Jimmy Edgar is an American conceptual artist and sound designer from
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
.
Influenced by
minimalism,
Yves Klein
Yves Klein (; 28 April 1928 – 6 June 1962) was a French artist and an important figure in post-war European art. He was a leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by art critic Pierre Restany. Klein w ...
and
Immaterialism
Subjective idealism, or empirical idealism, is a form of philosophical monism that holds that only minds and mental contents exist. It entails and is generally identified or associated with immaterialism, the doctrine that material things do no ...
,
early in their career Jimmy released two hip-hop
glitch
A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among ...
albums under the names Michaux and Kristuit Salu and Morris Nightingale. Their first solo album ''
Color Strip'' (2006) came out on
Warp Records
Warp Records (or simply Warp) is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon.Southern, Richard (2003) "Label of Love: WARP", X-RAY, ...
after they signed to the label at age 18. This release was followed by ''
XXX'' (2010) on
!K7 Records
!K7 Music is a music company based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 (it has since relocated, first to Heidestrasse 52, and currently he ...
in 2010. After their last solo LP ''
Majenta
''Majenta'' is a studio album by American electronic musician Jimmy Edgar, released in 2012 on Hotflush Recordings. It met with a mixed reception, with '' Resident Advisor'' writing that it "quite possibly represents Edgar's most full-blooded wor ...
'' (2012), Jimmy has released several EPS on Jimmys own imprint New Reality Now, often designing the album covers with
Pilar Zeta
Pilar Zeta is an Argentine multimedia artist, graphic designer, and creative director currently residing in the United States. She is best known for her surrealist album covers, mystical-futurism artwork and long-time partnership with British r ...
.
Jimmy is an active conceptual and generative artist in the
fine art
In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...
NFT
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the ...
community.
Early life
James "Jimmy" Edgar was born in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
and grew up in
Roseville, Michigan
Roseville is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan, and is a part of the Metro Detroit area. The population was 47,299 at the 2010 census. Until 1958, Roseville was a part of Erin Township.
History
The first permanent post ...
.
Raised in Detroit, Jimmy developed an early interest in music and learned multiple instruments at a young age,
including string instruments,
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
, and
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
/
drum set
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...
.
They learned songwriting and piano from several musicians he met at
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
churches in Detroit.
Experimenting with
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...
by age ten,
around age fifteen they started performing at Detroit
raves.
As a teenager they also began playing the drums in experimental bands and making
tape recordings.
Most of these recordings, consisting mainly of pitch bent tape loops,
tape splicing, field recordings, and noise tracks, were the beginning of their experimentation with the technical aspects of production.
Art career
2021-present
Jimmy's first
NFT
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the ...
artwork titled 'DROOL OF VENUS' was sold on March 17, 2021 on Foundation. Their work spans conceptual ideas, generative digital works & 3D animations. His artwork UNREAL, which sold for 2.441
Ethereum
Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ether (Abbreviation: ETH; sign: Ξ) is the native cryptocurrency of the platform. Among cryptocurrencies, ether is second only to bitcoin in market capita ...
, was a single majenta pixel. Works that followed included OBSOLETE, the black anodized Dyson vacuum cleaner.
In 2022, Jimmy released OBJECTZ, a collection of 3396 images. Each artwork is a "unique digital construction", generated in a web browser. The website states "the process is performed by Javascript and features the iconic elements of JIMMY’s artwork."
Zora states "Edgar first began experimenting with generative processes in his originating project, OPTIONZ. He states that it was inspired by generative process: having a bunch of layers, throwing it into a program, randomizing it, and seeing what comes out the other end."
Music career
2004–08: Warp EPs and ''Color Strip''
Jimmy’s first release on Warp Records was the 2004 4-track
EP ''Access Rhythm'', which had a more "hip-hop sound" than his previous albums.
''Access Rhythm'' was shortly followed by the 6-track EP ''Bounce Make Model'',
which according to Allmusic, "first crystallized the erotic electro-funk sound for which
dgarwould become well known."
After touring in support of the two EPs, Edgar began working on their debut with Warp, a process that would take him two years.
According to Edgar, their goal with the album was to "capture the essence of Detroit."
It was made using software Edgar had customized by self, then recorded to analog tape.
They released the full-length album as ''
Color Strip'' in February 2006,
to a positive critical reception. Allmusic called it "breathtakingly original," praising the album's "sleazy urban feel that combined techno,
electro,
R&B, glitch, and hip-hop influences."
Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
wrote in a review that "Edgar comes across as a committed student, absorbing twenty-five years of electronic music and figuring out how to integrate and mold the history into something that sits comfortably in the now."
2010–12: ''XXX'' and ''Majenta''
Edgar's solo album ''
XXX'' came out June 2010 on
K7 Records.
Andy Kellman of
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
wrote that Edgar's increased use of analog equipment in the recording process "refines his smutty neo-electro."
Around that time Edgar continued to tour internationally, notably in cities such as Tokyo,
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...
,
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
,
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
,
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...
,
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
,
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, and
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
.
In 2012, Edgar released the solo album ''
Majenta
''Majenta'' is a studio album by American electronic musician Jimmy Edgar, released in 2012 on Hotflush Recordings. It met with a mixed reception, with '' Resident Advisor'' writing that it "quite possibly represents Edgar's most full-blooded wor ...
,'' on
Hotflush Recordings
Hotflush Recordings is a British record label. Founded by electronic musician Paul Rose, the label began as a UK Garage night on Stokes Croft in Bristol when Scuba was studying at University of Bristol, booking the likes of Artful Dodger (duo) ...
. In a positive review of ''Majenta'' for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, Rich Handscomb focused on the erotic element of the sounds, also writing that "As difficult as it is to take Edgar seriously at times, so earnest is he about his sexualised sonic seercraft that resistance is futile."
and they also toured in support of the material, playing a number of major festivals.
, and two appearances at the Movement Festival (DEMF). In late 2013 he continued to be based in Berlin,
as well.
in 2013. His first EP on Ultramajic was ''Hot Inside,'' and the lead single's music video was featured on
in late 2013.
...