Drexciya Research Lab

Friday, November 13, 2009

Dopplereffekt +

I've been planning to write something about the Dopplereffekt interview in the October 2009 issue of The Wire so here it is in a kind of interactive version. It is a great interview which covers a lot of ground, the most obvious repercussion of it for me was that there was a pronounced spike of at least an additional 50 hits a day on DRL that remained constant for that month. If this is an indication as to how many new people heard about them or were made more curious then I guess the piece certainly achieved something positive. In case you missed it someone scanned it, link below. I of course would never reprint copyrighted material here, unless it's unavailable elsewhere. You can still buy it from The Wire shop as well.

http://nebulus.se/~odd/dopplereffekt_interview/

http://www.thewire.co.uk/shop/items/478/
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The physicist Richard Feynman was mentioned to which Donald said that he was known for playing the bongos and was a genius. I subsequently found a very good documentary, 'The Last Journey of a Genius' (1988), on GoogleVideo about him which uses almost exactly this information in its opening description of him. You can watch it at the following link as I’m sure Donald already has.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=richard+feynman&emb=0&aq=o#
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I think it was significant that they were willing to be photographed unmasked and even happy to confirm they were based in Germany, although this was a common enough assumption till now. I'm not sure if this was already known from another interview but we also learned that To Nhan Le Thi first name is Michaela. That was where the personal information stopped and really they know as well as we do that it doesn't matter anyway. I would say that the masks will reappear for the live shows for the sake of the theatrical aspect of it but it was nice this time to see their faces. The pictures from the session by Dominik Gigler can be viewed again at his website and the venue for them was Munich's Deutsches Museum, worth a visit, links below.
http://www.dominikgigler.de/
http://www.deutsches-museum.de/
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The most important piece of new information regarding their future was that they implied on no less than three occasions that they were currently figuring out their next approach. Already, outside of remixes, there hasn't been any new material since 2007, the last Der Zyklus 12" did come out in 2008 I know but dates from the year before so as I speculated previously they are taking a break from releases until the muse strikes anew. They are promising, "a concept that is interesting, practical and holistic." This wasn't discussed in the interview but even Donald's involvement with the MySpace projects seems to have come to an end, while Black Replica may well return one day his name is no longer listed as a member; Zwischenwelt, while they will still probably release an album of their work together at some stage, it doesn't look like he has had much to do with them for about two years; similarly with Zerkalo, his work with this project has been released and that last batch of uploads, good as they were, didn't sound to me like he had any direct involvement with making them but am open to correction on this; Daughter Produkt as you know only managed a single track and he is no longer listed as a member. So it appears that since some point in late 2007 he has been taking a break from releasing any new material. I know that they are only talking about Dopplereffekt regarding this new approach but last time the other main side projects, Arpanet and Der Zyklus, were influenced by it so this time might be the same. I guess he views his remixes like live shows and continues with them as requested. The only exception and possible pointer to the future was 'Drone FX' (2009) which was a new piece, under the name Heinrich Mueller, for the 'Drexciyan Connection' split 12" with DJ Stingray 313. Or does he view this as another one off, like a glorified remix, or perhaps a sign of things to come? It's certainly a new template for him but time will tell. I'm not convinced but take a listen. Heinrich Mueller - 'Drone FX'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIQ6jjmiYHc
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If anyone was at or has any pictures of Dopplereffekt's installation at 'Off-Center' in Leipzig let me know. I contacted the gallery myself but got no reply.

Just in:Dopplereffekt to play Berlin on 28th November.

http://www.arena-club.de/content.php?dateId=287&month=11&year=2009

Three short but always intriguing video's from Black Replica's 26th May 2007 show at the Zenderruisch festival in Dordrecht, Holland, have just emerged from the darkest places of the internet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4iKesg0yqw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UQfbVOSXrQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFe8ZUycH8g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loYv-Eq28J0

I have created what will hopefully be a helpful list for people new to collecting Drexciyan and Gerald Donald projects over at Amazon, was surprised that no-one else had done it. Although I know I shouldn't be helping out a corporation like this I can almost guarantee someone will eventually discover great albums by Elecktroids or Japanese Telecom because of it and that makes it all worthwhile. Great to see most of this stuff still available as well, although I see Drexciya's 'The Quest' will currently set you back £80 while Arpanet's 'Quantum Transposition' is currently the cheapest item at just under £5. Only the Der Zyklus and Abstract Thought CDs are currently not available. You could probably get much of this stuff cheaper from other sources as well so just use it as a guide. You can also peruse my Wishlist while your there, my birthday is soon!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/R1TBBVHGH81V9H/ref=cm_lm_pthnk_view?ie=UTF8&lm_bb=

Lastly a bit of fun: I was dropping cheesy vinyl recently at a friends when I heard what sounded a lot like the bassline from the Heinrich Mueller remix of Le Car on Madonna's 'Dress You Up'(1985). Listen and compare for yourself, first 8 seconds works best, anyone for a mash up?
Madonna - 'Dress You Up'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eK74avTqL4
Heinrich Mueller's Le Car remix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QMMlQ9m2Tc

Thursday, October 29, 2009

L.A.M. - Balance of Terror

“The first duty of man is to conquer fear; he must get rid of it, he cannot act till then.”
Thomas Carlyle

The L.A.M. ‘Balance of Terror’ 12“, which stands for Life After Mutation, is the third and final pre-Drexciyan musical document that we have; the others being Clarence G (Stinson) and Glass Domain (Donald) which have both already been covered by me in previous posts. The most notable thing about this record to the others is that from this point on James Stinson and Gerald Donald were finally working together. This release was most recently reissued by Clone in November 2003 but it had actually been reissued once already, in 1996, when Hardwax reissued most if not all of their 12" catalogue released up to that point. I have pictured images of the three editions throughout the article but basically as far as the Hardwax editions go the original had a silver label, the second reissue had a gold and black label. Hardwax was a Detroit label set up and run by techno legend of today Robert Hood. One of the big three of the so-called second wave of Detroit Techno, the others of course being Jeff Mills and Mike Banks. This puts Hood right on the ground floor as far as Drexciya were concerned but UR, via Shockwave a UR/Submerge sub-label, would take up their cause by releasing their debut ‘Deep Sea Dweller’ 12” later the same year. The big question a lot of people might have about this L.A.M. release is does it sound like Drexciya and is it any good? Well it doesn’t sound too much like them but there are moments and yeah I would say it's worth tracking down if your a fan. On one level it is simply the sound of two young guys enjoying the procedure of making music together and coming up with a thin concept to go along with it. On another level they are pushing some extremes with it as well, in the manic tempos and overall weirdness departments. It could be argued they might have felt they had something to prove being on such a 'hard' label but because of the humour on display I don’t think so. But more than this reason you have to remember that this was only the fourth release of the label which itself had only been launched the year before so they probably felt they had very little expectations to live up to other than delivering a good record. Since that time I guess Stinson and Donald must be ok with it considering they allowed the most recent reissue, although Stinson would have already died by the time it came out but I guess if he had had any major problems with it he would have previously made this clear. The most obvious thing you will notice about the record is the sense of humour I mentioned and yes a certain manic ness about the production. Although it is not as over the top as you might expect from its reputation but at the time maybe it was. I guess we have gotten used to so many extremes in music now it's hard to really know what people would have made of this record at the time. There is also a simple and cohesive concept to tie it all together as well, another first for them and sign of things to come, which I will go into in more detail after looking at the music.
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The opening track, 'Radius Of Infliction', is hard, fast and aggressive but if you think this is all there is to expect from this EP you are mistaken. It is a good runaway track which most immediately sounds like it was done live, like all the tracks here, which is something Drexciya would continue doing as part of their production technique. It also has an interesting fake ending. 'Nuclear Facelift' sounds as disturbed as its title suggests. The tempo is slightly less manic but the weird slithering vibe it gives off more than makes up for that. It has some very original sounds used throughout. The end of this track is interesting, totally unlike how it started, almost

ambient. There is a track called ‘Kubi’ from 1999 on the self-titled Japanese Telecom album that sounds like it could have fitted on this release very well. Fitting as it does into this more manic visceral template which they are using on about half the tracks on this release. The other half are at a slightly lower tempo but much more weird! The next track, ’Meltdown’, would be one of them. It sounds like it must be something of an experiment at just over the one minute mark but this is also the one where we first hear a more familiar sound emerging. The end keyboard passage in particular sounds very familiar but I couldn’t locate its sound-a-like anywhere for sure on any Drexciya related projects, probably in a section of Neptune’s Lair, maybe you can? I guess in the process of playing round and experimenting while making this record they would inevitably fall upon some of what were to become their future trademark sounds. 'Hostile Bacteria' sounds a bit throwaway to me, it's a full length track though but with not enough idea's to sustain it in my opinion. Nothing in it that sounds like Drexciya either, not that that matters. It is again uptempo and weird sounding, like something pulled out of shape from hostile bacteria maybe, the end is fairly unique and experimental though it must be said.
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Side two, an alien concept to many these days, begins with ‘Toxic TV’ which sounds a bit more like Gerald Donald was at the controls and even shares his type of humour to a degree although they both probably did it. It does have a vocal as well which is delivered by a male and runs, “We are on TV.” The sample makes it sound even more like it was made by some excited kids, although we know for sure that Stinson would have been around 22 when he made this. It really kicks though, a very full on and raw production, maybe even my favourite. It does have a bit of a Drexciyan flavour as well in the breakdown. Again the ending is also really interesting and fun. I

guess endings and breakdowns can tell us a lot about an artist, it’s always an opportunity to do something different from the main track and a certain quality of artist relishes taking advantage of these type of opportunities. 'Death Toll' is another aggressive and weird sounding track, very manic for sure, sounding like it’s about to spin off its axis at any moment. I imagine hearing this or 'Nuclear Facelift' on a sound system late at night would be an unsettling experience. The bonus track on the Clone reissue is ‘Irradiated’, which at just over the one minute mark was probably rejected by Robert Hood and maybe even themselves at the time as just being too mad. A slowed down male voice says, "I am a mutation, a victim of radiation, you might ??? (undecipherable)”. It is sort of hilarious though but I guess Clone could entice a few more people with it and at least gives us the complete record at last. This tells us that someone was certainly looking after the Drexciyan archives to find this as well. There has got to be much much more unreleased stuff. Will it ever come out? Should it come out?
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I said at the start that if you were a fan this release would be worth getting but if they had for some reason never made music again I guess it would by now be seen as just a curio in the deleted Hardwax catalogue, just some more Detroit kids doing something more off the wall than usual. One thing I would say though is that it hasn’t really dated in my opinion, maybe some of the drum sounds give away its vintage, but actually it does sound kind of fresh but like no one else, certainly not very Detroit either. In fact most of it sounds like music from another planet, I wonder if they were even familiar with what their immediate contemporaries were doing or were they even then not listening to anyone else’s music so as not to risk being influenced? Anyway, it’s not bad for their first joint production and for what is now a 17 year old record, hard to believe that!
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They didn’t exactly lose their hard edge for the ‘Deep Sea Dweller’ 12” (the first two tracks on side one are similarly full on but they would quickly change this approach for their next EP) but the concept there, just less than a year later, was a lot more sophisticated than the more one dimensional one we find here; which is simply mutation brought on by nuclear reaction. The titles, unsurprisingly and predictably, appear to be giving it all a bit of a negative slant as well; ’Death Toll’, ‘Hostile Bacteria’, ’Nuclear Facelift’, ‘Meltdown’, ‘Irradiated’. ‘Balance of Terror’ itself is kind of confusing as a title, but I guess in this context it means simply that terror/fear is winning out, it has the balance. It sounds like it belongs as a chapter heading in some cold war manual. ‘Life after Mutation’ is kind of proposing a positive in a way, at least life continues, is this some actual balance emerging to this concept? Maybe not as what quality of life are they proposing? Not a good one going by the other titles I think. This is what makes it all a bit one dimensional in my opinion and it would have been difficult for them to develop this concept in the future. But I know I know it’s probably not meant to be studied that deeply and there is ‘Toxic TV’ to look forward to inside the ‘Radius of Infliction‘! The concept of mutation does of course carry on in Drexciya but there it is framed as a rapid mutation of the offspring of pregnant African slaves thrown from slave ships as disruptive cargo where they become the Drexciyan deep sea dwellers. This latter concept would prove extremely fruitful for them and this theme of change would blossom further to embrace an inner and outer evolution of Man. Their Storm maxim some 10 years later would be ‘Don’t be Afraid of Evolution’ and I previously discussed in earlier articles how over coming fear is a necessary step towards evolution so maybe in some weird way with L.A.M. they were examining one of the major causes of our fear of the future, the idea that science will destroy us? Maybe they didn’t themselves realise they were doing this at the time but it does strike me as interesting that fear is the first concept they came up with and they came to realise that overcoming it is the only way to move forward. In very broad strokes and remembering that they both worked together as well, in this context Gerald Donald in his solo work could be seen as overcoming this fear of science by understanding it. Stinson always struck me as more intuitive and kind of overcame it with love and trust but they have both been taking a big journey which we have been privileged to have been able to share with them.
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Hardwax licensed two of these tracks (Radius of Infliction & Nuclear facelift) for the Japanese market on the 'Techno Global Power' Vol.1 and 2 compilations on Alfa Records in 1992. These CD’s are said to be so unbelievably rare today that if you find one you could retire or at least listen to a myriad of early Robert Hood, Jeff Mills and UR rarities in digital format for the first and in some cases only time. Interestingly Vol. 1 credits ‘Radius of Infliction’ as mixed by L.A.M. and written by Gerald Donald but credits on these type of compilations can be notoriously inaccurate at the best of times but maybe it’s accurate as someone went to the trouble of writing it down! The artwork is fairly simple, on the original edition that universal nuclear sign is used cleverly and for the Clone reissue it just got the inhouse treatment. Clone doesn't tell us who made it though but on the original the credit read 'Produced and mixed by L.A.M.' I guess most people buying it in 2003 knew who the creators were but this does tell us that the all-important anonymity which would become a Drexciya trademark was already decided on at this early stage.
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Hard to believe for me but this article brings to an end all of my articles on the previously released James Stinson and Gerald Donald records. While this final article didn’t reach the very large word count that some releases needed to do justice to them I feel this is all that I can meaningfully say about L.A.M. So thanks for reading DRL so far, the next post could be anything as waiting on the artists to take the initiative will become a factor for me from this point on. Although I’m sure I’ll still think of original things to write about and am sure there will soon be more live shows, projects and records to research.

Meltdown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxv_9XC4684
Nuclear Facelift
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXHjEhWwlsw
Irradiated
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmpYG3UEcSo
Hostile Bacteria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOUzRzeW47Q

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Zerkalo +

Zerkalo will be playing live in Liege, Belgium in a few days on 16th October 2009. More details at their MySpace. There is also a new Zerkalo track on their MySpace player, an instrumental called ‘Zelenogorsk’. I found there are two candidates for Zelenogorsk in Russia, one is a seaside town near Finland and the other is located to the south west of the country. This latter one is more than likely the one they are referring to if that is what they are doing. During the cold war it was a so-called 'closed town' where uranium was enriched and did not even appear on maps until 1992. In the context of Zerkalo it reminds me most obviously of Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’ which appears to be set in just such a mysterious town or zone. If you search GoogleVideo you can currently watch this movie if you have two and a half hours to spare. Well worth it if you do.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelenogorsk,_Krasnoyarsk_Krai
http://www.myspace.com/myopspace

A few new video's to share as well...
Arpanet remix of Sebastien Tellier 'Kilometer'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEXGEEUz_Zg

Dopplereffekt live in Moscow 25/9/09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvTXD-42zKk

Also check out this new all things Drexciyan Blog which is currently hosting about 30 minutes of Dopplereffekt's Paris show on 3/10/09.
http://lardossan-cruiser.blogspot.com/

One for the archives for sure, just located this great Black Replica picture as well which somehow passed me by.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Zerkalo 12 inches & Essay

Two of the Zerkalo 12 inch EP's are finally available to purchase from the Clone website and presumably your local record shop. The 12" on Frustrated Funk, 'Experiment Zero', is still imminent though. Samples of all the tracks can be heard at following links.

'Stoi Storoni Zerkala' Pt.1 12"
http://clone.nl/item15157.html
'Stoi Storoni Zerkala' Pt.2 12"
http://clone.nl/item15158.html
'Experiment Zero' 12"
http://clone.nl/item15179.html
There is also one live show listed for Liege, Belgium on 16th October 2009 on their MySpace.
http://myspace.com/myopspace

Also, according to to the Zerkalo MySpace, Victoria Lukas and Julia Pello, her partner in Weltgeist, have been busy writing an essay about Andrei Tarkovsky called 'Tarkovsky's Mirror as Found Object" which is featured in a book which can be purchased online through Final Object. The following text from it is provided by them on their site.

— It’s Not an Imitation, It’s a Rubbing,
“Tarkovsky’s Mirror as Found Object” by Victoria Lukas & Julia Pello. Alexandros Stamatelatos, Editor, June 2009

"[the artist] observes people and traverses worlds; he is material fused with the spirit constantly on the path of overcoming. He awaits and labors for the daylight of a perfect moment, for a sense of unique joy that may elevate him above his former selves, despite nostalgia, despite decay or the effacement of power in the passage of time. This is where poetry’s first lines shudder to be spoken. Poetry (not simply as a term of written form) is an exercise in free will whereby the poet submits himself to flashes of reality from beyond the mirror."
http://www.finalobject.com/

More details are emerging about Dopplereffekt's involvement in the 'Off Center' show being promoted by BlackRed to be held on 17th October in Leipzig, Germany. My German isn’t great but they appear to be being listed as doing a sound and video installation alongside some other artists at another venue during the day which will culminate for them with a live show in a club that night. Would love to get some images of their installation. Can we expect more of this?
http://www.blackred.de/main.php?c=dates#SA.17.10.2009
http://www.off-center.de/lobby/intro.html

Dopplereffekt are also now confirmed for a show at Rex Club in Paris on Sat 3rd October 2009.
http://www.rexclub.com/?page=programme&id=219
Dopplereffekt are also playing in Dresden, Germany on 9th October 2009.
http://www.hellerau.org/de/programm/aktuell/microscope-session-are-friends-electric-/
Just in but a bit late if you want to go! Dopplereffekt finally make it to Russia, they play a live show in Moscow 25th September.
http://naxaliavu.com/msk/clubs/event/385/

Monday, September 07, 2009

Dopplereffekt in The Wire

Just got a heads up that Dopplereffekt do their first ever face to face interview and photoshoot in the next issue of The Wire. It will be in the October issue which is out in a couple of days I'm told. The journalist Derek Walmsley conducted the interview when they were over to play their London debut at Plex earlier this year. Hopefully this will be illuminating and it should help in exposing them to a largely sympathetic audience as well. No images on their site yet but will post them here when there are.
http://www.thewire.co.uk/

Don't forget Dopplereffekt are announced to play live in Leipzig, Germany on Sat 17th October 2009 as well.
http://www.blackred.de/main.php?c=news
Found a new official Zerkalo website as well. Pretty minimal but good.
http://www.zerkalo.fr/

Sad and enigmatic news on the Black Replica front. They have just removed their two video's from YouTube along with all but one of their tracks from their MySpace player. What does it all mean, is this the end? Their accounts there are both still open for now though. Perhaps fittingly the track which is left is 'Spider Theory' which appears to contain the line, "That was all she said." If this does turn out to be how they leave us, then this is truly how to disappear! Pure theatre till the end. It was great while it lasted anyway, hopefully they will surprise us yet but I hope you got to see and hear their music while it was still readily available. Latest: Heinrich Mueller is no longer listed as a member and even the pic has been removed from profile:( To read my full article on them link here. http://drexciyaresearchlab.blogspot.com/2008/11/black-replica.html
http://www.myspace.com/blackreplica

James Stinson 2009 radio show tribute link. http://www.sendspace.com/file/wst7tv

Friday, September 04, 2009

James Stinson 7th anniversary

This year it is the 7th anniversary of James Stinson's death and while I like to think we remember him everyday I guess I should mark it, a day late I know, with a post. I recently found the following touching and penetrating tribute to him written by Christine Hsieh for Remix webmag which I hadn't seen before and am happy to archive it here for this purpose. I know there has been at least one radio show tribute to him this week but if anyone knows of anything else happening let me know. The best place to reconnect with James outside of his music would still have to be the radio interview with him which can as always be heard here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-LoZho4HC8

September 3, 2002, came and went like any other day — until that evening, actually, when a message, startling to most, raced through the electronic-music world with lightning speed. James Marcel Stinson, the driving force behind the enigmatic Drexciya outfit, was dead.

No fanfare, no fuss and no media hoopla surrounded Stinson's passing. Eulogizers had little to work with, save for a smattering of interviews, cryptic liner notes and sketchy biographical information. But, tellingly enough, what serves as his greatest legacy is the impressive body of work he left behind and the arresting, compelling and ultimately political message buried within it.

Details of Stinson's life are beside the point, really. What is known is that the story of this remarkable man began in Detroit. Characterized as a racially divided, gritty urban landscape, Detroit somehow became the locus of fantastical, emotional robot music created by free spirits and creative souls, and Stinson was very much a part of the intensely serious group of producers and DJs who formed the second wave of techno. The mechanical whirs, clicks and pops championed by the original innovators burrowed their way into Stinson's consciousness, and henceforth, he devoted his life to translating musical ideas into physical space.

Beginning in 1991, Stinson and his longtime collaborator (who remains anonymous to this day) unleashed their technoid electro through a series of EPs on labels such as Tresor, Hyperspace and the infamous Underground Resistance, which is run by the equally reclusive “Mad” Mike Banks. The duo, producing together as Drexciya, brought the electronic-music world to its knees. Their name, according to the liner notes of The Quest (a collection of their UR output compiled by Tresor in 1997), refers to a fictional Atlantean subcontinent inhabited by a marine species spawned from the thousands of pregnant African slaves who were callously tossed overboard by slave traders because they were troublesome, sickly cargo. This mythical underworld comes to life through Drexciya's music — slithering onto land and into the airwaves as a myth translated into fantasy, distorted by machines and electrified with soul.

Stinson's work as Drexciya revolved around this myth. Indeed, their earlier recordings, with EP titles such as Bubble Metropolis (UR, 1994) and The Unknown Aquazone (Shockwave, 1994), are inspired “conversations” with this imaginary world. When they dropped their first full-length artist album, Neptunes Lair on Tresor in 1999, the Drexciyans arrived at a fantastic level of fame and praise — especially for a group with no public profile.

Toward the end of his life, Stinson struck forth with several solo releases under the guises of the Other People Place (with an LP, Lifestyles of the Laptop Café [2001], on Warp Records) and Transllusion. His final piece as Transllusion, titled L.I.F.E. (Rephlex, 2002) — and the last full-length work he released while alive — is a murky, contemplative and deep account of submarine anxiety, nervous delusions and twisted experimentation. How fitting that Stinson should end his life with this piece, a moody commentary on evolution and impending revolution. His final “Message to the World,” spelled out in the liner notes but woven inexplicably into the richly textured strands of his music, is as follows: “Life is fast ending — so live!”

Stinson was, and shall remain, a true visionary. His music struck a chord with those who sought an outlet from the intense pressure of socially stratified and increasingly mechanized life — not because it provided the all-too-easy answer of quick release and careless escape, but because lurking underneath the nebulous, often acidic and always intriguing surface of his music lay an uncompromised vision of hope, survival and tenacity.

Christine Hsieh
http://remixmag.com/mag/remix_james_stinson/