Terje's groove puzzle

Tangoterje - Can't Help It // GAMM So, my girlfriend made this astounding 2-hour special tribute to Michael Jackson's Thriller on the Israeli radio - full of really interesting anecdotes (For example, did you know young Michael was immensely inspired by Julie Andrews?) and great musical nostalgia. She decided to finish it off with this remarkable edit of 'Can't Help It', made by Todd Terje. This re-edit, for its Villalobos-invoking percussion, stretched out unique groove, and the crystal clear elegant singing by MJ (also, it's a bloody 9:39-long epos) make it too obvious that Terje is (still) an unfulfilled promise of a genius: his grasp of the complex inner-boogie ingredient lurking inside Disco Music is almost mathematically accurate, but still full of love and respect for the creation of music, rather than disco itself (as a gay phenomena, an agenda, or born musical preference. He once said that he discovered disco through his sister, and wasn't all that into it before that).

Disco, for Terje, is an amazing musical universe with endless rhythm patterns and possibilities - an ultimate groove jigsaw puzzle made with other people's miniature pieces. He realizes, like all of us, that disco is the perfect balance point between jazz, funk and house (if I was a bit geekier - which I am - I'd call it an equilibrium). The first and final incarnation of body music-- dance music. Just check out his glorious edits discography if you're still suspicious.

'Can't Help It' was released in 2005, on the Swedish label GAMM. The beards (a nickname for the pedantic yet adorable Balearic/Disco nerds --Occam) probably know this little gem already, but I reckon the hairless rest of the population should know about it too.