James Stinson In Memoriam
[forwarded message]
Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2002 15:38:19 -0400
From: mike clark < mike@taiga.com >
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
Subject: A great tragedy and loss.........I was just informed today that one of my UR brothers is not with us anymore.
James "Drexciya" Stinson died last night of heart complication.. It is a big loss for his friends, fans, and family. He will be greatly missed. One of the true brothers of the Underground.
mike clark
[end of forwarded message]
Drexciya Research Lab + blog"Drexciya: Fear Of A Wet Planet" by Kodwo Eshun
An Appreciation by Tom Magic Feet
The Countdown Has Begun
Liquid Dystopia
Drexciya drains the claps, cowbells and tomtoms, siphons off the salsa from Electro. With the vocoder id deleted, 90s Electro becomes even more enthralling, even more inhibiting. Such tracks as '93's Danger Bay and Positron Island are monsters from the low end which submerge you in liquid dystopia. Acrid frequencies clench the nerves like tazers, oscillations wince across the body in wave motion, abrasive tones remove cotton wool from your ears and vigorously scour inside the brainpan. Jagged snare velocities pinch the nerves until you're locked uptight. Sea Snake's scorching deathray sweeps the seacraters with its acoustic searchlight of astringent 303.
Each Drexicya EP -- from '92's Deep Sea Dweller, through Bubble Metropolis, Molecular Enhancement, Aquatic Invasion, The Unknown Aquazone, The Journey Home and Return of Drexciya to '97's Uncharted -- militarizes Parliament's 70s and Hendrix's 60s Atlantean aquatopias. Their underwater paradise is hydroterritorialized into a geopolitical subcontinent mapped through cartographic track titles: Positron Island, Danger Bay, The Red Hills of Lardossa, The Basalt Zone 4.977Z, The Invisible City, Dead Man's Reef, Vampire Island, Neon Falls, Bubble Metropolis. The Bermuda Triangle becomes a basstation from which wavejumper commandos and the 'dreaded Drexciya stingray and barracuda battalions' launch their Aquatic Invasion against the AudioVisual Programmers.
Marine Mutation across the Black Atlantic
Every Drexciya EP navigates the depths of the Black Atlantic, the submerged worlds populated by Drexciyans, Lardossans, Darthouven Fish Men and Mutant Gillmen. In the sleevenotes to The Quest, their '97 concept double CD, the Drexciyans are revealed to be a marine species descended from 'pregnant America-bound African slaves' thrown overboard 'by the thousands during labour for being sick and disruptive cargo. Could it be possible for humans to breathe underwater? A foetus in its mother's womb is certainly alive in an aquatic environment. Is it possible that they could have given birth at sea to babies that never needed air? Recent experiments have shown mice able to breathe liquid oxygen, a premature human infant saved from certain death by breathing liquid oxygen through its underdeveloped lungs. These facts combined with reported sightings of Gillmen and Swamp Monsters in the coastal swamps of the Southeastern United States make the slave trade theory startingly feasible.'
Drexciyans are 'water breathing, aquatically mutated descendants,' webbed mutants of the Black Atlantic, amphibians adapted for the ocean's abyssal plains, a phylum disconnected from the aliens who adapted to land. As Mark Sinker argued in '92, 'The ships landed long ago: they already laid waste whole societies, abducted and genetically altered whole swathes of citizenry. Africa and America -- and so by extension Europe and Asia -- are already in the various ways Alien Nation.' Drexciya use electronics to replay the alien abduction of slavery with a fictional outcome: 'Did they migrate from the Gulf of Mexico to the Mississippi River Basin and to the Great Lakes of Michigan? Do they walk among us? Are they more advanced than us?'
Sinker's breakthrough is to bring alien abduction back to earth, to transfer the trauma from out there to yesternow. The border between social reality and science fiction, social fiction and science reality is an optical illusion, as Donna Haraway has pointed out. They have been here all along and they are you. You are the alien you are looking for.
Fictionalizing Frequencies
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.'
In a War without Weapons
The Black Atlantean depths are as lethal as the Red Planet or The Rings of Saturn. With the Molecular Enhancement EP, the ocean floor becomes the 5th front in The Forever War. Drexciyan technology solidifies the ocean into hydrocubes. These blocs of solid water are part of the electrofictional arsenal of Antivapor Waves, Aquatic Bata Particles and Intensified Magnetrons.
The magnetron is the heart of the radiowave transmitter, used to power airborne microwave radar sets during WW2. As Arthur C. Clarke explains, 'When the first experimental magnetron was carried to America, the face of war changed over a weekend. Japanese scientists had made and tested an identical device a year before the British. If they had followed up their invention we would now be living in a very different world.'
Technology generates the process Sun Ra terms an AlterDestiny, a bifurcation in time. The magnetron migrates across the mediascape, changing scale from Marvel Comics 60s supervillain Magneto, leader of the Evil Mutants, to Drexciya's Intensified Magnetron, to Killah Priest's 'magnetron which puts your arteries back apart'.
From 'More Brilliant Than The Sun: Adventures In Sonic Fiction' by Kodwo Eshun, pp. 06[083] - 06[085] (Quartet Books, London, 1998).
D i s c o g r a p h y :
CLONE (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
Drexciya
Grava 4
C#25
July 2002
1. Cascading Celestial Giants
2. Powers of the Deep
3. Drexcyen Star Chamber
5. Drexcyen R.E.S.T. Principle
(Research, Experimentation, Science, Technology)
6. Hightech Nomads
7. Ociya Syndor
8. 700 Million Light Years From Earth
9. Astronomical GuidepostNOTE: the CD tracklist erroneously(?) omits track 4.
REPHLEX (UK)
Drexciya
Drexciya 3: Molecular Enhancement EP (12")
CAT017EP
1996
Side 1. Alpha:
1. Antivapor Waves
2. Intensifies Magnetron
Side 2. Beta:
3. Hydro Cubes
4. Aquatic Bata ParticlesSongs under license from
Underground Resistance
Detroit, U.S.A.Special thanks to: God and Mad Mike from U.R.
All songs were particle accelerated by Drexciya
in Drexciya, ion filtered at Black
Planet Studio in Detroit.NOTE: released also on Submerge as SVE-6 (with different track list).
SHOCKWAVE (Detroit, MI., USA)
Drexciya
Deep Sea Dweller EP (12")
SW1007
1993
A1. Sea Quake
A2. Nautilus 12
B1. Depressurization
B2. Sea SnakeWritten, mixed and produced by Drexciya.
Published by Dance Threat Music (BMI)Inscriptions:
Side A: "Techno From The Deep"
Side B: "Deep H2O"
NOTE: the first Drexciya release.
SOMEWHERE IN DETROIT (Detroit, MI., USA)
Drexciya
Uncharted EP
S.I.D-005
A. Hi-Tide
B. Dr. Blowfin's Experiment
NOTE: The S.I.D. series 12's were EP's that were supposed to be exclusive to the Submerge Somewhere In Detroit store. The idea was that the only way you could get them was to physically visit the shop on the ground floor of Submerge's building. A few of them occasionally turn up at other shops, though. There were a few previously unreleased tracks from Drexciya, UR, and a couple of other artists released this way.
Thanks to Submerge's refusal to play the "release and delete" game, though, these don't fetch the exorbitant prices a lot of other limited availability releases do. - Dave Walker on IDM list
SUBMERGE (Detroit, MI., USA)
Drexciya
Drexciya 4: The Unknown Aquazone 2xEP (2x12")
SVE-3
1994
1. Intro
2. Living On The Edge
3. Aqua Jujidsu
4. Aquabahn
5. Mantaray
6. Lardossen Funk
7. Take Your Mind
8. Intro
9. Aquarazorda
10. Bubble Chamber
11. Water Walker
12. Red Hills Of LardossaDrexciya
Drexciya 3: Molecular Enhancement
SVE-6
1995
1. Anti-Beats
2. Antivapor Waves
3. Intensified Magnetron
4. Bata-Pumps
5. Hydro Cubes
6. Aquatic Bata ParticlesProduced by Drexciya
NOTE: released also on Rephlex (CAT017EP) with different track list.
Drexciya
The Quest (2x12" / 2-CD)
SVE-8
July 1997
CD 1:
1. Intro
(?)
2. You Don't Know
(UR-039)
3. Dehydration
(unreleased)
4. Bang Bang
(UR-037)
5. Antivapor Waves
(SVE-6)
6. Intensified Magnetron
(SVE-6)
7. Hydro Cubes
(SVE-6)
8. Aquatic Bata Particles
(SVE-6)
9. Hi Tide
(S.I.D.-005)
10. Depressurization
(SW-1007)
11. Sea Snake
(SW-1007)
12. Aqua Jujidsu
(SVE-3)
13. Beyond The Abyss
(UR-026)
14. Lardossen Funk
(SVE-3)
15. Red Hills Of Lardossa
(SVE-3)
16. The Mutant Gillmen
(an experiment gone wrong)CD 2:
1. Seaquake
(SW-1007)
2. Bubble Metropolis
(UR-026)
3. Living On The Edge (Instrumental)
(SVE-3)
4. Aquabon (Remix)
(SVE-3)
5. Positron Island
(UR-026)
6. Doctor Blowfin's Water Cruiser
(UR-026)
7. Wave Jumper
(UR-030)
8. Take Your Mind
(SVE-3)
9. Dead Man's Reef
(unreleased)
10. Vampire Island
(unreleased)
11. Neon Falls
(unreleased)
12. The Last Transmission
(?)Vinyl version (SVE-7, 2x12"):
A1. Depressurization (Bonus Beats)
A2. Beyond The Abyss
A3. You Don't Know
B1. Living On The Edge (Instr.)
B2. Aquabon (Remix)
C1. Reff Rhythms (Bonus Beat)
C2. WaveJumper
D1. Dr. Blowfin's Watercruiser
D2. Bubble MetropolisAll songs produced by Drexciya.
NOTE: a compilation with 28 tracks on CD; also a shorter version as a 2x12".
TRESOR, Berlin, Germany
Drexciya
Neptune's Lair (2-LP/CD)
Tresor 129
November 1999
CD:
1. Intro: Temple of Dos de Agua
2. Species of the Pod
3. Andreaen Sand Dunes
4. Running Out of Space
5. Habitat.O.Negative
6. Universal Element
7. Drifting Into a Time of No Future
8. Polymono Plexusgel
9. Surface Terrestrial Colonization
10. Funk Release Valve
11. Organic Hydropoly Spores
12. Draining of the Tanks
13. Devil Ray Cove
14. Fusion Flats
15. Triangular Hydrogen Strain
16. Oxyplasmic Gyration Beam
17. Quantum Hydrodynamics
18. Lost Vessel
19. Bottom Feeders
20. Jazzy Fluids
21. C to the Power of X+C to the Power of X=MM=Unknown2xLP:
A1. Intro: Temple of Dos de Agua
A2. Andreaen Sand Dunes
A3. Running Out of Space
A4. Universal Element
B1. Habitat.O.Negative
B2. Funk Release Valve
B3. Organic Hydropoly Spores
B4. Draining of the Tanks
C1. Surface Terrestrial Colonization
C2. Oxyplasmic Gyration Beam
D1. Triangular Hydrogen Strain
D2. Bottom Feeders
D3. C to the Power of X+C to the Power of X=MM=UnknownDrexciya
Hydro Doorways EP (12")
Tresor 137
February 2000
A1. Quantum Hydrodynamics (01:16)
A2. Polymono Plexusgel (03:08)
A3. Lost Vessel (05:52)
B1. Species of the Pod (03:53)
B2. Drifting Into a Time of No Future (03:33)
B3. Devil Ray Cove (02:49)Drexciya
Digital Tsunami
Tresor 56182(?)
November 2001Drexciya
Harnessed The Storm (CD/2-LP)
Tresor No. 181
2002
A1. Digital Tsunami
A2. Soul of the Sea
B1. Dr. Blowfin's Black Storm Stabilizing Center
B2. Song of the Green Whale
C1. Lake Haze
C2. Mission to Ociya Syndor And Back
D1. Under Sea DisturbancesFiltered through dimensional waves by Drexciya.
UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE (Detroit, MI., USA)
Drexciya
Drexciya: Aquatic Invasion EP (12")
UR 30
1994
1. WaveJumper
2. The Countdown Has Begun
3. Sighting In The AbyssProduced by: Drexciya
for Underground Resistance Prod.
Det. MI. USA at Black Planet Studios
on a Tascam 4 trk."On February First Nineteen Hundred And Ninety Five the Drexciyan Tactical Seaforces received orders from UR Strikeforce Command, for one final mission. The dreaded Drexciya stingray and barracuda battalions were dispatched from the Bermuda Triangle. Their search and destroy mission to be carried out during the Winter Equinox of 1995 against the programmer strongholds. During their return journey home to the invisible city one final mighty blow will be dealt to the programmers. Aquatic knowledge for those who know." - The Unknown Writer.
NOTE: Aquatic Invasion is not Drexciya 1. If anything is, Deep Sea Dweller is. That's the first Drexciya release, but it's not labelled Drexciya 1 either. So technically speaking, there is no Drexciya 1. - rbc3
Drexciya
Drexciya 2: Bubble Metropolis EP (12")
UR-026
1994Side A: Fresh Water
1. Aqua Worm Hole [5:25]
2. Positron Island [4:05]
3. Beyond The Abyss [2:17]
Side B: Salt Water
4. Bubble Metropolis [6:00]
5. Danger Bay [3:20]
6. Welcome To Drexciya [2:09]Tracks made in Drexciya for UR in Detroit.
Filtered by Drexciya.
Special thanks to God.Mad Mike & Hyperspace Publishing.
Drexciya
The Return of Drexciya
UR-037
1996
A1. Smokey's Illegitimate Report
A2. You Don't Know
B1. Bang-Bang
B2. Rubick's Cube
Surfaced by Drexciya for Underground Resistance Prod.
© (p) Mad Mike Music (BMI) 1996Inscriptions:
Side A: "You don't know -- what lurks in the fog"
NOTE: label art by Frankie C. Fultz.
WARP RECORDS (Sheffield, UK)
Drexciya
Drexciya 5: The Journey Home EP (12")
WAP57
1995
1. Black Sea
2. Darthouven Fish Men
3. Hydro Theory
4. Journey Home
Compilation appearances:
ELYPSIA RECORDS
Various Artists
The Rave Explosion - The Underground Continues..Vol 2. (2-CD)
1995
A4. Drexciya: Black Sea (Warp)
REACT MUSIC (London, UK)
Various Artists
True People: The Detroit Techno Album (CD / 5x12")
REACTCD71/REACTLP71
1996
* A1. Drexciya: Davey Jones Locker(Drexciya) BMI. (p) & © 1996.
STUDIO !K7 (Germany)
Various Artists
Andrea Parker: DJ-Kicks (3-LP/CD)
K 7071LP/K 7071CD
24 August 1998
* 19. Drexciya: Hydro Theory (Warp)NOTE: The 3-LP is unmixed.
Various Artists
Aux 88 presents Electro Boogie (2-LP/CD)
K7078LP/K7078CD
1999
* 16. Drexciya: Bubblemetropolis (UR)NOTE: The 2-LP is unmixed.
SUBMERGE (Detroit, MI., USA)
Various Artists
Submerge: Depth Charge Two - Escape Into The Void (CD)
SCD-2
1995
* 14. Drexciya: Welcome To Drexciya (2:09)
Produced by Drexciya for Underground Resistance. Produced
in Detroit, MI -- Taken from "Bubble Metropolis" EP. -- Mad
Mike Music (BMI).Various Artists
Origins Of A Sound (CD)
SVE 4
1995
* 2. Drexciya: The Countdown Has Begun
(Produced by Drexciya for Underground Resistance
Productions, Det., MI. USA.
Recorded at Black Planet.)
* 5. Drexciya: Living On The Edge
(Produced by Drexciya for Underground Resistance /
Submerge, Det., MI. USA.
Recorded at Invisible City.)
* 8. Drexciya: Wave Jumper
(Produced by Drexciya for Underground Resistance
Productions, Det., MI. USA.
Recorded at Black Planet.)
TRESOR (Berlin, Germany) / POW WOW / METROPLEX (US)
Various Artists
Deep Detroit Volume 2 - Magic Tracks Compiled By Juan Atkins (CD)
PWD7445
1993
* Drexciya: Positron Island (5:15)
NOTE: The track is misspellt as: "Drexcya: Positron I Stand".
Various Artists
Tresor Vol. 8 (CD)
TRESOR 150 / MS 56150-2/6
2000
* 5. Drexciya: Species of the Pod (3:53)[Tresor discography @ Hyperreal]
UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE (Detroit, MI., USA)
Various Artists
Interstellar Fugitives (3-LP/CD)
UR-045
August 1998
* 8. Drexciya: Interstellar Crime Report
* 9. Drexciya: AquatacizemNOTE: a compilation of unreleased tracks from Mad Mike, Drexciya, The Suburban Knight, Andre Holland, et al.
Various Artists
DJ Rolando - "The Aztec Mystic Mix CD"
UR049 CD
1999
* Drexciya: Dr. Blowfin's ExperimentNOTE: originally released on SID05; all tracks mixed together by DJ Rolando, so not the full-length version.
Remixes:
UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE (Detroit, MI., USA)
UR
Electronic Warfare "The Mixes" (12")
UR-034
* Proton Side 2) Electric Eel Mix by Drexciya
Related:
(unknown label)
Glass Domain
English & Music by Glassware
cat # - 04753
1991
A. Shatter Prone
B. Hiccups
C. Faory
D. Interlock
NOTE: ltd clear vinyl, and some black vinyl.
NOTE 2: very rare, Drexciya people behind this release.
ACCELERATE (US)
Various Artists
The Silicon Ghetto EP vol. 3
acc003
A1. DB-X: Blip
A2. [bonus track]
B1. X-ternal Pulse: Crossphaze (designed and fabricated by X-ternal Pulse)
B2. Phanatic: PheakbeatNOTE: X-ternal Pulse are better known as Ultradyne which, in turn, has been cited as a Drexciya/Dopplereffekt collaboration project (in old shipping notes accompanying their Pi Gao Movement release). (An Ultradyne interview from 2001.)
HARDWAX (Detroit, USA?)
L.A.M. (Life After Mutation)
Balance of Terror EP
HW 004
early 1990's?
* 6 tracks (with no titles)NOTE: A pre-Drexciyan release is without a doubt the L.A.M. record on Rob Hood's Hardwax label. There are no inscriptions in the record (apart from NSC, of course). The A-side runs from inside out whereas the B side is normal. I do not know the publication date but considering the publication policy of Hardwax (number 10 was published this spring) the record came out in the early 90's. - Benjamin Holzwarth
RED PLANET (Detroit, MI., USA)
Red Planet V: The Long Winter of Mars
RP-5
Year: ?NOTE: A guest appearance from Drexciya.
REPHLEX (London, UK)
Transllusion
Third Eye EP (12")
CAT 128 P
21 October 2002
* 3 tracksTransllusion
"L.I.F.E."
CAT 128 CD/LP
8 November 2002
1. Memories Of Me
2. Jogging On The Moon
3. Bump It
4. Consequences
5. Code Blue
6. Rolling With The Punches Of L.I.F.E.
7. Dirty South Strut
8. I'’m Going Home
9. Bump It (Instrumental)Background: Under the monikers of Transllusion, The Other People Place and Drexciya, this Artist has released albums and singles on Warp, Tresor, Clone, and Detroit’s Underground Resistance, among others. Surely among the greatest ever producers and innovators in Techno.
Rephlex are honoured to be releasing this album, being one of the first European labels to release the Artists' work back in 1993, and having been dedicated enthusiasts ever since. In "L.I.F.E.", Transllusion twist the genres of electro and techno into new forms. As the sleeve reads "Don’t be afraid of evolution". Maybe you shouldn't expect a sudden splash when you play this album... Transllusion is already DEEP - and aiming to lure you in, deep towards it's domain.
As Transllusion says; "Open Your Mind To Another Time, Place And Dimension. Feel Electronic Music In Away You May Have Never Felt Before"
- from Rephlex press release notesNOTE: Transllusion is an alias of James Stinson/Drexciya.
SUPREMAT (Berlin, Germany
Transllusion
Power Of The 3rd Brain (12")
Supremat 02
2001
1. Power Of The 3rd Brain
2. Disrupted Neural Gateway
3. Do You Want To Get Down?Transllusion
The Opening of The Cerebral Gate (2LP/CD) Supremat 03
2001
1. Transmission of Life
2. War of the Clones
3. Negative Flash
4. Walking With Clouds
5. Cluben in Guyana
6. Dimensional Glide
7. Crossing Into The Mental Astroplane
8. Cerebral Cortex Malfunction
NOTE: the CD has got all the tracks from the double and the EP and adds a version of an EP track as a bonus.
TRESOR (Berlin, Germany)
Shifted Phases
The Cosmic Memoirs Of The Late Great Rupert J Rosinthrope Tresor 196
2001
1. Solar Wind
2. The Freak Show
3. Waveform Cascades
4. Dance Of The Celestial Druids
5. White Dwarf
6. Implosive Regions
7. Lonely Journey Of The Comet Bopp
8. Scattering Pulsars
9. Flux
CD tracklist:
01. Solar Wind (6:21)
02. White Dwarf (3:43)
03. Waveform Cascades (4:26)
04. Dance of the Celestial Druids (4:35)
05. The Freak Show (4:37)
06. Implosive Regions (4:54)
07. Lonely Journey Of the Comet Bopp (4:35)
08. Crossing Of The Sun-Ra Nebula (5:02)
09. Scattering Pulsars (5:06)
10. Alien Vessel Distress Call (6:55)
11. Flux (7:57)NOTE: a.k.a. James Stinson/Drexciya.
WARP RECORDS (Sheffield, UK)
The Other People Place
Lifestyles Of The Laptop Café (CD/LP)
Warp LP 090
2001
1. Eye Contact
2. Its Your Love
3. Moonlight Rendezvous
4. You Said You Want Me
5. Lifestyles of the Casual
6. Sunrays
7. Let Me Be Me
8. Running from LoveNOTE: a.k.a. James Stinson/Drexciya.
CREDITS:Alan M. Parry (his discography on Hyperreal), Ines Ackermann, Mario Atienza, Janne Heikkarainen, Kvantti Hietaniemi, pHinn, rbc3, Mark S-Walker, Niko Tzoukmanis, Raoul de Vries, Dave Walker, Benjamin Holzwarth and people on 313 and IDM mailing lists.
DREXCIYA RUMOURS:James Stinson died in 2002, but about the other members of Drexciya, it is rumoured that one or more of them have been in such groups as Elecktroids, Dopplereffekt (also as Heinrich Müller or Zyklus B) and Japanese Telecom. All Music Guide once claimed on their Ectomorph entry that Gerald Donald is one half of Drexciya, but after AMG system was updated, and par special request, Gerald's last name was taken off the site & bio [source: 313 list]... (AMG mentions Gerald James also in connection with Flexitone/Ectomorph.) Even "Mad Mike" Banks has been connected with Drexciya once or more times. Since very few people know the actual identity/identities of all Drexciya members, these rumours will undoubtedly go on and on.
DISCLAIMER:This is an unofficial, uncommercial, non-profit fan tribute/info page with no intention to rip anyone off. All images are copyrighted by the respective record labels.
See also:[the continuing validity of these links not guaranteed]
Drexciya @ UBL / All-Music Guide
Drexciya @ pHlow (with some WAV sound files)
[Artists] [313ctr0] [Blog]
