The Black Atlantic

(Definitive Drexciya, 28 track compilation of classics and unreleased cuts from '92 onwards)

Drexciya - The Quest (Submerge, 1997) Discs: One | Two

L.A.M. (Life After Mutation) - Balance of Terror 12" EP (Hardwax, 1992) ...Pre-Drexiya

The majority of Drexciya's releases were in the style of harsh, dancefloor oriented Electro, punctuated with elements of retro, 1980s Detroit Techno, with occasional excursions into the Ambient and Industrial genres. Tracks are mostly centered around the TR-808 drum machine, with bass, melodies, and synth textures ebbing and flowing in time. Anecdotes suggest that Stinson and Donald recorded tracks while playing the instruments live, making use of analog equipment and sequencing methods. Drexciya combined a faceless, underground, anti-mainstream media stance with mythological, sci-fi narratives, to help heighten the dramatic effect of their music. In this aspect they were similar to artists within and close to the Detroit collective Underground Resistance.

'Drexciya fictionalize frequencies into sound pictures of unreal environments -- what Kraftwerk termed tone films -- not filled with cars, bikes or trains but rather UAOs, soundcrafts. In '93's Bubble Metropolis, Lardossan Cruiser 8-203 X prepares to dock. The tones of a hydrothermal turbine engine shift gears. They fictionalize the psychoacoustic volume of a giant submersible: 'This is Drexciyan Cruise Control Bubble 1 to Lardossan Cruiser 8 dash 203 X. Please decrease your speed to 1 point 788 point 4 kilobahn. Unknown turbine engine slows down. Thank you. Lardossan Cruiser 8 dash 203 X please use extra caution as you pass the aqua contruction site on the side of a aquabahn. I repeat: Proceed with Caution. Lardossan Cruiser 8 dash 203 X you are now cleared for docking. Have a nice stay here on Drexciya. I'm Drexciyan Cruiser Control X 205. If you have any problems let me know. Bubble Control Out.'

Drexciya Research Labs

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