Music
Review: Todd Terje brings disco heat to Camden’s KOKO
Norwegian DJ and producer, Todd Terje, sprinkles a little disco heat on this festive season as his Christmas Party takes over KOKO in Camden, London.
Todd Terje has released a string of disco edits and remixes over the last 10 years, but he really made his mark in 2012 with modern club classic, Inspector Norse . It’s Album Time then followed two years later and more recently he treated crate diggers to two edits of KC and the Sunshine Band on Record Store Day.
Tonight, Bill Brewster serves up some seriously funky flavours whilst on warm-up duties. Throwing in classic ’80s tracks like the Pointer Sisters’ Automatic and mixing in deeper disco grooves; we boogie away and before we know it Todd Terje is about to take to the stage.
Armed with just a keyboard and a laptop, Todd stands on the vast KOKO stage ready to unleash his unmistakably unique take on funk, disco and house to an eager and roaring crowd. And boy does he bring it! Todd Terje has Sunday night revellers moving from start to finish with his relentlessly body grooving mix of tracks; giving us a batch of dreamy funked-up disco, to songs that could easily sit tidily in the middle of a thumping techno set – all of course with a healthy injection of Todd Terje fun.
Just as we think Todd can’t top the craze he’s created, the trademark, swooping beep sounds of his most notorious track echo through a downright groovy piano-led disco number. Inspector Norse, the moment we’d all been waiting for! Trumpets belt out the song’s melody along with the analogue synth and out pours a sea of hands in the air. And with that, Todd throws the crowd into an even bigger frenzy; out stomp a troupe of drag disco divas throwing down a dance routine to rival Beyoncé’s Single Ladies! Todd, the disco god, wraps up the night with funky re-edits of Elton John’s Are You Ready For Love and Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody.
Todd Terje has successfully flipped a typical Sunday night on the head, proving his trademark fusion of electronic music and disco, with just the right amount of cheese, is the recipe for the ultimate Christmas party. Come back again soon please, Todd!
Todd Terje, KOKO, London, 13/12/15
Words: Hilda Wandawa
