“Todd is genius and I have never been disapointed by his music. I keep telling my friends I can hear angels singing, do you?” – Busy P
Todd Edwards is the angelic voice behind “Face to Face” – that amazing tune by a little french duo known as Daft Punk. Todd is one of the godfathers of the UK Garage scene and has remixed everyone from Zoot Woman, Phoenix, Justice, Klaxons, Paul Johnson, and St. Germain. Now here is a little peak into this man from New Jersey’s musical mind and find out how the Daft Punk collaboration came about and how/why he remixed Japan’s own Boris.
[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Sept%202009/Todd%20Edwards/Face%20to%20Face%20(Todd%20Edwards%20Remix).mp3]
Daft Punk – Face To Face (Todd Edwards Remix)
[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Sept%202009/Todd%20Edwards/Taken%20it%20all%20(Todd%20Edwards%20Soul%20Line%20Remix).mp3]
Zoot Woman – Taken It All (Todd Edwards Remix)
Also this time around I had some producers/DJs send in their own questions for Mr. Edwards -find out what Nate Donmoyer (Shuttle/Passion PIt), Pete Dougherty (Hey Champ), Emil & Friends, and GLOVES had to ask.
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Asian Dan Exclusive Interview: TODD EDWARDS
Who is Todd Edwards? How would you describe your sound?
I’m a music producer from New Jersey. ..Lot of talent in Jersey 😉 I’ve been making club music since 1991. The driving force that has inspired me to keep going all these years is God. My faith plays an important part in my music and the direction I take it. I have always described my sound as a musical collage. I take bits and pieces that I’ve sampled and fill in the spaces until I feel the track sounds complete.
What are some of your biggest influences, musical or otherwise? What is your first musical memory?
I will always give credit to the original influences that started me on the path of my sound. Marc Kinchen better known as MK introduced us all to a very unique sampling style in his remix of Nightcrawlers “Push The Feeling On.” He cut up the vocals into a two bar loop that sounded like it was saying something, but it wasn’t. The remix was huge with many to follow. I took on exploring that cut-up sample style. I also listened to a lot of Enya. Enya used a lot of her own vocals as part of her background music. I combined Enya’s vocal concept with MK’s vocal cut ups. Add some Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez inspired drum patterns and you get the genesis of what I do now. Film scores have been a great source of inspiration to me. There are chord progressions in film scores that you don’t usually find in club music. The sampling process itself has exposed me to many genres of music from disco and r&b of the 70’s to the 60’s folk music movement. I look for interesting textures to sample. What I sample plays an even more important role in my tracks than how I arrange the samples.
My first musical memory was writing a simple song in a note pad a couple days after my mother received a piano from my father as a gift. I remember when that piano was delivered. It was a great morning, and I still love that piano.
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