Sometimes the result of being a musical legend is that the music that established this status disappears behind the monument and is not as listened to as it should be. Those people who know and appreciate the music (and in doing so created the monument) of course don't stop loving it but they already know it by heart so they rather get into the new stuff. And to those who (mostly for reasons of age) were not present at the time it happened, these legend-things are impossible to check out unbiased, cause it's so stressful always having to be afraid of not understanding the colossal significance for history of music, art and all that there is and that you don't get while everyone else is. And they end up nodding knowingly but not giving a listen.
So everyone who's into electronic music knows that Drexciya is a legend, influential to the max, visionary, radical and all that, maybe a bit weird with all the fish. But perhaps it's been a little too much of a legend in the last years.
With the just released compilation Journey Of The Deep Sea Dweller the highly proficient Clone Classic Cuts offer a new opportunity to take a look at Drexciyas outrageous oeuvre , again or for the first time. And if you take this look the moment of epiphany will come fast: you'll recognize that this is f***ing great music.
With the just released compilation Journey Of The Deep Sea Dweller the highly proficient Clone Classic Cuts offer a new opportunity to take a look at Drexciyas outrageous oeuvre , again or for the first time. And if you take this look the moment of epiphany will come fast: you'll recognize that this is f***ing great music.
James Stinson (sadly floated away in 2002) and Gerald Donald (also works as Dopplereffekt, Der Zyklus, Heinrich Mueller and other monikers) who released records as Drexciya from 1992 to 2002 created a concept and philosophy of a mythical aquatic world (you may guess the name) populated with descendants of african slaves for their project. They as persons remained anonymous for the time of the projects existence wanting to keep it as underground as possible, which always is a good idea and still remains as one of the fascinating aspects in the Gesamtkunstwerk Drexciya.
However, the most fascinating aspect is of course the soundtrack to this impersonal underwater entity. As you can hear on this excellently compiled collection (focusing on the earlier years from 1992 to 1997) the music, mainly based on 808, 909 and a little 303, is tremendously diverse. The frenetic electro funk of tracks like "Lardossen Funk" or "Hydro Theory", the harsh and heavy techno of "Darthouven Fish Men" and "Sea Quake" and the floating spheres of "Welcome to Drexciya" ... it's so amazing.
Influenced by the beginnings of Detroit Techno and Kraftwerk, Drexciya in the same way as their influences produced music with machines, creating synthetic abstracted sounds and noises, but their work is also deeply human. "Halb Wesen und halb Ding" as Kraftwerk said.
Absolutely fascinating. Have a listen.
(Written by Henrik Stadie)
However, the most fascinating aspect is of course the soundtrack to this impersonal underwater entity. As you can hear on this excellently compiled collection (focusing on the earlier years from 1992 to 1997) the music, mainly based on 808, 909 and a little 303, is tremendously diverse. The frenetic electro funk of tracks like "Lardossen Funk" or "Hydro Theory", the harsh and heavy techno of "Darthouven Fish Men" and "Sea Quake" and the floating spheres of "Welcome to Drexciya" ... it's so amazing.
Influenced by the beginnings of Detroit Techno and Kraftwerk, Drexciya in the same way as their influences produced music with machines, creating synthetic abstracted sounds and noises, but their work is also deeply human. "Halb Wesen und halb Ding" as Kraftwerk said.
Absolutely fascinating. Have a listen.
(Written by Henrik Stadie)
© 2010
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