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Music

A Gentlemanly Debate About Todd Terje’s New Album

Totally awesome or way overwrought? DJ Apt One and Pittsburgh Track Authority's Thomas Cox duke it out.

DJ Apt One (left) and Pittsburgh Track Authority's Thomas Cox (right)

I've known Pittsburgh Track Authority's Thomas Cox aka Pipecock since middle school. Since that time, we've had pronounced disagreements about everything: the width of our JNCO pants, vinyl vs. digital, Aiello's pizza or Mineo's pizza. Over the years we've mellowed out, hell, we even made a record together.

But recently, I caught him on Facebook calling Todd Terje's It's Album Time—my current favorite album by my current favorite producer—"boring," then making some lewd insinuations about Terje's listenership. I was TYPING IN ALL CAPS mad. Was I getting tripped by a classic Pipecock troll? Or could we settle this in a clean debate? THUMP agreed to convene a discussion that would settle the issue, so long as we acted like gentlemen. Here's the verdict:

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Michael Fichman aka DJ Apt One: OK Tom, we've convened this debate to argue your point that Todd Terje's It's Album Time is boring, weak. What's your reasoning?

Thomas Cox: Where do I begin? I can't tell if this record is meant to be a parody of different musical genres, or if this is supposed to be Terje's personality shining through. Listening to it, my feelings alternate between "there's too much happening here" and "please make it stop."

Michael: Man, that's brutal. I love this record, and pretty much everything this guy has done. I think the LP is technically intense in some ways, because it has all this long-form ARP 2600 modulation stuff, but the "personality" that rubs you the wrong way strikes me as being whimsical and fun. It's really focused without taking itself too seriously.

Thomas: Mr. Terje was on the DJHistory forum back in '04 or so when I joined. Even then people were freaking out over his edits, yet those never did much for me either. The technicalities of music don't really matter much to me. I am only impressed by a final result and I have to say that I am not impressed here.

Michael: Tell me which track you REALLY hate.

Thomas: If I had to pick one to really dislike, I'd have to pick "Jonny and Mary," with Brian Ferry singing. That track is a purified version of what bothers me about the whole record. It seems so self-conscious, like he listened to Daft Punk's last album and decided to do a response record in his style. It's as if he took the weakest parts of what they did and amplified them, but not before removing any trace of funk from the equation.

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Michael: I'm going to try to connect some dots here and see if I can get to the root of what's bugging you—you don't like album-oriented rock. Maybe it's the noodley Latin-electronic vibe in Terje's "Svensk Sas" and "Preben Goes To Acapulco. Like Random Access Memories, it certainly tries to achieve a bizarre 70s LA studio rock simulacrum. Is it that you think it's kind of precious?

Thomas: I love Random Access Memories, even through its faults. To me it doesn't seem like Terje is trying to be playful or whimsical. This whole album sounds like Esquivel doing a "dance" record. It's like there is some ironic joke that you need to get in order to appreciate the album. I am actually into album-oriented light rock kind of stuff here and there, but this seems to take some of the worst qualities of it.

"Svensk Sas" sounds like grocery store Latin music. Making actual funky Latin music that is memorable is much more difficult than this kind of clowning around. It seems like it wants to be taken seriously about goofing on music, and I don't like that. Daft Punk certainly didn't do anything like that on their record and that's why I think it worked for a lot of "regular" people even if many dance music heads didn't like it.

Michael: I don't really think it's a joke. You can be playful without there being any kind of cynicism or sarcasm. I think this is really a trust issue: I trust that Terje isn't having a laugh at the expense of the audience—you don't seem to. All the same, it doesn't matter what the artist's intention was. Once he makes something, it's out of his hands.

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I love this album because it actually has a good balance of that levity with some intense minor-key Italo burners like "Delorean Dynamite," which is legit "drive real fast at night with the top down" shit. "Inspector Norse" and "Strandbar" annihilate dancefloors.

Thomas: Thankfully I am not in a position where I have had to hear "Inspector Norse" or "Strandbar" on dancefloors very much, but neither touches even the worst Metro Area records. Those guys were able to make music that was fun, sexy, and put you in a good vibe, but without seeming gimmicky. If you have the Metro Area records and a decent collection of early-80s dance music, I just don't see how this record is necessary. I'd rather drop Metro Area's "Muria," a Tony Lee instrumental, and an August Darnell cut, and cover all the styles he has tried on here but done better.

Still, how about I chime in with some of the things I do admire about this record even if I don't find it particularly captivating?

Michael: Sure.

Thomas: I appreciate the musicality of the tracks; it's not just beat music. At the same time, he really goes over the top with it at times, especially in "Preben" which sounds to me like a bad Rinder and Lewis album cut gone horribly wrong.

Michael: That's a part that I connect with. As a producer I'm always trying to write "songs" and not "tracks," and I think that effort is there on this record. It makes the album a bit more narrative. Is that the first thing we've agreed on in the last 20 years aside from old disco records and football?

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Thomas: [Laughs] Maybe! But you know, when it comes to dance producers making albums, I am not always a fan of the non-deejay tracks and that is definitely the case here. Those drag down what could have been at least a slightly better record. Moodymann is able to pull off weird non-dance jams on an album and have it seem perfectly in place with everything else—I don't feel like this is as successful in that regard. My favorite track is "Swing Star Part 2" primarily because it has some swing to it, the melody is nice, and it doesn't feel too overwrought.

Michael: [Laughs] I think that track gets left off the vinyl.

Thomas: [Laughs]

Michael: OK, I think we should end on a high note, having found agreement on something. Sorry (not sorry) for forcing you to listen to this album against your will!

Thomas: It's all good, I am the type of guy who always makes sure to check things even when I don't think I will like them. I pride myself on being educated about what people are listening to and talking about!

Michael: An informed hater is a powerful hater.

Thomas: No doubt.

Thomas Cox is one third of Pittsburgh Track Authority and a legendary user of the internet. @pipecock
Michael Fichman is the captain of the Thump debate team. @djaptone