The Cosmic Kid: Todd Terje interviewed

The Cosmic Kid: Todd Terje interviewed

• Written by: Ryan Keeling
• Filed under: Music News: todd terje

Is Todd Terje the leader of the cosmic pack? No - but he nearly is.

Famed for his ridiculously cheeky re-edits, genre-busting productions and clearing dancefloors (in a good way), Terje has spent the last few years ascending the disco hierarchy to become the crown prince of cosmic.

Although experiencing a quieter 2008, (down purely to laziness as you’ll read below) Terje did manage to put out one of the remixes of the year; his Turkish disco version of Simon Baker’s Plastik.

We cornered Terje for a frank and funny chat ahead of his appearance at Mulletover’s ‘Recession Session’ in London this coming Saturday to talk media hype, re-edit impostors and DJs’ balls…

As someone with a deep-rooted association with 21st century disco, what do you make of its resurgence (at least in the media) in the last year or so?

On the one hand it’s great, because it’s introducing more people to disco, but on the other hand it means it’s time to move on. When the media catches on to something, it will surely die pretty soon, hehe. However, I don’t think “disco finally came back again”, it’s always been here, they just didn’t look in this direction.

The common mindset of the electronic DJ is geared endlessly towards new and unreleased music, yet your gaze seems to be cast in the opposite direction – what is it about looking backwards for music that fascinates you so much?

When I started DJing I looked backwards because it was so hard to find any good new tunes (around the year 2000) among the piles of records released every week. I just thought, “let someone else do the dirty job for me, I’ll always find the good tunes one way or another”.

These days I’m much more into new music, as I think the last years have been great! Everything is crossing over which makes it much more interesting. I just bought a minimal bootleg of Nina Simone’s ‘Sea Lion Woman’. It’s minimal where something’s actually happening. Which makes it not a minimal track anymore…

Do you have any recent crate-digging discoveries that you’re proud of?

I’m not digging that much anymore, Oslo isn’t a mecca for vinyl I’m afraid. In Berlin I found Ennio Morricone’s ‘Come Maddalena’ on 12”, which is the holy grail for me.

And are there any current producers that you are particularly into right now?

Superpitcher, Supermayer, the Brontosaurus guys, Timo Maas, the Norwegians (Prins Thomas, Lindstrøm, Mungolian Jet Set, Dølle Jølle, Magnus, Marius, Daniel etc), Loud-E, The Revenge, Soft Rocks, Kalabrese, the DFA guys (Holy Ghost, James Murphy, Tim Goldsworthy), Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts, Still Going, Henrik Schwarz and Mathias Kaden.

You are famed for your broad ranging, DJ’ing antics so I wanted know if you think DJs in general take enough risks?

Most DJs should enlarge their balls. I don’t hear that many people taking risks anymore. I hardly see anyone but myself clear the floor…

Your alter-ego, Tangoterje, has been keeping the web abuzz for a while now with some unofficial, disco-spangled re-edits of old favorites ranging from Michael Jackson to Guns & Roses. Given the undoubted number of impostors out there, how to tell the difference between a Tangoterje-thumbs-up genuine, and a dirty, stinking fake?

Really? Impostors? Huzzah, I’m famous! First of all, I never use time-warping (or at least not the crappy Ableton warp). Second, I use waaay too much echo and reverb. I think I’m born in Jamaica, but I’m not; I’m just a thin, pale Norwegian that happens to like a bit of space in their music.

But is ‘Tangoterje’ a vehicle to keep the kids guessing and maintain an air of mystique, or is there a more simple explanation behind your ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ schizophrenia?

Ssshhhh, you’re ruining my disguise! Now everyone will know...I chose a different alias because I think it’s unfair to put your real name on a bootleg edit. After all, some people do think that if your name is on the record, you also made all the music. I could have chosen a bit more of a mysterious name though, hehe.


You know, I heard two spanking edits of yours on Greg Wilson’s near-flawless recent Essential Mix. How does an unofficial Tangoterje go from being a ‘hush-hush’ online number to hitting the global airwaves on BBC Radio 1? Do the artists and subjects of your handiwork ever get in touch to offer their seal of approval?

It’s a very small world, especially when it comes to disco. Apparently my edit of Double’s ‘Woman Of The World’ (my first edit) was presented to Kurt Maloo. He hasn’t sued me yet. I haven’t gotten in trouble for this, but I wouldn’t be the right one to trouble either, after all I didn’t release any of them, the labels did.

There’s not much money in this industry either. I know that edits are a big part of the sales these days, but still you don’t get rich. The original artists would probably pay more in phonebills than they would gain from hunting down royalties.

Are you open to re-edit requests? I would personally love to see a ‘Terje-tangoed’ version of Dennis Parker’s ‘Like An Eagle’ for example...

Done. Five years ago or so actually. Even pressed it up on vinyl, one copy only. Fancy?

Most DJs should enlarge their balls.

Er, ok! Is your fascination with the sounds of yesteryear reflected in your studio set-up? Do you lean towards vintage gear and hardware?

Old compressors and valve units definitely colored the sound in a good way in the 70s, but I prefer to try to simulate everything digitally. Too much gear takes up space and is expensive. I’m working on a PC with Cubase and a couple of monitors, that’s it. A record player and a bunch of records make up my sample library.

Speaking of production, what do you have in the pipeline?

Not much, I have had a lazy bum the last year. A couple of remixes are due soon though: Rogue Cat’s ‘Magic Journey’ on Tiny Sticks and Shit Robot’s ‘Simple Things’ on DFA Records. Also gonna set up a label pretty soon with a following single.

Looking ahead to the Mulletover party this Saturday in London, what’s your view on the ‘secret location’ ethos? Do you enjoy playing these grubby and unusual spaces or are you more of a clubs kind of guy?

Hmm, sounds like a typical ‘old Pioneer 500, broken needles and CD players that won’t read my CDs’ kind of party… I’ll bring my cowbell!


Mulletover is taking place at a secret location this Saturday 31st January. Tickets are still available via Resident Advisor. 

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