Matthew Levinson

Fast money Todd

Published on 03/08/07
by matt

Woebot excises Todd Terry from his once upon a time ‘Todd Is God’ mythology. It’s a good read if you’re interested in tracking back through the roots of house music.

This cult of Todd, with its apparently very shallow roots, managed to blind me to the exact nature of his work. Even when I had a few good examples of his stuff (of the discs below I’ve had Royal House’s “Yeah Buddy”, “To the Batmobile Let’s Go”, the Static and Tech Nine singles, and “Bounce” and “Daylite” for well over a decade) I was unable to grasp the significance of Todd’s work, and to get a handle on him. Put simply, the whole UK Hardcore continuum probably owes more to Todd than anyone else. If the equation of Hardcore was House multiplied by Hip-Hop, then Mr. Terry had done his sums years before anyone in Britain.

I like Simon Reynolds’ take on Terry’s work:

In the late Eighties and early Nineties, it’s almost like he’s barely conscious of his own creative issue, just poops the stuff out and pockets the cash. What I love about the Royal House stuff especially is how it’s at once slammin’ and ethereal. On “Party People” and other early Terry tunes, the production has a curious cavernous, clanking quality, making you feel like you’re in a bunker-like space full of sound-reflections and muffled noise. Whether deliberate or a by-product of lo-fi studio conditions/fast-money-music wack ‘em out carelessness, the effect of playing them in a club must have been to double the “in the club” feel. It’s like they’ve been pre-vibed.

That's it. What Next?

Please leave your comment so we know what you think about this article. Trackback URL: Fast money Todd.