Drexciya – Journey Of The Deep Sea Dweller 1

A few months ago Clone got the worldwide electronic community foaming at the mouth with the announcement that there would be new Drexciya re-issues on the way. First off were a few 12s that Clone had already released or re-issued themselves before, leaving us wonder when they’d be pulling out the big guns or if it was all just a ruse. We shouldn’t have worried though, as Journey Of The Deep Sea Dweller 1 is the first of 4, yes FOUR compilations of Drexciya material.

First thing of note is that they aren’t doing straight re-issues of the material, which I think is a good idea. It keeps the nerds happy that their precious originals haven’t been cheapened as much as they could have been while also supplying others with plenty of difficult to obtain music on wax. Going on this first compilation they seem to have put a good amount of thought and effort into compiling them instead of just dumping a bunch of tracks together. And while it’s nice to see “Dehydration” appear on wax after being only available on The Quest CD there is also a previously unreleased cut, “Unknown Journey”. Yes, that’s new Drexciya material. Wow.

Bubble Metropolis and The Unknown Aquazone are featured most heavily here with 3 tracks taken from each and 1 each from Deep Sea Dweller, The Return Of, Aquatic Invasion and the aformentioned The Quest. Most intriguingly – in terms of what the future may hold – is the inclusion of “Hydro Theory” and “Darthouven Fish Men” from The Journey Home. While the others are culled from the UR camp this was released originally on Warp. Though this package contains material only  that goes under the Drexciya name could this possibly mean that The Other People Place and Elektroids (Stinson’s other releases on Warp) could also be making an appearance in the future??  Hmmm. One can presume the Tresor material will not be surfacing here, what with it being re-released already. Also, the other afformentioned Warp releases were Stinson solo projects so this may not happen as Clone are more than likely working with Gerald Donald on this series.

Anyways, back to this one. As Drexciya releases were never simply a bunch of club tracks thrown together the re-arranging of the music has to be looked at. Unsurprisingly they start things off with “Welcome to” before things kick in with “WaveJumper” and “Lardossan Funk” gently upping the ante bit by bit. I’m working off a digital promo for this but I’m presuming that the B-side leads with “Bubble Metropolis” and we vere into more abrasive territory with the following “Hydro Doorway” and the properly warped “Take Your Mind”. The Cd version sees “Take Your Mind” placed near the end but I feel it is more suited to come after “Hydro Doorway”, nicely slotting inbetween it and the murky “Aquarazorda”.

And so we come to “Unknown Journey”. The 808 programming is pure Stinson but you can feel the input of Donald in the track with it’s initial catchy hook that is soon contradicted by a droning bassline, and spooky, ethereal  chords . The song focuses on the melodic elements when they arrive, more so than the drums which for the most part are little more than a 808 kick drum, breaking out into the groove only one more time after the opening minute or so. This is very much a welcome addition to the Drexciya cannon and proves once again that all the impersonaters that have followed since  have rarely, if ever, been able to capture the magic these guys could from their machines.

The tempo is brought down again a little bit more by “Dehydration” before “Beyond The Abyss”‘  rough and pacy beats accompanied by screwy warped noises leads perfectly into the crushing techno of “Sea Quake”. (On the CD, “Beyond The Abyss” follows “Hydro Doorway”, which also works pretty well). “Rubick’s Cube” follows this is and it’s where I would have wrapped up this compilation. “Darthoeven Fish People” is maybe too similar to “Sea Quake” for both of them to appear so close to each other. Again, at the end the CD running order is different with “Dehydration” closing things off, but I still would have finished with “Rubick’s Cube”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv0SJriM_gA

And that is that, for now. As a commited and unashamed fanboy of Drexciya there is very little on the musical side of things I can criticise. It would be different if this was a one off compilation, we’d be pissing and moaning as much as praising over what’s there and what isn’t. We will have to wait until the end of the series before we do that but this double pack gives us a coherent and solid over look of the various facets of the duo’s sound and runs in a smooth fashion for the most part. It doesn’t venture too much in to the more abstract end of their music but does let it peak out every so often and I think should work as a good introduction for new listeners. They’ve included a new track with no fan fare at all which was also a nice touch, especially when these lost tracks that are unsurfaced rarely ever deliver anything. Compare that to Soma’s OH MY GOD NEW DAFT PUNK approach to a track that was forgotten for a reason “Unknown Journey” was an extremely pleasant surprise. More of the same, please.

Edit: I haven’t commented on the sound quality as I don’t yet have a vinyl copy, but going on the digital files Tyrell has done a sterling job, as with the rest of the Clone Classics series.