This was originally going to be a part of my Best of September roundup but things got a bit hot and heavy…
Ed Upton had a banging September with a retrospective 2x12” comp and two 12”s of new jams. But last month was just a micromoment in his prolific 30 years in the game. Since launching his producing career with 1994’s ‘Got You On My Mind’ on the then-upstart, now-legendary Dance Arena Productions, Ed has released 27 albums and 76 12”s under his DMX Krew alias alone. If you are feeling frisky, tally up his 14 other aliases to get the entire picture. He’s also A&R’d 67 releases from himself and other artists on his Breakin’ Records imprint. Accomplishing all of this with unparalleled style and ease, Ed has squarely planted himself on a placarded, marble pedestal in the Pantheon of the Gawds.
For Ed, music flows from his mind down to his fingers, pours into his machines and calmly puddles onto wax. Not to score-keep or anything, but with the slowdown in Atom™’s output, Ed may quickly become the most prolific recording artist in underground electronic music I’m aware of. The three releases bearing his name in September (and another the last week of August) seem a testament to this. Regarding the actual records: I’ll keep it short and sweet. Im more interested in writing about the Tao of Krew, as will be seen.
Ed DMX - Breakin’ Records Greatest Hits [WéMé Records]
First up is WéMé’s 2x12” Breakin’ Records comp, a collection of twelve of Ed’s biggest jams from his own label. It's a great summation of his work. There’s Ed spittin' bars over Miami Bass, tributes to Detroit and 80’s electro, IDM-leaning freakouts and Ed’s patented, hook-line-and-sinker synthy pop songs. High points are ‘Be True’ – his cover of UR’s ‘Electronic Warfare’, ‘Emerging Technology’s ode to Detroit with its early Hood & Mills techno stabs, ‘Green Screens’ insanely fun and funny synth-pop, ‘What Happened to Peace’ with its unceasing proclamation of “no justice, no peace” and the Rephlex-style braindance warper, ‘Bongard Problems’. Listening while writing this I feel a great sense of gratitude at being able to own so many of Ed’s unique, goofy and heartfelt jams on just two records. I hope WéMé pressed a lot of these because this is music to be shared with everyone.
DMX Krew - Serious [Magnetron Music]
‘Serious’ hits the spot with the eponymous track’s synth’d-up E-Funk – great for the kickback or to warm a floor with friendly vibes. The synth-pop continues on ‘Weird One’. Not actually weird at all, it’s a skilled composition that sounds like my fantasy soundtrack to a mid-80’s sexy-but-dangerous movie montage. Retromania continues on the B-side with ‘Game of Life’s obvious tribute to ‘Washing Machine’s dada jak. ‘Twinkly TX’ sounds like vintage Virgo 4 with an extra synth element or two to elevate it into the zone between a track and a song.
DMX Krew - Powerplay [Altered Circuits]
The next record brings me to an observation I’ll make about Ed, the man. While a label like WéMé is a long-established, specialty electro imprint that’s worked with some of the biggest names in the genre, Altered Circuits is a new label, hitting its third release with Ed’s ‘Power Play’ 12”. Trusting his tunes to upstart imprints is a long-standing DMX Krew practice. To me, this speaks to Ed’s generosity. He could tap any number of S-tier labels and sell 1,000+ copies of a new release. Instead he turns tunes over to the less-known, building them up and strengthening the next generation of labels. Strong move for the culture, Ed.
Altered Circuits’ release scratches the same throwback itch. ‘House Twerp’ is a deep, melodic synth voyager. ‘I Love Kevin’ gives early bleep. Think Chill records with producers who could actually play a melody (no dis – Chill rules). Flipside tracks aren’t particularly my thing but the A-side quenched my thirst for catchy riffs and melodies, justifying the grip.
Reflecting on these records and a few others on my shelf, it occurs to me that much of Ed’s appeal lies in his total lack of irony. DMX Krew emphasizes the fun and often the funny. However, contemporary ideas of the fun and funny are almost always suffused with irony. The hyper self-aware psyche of the digital age can rarely forget itself long enough to give in to the abandon of pure, childlike joy. Instead, current forms of entertainment and humor (whether music or memes) rely on the distancing of the subject from the object of enjoyment through the insertion of irony. Sarcasm, parody, aloofness dominate the culture. The rejection of irony in favor of genuine, kind, accessible fun is what makes DMX Krew a refreshing font of joy 30 years on. When Ed sits down to write a Miami Bass track (for example), he does so with the intention of using the best of his abilities to make a true-school Miami Bass track. All the trappings of the genre that make it fun and funny are by-products, not the goal of his production. There is so much goofy shit in the DMX-verse but it all seems to stem from Ed finding something funny and wanting to share it with others. Most of the time the joke's on himself.
Ed’s prodigious output, sincerity, generosity and sense of humor give me the impression of a person who has found balance in life – the image of a chill human, perhaps a little further on his way to Buddhahood than most, playing with Roland boxes and samplers as his daily form of meditation. Or maybe he’s a dick, idk.