Ted himself!
Ted Davis is a prolific writer and dynamic music industry professional. He currently lives in New York City, after a six year stint in the Los Angeles area.
A true work horse with a passion for wearing many hats, Ted currently works as the Retail & D2C Coordinator for Fire Talk Records. He also supports the press team at Terrorbird Media, as the Publicity Assistant. This experience has allowed him to master all angles of the album release cycle. In any given week, he can be found booking in store performances; securing coverage at nationally recognized outlets by researching music media targets; and single-handedly overseeing a respected label’s shipping and customer order fulfillment.
Ted is also a precocious music journalist. Since 2020, he has served as the Music Editor for Merry-Go-Round Magazine, where he was formerly a staff writer for three and a half years. He is the ambient columnist for Bandcamp Daily, and frequently contributes additional features and reviews to the prominent web store’s editorial arm. He writes a monthly electronic music roundup for Stereogum, called Crossing Wires, which has platformed interviews with leading figures in the genre including Jamie XX, CCL, and Dekmantel. His additional work has appeared in Rolling Stone, NPR Music, Pitchfork, FADER, Billboard, Resident Advisor, Reverb, Ableton, and elsewhere.
Ted has freelanced as a copywriter and content writer for a number of high-profile brands in and outside of the music industry, including USA Today, American Songwriter, and the upscale air purifier brand Molekule. He writes bios, too, for creative people across a variety of mediums.
Away from work, Ted is a respected DJ and dance music producer. Operating under the alias DJ STEPDAD, he has curated mixes for online radio stations including NTS, The Lot Radio, Dublab, and elsewhere. He has thrown tasteful parties at spaces across New York including Baby’s All Right, Eavesdrop, Light And Sound Design, Avalon Lounge, and beyond. His music has been covered by FADER, DJ Mag, Nina Protocol, and other prominent publications.
Ted graduated from Chapman University with a degree in Communication Studies and a minor in Film Music. Unsurprisingly, he was deeply involved in college radio, where he served as the General Manager and Music Festival Director for his alma mater’s online station, Chapman Radio. While in college, he interned for Spaceland Presents, Noise Pop Industries, and The Planetary Group. He worked as a full time radio promoter for The Planetary Group for almost two years after graduating, from 2020 to 2022.
Selected Music Journalism Work
Bandcamp Daily
Lawrence English - Even The Horizon Knows Its Bounds
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: January 2025
The Best Ambient Music of 2024
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: November 2024
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Joe Goddard - Neptunes EP
How Progressive House Made a Comeback
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: October 2024
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn - Quiet in a World Full of Noise
The Best Ambient Music on Bandcamp: September 2024
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: August 2024
K. Yoshimatsu - Fossil Cocoon: The Music of K. Yoshimatsu
Accra Quartet - Gbɛfalɔi (Travelers)
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: July 2024
Full Circle: Foul Swoops’ Foul Swoops EP
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: June 2024
Black Decelerant - Reflections Vol. 2: Black Decelerant
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: May 2024
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: April 2024
Kelly Moran - Moves In The Field
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: March 2024
Montréal’s Wonderfully Icy Electronic Underground
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: February 2024
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: January 2024
The Best Ambient Music of 2023
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: November 2023
Roy Werner - Imagine My Surprise
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: October 2023
Suzanne Ciani & Jonathan Fitoussi - Golden Apples of the Sun
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: September 2023
OOH-Sounds, The Tape Label Report, July 2023
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: August 2023
Lawrence English & Lea Bertucci - Chthonic
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: July 2023
Mort Garson - Journey to the Moon and Beyond
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: June 2023
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: May 2023
Mandy Indiana - i’ve seen a way
Jungle Gym Records Blurb, The Tape Label Report, April 2023
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: April 2023
Penelope Trappes - Heavenly Spheres
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: March 2023
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: February 2023
Dragon’s Eye Recordings Cuts a Unique Path Through Experimental Music
Oxtail Recordings Blurb, The Tape Label Report, January 2023
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: January 2023
Various Artists - Common Ground Vol. 2
Ruination Record Co. Blurb, The Tape Label Report, November 2022
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: November 2022
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: October 2022
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn - Pigments
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: September 2022
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: August 2022
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Let’s Turn It Into Sound
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: July 2022
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: June 2022
Exploring Microhouse Past, Present, and Future
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: May 2022
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: April 2022
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: March 2022
Whatever The Weather - Whatever The Weather
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: February 2022
The Best Ambient on Bandcamp: January 2022
Exploring Patrick Shiroishi’s Sprawling Free Jazz Universe
Stereogum
Anatomy Of A Gripping Jamie xx DJ Set
The 10 Best Electronic Albums Of 2024
Album Of The Week: Two Shell - Two Shell
Yasmin Williams’ Universe Keeps Expanding
Under The Bridge With Four Tet & Friends
Animal Collective’s Sung Tongs Turns 20
The 10 Best Electronic Albums Of 2023
Death Cab For Cutie’s Transatlanticism Turns 20
Oneohtrix Point Never’s R Plus Seven Turns 10
Album Of The Week: bar italia - Tracey Denim
Dougie Poole Is Not Your Average Country Troubadour
The 10 Best Electronic Albums Of 2022
Band To Watch: Fievel Is Glauque
Andy Stott’s Luxury Problems Turns 10
When “Drone Superstars” Go Hyperpop: An Interview With Claire Rousay & More Eaze
Pitchfork
Loscil & Lawrence English - Colours Of Air
Office Culture - Big Time Things
Sea Moss’ “Snake Lady” is a Dense and Fiery Noise Freakout
Nils Frahm - Music For Animals
Andrew Tuttle - Fleeting Adventure
M. Geddes Gengras - Expressed, I Noticed Silence
Double Grave - Goodbye, Nowhere!
NPR Music
#NowPlaying: Laurel Halo, “Belleville”
#NowPlaying: Fievel Is Glauque, “I’m Scanning Things I Can’t See”
#NowPlaying: DJ Koze (feat. Sophia Kennedy), “Wespennest”
#NowPlaying: Slowdive, “kisses”
#NowPlaying: King Krule, “Our Vaccum”
#NowPlaying: Animal Collective, “Dreams”
#NowPlaying: Greg Mendez - “Goodbye, Trouble”
#NowPlaying: Jeffrey Silverstein - “Sunny Jean”
#NowPlaying: Foyer Red - “Pocket”
#NowPlaying: Four Tet - “Three Drums”
#NowPlaying: Strange Ranger - “Rain So Hard”
#NowPlaying: Godcaster - “Vivian Heck”
Avant rockers Editrix share the secret of the ooze
Resident Advisor
Coral Morphologic & Nick León - Projections of a Coral City
Unknown Mobile & Mulholland - War Piece
Various (Wisdom Teeth) - Club Moss
ANF - Costly Blooms On The Eve of Collapse
hoodie x james K - 065 (Scorpio)
Pulse Emitter - “On The Move” / “Floating Life”
Braxe + Falcon - “Step By Step feat. Panda Bear (Axel Boman’s In The Air Version)”
Roméo Poirier - “Statuario (Eli Keszler Remix)”
claire rousay & E.Fishpool - “Distance Therapy”
Eli Keszler - “Dawn (duendita remix")”
KMRU - “don’t linger they might see you”
Cruel Diagonals & Jon Carr - “Fall Back Into Earth”
Panda Bear - calm app (rejected)
Perila - there are no words to describe it
Eli Keszler - “Static Doesn't Exist (Kode9 Remix)”
Mary Lattimore - “Moon Over Deetjen's”
Lone - “Visited By Astronauts (SHERELLE Had A Groove Remix)”
Tom VR - “Soared Straight Through Me (Midland Remix)”
Patrick Shiroishi and Devin Sarno - “Sound Study Two”
Baltra - “Like A Butterfly (Wawa’s Stoned Out Remix)”
Mary Lattimore - Collected Pieces II
Claire Rousay - “17 roles (all mapped out)”
Pendant - To All Sides They Will Stretch Out Their Hands
Mandy, Indiana - “Alien 3 (Daniel Avery Remix)”
Matthew Dear - Preacher’s Sigh & Potion: Lost Album
DJ Mag
11 Labels Blurring The Boundaries Of Ambient, Dub Techno, And The Dancefloor
Rolling Stone
Brian Eno Coaxes Out Fred again..’s Serious Side On Secret Life
Billboard
Inside the Successful First Year of New York’s UBS Arena
FADER
YHWH Nailgun’s Technical Rock Will Rip You To Smithereens
Paste Magazine
Mount Kimbie Present A Bright Pivot On The Sunset Violent
The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions Is Vegyn’s Approachable, Dynamic Latest
The 15 Greatest Townes Van Zandt Songs Of All Time
The Twits Finds bar italia Widening Their Horizons
The 10 Best Pharoah Sanders Songs
FME Brings Ambitious Rock Music to the French-Canadian Wilderness (This came to life as an all-expenses-paid international travel assignment)
The 10 Best Toro y Moi Songs, Ranked
The 10 Best Alex G Songs, Ranked
The 10 Best Sonic Youth Songs, Ranked
The 10 Best Earl Sweatshirt Songs
All Day Gentle Hold ! is a refreshing return for Porches
Spirits Having Fun’s Penchant for Heady Intensity Keeps Two Gripping and Singular
After 8 Years of Silence, DARKSIDE Make an Ambitious Return to Form
Ableton
Upsammy: Crossing Strange Meridians
Yushh: The Sound Of Forward Pressure
James Devane: Searching For Useless Beauty
Niecy Blues: Spiritual Sci-Fi Ambient From The South
Reverb
Laurel Halo Talks Atlas and Her Cinematic Timbres
Men I Trust Talk Dream Pop and DX7s
The Angular Guitar Sounds of Television
Matmos Talks Weird Sound Sources and Conceptual Commitment
8 of Björk's Most Inventive Uses of Gear
The Gear of Klaus Schulze, German Electronic Pioneer
Aquarium Drunkard
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
Jahari Massamba Unit - Pardon My French
Emily A. Sprague - Hill, Flower, Fog
Merry-Go-Round Magazine
Before Ted edited the MGRM music section, he was an intern-turned-staff writer. His early work is collected here.
Selected Bios
You can shoot Ted an email at theodoresagedaviscreative@gmail.com