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Jimmy Edgar

MusicBlog

"+/- midnight."

Location: New York, NY

Website: http://www.jimmyedgar.com/

Bio: Here's a test. Ask someone to describe Warp Records artist Jimmy Edgar's music. Your interviewee will probably spend a moment reaching for the words that ... (more) accurately capture describe Jimmy's mysteriously abstract and sexy electronic beats. But then, there's usually a consistent answer: Jimmy Edgar's music sounds like the future.

At 24, Jimmy can already list fashion designer, film director, graphic designer and world-renowned photographer on his resumé. But it's his innovative work as a DJ, producer, songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist that first brought him international attention. The UK Guardian calls Jimmy's sound a mix of "George Clinton, Kraftwerk and Timbaland." His tunes have been known to wind up on playlists alongside Prefuse 73, MSTRKRFT, Bauhaus, A-Trak, and Aaliyah.

Dissect Jimmy's next-level, glitch-inspired beat programming and you'll hear an array of complex, disparate influences. There's the effervescent sweat of 80s synth-funk, the refined elegance of jazz, the angular swing of early Detroit techno and Chicago house, the irreverent bite of punk, and the ethereal ambience of soul and gospel. Jimmy's eclectic creativity has a backstory: raised in Detroit, the alleged atheist played piano in a Baptist church before stitching beats with tape loops and manipulating field recordings. Still in his teens, Jimmy spun records with Detroit's techno pioneers and recorded for labels like Poker Flat, Isophlux and Merck.

In 2001, 18 year old Jimmy signed to Warp, where he released two EPs, 'Access Rhythm' and 'Bounce Make Model', followed by critically acclaimed full-length Color Strip, a deliriously cheeky blend of electrifying programming, sophisticated musicianship and sleazy lyrics. Pitchfork.com's review of Color Strip notes: "By any measure Color Strip is a strong debut….Edgar comes across as a committed student, absorbing twenty-five years of electronic music and figuring out how to integrate and mold the history into something that sits comfortably in the now." Touring as an opening act for Warp labelmate Jamie Lidell in 2006, Jimmy won over fans with his exciting DJ set and live performance skills.

Beyond music, Jimmy has made a name for himself in fashion and in the visual arts. His avant-garde fashion influences most notably reveal themselves in song and album titles, and in his self-produced minimalist cover art for his albums. He's created futuristic digital and handmade art pieces and installations using eclectic materials, such as eight LCD screens playing synchronized static accompanied by user interaction. Jimmy also moonlights as a renowned fashion photographer with an internationally published portfolio that spans H Magazine, Spot, Urb, Blink and more.

Jimmy has just completed his follow-up full-length album to Color Strip, entitled Deeper. Inspired in part by his recent relocation in 2007 from Detroit to New York, the album is a mix of glitzy neon beats and jittery introspection that sonically captures the seedy, melancholic darkside of Manhattan streets after midnight. Deeper takes his obsessions with the aesthetics of sex, sweaty dance club music and quiet storm r&b to another level.

This year, Jimmy contributed his production skills and visual design to the upcoming Black Affair project (V2 Records); and, under the alias Her Bad Habit, Jimmy has also released a new project called "I Don't Know (What You're Doing To Me)" on the Citinite label. The project takes Jimmy's house and funk inspirations to create an EP of "pure heat" and is the first in a series of Citinite projects which will have Jimmy's involvement. Warpmart describes the Her Bad Habit EP as"top-notch electro funk that infuses electro and techno, early house, Prince and Parliament influences in equal doses, all with a healthy and sophisticated futuristic sheen" while Boomkat calls it "a thick and slick slice of late night dancefloor gratification that references Prince, Drexciya, Zapp and many more in the finest style." Jimmy has also been actively custom-crafting beats for buzzworthy NY hip-hop acts like Theophilus London, Mickey Factz and Denim. He's done recent DJ gigs with Moby, J.U.S.T.I.C.E, and Egyptian Lover. His future ambitions are to branch out into more mainstream waters, to deliver his uniquely experimental and futuristic approach to dance music on pop divas like Kelis, Rihanna, Ciara, and Janet. (less)