the godlike genius of Todd Edwards

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he's about all i've been listening to for the last couple days. (except for lexicon of love 20 times in a row while drunk.)

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 13 October 2002 02:16 (10 years ago) Permalink

god will be there

― gareth (gareth), Sunday, 13 October 2002 04:13 (10 years ago) Permalink

there was a 3-day period a couple weeks ago when I played "Away (Remix)" by Mantra about 50 times total. JEEEE-SUS....

― M Matos (M Matos), Sunday, 13 October 2002 05:11 (10 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

firstly BIG UP 2 da Sarki 4 the excellent site he's created 4 todd. U just beat me 2 it! secondly 4/4 night at eros in enfield on the 19th- ITS GONNA B HEK-TIK!!!!! THERE'S A CROYDEN 1 ASWELL! AND O.............MY..................GOD!!! FULL ON 2 IS SOUNDING UNBELEEEEEEEEEV-ABLE! OUT ON THE 17/3/03
TODD IS A QUALITY PRODUCER AND HE HAS A MUSIC STYLE THAT NO-1 2 DATE CAN BEAT! I WILL BE BRINGING TUNES OUT MYSELF WITH-IN THE NEX 2 YEARS HOPEFULLY SO LISTEN OUT 4 ME PEEPS. THE U.K. TODD EDWARDS WILL BE HERE SORTLY STEFAN / D.J.JLC!

― Stefan Costain/JLC, Tuesday, 11 March 2003 23:27 (10 years ago) Permalink

1 MORE THING.............................
WHERE O WHERE O WHERRRRRRR IS THAT ROLL-WITH-IT TUNE!!!!??? I FLIPPIN LOVE THAT TUNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DOES ANY1 OUT THERE KNOW?

― STEFAN COSTAIN, Tuesday, 11 March 2003 23:35 (10 years ago) Permalink

Aaaaarrrgghh, why are those horrible people at amazon.co.uk inflicting me so much pain? "Full On Vol. 2" was supposed to be released at the end of february (I ordered it immediately), and since then have pushed the release date week by week! They finally seem to have left it at march 24 so I hope to get it soon, and in the meantime I take solace in the fact that, judging by the mail from an amazon employee someone posted on the TE yahoo group, it has "proved to be a very popular item".

Anyway, bar a few duff tracks, Full On 2 is set to be amazing. I'm soooo psyched (not to mention pretty damn impatient by now). He's made a few radio appearances in UK radio last week, and sound clips have been put up on www.todd-edwards.net. I recommend heading straight for the part 2 of the set he did on Richie Vibe Vee's show - the sequence from "You're The One" to the Space Cowboy remix is my new favourite thing ever.

Also - anyone seen recent pics of the man? He certainly got helluva lot chubbier since those two old I! Records promo shots that have been the only existing available images of him for, ooh, an eternity. Also, he now wears a T-shirt with the legend "Jesus loves garage"! Godlike genius indeed.

― Mind Taker, Monday, 24 March 2003 14:41 (10 years ago) Permalink

4 weeks pass...

Just wrote this: http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0317/matos.php

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:58 (10 years ago) Permalink

page not found?

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

fuck, it worked on mine. it'll work tomorrow, though. sorry for the bad link.

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:02 (10 years ago) Permalink

wait, tried it again and it worked. hit it again and see what happens.

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:08 (10 years ago) Permalink

yeah, i got it.

bravo, esp the first graf.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:09 (10 years ago) Permalink

thanx, man

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:11 (10 years ago) Permalink

love todd, but am gonna have to disagree about akufen. he's doing a lot more than just ripping edwards and he's wicked live... really makes people move, even in venues where he by rights probably shouldn't, rejigging his tracks for proper dancefloor punch... plus you can argue that he's equally as influenced by the likes of bangalter and basement jaxx as edwards... good piece all the same, though ;-)

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:22 (10 years ago) Permalink

where do i buy this in the us?

― david day (winslow), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:48 (10 years ago) Permalink

oh well, ordered it from the UK.

― david day (winslow), Monday, 21 April 2003 21:03 (10 years ago) Permalink

yes, he rips Kompakt as well ;-)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 05:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

yes, he rips Kompakt as well ;-)

A stone-cold travesty of opinion Matos! Still, passionate subjectivism rules as far as I'm concerned so I'm down with the premise...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 16:18 (10 years ago) Permalink

I'm probably taking Matos' last comment too seriously since it might've been more of a Dave-ribbing tossed-off comment than a cut-in-stone belief, but it's one that I've heard a few times that I don't necessarily agree with.

Unless you're talking about a microhouse producer who has just started in the last year or two, I think it's terribly difficult to pinpoint who took what from where. In Akufen's case, his '00/'01 releases wouldn't have been out of place on Kompakt; if anything, he was developing nuances in his style at the same time. You have to consider that some of his earlier releases were on Trapez and Perlon, two labels that have made the style what it is just as much as Kompakt.

Besides, someone who picks up a Kompakt 12" at random these days has about a 1/4 chance of hearing a track that resembles anything on My Way. Several other labels are more confined to that type of sound -- again, some have released Akufen tracks. With the way Kompakt has branched out in the last few years, I find myself using them as an adjective a lot less these days -- almost never, actually.

(None of this has anything to do with Edwards, so I apologize. I really enjoyed reading the article, if that helps.)

(Why couldn't the Akufen pictured in Matos' article be placed in that Pixies video to hack up Frank Black?)

― Andy K (Andy K), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 16:58 (10 years ago) Permalink

meanie.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 17:01 (10 years ago) Permalink

a) I was ribbing Dave, obv.
b) I reviewed My Way when it came out last year (http://citypages.com/databank/23/1123/article10484.asp) and noted his old associations with Perlon et al--in fact, when I reviewed Superlongevity (http://citypages.com/databank/22/1090/article9904.asp) I singled out an Akufen track for praise. I know you're making a general argument, Andy, and I don't take it personally, but just fyi.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 18:01 (10 years ago) Permalink

(in case you're wondering why I re-reviewed it again a year later, VV piece came as a result of [a] the reissue w/bonus track & new cover art, [b] Akufen coming to town and [c] my asking Chuck to review the Edwards record and him suggesting doing them together)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 18:03 (10 years ago) Permalink

Oh yeah! I know you're a big Perlon head, so I should've figured, etc.

― Andy K (Andy K), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 18:07 (10 years ago) Permalink

should i bother taking 25 mins when i get home today to look for that akufen record?

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 19:08 (10 years ago) Permalink

yes, it's excellent

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 19:12 (10 years ago) Permalink

i bet it's lost in the pile with my throbbing gristle and a-ha record too

my life is a shambles

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 19:14 (10 years ago) Permalink

nb: throbbing gristle and a-ha did not record an album together

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 19:14 (10 years ago) Permalink

(snaps fingers, stamps foot) FUCK.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 19:19 (10 years ago) Permalink

ha ha ha! i'm happy with a bit of ribbing and took it as such. it made me laugh and i wasn't being entirely serious myself either... it's good to have slightly differing opinions even when you generally agree with people... hell, it makes a change from arguing with geir...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 19:20 (10 years ago) Permalink

mm. except, matos, what if todd went and did this?

what then? :)

― Chip Morningstar (bob), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 22:35 (10 years ago) Permalink

I think Edwards gets a bit too much credit for 2-step. Vocals, yes, but beats and basslines, absolutely not. Most of his stuff is just standard house thump--that's why he gets old faster than he should.

With Akufen, I couldn't really get past the first few tracks on the album, which (admittedly on a superficial listen) sounded like bad IDM circa 1995.

― Ben Williams, Tuesday, 22 April 2003 23:13 (10 years ago) Permalink

mm. except, matos, what if todd went and did this?

That is the single best thing to happen in a long time. If Todd Edwards can get out of his speed garage-beat rut, then we have a lot of wonderful music to look forward to. Maybe I should start going to church.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 00:33 (10 years ago) Permalink

I couldn't possibly disagree more with any of what Ben Williams said. The beats and bass of a track like "Never Far from You" absolutely fall in line with early 2step, and his hi-hat programming has always been very intricate, adding a polyrhtyhmic frission to the regular 4/4. As for My Way, that was an extremely superficial listen, all right.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 04:46 (10 years ago) Permalink

Matos is right. Edwards was carrying a difft. sort of two-step banner from the start, but a two-step one nonetheless.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 04:49 (10 years ago) Permalink

played that link--he's doing R&B now?! holy shit! good things await! too bad none of it made it onto Full On Vol. 2, though. next time, I hope....

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 04:58 (10 years ago) Permalink

Even at his straight housiest the bass is less a thump than an upstroke push to what follows snare-wise, which carves his 4/4 into something so much less literal. He's as good with that as he is with the samples: I get just as lost in his vocalless mix-out tags as I do in the full-on word slurp.

― Andy, Wednesday, 23 April 2003 05:34 (10 years ago) Permalink

ben you are a little bit of an old codger, coming on and reining everyone's enthusiasm back all the time

haha

― Chip Morningstar (bob), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 09:03 (10 years ago) Permalink

Eh, I don't know about that. I'm not saying I don't like Todd Edwards. Noone seems to have any trouble ignoring me, anyway ;o)

I listened to Never Ever Far again. Think its a great track, obviously. But I'm really not hearing anything much 2-steppy about it. There's the 4/4 pulse, and the barest hint of a melodic bassline. The drum pattern shuffles along, sure, but I wouldn't exactly call it "intricate" and it doesn't do anything to break up the pulse. And it just plods along unchanged for the duration of the song. I think his rhythms are quite downbeat, actually.

Whereas I then put on Rewind, to take a completely random example, and I hear a rhythm that's much more ruptured, with lots more internal breaks, micropulses, microedits... there's just so much going on. And that's not a particularly adventurous 2-step track. There's not really any dub elements going on in it, for instance, which bring a whole extra level of beef and disorientation on 2-step tracks from early (Double 99) to late (James Lavonz).

For me a lot of the best 2-step outshines Edwards--whether you agree with that or not, I think it's hard to dispute that there's a lot more going on in the music than what he brought to the party. All I'm saying is, I think the James Brown-Ohio Players metaphor is a tad overstated... I never liked the Ohio Players much, either!

― Ben Williams, Wednesday, 23 April 2003 10:39 (10 years ago) Permalink

but "Never Far From You" is from 1996, pre-2step, and "Re-Rewind" is from 1998, when 2step was starting to pick up steam. I think Andy Battaglia's summation of how the bass pushes the beats is dead on, and the early stuff (i.e. most of Full On Vol. 1) has that effect--it's suggestive of 2step w/o actually being it, and folks like Tuff Jam would later on push that aspect of it further.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 18:34 (10 years ago) Permalink

which is to say, most of the British 2step guys had been doing breaks-based stuff of some sort (Steve Gurley in Foul Play, for instance), so it's natural that they'd bring more of an overtly polyrhythmic, breakbeat-oriented sensibility into the music once they got ahold of it--more so than Edwards, of course, who comes out of a straighter house tradition than they do

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 18:41 (10 years ago) Permalink

Exactly! Now there's nothing left for us to argue about :(

― Ben Williams, Wednesday, 23 April 2003 18:44 (10 years ago) Permalink

oh, I'll find something! ;-)

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 18:46 (10 years ago) Permalink

it's his way, you see.

so i dug out the akufen record and it's really good! i was too quick to dismiss it.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 19:59 (10 years ago) Permalink

Akufen album is good if you listen a track at a time, I think. It could have been sequenced much better - the first three tracks and the last track stick out like sore thumbs as it is.

I sorta agree with Ben - I luv Todd Edwards but mostly for reasons quite different to what appeals to me re UK Garage. Although his remix of Hakan Lidbo's "Walk Away" sounds amazing in the middle of Pure Garage III.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 25 April 2003 04:49 (10 years ago) Permalink

He also sounds amaing in the middle of Pure Garage V

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 25 April 2003 04:54 (10 years ago) Permalink

Am I the only person in the world to whom the sequence from "Deck The House" to "Late Night Munchies" is the best part of "My Way"? Everyone goes on about "Skidoos" all the time, and I agree that it's such a great track, but... To me it's kinda like saying that the ballads (good though they are) are the best bits of "The Writing's On The Wall".

Anyway - Matos, great article! But why the Akufen bitching (other than him receiving accolades that Todd should've got)? In your blog entry you rightfully claim that the big difference is that Todd is about melody/harmony/texture while Akufen is about rhythm... and then you write:
"Akufen's message boils down to "look how weird and cool the radio blips I picked up are," "
But ain't that kinda missing the point? Surely, Akufen message rather boils down to: "look how FUNKILY I've arranged these weird and cool radio blips"? His stuff is deliciously sharp and TIGHT, basically,
the most wonderful brain aerobics, calling your synapses to get on
down and boogie.

"Full On Vol.2" is great, but it suffers a bit from bad sequencing, making it even more hermetic and uninviting for the uninitiated - I prefer post-"Saved My Life" Todd to the old school Todd, but tracks like "Radio Thing" and "Push The Love" did stir up the flow of "Full On Vol.1" in a good way, and their ilk is sorely missed here.

The mega-wonderful 1xtra mix I pimped in the post way above is still something I think all Todd-heads should check out, and if you want more Todd R&B jams, click 'ere:
http://www.johnclew.fsnet.co.uk/cheekyrnb.ram

― Mind Taker, Friday, 25 April 2003 17:20 (10 years ago) Permalink

obviously everyone else thinks "Deck the House" --> "Late Night Munchies" is the reason to own the album; that's what's great about it. I mentioned "Skidoos" because it's salient to the point I was trying to make, not because it's the best song. And who's bitching about Akufen? I like him, but to pretend like he discovered the wheel that Edwards has been rolling for a decade is silly. Balance must be struck etc. And certainly how funkily those blips are arranged is the point--I already said that in the article.

Actually, having already written it up in print, I must say I disagree with you re: the sequencing of Full On 2--I think it's much better done than the first one, the first couple tracks are kinda blah but then each track keeps upping the ante; my two favorites are the last two tracks, always a good sign. Also, to me his absolute peak is the Mantra "Away" remix, which is '97 I believe--his remixes are at least as good as his originals, probably a bit better. It's gravy gravy gravy as far as I'm concerned, but as my man Andy pointed out last night, he does seem to be getting a bit more M.O.R. as far as his source material and effect both.

Also, that thing you linked way upthread (haven't checked out yr new link, will try to later) sounded good, but basically like Todd-of-old with clankier beats--not that big a difference, really.

― M Matos (M Matos), Saturday, 26 April 2003 01:02 (10 years ago) Permalink

Er, a bit of a misunderstanding there: the "1xtra mix" I was talking about is not the R&B remix of "Saved My Life" you're referring to (which I agree is not all that, though it may well point to a welcome future expansion of Todd's musical map), but rather this:
http://www.theoneuk.co.uk/210303/stream/TODD_EDWARDS_1XTRA_2.ram

It's a half hour mix that's got half the tracks off "Full On Vol.2" put together in a way that beats the album's sequencing as far as I'm concerned, with a few oldies thrown in (in this context "The Praise" sounds soooo much better than ever)... it just goes up and up, culminating in the indescribably gorgeous remix of Space Cowboy's "Crazy Talk" - one of his best in ages. Unfortunately still unreleased, and no-one knows when it will hit the streets.

That Mantra remix - fuck yes, what a jaw-droppingly awesome tune. I agree that his remixes are often beter than his originals (and considering the business practices of i! Records, I'm not holding my breath for a best-of remix comp in foreseeable future, sigh). Tim's right about the Hakan Libdo dub too, and I'll also add to the list his (along w/ Sunshine Bros) remix of Somore's "Refuse" that hardly anyone ever mentions, but is truly heavenly.

― Mind Taker, Sunday, 27 April 2003 14:28 (10 years ago) Permalink

Oh, and the thing about "Skidoos" - I hadn't written that with you in mind MM, but rather most folks I know who've heard Akufen, and consider it the album's absolute peak. I seem to recall lotsa ILM people claiming the same too.

― Mind Taker, Sunday, 27 April 2003 14:34 (10 years ago) Permalink

I'm assuming everyone's heard Akufen's "Little Hop of Horror" from Electric Ladyland: Clickhop Vers 1? I never listened to My Way much, but I go back to this track all the time. The guitar lick and synth make it a pretty enough song, but his sampling seems much more inspired and relevant to the track. "Skidoos" seems like a typical micro-house track with a few 'Akufen-ish' noises thrown in.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Sunday, 27 April 2003 16:45 (10 years ago) Permalink

the non-My Way tracks I've heard are uniformly superb, and are almost all within the sample-flurry vein.

project for the future (i.e. when/if I get a better PC w/d/l and burnign capabilities): make that T.E. remixes comp myself.

― M Matos (M Matos), Sunday, 27 April 2003 23:53 (10 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 150 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Yeah, and start making techno.

I think what rubs me the wrong way the most about Infinity Ink is the way the vocals have this faint whiff of MGMT/ pseudo Beegees kinda thing.

It doesn't much matter that there's a bumpy little garage loop under the rest of the beat, still yeucch.

― Josiah Alan, Saturday, 8 September 2012 17:30 (8 months ago) Permalink

Maybe its more Cut Copy than MGMT, I've spent too much time playing this crap for college students.

― Josiah Alan, Saturday, 8 September 2012 17:33 (8 months ago) Permalink

Are you talking about "Infinity" Josiah or "House of Infinity"?

― Tim F, Saturday, 8 September 2012 17:45 (8 months ago) Permalink

House of Infinity, that'd be the one with the garage loop.

― Josiah Alan, Saturday, 8 September 2012 17:49 (8 months ago) Permalink

I did like Games better than the other two.

― Josiah Alan, Saturday, 8 September 2012 17:50 (8 months ago) Permalink

Out of everything I've heard on Crosstown Rebels I liked the Francesca Lombardo release the most. Old School Anna is pretty good.

― Josiah Alan, Saturday, 8 September 2012 17:52 (8 months ago) Permalink

Yeah sorry I assumed so I just wasn't sure cos you were talking about "Infinity" above and "House of Infinity" sounds nothing like MGMT or The Bee Gees to me.

― Tim F, Saturday, 8 September 2012 17:54 (8 months ago) Permalink

Well obviously they're not singing in an Andy Gibb falsetto, but I hear a really strong pop disco thing going on in there.

― Josiah Alan, Saturday, 8 September 2012 17:59 (8 months ago) Permalink

― Josiah Alan, Saturday, 8 September 2012 18:01 (8 months ago) Permalink

I am talking just about the vocals, not the rest of the track. Which sure Carl Craig and a little garage influence.

― Josiah Alan, Saturday, 8 September 2012 18:02 (8 months ago) Permalink

Isn't that just a male house diva thing?

― Tim F, Saturday, 8 September 2012 18:03 (8 months ago) Permalink

A very very Anglo house diva, I'm not really a huge fan of male singers who mostly resonate through their nose.

― Josiah Alan, Saturday, 8 September 2012 18:06 (8 months ago) Permalink

Which is probably why I hate indie rock with a passion.

― Josiah Alan, Saturday, 8 September 2012 18:08 (8 months ago) Permalink

Now I'm reminded of all the RnB singers who have essentially the same register, I guess I'd rather listen to Jeremih than this. Or NeYo.

― Josiah Alan, Saturday, 8 September 2012 18:17 (8 months ago) Permalink

In the spirit of not completely being a grouch, this is great.

― Josiah Alan, Saturday, 8 September 2012 18:27 (8 months ago) Permalink

Yeah, and start making techno.

not sure if that's directly aimed at tweaking me or

― The Reverend, Saturday, 8 September 2012 22:22 (8 months ago) Permalink

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pure-Garage-4-Floor-EZ/dp/B00013MXRY

^^ bought in 01, still haven't listened to

― the late great, Saturday, 8 September 2012 22:23 (8 months ago) Permalink

er 03

― the late great, Saturday, 8 September 2012 22:23 (8 months ago) Permalink

send it to me imo

― The Reverend, Saturday, 8 September 2012 22:27 (8 months ago) Permalink

X-post

Just a joke Rev.

― Josiah Alan, Sunday, 9 September 2012 06:55 (8 months ago) Permalink

Leo Leo

― the late great, Sunday, 9 September 2012 07:18 (8 months ago) Permalink

YO REV

check leo thread at 3:45 pm

― the late great, Monday, 10 September 2012 22:19 (8 months ago) Permalink

got your wish rev

― the late great, Monday, 10 September 2012 23:13 (8 months ago) Permalink

where am I looking for this?

― The Reverend, Tuesday, 11 September 2012 03:23 (8 months ago) Permalink

noize board LEO LEO

― the late great, Tuesday, 11 September 2012 03:35 (8 months ago) Permalink

Leonardo Music Journal -- Awesome!!

― the late great, Tuesday, 11 September 2012 03:36 (8 months ago) Permalink

ok got it. was not aware of that thread. v useful 2 know.

― The Reverend, Tuesday, 11 September 2012 04:05 (8 months ago) Permalink

now we will never speak of it again

― the late great, Tuesday, 11 September 2012 04:19 (8 months ago) Permalink

word

― The Reverend, Tuesday, 11 September 2012 04:21 (8 months ago) Permalink

still lol at those London/Liverpool fanservice songs

― The Reverend, Monday, 24 September 2012 01:47 (7 months ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

todd's selling all of the records he's used for samples: http://www.ebay.com/sch/toddedwardsrecords/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

― Shane Richie Junior (Merdeyeux), Thursday, 29 November 2012 23:22 (5 months ago) Permalink

― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Thursday, 29 November 2012 23:24 (5 months ago) Permalink

http://soundcloud.com/djq85/todd-edwards-selection

what more could u want

― r|t|c, Thursday, 29 November 2012 23:31 (5 months ago) Permalink

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