AKA

There is a small group of projects with Drexciya involvement which seem to cause a lot of confusion. It's time some order was introduced to them so I've written an outline for each. Is there anymore outstanding projects not covered so far in this blog, as far as I know this last piece on the subject covers it. But any additional information you can furnish me with regarding these specific projects or other ones not covered I would be grateful for and will rework into this article. I've rejigged comment box so that anyone can leave a message or email my main address on banner. This reworking has been something I've been doing all along to make these articles as definite as possible rather than reposting and creating multiple entries as I learn or think of something new to add, so reading some of the previous posts at this stage may a worthwhile exercise.
I am only dealing here with the projects I have not already mentioned previously, like L.A.M., Glass Domain, Elektroids etc.

FLEXITONE - This project appears to be have been largely overlooked. Production duties were by Gerald Donald and Brendan M Gillen of Ectomorph. Only 2 12"'s came out under this name, 'Rotoreliefs EP' & 'Nausicaa' on Carl Craig's Planet E in 1995 plus 2 other originals on compilations. Deleted by now for sure, I think a compilation of the 7 original tracks and various remixes would be a worthwhile exercise. The title of the latter release is likely inspired by the cult Japanese animation film 'Nausicaa' by Hayao Miyazaki who went on to make the more well known 'Spirited Away'. This may be seems like early signs of Donalds growing interest in Japanese culture which would more fully bloom in the coming years. Donald was reputedly involved with Ectomorph up to this time, which makes sense, but I think we can take it that his involvement was brief, just at their inception. He may or may not be featured on their releases dating up to 1995, but not beyond. Check their Discogs listing for more info and images of artwork, which was high concept.

INTELLITRONIC - Credited as a Gerald Donald project, it's single track, 'Pixel', dates from 1993. The track itself reportedly sounds a lot like Drexciya's 'Hydro Theory' which would eventually appear two years later on 'The Journey Home'. Available on the Juan Atkins compiled 'Magic Tracks - Deep Detroit Volume Two' on Tresor which also features Drexciya's 'Positon Island'. Intellitronic, as the name suggests, means intelligent electronics and seems a ripe topic for an offshoot project but I guess this one didn't stick. If it had this would have been the first Gerald Donald project to run in parallel with Drexciya and the argument could be made that this was the first conceptual stirrings of what would become the Elektroids.

X-TERNAL PULSE - This dates from way back in 1993 and appears to feature one or both of the Drexciya members input at the very early stages of Ultradyne. The sole track, 'Crossphaze', came out on the 12", 'The Silicon Ghetto EP Vol. 3', on Daniel Bells Accelerate label. Again check their Discogs listing, which has a comment which mentions a marked similarity to Drexciya's 'Wave Jumper', a track which would eventually come out on 'Aquatic Invasion' on UR the following year. I guess that makes it less surprising that this would be one of the rhythms they were playing around with at this time.
I’m not sure how long this working relationship existed with Ultradyne members Alex Lugo and Dennis Richardson, it hardly seems likely that they were still involved in the next release, all of 2 years later. This EP, ‘E-Coli’, was part of a 12” series on Warp alongside Drexciya and The Electroids from 1995. The artwork for the three releases was similar and it was marketed very much as a package at the time. This does imply a connection between all the bands but its hard to say for sure if any of the tracks on their EP had any Drexciya production involvement or not. They may have just had the one session together for all we know, which is often the nature of these things, and when Warp came up with the idea for the series and needed a third related act they simply nominated their friends project. Previously I did an interview with Ultradyne in which they gave the impression of being very much a self contained group and makes me doubt that any material released under the name Ultradyne featured any outside input, although that question was not asked specifically.

CLARENCE G - James Stinson solo project with one now very sought after 12" to its name which came out on Detroits Fluorescent Forest Records in 1991. The four tracker features more of an electro/ hip hop sound but it does have one track, 'Turbine', that is a dead ringer for 'The Countdown Has Begun' which would turn up on 1994's 'Aquatic Invasion'. The title of the EP is ‘Hyperspace Sound Lab’ which is wording that wouldn’t seem out of place in the future. The only aquatic aspect of the release is the black and white picture of Stinson reclining on a rock beside a lake or ocean on the label. Another false start or just another project before he settled on something more definite? I would say the latter.

DIGITAL APHRODISIAC - This pseudonym was only ever mentioned on the Dimensional Waves website, built and written by James Stinson. No releases seem to have emerged under this name. It appears at the end of a list entitled ‘Production Company Fuelled by High Powered Groups’ which included mostly Storm aliases. Sounds like another project which was planned or never finished, certainly unreleased.

DR. FINN & DR. OTTO HENKE - Gerald Donald alias used only once for remixes of 'Wasteland' by Scan X. Released in 1996 on Laurent Garnier's F Communications label. Here Donald gets his own side of a the 12" for his two mixes of the title track, which he subtitled as Prototype 1 and 2. The name continues his flirtation with German imagery, just more ambiguously than usual.

DREXCIYAN DJ STINGRAY - The first appearance of this guy to my knowledge was on the Warp Magic Bus Tour in 2002 and he continues to do shows to this day. All that Stinson said on this subject was, “We are going to send out a Drexciyan DJ first to secure the land,” in relation to following it up with live shows. I remember him playing a pretty pitched up electro set of fairly contemporary tracks. He played masked to further hide his identity. Not to be confused with another US DJ working under the name DJ Stingray.
His name is actually Sherard Ingram and he produces under the name Mystic Tribe and Urban Tribe. He has a large discography which includes an album on Mo Wax with input from Carl Craig and Moodyman. There is also of course a Mystic Tribe track on the flip of The Other People Place 12" on Clone.