TMDP

Swinging by Mod Club Saturday night, I caught an early set by local synth-beat threats TMDP. While the duo have been honing their Ableton Live skills for nearly three years, they’ve only recently started to gig around and build some buzz.

The speed at which their original, laptop-driven beats attracted a throng of dancers onto the previously empty floor was hard evidence that these dudes are sitting on some serious fire. Sounding like a polished mix of rocking Parisian techno, Vince Clarke retro and Swedish synth pop maestro Nicolas Makelberge, TMDP obviously take the technical side of their job very seriously. I actually felt bad for the house DJ who had to follow their impressive, energetic set. - Now Magazine, Toronto

"In just one year’s time, local boys Jeffrey Addison and Gavin Rough have managed to craft quite the reputation — and build a solid fan base — as TMDP. Their melodic, hook-laden house and disco originals, combined with energetic live sets, have landed TMDP bookings on primo stages, including a recent headlining gig at the Mod Club. The fact that the two are also renowned for their full-force partying abilities — often photographed with beers in hand — makes them an ideal fit for Fuck Faces, one of the most consistently rowdy shindigs in town."
- Denise Benson - Eye Weekly

TMDP

Jeffrey Addison and Gavin Rough, after producing music casually for years, started taking it more seriously around a year ago, and TMDP was born.

When they play the clubs, their approach is more like a live band’s than a DJ’s, which helps them stand out from the crowd. Their sound is somewhere between the big-room electro house of acts like Justice and the introspective tripped-out jams of cosmic disco producers like Prins Thomas.

LABEL ACTION

They’ve found a home at YYZ, which will release their debut album soon. A 12-inch single is also in the works.

WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE

“We’re focused on melodies and always looking for new ways to showcase them without limiting ourselves to a particular tempo or instrumentation. We want to be able to like our music a year or a decade down the road.”

WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN FOR TORONTO’S SCENE TO BLOW UP LARGE

“Producers have to spend more time in the studio than in the clubs, and make sure their tracks don’t need a club system to be listenable.”

http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/story.cfm?content=166995
- Now Magazine (Cover Story), Toronto

Caught wind last minute of a gig by Toronto laptops-and-synths duo TMDP at Wrongbar, which in the wake of an epic Halloween party night seemed much more appealing than the large-scale bashes happening elsewhere in the city.

Mansion’s DJ Barletta was playing a warm-up set when we arrived, favouring a chunkier, more aggressive side than when he performs
with the duo. The Mansion tracks he did play got great reactions from the crowd, which augurs well for their future once the material starts getting released beyond the blogs.

TMDP crammed a lot of gear into a small section of the stage for their set, unlike the majority of laptop-based live electronic sets. Their gear lust may be what allows them to come up with some new variations on the electro indie dance formula when too many in the scene use the same software plug-ins to endlessly imitate each other.

Their sound has some similarities to that chainsaw synth-riff electro you hear everywhere these days, but they’re also drawing heavily from the mellower sounds of cozmic disco, a candidate for next big thing in hipster circles. They’re smart to tread the middle ground when the current gulf between the two vibes is too large to manoeuvre easily. The kinds of tunes these guys are working on could serve as a handy segue for DJs hoping to branch out of the Ed Banger sound into something slightly more mature. 

http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/story.cfm?content=165868 - Now Magazine, Toronto

TMDP might well be the next big thing to come out of Toronto's electronic scene. The main reason why? Jeffrey Addison and Gavin Rough have crafted an amazing self-titled debut album that straddles line between electro, disco, progressive house and 80's pop. - BlogTO

Proposed alternate title for local producers Jeffrey Addison and Gavin Rough’s debut album: The Campaign to Save Vintage Electronics From Themselves. There are plenty of parchment-dry drum machines and frosty synth arpeggios cascading into the distance on tracks such as the arresting “Montage” or the anthemic “Balcone” but none of electro-house’s speaker-shredding (and forehead-smackingly predictable) brutality. Instead, TMDP’s cuts are bursting with melodies, scraping guitars and funky, rubbery basslines. It would be even more fun if the synth textures were less generic; on “Heat,” for example, it feels as though Addison and Rough loaded a plugin called Tangerine Dream and clicked on the “’80s Movie Soundtrack” preset. Regardless, they deserve plenty of credit for skilllfully using classic electro sounds in 2009 — and for not trying to bash your skull in with them.

3/5 rating - Eye Weekly

I first heard of TMDP, a synthesizer/DJ duo from Toronto, when reporting on the Candy-Coated Killahz cd release party. The duo made the track Sex Drive available on their MySpace not too long ago, and now they've sent out this self-titled piece. Keep an eye out for TMDP'a remix of Vitaminsforyou's latest single, B4U, also coming out soon. - My Old Kentucky Blog

This Toronto laptop duo composed of Jeffrey Addison and Gavin Rough have been steadily building buzz all year, but they’ve slavishly worked on this project for much longer. Their years of effort are reflected in a pristine debut that’s as catchy as it is well crafted.

Drawing on elements of synth pop, disco, electro and rock, TMDP capture the Justice aesthetic at times but are not bound to it. Track Too Much is introspective, with delay-heavy guitars, while their shamelessly self-titled TMDP is a thumping, hook-laden floor-filler ready for clubs in Paris or New York. The nine tracks here make a super-strong collection. These guys are way too good not to blow up.

- 4/5 Rating

http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/discs.cfm?content=166100 - Now Magazine

# 13 of 25 things to Watch in 2009 - TMDP on YYZ

Local synth duo TMDP will take the dance world by storm when their self-titled debut drops nationwide in February on YYZ Records.

http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/story.cfm?content=166596 - Now Magazine

This Toronto duo will be coming on strong in 2009 — mark our words. We've seen their pristine production and knack for epic catchiness bust dance floors wide open.

- #3 on Top 10 to watch out for 2009

http://exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=128&csid2=844&fid1=35496 - Exclaim Magazine