The early works of Drexciya are stunning: their inseparable fusions of form, function and concept are some of the most involving and affecting in the entire electronic music canon. Many of their early electro tracks were brutally effective on a dancefloor, but wrapped that essential functionality within astonishingly rich mythology, compositional skill and textural detail. As a result, their records are holy grails for collectors and despite several reissues over the years, copies remain elusive and very expensive on the second-hand market.
This selection of early tracks has now been remastered and reissued by Rotterdam’s Clone, who have amassed an enviable catalogue of brilliant reissues from this period in their ‘classic cuts’ series. Journey of the Deep Sea Dweller is planned as a four-volume retrospective of Drexciya’s work, Many tracks included in this first volume were originally compiled on 1997’s The Quest, which gathered together most of Drexciya’s early works – but with that compilation long sold out, this is the first time most of these tracks have been available for over a decade. These remasters, tackled by Adlen Tyrell, offer the long-awaited opportunity to listen to these seminal pieces of work on vinyl again.
Drexciya launched on wax from somewhere in Detroit in 1992, as one of the many acts associated with the Underground Resistance label. UR’s ‘Mad Mike’ Banks would hide his face with a scarf or a gas mask to accentuate his militant image, but Drexciya were completely anonymous, and generated their own folklore with mini-stories written into the centre labels of the early records. It later emerged that Drexciya was the brainchild of street-walking Detroit resident James Stinson, working with Gerald Donald (later of Dopplereffekt). Both were highly prolific, recording under a host of aliases both together and apart.
According to these stories created by Stinson and Donald, Drexciyans are battle-hardened underwater sea-dwellers descended from black slaves thrown overboard from slave-ships many years ago. They live in a kind of Atlantis, and have evolved to live underwater and apart from humans. This brilliantly-conceived mythology lent further depth to a series of stunning releases on labels spanning both sides of the Atlantic, including Underground Resistance, Rephlex and Warp. The aquatic theme continued into the music, with each release featuring sonar pings, whale noises, bubbling acid-lines and sinister or downright evil analogue basslines and melodies.
From this period, the signature Drexciyan sound features tough jump-out-of-your-seat electro, of which Clone have included a clutch, such as ‘Wavejumper’ from 1995’s Aquatic Invasion which may be the most recognisable track, with a hoarse, spooky introduction over riffing cymbals and an elastic melody that breaks into a slack electro-funk beat. Another, ‘Hydro Theory’ from Warp’s Journey Home EP sounds fantastically menacing, with a spooky melody introducing one of the most unsettling basslines ever committed to vinyl.
Clone stated that they wanted to introduce listeners, both old and new, to something new in the Drexciyan experience. As a sweetener they have included a previously unissued track, ‘Unknown Journey’, another brilliant electro workout to complete something that sounds close to a cohesive album. The label had a tough job to pare down the possible tracks into a compilation. They could have chosen simply classic electro numbers like ‘Wavejumper’, but have instead opted for some noisier tracks like ‘Sea Quake’ from 1992 debut Deep Sea Dweller, techno slammer ‘Dathouven Fish Man’ from Journey Home (1995), catchy ‘Lardossen Funk’ from Drexciya 4 (1994) and the ambient ‘Welcome to Drexciya’ from Drexciya 2 the year before.
Drexciyan die-hards may query why no tracks from Drexciya 3 were included, or why tracks like ‘Positron Island’ from Drexciya 2 have been overlooked, but Clone have struck a good balance, and there is not a single bad track amongst the 13 included here.
After recording the early classic EPs that most of this material was drawn from, Stinson and Donald went on to produce a bewildering array of material, both under the Drexciya name (the excellent Neptune’s Lair album is another highlight) and solo. Prior to his early death from ongoing health problems in 2002, Stinson recorded a sequence of albums that further explored the mythology surrounding his music, and though Drexciya ceased to exist at that time, Donald has continued working under a number of aliases since. Some of their other material has been reissued lately – both Neptune’s Lair and later album Harnessed The Storm have seen vinyl pressings in the last eighteen months. But Clone’s release of Journey Of The Deep Sea Dweller I is a valuable further addition to this revitalised archive, offering established fans the chance to experience the duo’s earlier music in the best possible quality, and giving new listeners a chance to become absorbed within the duo’s world.
