After a hand full of E.P.'s and appearing on DJ Mix's, Norwegian disco funk maestro Todd Terje finally releases his debut album, It's Album Time, with wonderful results
The first single from the album is 'Strandbar', a melting pot of funky beats and fast synths, it's like a blend of 70's dancefloor disco and early 90's house, it would make the dead want to dance
Terje released his first recording in 2004, 10 years ago, and while he mostly focused on remixing old songs, he also sporadically put out original material which earned him the nickname "The King of Summer Jams" such is the happy vibe throughout his work, the new album title It's Album Time is a self-deprecating joke on how long it's taken him to actually make it
There's undoubtedly a massive 80's influence on It's Album Time, as has been a hallmark of all of Terje's music over the years, songs such as 'Delorean Dynamite' and his cover of Robert Palmer's classic 'Johnny and Mary' highlight this influence, let's look at the original to see where he's coming from
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So where and when can you check him out live? Well, thankfully the bearded maestro is playing in Dublin's Button Factory on Friday, 23rd of May and tickets are only €20, but you better be quick, his album, released today, has been made Album of the Week on The Guardian, Pitchfork and a host of Irish music websites
Over the years Todd Terje has worked some very well known international acts such as Robbie Williams, Franz Ferdinand and now the mighty Bryan Ferry who performs the vocals on the slowed down version of 'Johnny and Mary' we mentioned earlier, here's a clip of the two of them in the studio
Possibly the most well known track on the album so far is a song he made in 2012, 'Inspector Norse', which again is infectious and reminds me of Daft Punk at their peak, have a listen
I've only reached the tip of the iceberg with this album in terms of describing how great it is, there is not a single track out of the 12 on It's Album Time that you would even consider skipping for a second and we're going to be hearing about it for a long time I imagine, that's why it gets a whopping 4.5 / 5 stars
