Jimmy Edgar
Access RhythmFollowing his recent signing to Warp, Jimmy Edgar has come out with some considerable fireworks for this EP. Already an established figure at the enviable age of 19, and with one great long-player behind him, (My Mines I on Merck) this was always going to be fun. But the thing that comes across most strongly on this release is Edgar's impeccable restraint. Whilst there are some similarities with the reconstructed hip-hop of Prefuse 73, this is a far more laid back affair. Where Prefuse piles sound over sound over sound, Jimmy Edgar does the just the opposite, and to great effect. Rather than overloading the listener with a wealth of samples, each song is a little demonstration of how much can be done with so little.
But despite the uber-modern stylings of both sound and packaging, the old ghosts of Detroit techno are an unmistakable presence throughout. Minimal to point of anaemia, wandering through dark dark streets and little splashes of neon sun, they inform much of the way Edgar approaches his music. And this is no accident. Jimmy Edgar himself is something of a Detroit institution – reportedly beginning his musical career as a bright-eyed young ten-year old, and performing regularly at raves alongside techno pioneers like Juan Atkinson and Derrick May by the age of fifteen. That’s not to suggest that his sound is derivative of these artists – but he has learnt a lot from them. And whereas their minimal approach was prompted by the limited technology available, Edgar has deliberately pulled back from some of the excesses of his contemporaries. On Access Rhythm, the beats are clipped down to their essence, and a small handful of samples are repeatedly pulled, pushed, broken and reconfigured in the spaces left behind. It's the old jazz principle of statement and improvisation applied with some rigour to the foundations of some techno/hip-hop hybrid, and it works very well. Stuttering but louche, entirely focused and yet slightly delirious, the decadent little lounger can do no wrong.
But despite the uber-modern stylings of both sound and packaging, the old ghosts of Detroit techno are an unmistakable presence throughout. Minimal to point of anaemia, wandering through dark dark streets and little splashes of neon sun, they inform much of the way Edgar approaches his music. And this is no accident. Jimmy Edgar himself is something of a Detroit institution – reportedly beginning his musical career as a bright-eyed young ten-year old, and performing regularly at raves alongside techno pioneers like Juan Atkinson and Derrick May by the age of fifteen. That’s not to suggest that his sound is derivative of these artists – but he has learnt a lot from them. And whereas their minimal approach was prompted by the limited technology available, Edgar has deliberately pulled back from some of the excesses of his contemporaries. On Access Rhythm, the beats are clipped down to their essence, and a small handful of samples are repeatedly pulled, pushed, broken and reconfigured in the spaces left behind. It's the old jazz principle of statement and improvisation applied with some rigour to the foundations of some techno/hip-hop hybrid, and it works very well. Stuttering but louche, entirely focused and yet slightly delirious, the decadent little lounger can do no wrong.
