Saturday, November 26, 2016

Black Replica videos, New Daughter Produkt and Heinrich Mueller's Conic Sections

The Black Replica revival starts here! Someone has shared the two original and still very mysterious and intriguing Black Replica (Heinrich Mueller and a still anonymous woman) videos from 2006 on YouTube. They were removed from the official Paradox Twin account in 2009 and have not been seen since. 'Mathematical Eyes' was actually newly uploaded about a year ago and 'Spider Theory' just 2 months ago. The video quality is lower than the original, which is kind of poetic after 10 years. Its been great to see some of the details of these videos again, as well as hearing the still timeless music. It reminds me so much of the spirit of 2006 when I was just beginning DRL and these MySpace projects came along not long after (incl Zwischenwelt, Zerkalo etc) and gave me so much to write about and share. About 2 years ago I revisited the story of Black Replica in this post.

Here's another blast from Gerald Donald's past, the very unexpected return of Daughter Produkt! A new track by them, 'Direction Asymmetry', is included on Dreamy Harbour, a new compilation of unreleased tracks due on Tresor soon on 3LP and CD. The press blurb says this about it, 'There's also room for a track from Daughter Produkt, a new project from Drexciya's Gerald Donald featuring two vocalists.' See more about Daughter Produkt from the DRL archives here. The project was originally launched in 2007 on MySpace in collaboration with Spanish producer Annie Hall. What next, the return of Noether Symmetry!

Heinrich Mueller was also recently commissioned to create music for an art exhibition, An Image, currently on show in Art Center South Florida, USA. The exhibition website appears to just play one of the sections of the piece, 'Conic Sections, but not all four. More details here, info about his contribution from their website below.

Heinrich Mueller-Dataphysix Renormalon
Conic Sections, 2016
Soundtrack
TRT 30:30 minutes
This audio track, available on the wireless headphones inside
the gallery space and on the website, was produced by Heinrich
Mueller formerly of the Detroit techno group Drexciya. The
piece is divided into four 7 ½ minute movements (1: Plane-Cone
intersection; 2: Circle; 3: Ellipse; and 4: Parabola) that conjure
the image of a plane changing its angle while intersecting with
a cone, and thus generating various corresponding curves.

Arpanet will be playing live in Stockholm, Sweden on 3rd December and on 10th December in Brussels, Belgium.

There is an extremely good mix of only Heinrich Mueller remodels by kroniktronikboy and another great Drexciya themed mix from earlier this year which comes from Irish based producer and DJ Lerosa.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Heinrich Mueller remodels As One on Brainbox plus much more

There is a new Heinrich Mueller remodel of 'Where Did He Go... And Why', by As One upcoming soon. It can be found on a 6 LP boxset, Brainbox, a compilation due for release on the De:Tuned label on 18th November in an edition of 300. Great to see Mueller working on material by the great Kirk Degiorgio, As One is one of his many aliases. Here is a sample of his remodel of 'Where Did He Go... And Why'. Order record from Juno and other places online.

Just to give you a heads up so you can secure early bird tickets, Dopplereffekt are on the bill for Safe as Milk festival, in Wales, UK, which will run from 21st to 23rd April 2017. More details here.

It looks like there has either been a re-press or a box of them have shown up somewhere, but Drexciya's Hydro Doorways (2000) and Digital Tsunami (2001) EPs, both on Tresor, have shown up. At least two online retailers, Japhy and Juno (see comments for link) have got new copies at reasonable prices anyways.

This is a link to a newly published academic paper, 'DEEP SEA DWELLERS: Drexciya and the Sonic Third Space' by Nettrice R. Gaskins. Abstract below:

'This article addresses the complex conceptual framework of Drexciya, an electronic music duo from Detroit who established an origin myth based on the Middle Passage, the route for ships carrying enslaved African people from one geographical location to another across the Atlantic Ocean. Whereas the origin myth of Plato’s Atlantis ends in a permanent submersion into the sea, the world of Drexciya begins with the creation of an underwater country populated by the unborn children of pregnant African women thrown off of slave ships. Drexciya exists as a sonic third space characterised by embedded myths, the construction of culture and the invention of tradition. I will highlight the development of this sonic fiction that spans several decades, influencing many artists, musicians and scholars, by focusing on the Drexciyan concept of an intercultural, transnational network that shows the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from their homeland, and newly created spaces that transform identities and cultures. This article draws on obscure artist interviews and well-known sources about Drexciya, including essays by Kodwo Eshun and Ben Williams, while advancing the notion of non-physical, sonic islands that sit in spaces between the island and the ocean.'

I was invited by Turn It On to do a mix and decided to do (the first ever) Drexciya Research Lab mix. This was lots of fun, hope you enjoy it here.

This is a new show from France's 'The Beat Radio Show' "dedicated to Gerald Donald of the mythical group of Detroit, DREXCIYA". Some great tracks are selected, new and old.

There is a new 2 hour Gerald Donald special (broadcast live yesterday) made by VLR on their Soundcloud now, so many great tunes together in one amazing mix. 6 years ago VLR did their first 2 hour GD mix, still up on their Soundcloud.

A quality new vinyl only mix by German DJ Morri. "I mixed some of my personal favorite tracks by James Stinson and Gerald Donald aka DREXCIYA to create an underwater journey - dive in and enjoy the real vintage Detroit electro goodness."