Description
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Adored by their fans for their innovative sound and elusive persona, Drexciya, an electronic duo of James Stinson and Gerald Donald, positioned themselves firmly in Detroit’s music scene. Debuting in the 1990s, they became one of the key players in pioneering unique dance-floor oriented music. Merging elements from the retro era and 80s Detroit techno with occasional venture into ambient and industrial genres, they created a sound grounded in the Roland TR-808 drum machine, Roland D20 synthesizer, Casio CZ 5000, Kawai K1 synthesizer, Korg Monopoly synthesizer, and Roland TR-909 drum machine.
In the late autumn of 1999, Drexciya welcomed their fans into Neptune’s Lair, a masterpiece studio album that encapsulated their distinctive sound. The release was received positively, illustrating the duo’s skillful composition and mastery of imaginative sonic storytelling. Over the following years, Drexciya added more works to their discography, releasing Harnessed the Storm and Grava 4 in 2002.
Drexciya was a riddle, almost to a fault. They avoided the spotlight, instead immersing themselves in their music and narrative. The duo stoked a nautical Afrofuturist myth, portraying Drexciya as an underwater country. As the myth goes, this realm was inhabited by the unborn children of pregnant African women, abandoned from slave ships and adapted to breath underwater. This narrative, deeply entrenched in their music, added another layer to their already complex compositions.
Unfortunately, in September 2002, the duo’s journey came to a sudden halt with the passing of James Stinson due to a heart condition. Despite the loss, Gerald Donald continued crafting music, now under Dopplereffekt, Der Zyklus, Elecktroids, NRSB-11 and Daughter Produkt, as well as under other names including XOR Gate, Arpanet, and Japanese Telecom.
The duo’s legacy has been far from forgotten. Flash forward to 2019, their profound influence permeated in the works of visual artist Abu Qadim Haqq. Inspired deeply by Drexciya’s mythology, Haqq devised ‘The Book of Drexciya’, narrating the origins of Drexciya and the rise of their first ruler, Drexaha.
Their footprint still holds relevance beyond traditional fan bounds, even reaching the industrial hip-hop group, Clipping, who acknowledged Drexciya’s influence on their 2017 song, ‘The Deep’. Furthermore, Drexciya’s influence transcended to art exhibitions, as shown in “From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya”, a multimedia display by American artist Ayana V. Jackson in 2023, which wound up being labeled as ‘anti-American propaganda’ by then US President, Donald Trump.
A fresh wave approaches in 2022 though, a 20-year commemoration since Stinson’s passing. Tresor Records in collaboration with Detroit artist Matthew Angelo Harrison will release special editions of Drexciya’s catalog. Re-interpreted album covers, re-releases of the iconic albums like Transllusion and Shifted Phases are to be expected. While changes, even enrichments are inevitable, the echo of Drexciya continues through the corridors of music history, reminding us of the duo’s grand momentum of the late 90s, a momentum that never actually ceased.
