Jimmy Edgar and Travis Stewart were among the first wave of American producers splicing glitchy IDM production with elements of hip-hop and R&B. Both artists recorded for the legendary Miami label Merck Records in the early 2000s (Edgar as Morris Nightingale and Kristuit Salu, Stewart as Machine Drum, Syndrone, and Tstewart), and gradually refined their increasingly club-ready hybrid styles through well-received releases on important labels such as Warp, !K7, Planet Mu, and Ninja Tune. Collaborating under their shared ...
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Jimmy Edgar and Travis Stewart were among the first wave of American producers splicing glitchy IDM production with elements of hip-hop and R&B. Both artists recorded for the legendary Miami label Merck Records in the early 2000s (Edgar as Morris Nightingale and Kristuit Salu, Stewart as Machine Drum, Syndrone, and Tstewart), and gradually refined their increasingly club-ready hybrid styles through well-received releases on important labels such as Warp, !K7, Planet Mu, and Ninja Tune. Collaborating under their shared initials, JETS, the duo released a handful of EPs throughout the 2010s, in addition to crafting a highly inventive DJ mix for FACT Magazine (designed to emulate a radio show, complete with fake advertisements) and sporadically playing club and festival dates throughout the world. After Edgar built a home studio in Portland, Oregon, in 2017, the duo worked on their first full-length, drafting a host of guest vocalists and expanding the project beyond the scope of its earlier releases. The album mixes complex, swaggering bangers with lush, aquatic interludes, wildly varying between moods but constantly pushing the limits production-wise. Stewart's regular collaborator Dawn Richard likens a sexual crush to getting high on over-the-counter medications on "Potions," while Kingjet is far less ecstatic on the bitter "Look Out," which would almost fit on commercial radio if it weren't for the disarming amount of vocal glitches, nearly resembling a sadboy "Windowlicker." More fun and enjoyable is Tkay Maidza's honest but playful verse over the percolating bubblegum-snap of "Real Truth." Rochelle Jordan (a secret weapon who has appeared on solo albums by both Edgar and Stewart) provides sublime, dreamy vocals on the soothing but swinging "Ocean Ppl." Late-album instrumentals like "Q Natural" and "Team Effort" feature angular, grime-influenced rhythms loaded with the types of squishy, stretchy sounds that SOPHIE mastered earlier in the decade. Throughout the album, the duo maintain a balance between daring production tricks and direct feelings, producing futuristic experimental pop that builds on the two producers' combined histories while pushing things further. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi
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