A Guy Called Gerald - Tronic Jazz: The Berlin Sessions

Gerald explores roots and makes his masterpiece

Techno constantly gets pulled about, rebranded and, right now, stripped to its bare circuits in the name of minimalism. The Detroit originators mated Kraftwerk with P-Funk to make a new strain of electronic dance music, channelling their emotions and futuristic visions through analogue machines, inspiring like-minded producers to chart their individual sonic trajectories.

Manchester’s A Guy Called Gerald has been exploring the infinite possibilities of pure machine music since napalming the Haçienda with Voodoo Ray in 1988, forging drum’n’bass templates in the 90s and returning to analogue techno roots with 2006’s Proto Acid: The Berlin Sessions. Since then he’s popped up on Berlin underground labels such as Perlon, but now returns to Laboratory Instinct for his most consummate work to date.

Through 13 often breathtaking excursions which beautifully expand and embroider the classic techno blueprint, Gerald plunges his creative soul into the machines, often finding the perfect beat while recalling the simple beauty of early Chicago house in the swirling People Moover, shimmering deep house on Just Soul and uncurling Detroit-style cloudbursts over Iland’s resonant shuffle. There’s even a luxurious new treatment of old muckers 808 State’s Pacific State (retitled Pacific Samba): a cool nod to Manchester roots and just one highlight of this decade’s first major electronic milestone.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

Laboratory Instinct | LI 017 CD

Reviewed by Kris Needs
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