At just 21 years old, Edd is already making a name for himself in house music with releases on industry heavyweights like Three Six Zero, Trick, Sola, Hot Creations, and loads more. The artist from the magical island of Malta started making music at just 10 years old with his uncle, where he explored his curiosity across electronica, blues, and rock.
Fast forward a decade, and his distinctive style harnesses beautiful sounds that take inspiration from his musical education on the guitar, piano, drums, bass and percussive instruments. He spans the breadth of house, tech house, and techno, with an infectious musicality that’s plain to hear in his records.
His record ‘Mama Used To Say’ is a main room number, blending luscious house music with a classic Chaka Khan sample. This is a far cry away from the original, with hands in the air moments, pumping drums and a driving bassline keeping the track grooving. Chatting about how the track came about, Edd said:
I made ‘Mama Used To Say’ back in 2019, before I had ever released a track on any labels. Back in those days, I was making so much music, sometimes even finishing 2 or 3 tracks in a day. When it came to ‘Mama Used to Say’, the idea came about after I first heard the Chaka Khan acapella.
Up until then, I had never heard the original track, so I did not know what the original music sounded like or what the original chord progression was. This is something I like to do quite often, downloading acapellas without knowing what the original track sounds like, and comparing the outcome to the original after I finish the production.
After hearing the acapella, I immediately knew the direction I wanted to take the track. It has so much character and energy which made it clear that a simple beat behind it would take it to the next level. The track is extremely simple compared to a lot of my other productions, and as time goes by, I am really starting to understand the truthfulness of the phrase “less is more”.
Sometimes, having a few strong elements which carry the track are enough to make the track sound complete and full. Moreover, I included a simple and driving drum pattern, a subby and full baseline as well as the catchy organ pattern which makes up most of the instrumental. Some effects are used throughout especially during the buildup to the main drop of the track.
I started to take producing house music seriously only a couple of months before I made this track, therefore making it one of the first tracks which I finished and was happy with the outcome. As previously stated, I was making so much music back in those days which led to me basically forgetting about this track and moving on to other productions. One day I was sending out promos to DJs and I coincidentally saw the private upload on my Soundcloud page and decided to include the track in the playlist.
I noticed that almost all the DJs I was sending the link to would download this track so I started to get the impression that it had some potential, but at this point, I didn’t have any idea about which label I could send this to. One day, while in quarantine when I had COVID, I received a call from my manager saying that he received a call from Pete Tong who was very keen on signing this track to his label ThreeSixZero Records. Needless to say, I thought my manager was playing a quarantine prank on me, but thankfully that was not the case!
I’m very pleased with the way this release has turned out since I remember considering putting it out as a free download on my SoundCloud page. I never believed I would be able to clear the Chaka Khan sample as I knew I needed the backing of a strong label to do so, something which I believed I was very far away from.
From this experience I’ve learned that, with regards to a track which is receiving a lot of interest, and which may seem to have great potential, it is sometimes better to wait and see what opportunities may come up over an elongated period of time as opposed to settling for the first deal which may come your way.
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