The Detroit electro-techno duo of James Stinson and Gerald Donald aka Drexciya never gave away their secrets easily. Almost completely anonymous and never photographed during their 10-year existence – which ended with Stinson's 2002 death after a long illness – they surrounded their music with a complex mythos and mischievous wit comprehensible only to a small, obsessive cult audience. Only now are they getting wider appreciation, with a new generation of electronic musicians like Rustie hugely influenced by their sparse electronic funk, and the art world being introduced to their conceptualism via the work of the Turner Prize nominated Otolith Group.
Since the end of Drexciya, Donald (pictured right) has continued the process of mystification, taking the Germanic deadpan of his heroes Kraftwerk to extremes, adopting the name Heinrich Mueller and recording stark, science-themed electro pieces, generally as Dopplereffekt. Now teaming up with producers Susana Correia and Penelope Lopez and vocalist Beta Evers as Zwischenwelt, he has made an album as strange and mystifying as anything in his catalogue.
Paranormale Aktivitat, as the name suggests, is a creepy record. Themes of clairvoyance and breaking through to other dimensions run throughout in track titles and flatly delivered lyrics – but it's the music itself that really disquiets, sounding like Kraftwerk sucked into an HP Lovecraft tale. Everything is suspended, the electronic sequences shimmering uncannily in the air, rhythm patterns ticking along like esoteric clockwork devices. It's not dance music, and despite tracks with no beats at all it's certainly not chillout – but it is for the most part very, very beautiful, albeit in an intensely weird and rather chilly way. Each short track is a miniature artwork of exquisitely balanced geometries, hinting at emotions abstracted to a point beyond human understanding: love songs for high-tech ghosts. Each listen gives away a little more, but as with everything Drexciyan, only enough to keep you coming back.
Find Paranormale Aktivitat on Amazon- Read more about the birth of Detroit techno: Richie Hawtin and Carl Craig interviewed on theartsdesk
Watch "Segunda Realidad" from Paranormale Aktivitat
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