Abstract Thought and Shifted Phases albums reissued after 20 years

Clone Records have announced they are reissuing and are now taking pre-orders for Hypothetical Situations (2003)  by Abstract Thought. There seems to initially be a limited orange double vinyl edition exclusive to clone.nl (one per customer). They say it's also possible to pre-order regular black as well (promo text below). Expected release date is 27th Feb. Order from them here and on Bandcamp.

This is very long awaited reissue and was one of Drexciya's Storm Series. Back in October DRL ran some posts about the album (scroll down) and maybe this got a dialogue going with the original label Kombination Research or else it has been in the pipeline for sometime as this is its 20th anniversary, either way it's great to have the album widely available again for new and old fans.

On I think the same day Tresor opened the pre-order for the equally long awaited Shifted Phases album, The Cosmic Memoirs of the Late Great Rupert J. Rosinthrope (2002) (more info below). That makes all but one (Tranllusion's L.I.F.E.) of Drexciya's Storm Series to have now been reissued since first release and some very recently. This is great news and it has been a long journey for the fans who year after year created the demand which the labels have fulfilled.

'Re-issue of Drexciya's 4th storm! Another seminal work of 6 Futuristic deep & Drexciyan Electro/Techno tracks. Hypothetical questions translated into music by one of the visionaries of contemporary electronic music. ''Music beamed through Dimensional Waves by Abstract Thought...''

Remastered from the original session tapes.

Limited Clone.nl exclusive on Orange Flame coloured vinyl in premium glossy jacket with heavy weight color innersleeves. First come, first serve! (Please ask specifically if you want a black vinyl copy when ordering)'

Tresor Berlin are also now taking Bandcamp pre-orders for the very long awaited reissue of Shifted Phases' The Cosmic Memoirs Of The Late Great Rupert J. Rosinthrope (2002) in special edition form. It comes with new artwork by Matthew Angelo Harrison and the vinyl is now in triple with CD extra tracks 'Alien Distress Call' and 'Crossing Of The Sun-Ra Nebula' included. It comes in silver and regular black vinyl editions as well as CD (available 31st March). They have also written notes just for this release which I've included below.

'In early 2023, Tresor Records will reissue the sole output from Shifted Phases entitled The Cosmic Memoirs Of The Late Great Rupert J. Rosinthrope. Initially released in 2002, soon after James Stinson passed away, this LP plays a mysterious and compelling role in the Drexciya journey. While other records of Drexciya and related projects have received numerous reprints and editions, The Cosmic Memoirs... has remained out of print since its release. This rarity leaves it more open to interpretation with its place in the Drexciyan storm series, as it became increasingly hard to find and underexplored.

Track titles Solar Wind, White Dwarf, and Lonely Journey of the Comet Bopp reveal a focus on cosmic realms, suggesting a link with the Drexciya LP Grava 4 that moves from the underwater to the galactic. As it launches with mechanical blows on a precise orbit, each repetition entrenches the gravitational pull in the galaxy of Shifted Phases. In many places, it sounds like the readout of frequencies harvested from outer space, pockmarked with packet loss from the millions of kilometres distance travelled.

The music is hard to contain, intuitively restless in motion through its unfolding universe and achingly resonant. It shapeshifts across affectedly melodic sequences such as in Lonely Journey..., to the sparse, hard-hitting timbres found in Alien Vessel Distress Call and the mangled reverse vocals in The Freak Show, somewhat reminiscent of another Drexciya side-project, Glass Domain. The mythology of Drexciya is evident in how keenly James Stinson and Gerald Donald created their imaginary worlds. In Crossing Of The Sun-Ra Nebula, there is an undisputable reference to another Afro-futurist who delved deep into a galaxy of their own making.

This reissue does not merely close the loop on Tresor's reissue series of the Drexciya catalogue but brings Shifted Phases to fresh ears more than other records. Accompanied by newly commissioned artwork from Matthew Angelo Harrison, the 3xLP vinyl reissue also features the tracks Crossing Of The Sun-Ra Nebula and Alien Vessel Distress Call, which were previously only on the original CD release.'

Julia Pello and Heinrich Mueller's Mirovaya Liniya have a rare live show in New York on 5th February. Full details here. EDIT: The show can now be streamed here. You can listen to some of their music so far at this Bandcamp link.

'The title of the piece for this performance is “ETHICA: Book 1”; utilizing multiple projections, live vocals, and electronic sound, it takes up Spinoza’s ontology from Book 1: On God. Please note that Heinrich Mueller will not be performing at this event....A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing.'

Transllusion special editions on Tresor, The Other People Place Muzik 2001 interview, new Doplereffekt track and more

 

You can now pre-order Transllusion's The Opening of the Cerebral Gate (3LP, clear vinyl 3LP, CD & digital) and the Mind Over Positive and Negative Dimensional Matter 12" on Tresor Berlin's Bandcamp. You can also check out the new artwork by Matthew Angelo Harrison for these special editions. Both available from 10th Feb 2023. 

There is a brand new and rather beautiful Dopplereffekt track, 'Bat Ray (Myliobatis Californicus)' on a cassette/digital compilation from Obsolete Future. 

Arpanet have one live show coming up, 3rd Feb 2023 in Newcastle.

Clone Records have just re-pressed their 2021 reissue of the self-titled and debut 12" by Japanese Telecom. You can find it at usual places.

One of those 'Blind Test' youtube video features a track by Drexciya, check it out here.

“I said, ‘I’ve got to get my own equipment.’ I didn’t have any money. The equipment I had was pawn shop equipment that I got for like $100, $125 dollars. I found a blue [Roland] SH-101, a [Roland] Juno 2, and I bought a [Roland TR-909] from one of the guys from Drexciya [Gerald Donald].”

Robert Hood speaking in this very in-depth 2019 article about his classic album Minimal Nation (1994). 

I came across a review/interview with The Other People Place in Muzik magazine (Oct 2001 pg. 106). It is a very short box piece but it's revealing in more than one way. The magazine emailed them and got some kind of response and perhaps even a video.

I have the full text below but essentially they are treated like a pair of lunatics, even though the album is called 'rather cool'. If you know this is a member of Drexciya speaking it does make more sense but I don't think this was explained to the writer. I have no idea what they emailed back (would be great to know full contents) but I guess this is the big risk of being enigmatic, mysterious or just playful with the press. TOPP was the first of the Storm series albums to be released and coincidently or not from now on James Stinson would do straight forward interviews and get his points across and be treated in a serious way. 

'Who The Hell Are...

The Other People Place

They all live in a mellow submarine.

Who indeed?

TOPP, as they're not known in vibey chill out cyber bars across the United States, proved to be some of the most elusive creatures Muzik has ever encountered. The gloopy, loopy valium tech-gnosis of their rather cool 'Lifestyles of the Laptop Cafe' album gives little hint of the lunacy that lies at the heart of the People Place machine.  

When we eventually tracked them down, it was via a now defunct email address whose user claimed to be at a console deep beneath the ocean waves somewhere off the coast of Malta. When quizzed the Peeps (as they are also not known) sent an Mpeg clip. This showed a flying saucer landing on what appeared to the coast of Hawaii. Out step two smartly dressed gentlemen, faces wrapped in the style of The Invisible Man, who flip open attache cases, take a seat beneath the palms and then walk into the sea. 

"You will never find us now", reads their closing statement. "Take heed and learn, for this will be our last communication to your lost planet."

That and their album, presumably. More power to the weirdo's we say...'