Edan is crazy; not in some “danger to society” sense, but more like a frenetically funky musical madman who gleefully remains untethered to any genre or style. The Maryland native does sonic insanity, and most of the time it manages to sound remarkably balanced.
His latest, Echo Party, is a deejay’s dream: a 29-minute, non-stop, mostly seamless mix of Funk breaks and obscure instrumentation wrapped neatly between dusty grooves. Think of an anxious Madlib stumbling upon the Original Jazzy Jay’s monstrous vinyl collection. It feels like Edan locked himself in a makeshift studio filled to the gills with dilapidated crates (of records licensed by Traffic Entertainment) and equipment, determined to come out only after scoring Wild Style in his own unique fashion.
Now, whether he succeeds is of course subjective – some might happily be blown away by this work, while others could be alienated by its pace and eccentric tendencies. But two things are irrefutable: the entertainment quality and Edan’s go-hard-or-go-home effort.
From Primitive Plus all the way to 2005’sBeauty & the Beat, Edan’s offerings have been marked by maximizing samples and instruments, and an ear for Golden Era ingenuity (see: Beauty’s Percee P-laced “Torture Chamber” for one example). And Echo Party feeds into that mindset, albeit with sparse vocal presence.
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Edan followers, break freaks and crate diggers will love this. The only way to properly describe its sound and effect is to paint a picture with a borrowed brush. For this writer, Echo Party drummed up similar feelings to those I experienced while listening to DJ QBert’s seminal Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Musik, El-P’s shattering Fantastic Damage, and Your Face or Your Kneecaps by RJD2.
The Rockville rocket man definitely delivers one of the most unique pieces of music to hit Hip Hop in the last year. As seems to be the case with all of Edan’s efforts, Echo Party is not meant for a wide audience, but rather for those with a keen ear for Funk and a rabid addiction to creativity. And while he might not aim for a certain crowd, Edan’s singular style and approach have, in effect, given birth to one. And they too walk to the beat of their own funky drummer.
