Todd Terje, It's Album Time

The whole reason I have this album is United Airlines when my wife and I were returning from Australia, got delayed landing in LAX and missed our flight to Toronto for a business conference. While we were jetlagged and grouchy in an overpriced room at the airport Hilton, waiting for the next flight at omg o'clock the next day, she put on Better Call Saul and in the midst of my sour mood was the gnarliest, funkiest caper music playing over Kim Wexler's morning movements. That was "Alfonso Muskedunder," one of several excellent singles from this DJ turned electronica producer's first album. Indeed, most of the tracks here are exactly that sophisticated with "Preben Goes To Acapulco"'s delicious slice of almost orchestral synths, the Jan Hammer-esque "Delorean Dynamite" and my personal favourite, the atmospherically pensive yet pulsating "Oh Joy" featuring sparkly arpeggios and a modern disco beat. And even though the tracklist spans several years and some previously released material it still mostly comes together as a coherent whole, even with a couple lower points such as the somewhat uninspired "Swedish Sauce," the recycled and slow to start "Inspector Norse," and the album's weakest (and only vocal) track, a limp cover of Robert Palmer's "Johnny and Mary" sung like a 50-pack-year smoking habit by Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry. Fortunately, those low points are as rare as his talent isn't and there's a lot to love with the breadth he crams into one disc. At last it's album time, and if this is his way of getting off the pot and putting out an LP I'll be certainly looking forward to the next one. By the way, we made the flight, too, in case you were wondering. (Content: no concerns.)

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