Jimmy Edgar - Motor City Houdini

Jimmy Edgar is a bit of a musical Houdini. Prone to doing the odd disappearing act, the one-time wunderkid’s career is littered with tantalising glimpses of greatness. Snapped up by Warp Records in 2003 at the tender age of 18, this pale-faced prodigy was hailed as proof of a new dawn for the Detroit scene. But a serious drug addiction, a feverish temperament and a creative calling outside music have all held him back. After all, when you’ve started your career off playing at warehouse raves with legends on the scale of Derrick May, where is there to go but down?

And down this creative maelstrom eventually went. after the release of his critically acclaimed Warp debut, 2006’s Color Strip, whose R&B-tinged electro was a hit with critics and fans alike, Edgar went silent. Swept away on a tidal wave of heroine fuelled destruction, for a while the Motor City son’s future looked as bleak as his hometown.

Rewind back to 1999, a 16-year old Edgar has releases out on Germany’s mighty Poker Flat label, hip NYC imprint Isophlux and Miami’s renowned Merck Records, with the latter winning the right to put out his debut LP My Mines I (2002). With his star burning brightly, the mysterious prodigy, who claims to have been laying down beats from the age of ten, caused a stir at the 2003 Detroit Electronic Music Festival. Making his first live appearance as a Warp artist, his now legendary performance ended with burly security boys getting down with the local b-boys. It was the stuff that musical myths are made of.

Now, this enigmatic maestro who calls himself a ‘dancefloor designer’ is back with a new, clubbier sound, a breathtaking live show, an almost-ready album, and a slew of releases on upcoming labels. Ten years on from his first success, he’s managed to escape the tortured artist cliché, kick the drug habit and find himself included on Warp’s 20th anniversary album with his classic track ‘I Wanna be your STD’.

In the flesh, he’s full of feverish energy and promises it will be my “wildest ever interview”. He seems sober, but who knows, and in reflective mood: “It’s an honour to be included on Warp20 and be considered one of the defining artists in electronic music. Getting an email from Steve [Beckett, Warp head honcho] when I was just 18 was really cool. I cried, jumped up and down and hugged my art school roommates a lot. Warp set my career up and I have a lot of respect for the guys there.”

But despite Jimmy’s positive chat about Warp, it’s still not clear if he will release his long-awaited new album on the iconic label. He says “maybe”, they say “definitely not in the next six months”. Undeterred, Edgar claims he has got all ten tracks fully polished and is carefully weighing up his options.

“The industry has changed so much, you have to do more than sell albums. you have to think. I’m deciding whether or not to give the tracks away for free via my website. unfortunately, much as I love my art, I do need to make a living. My creative master plan is to create a multimedia package of art, music and design which will give my releases more of a multi-sensory impact and earn them the recognition they deserve.”
According to the Detroit troubadour, this isn’t really a comeback because he’s never been away from his art, be it photography, design or music. In true Houdini style, he’s just made himself a bit hard to find for his fans, adopting elusive aliases, honing his fashion photography skills, moving to New york, and working on various mysterious side projects.

First, there was the acclaimed ‘secret duo project’ Plus Device in 2007, whose electro pop-funk styles had Edgar written all over it. Released on Chicago’s innovative Hefty Records, it generated a big online buzz. Then there was the sexual synths and live instrumentation of Her bad Habit, which evolved the Edgar sound in a new direction. and these are just the tip of the iceberg – there’ve been numerous other rumoured collaborations. But doesn’t having all these different personalities leave him feeling a bit, well, confused?

“Isn’t being fucked-up the norm nowadays?” he retorts. “I like to think of myself as more quadripolar. I’ve come to terms with it. Everyone knows I’m part of Plus Device, Noir Friction, Her bad Habit and Creepy Autograph. you can expect more from all of those soon.”

“Recently, there’s been my project with the beta band’s Steve Mason. It’s called black affair. He had a big budget so I ended up doing all the production, mixing the whole album and designing all the artwork. I was busy but I just found ways of getting things done, without sleeping ever.”

Chronic insomnia has plagued Edgar throughout his life regardless of his drug use. “I’m happy to be clean. I still sleep very little but I find it easier to focus and create new art and music. I thought drugs opened up gates, I used them to be inspired, but now I’m off them my creativity is really flowing.”

This does indeed seem to be the case. The musical magician looks set to pop up in several places over the next few months. He’s got releases coming out all over the place. Snap up a copy of his ‘fave ever’ track Funktion of Love which is out on techno goddess Magda’s Item & Things imprint. And keep ears peeled for sexy electro-soul number ‘Hush’, which is due out mid-November on Dalston newbie Glass Table, complete with a video by hot directing duo Hope Audikana.

Aside from producing his own work, (he’s also got three paintings hanging in Detroit’s 555 Gallery), he has of course been remixing others. There’s talk of some seriously hot pop collaborations. Which he absolutely, definitely can’t talk about. Ok? “I can’t talk about Justin Timberlake. When I did, I got in trouble – it ended up on over 100,000 blogs. Not good. I’m trying to get at Cassie, and Missy Elliot heard some tracks and loved them, but this is all unconfirmed, ok?” Whatever you say, Jimmy.

His detractors might say Jimmy Edgar is full of hype, and at times I’d be inclined to agree (apparently there are ‘8,000’ unreleased tracks on his hard drive). But even with the ups, the downs and the embellishments, this 26-year-old has achieved a remarkable amount in a career which has spanned one of electronic music’s most innovative decades.