Drexciya - Journey Of The Deep Sea Dweller I (Afrofuturist 1990's-2002 Detroit Techno/Electro)

[Celerity]

Label: Clone Classic Cuts – C#CC22LP
Series: Journey Of The Deep Sea Dweller – I
Format:
2 x Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, Compilation, Remastered, Blue
Country: Netherlands
Released: 6 Dec 2011
Genre: Electronic
Style: Techno, Electro











From 1992 until 2002, the mysterious electro outfit Drexciya created not only some of Detroit's most original, enduring electronic music, but one of techno's greatest myth systems. This compilation-- the first in a planned four-volume anthology-- serves as a crucial introduction.



https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16175-journey-of-the-deep-sea-dweller-i/

GENRE: Electronic
LABEL: Clone
REVIEWED: January 13, 2012



Forget James Cameron and his $200 million budget: Equipped only with outdated Japanese electronics, Drexciya were the true masters of the deep. From 1992 until 2002, the mysterious electro outfit created not only some of Detroit's most original and enduring electronic music; they created an entire imaginary world, one of the greatest myth systems in the history of techno.

A new compilation of the group's work, the first in a planned four-volume anthology put out by Rotterdam's Clone label, serves as a crucial introduction to Drexciya's worldview as well as, of course, their music. It's a good time for it: In the past two decades, the meaning of "electro" has repeatedly mutated and diluted though its association with electroclash, then Ed Banger's buzzy brand of dance music, and, lately, big-tent commercial rave like Deadmau5 and Wolfgang Gartner. The Drexciya reissue rightly returns the spotlight to the original electro's signature rhythms and analog palette.



From their first release, 1992's Deep Sea Dweller EP, Drexciya were obsessed with sub-aquatic realms. Their first tracks bore titles like "Sea Quake" and "Nautilus 12", and the following year's Bubble Metropolis EP, divided into "Fresh Water" and "Salt Water" sides and with center stickers depicting dolphins cavorting beneath craggy cliffs, poured it on thicker with "Aqua Worm Hole" and "Danger Bay". The music was appropriately liquid, with hi-hats like raindrops, bass like the belch of some fanged denizen of the fathomless dark, and blippy melodies bobbing like bioluminescent lures.

Adapting the lurching rhythmic template of 1980s electro-funk acts like Man Parrish, Cybotron, and Jonzun Crew, Drexciya emphasized the depth-charge qualities of a booming 808 kick, and the electric-eel jolt of a zapping filter sweep. But it went deeper than that. The music was punctuated by cryptic interludes and scraps of code, like an intercepted transmission from "Drexciyan Cruise Control Bubble 1 to Lardossan Cruiser 8 dash 203 X", a head-spinning array of names and numbers relating to something called the "Aquabahn".

snip



Drexciya: how Afrofuturism is inspiring calls for an ocean memorial to slavery

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/25/drexciya-how-afrofuturism-inspired-calls-for-an-ocean-memorial-to-slavery