Jimmy Edgar, Hush

[Glass Table]


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As is perhaps expected from a multi-alias producer who started releasing music in his teens, Jimmy Edgar’s catalog has variously shifted styles, ranging from glitchy instrumental hip-hop to sleazy electro funk/IDM crossovers. Now in his twenties, Edgar seems to be attempting to subdue his manic tendencies. Both of his compositions for Hush, the first release on new British label Glass Table, are notably streamlined, slow and loopy with the formerly prevalent glitchy stutter reduced to a few minor flourishes. Meanwhile, similarly precocious Detroiter Kyle Hall contributes a remix of “Hush” that further solidifies his reputation for loose, spacey funk.

“Hush” is a looping, airy piece, led by slow-and-steady stepping percussion. Edgar laces organ pulses and atmospherics throughout, broken up by with a woman yelping the title, swathed in varying measures of delay. There’s a palpable sense of unease and emanating from its swinging form, one that’s mirrored by its X-rated video — a montage of low budget pornographic videos pre-sex-act (mostly), uncomfortable women removing their clothes and posing for photographs in grimy surroundings. You get the sense that under its svelte, considerable groove there’s an eerie emptiness it’s just barely masking. Kyle Hall’s remix, then, gives its dead eyes some life, implementing his trademark bottom-heavy shuffle and a much-needed change in bass line. Where some of his prior efforts threatened to come apart at the seams in their busy clatter, this remix coasts confidently by, countering Edgar’s sedate shadiness with tones of skyline grandeur. Rolling and symphonic, fans of his Darkstar remix, “Fuse N Me,” and Floating Points will not be disappointed.

Edgar’s second track, “BThere,” follows “Hush” in theme, repetitive and glazed with the same sort of icy veneer and yelped vocal samples. Nevertheless, it’s a bit more upbeat, notably due to a strikingly catchy, buzzing bass line and clean, forceful synth stabs. In spite of their commonalities (and the fact that the latter is older than the former), Kyle Hall seems like the mature opposite of Edgar’s young eclecticism. Both appear to be in a period of refinement; but while Hall’s streamlining hasn’t sacrificed any excitement, Edgar might be minimizing too much of the liveliness that made his best work pop. But I digress. Jimmy Edgar has long been interested in crossing sleekness with red-light district vibes, and these tracks typify that contrast, simultaneously glossy and late-night seedy.

Nitzan/ Fine Art  on May 5, 2010 at 1:28 AM

Great release, need to get this on vinyl

Inverted Audio  on May 11, 2010 at 7:49 AM
Si  on June 30, 2010 at 8:23 AM

loving it loving it loving it

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