Jimmy Edgar: Majenta (Hotflush)

Jimmy Edgar has never really gotten a fair shake in my opinion. He seems too goofy and pop-inclined for the serious heads, but he’s perhaps also too geeky and leftfield to gain traction in the pop world. It’s not totally fair, because Majenta is an album full of jams that could easily win over the hipster dance music set as much as tried and true electro fans. While there may not be any “I Wanna Be Your STD” (ouch) on Majenta, there are a number of seductive and sexually suggestive tracks like “Sex Drive,” “Touch Yr Bodytime,” and “Hrt Real Good.” While Edgar’s vocals are kind of take it or leave it in my opinion, his tracks are ace. He seems to split his attention between a very loyal throwback to early 80s electro (Cybotron, A Number of Names) and 90s house — digital bonus track “U Need Love,” for instance, directly channels MK Korg M1 dub mix realness. But one of my personal favorites, as cloying as it may be, is “This One’s For the Children,” which sounds like a generous nod to early 80s classic “Shari Vari;” when juxtaposed with the Dopplereffekt-esque “Sex Drive,” it’s a hot one-two punch. Whether fans of pop crooner crossovers like Junior Boys will be able to catch Edgar’s groove remains to be seen, but signing onto Scuba’s Hotflush imprint is a good start. Clearly Majenta is fairly far removed from the bass music trends Hotflush tends to explore, but it’s refreshing that Scuba believes enough in the leftfield weird pop Edgar’s exploring to give him a chance.

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