Todd Terje

Mjondalen Disco

Terje Olsen was born on May 11, 1981 in Mjondalen, Buskerud, Norway, and took the stage name in homage to the house producer Todd Terry. He had piano lessons at a local music school, and his interest in disco and electronica came from the Norwegian DJs Strangefruit, Bjorn Torske and DJ Erot. In 2001, studying physics in Oslo, he met Prins Thomas and Hans-Peter Lindstrom, and co-ran the club night Shari Vari. His early records were Bodies (2004, a split with Akwaaba, Bear Funk), Eurodans (2004, Soul Jazz, reissued in 2005 on Prins Thomas's Full Pupp), the EPs Mjondalen Diskoklubb and Eurodans (2005) and Ragysh (April 4, 2011, Running Back). Remaster of the Universe (May 21, 2010, Permanent Vacation) collected his remixes. Robbie Williams's UK number one "Candy" (2012) sampled his "Eurodans".

It's the Arps (2012) was the first release on his own Olsen label, started with help from Joakim Haugland of Smalltown Supersound. Rolling Stone ranked him 17th among the 25 DJs that rule the earth in 2012, he toured with Lindstrom in 2013, did a BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix in July 2013, and co-produced two tracks on Franz Ferdinand's Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action. His debut album, It's Album Time, came out on April 8, 2014. He played Coachella, Lowlands and the Pitchfork Music Festival, and Glastonbury in 2015 as Todd Terje and the Olsens. The Big Cover-Up (June 17, 2016) was a set of disco covers, and "Maskindans" (2017) a cover of a 1982 track by Det Gylne Triangel. Stereogum noted in April 2024 that It's Album Time remains his only full-length.