL) 2. Terror Danjah “Air Bubble (Geiom RMX)” (Butterz) 3. Guido “Mad Sax” (white) 4. Machinedrum “SXLND” (white) 5. Roska “Squark” (Rinse) 6. Jam City “Let Me Bang RMX” (white) 7. Lemonade “Lifted (Shortstuff RMX)” (True Panther) 8. Egyptrixx “The Only Way Up (Ikonika RMX)” (Night Slugs) 9. Shortstuff “Fig Rolls” (Ramp) 10. DJ Dom “UCSM” (white) 11. SBTRKT “Sleep in Tokyo” (white) 12. West Norwood Cassette Library “What It Is” (white) 13. Untold “Come Follow Me” (white)
