...as if you’re seeing a kaleidoscope in black and white
February 3, 2020 8:22 AM   Subscribe

Twenty five years ago this month A Guy Called Gerald released his fourth album, Black Secret Technology. The last Jungle album. Or the first DNB album. You choose.

Tracks:
So Many Dreams
Alita's Dream
Finley's Rainbow
The Nile
Energy
Silent Cry (Gerico)
Cybergen
Dreaming of You
Survival
Cyberjazz
Voodoo Rage
Life Unfolds His Mystery

Reviews:
The Quietus
Pitchfork (8.7, because Pitchfork have poor taste)
Julian Cope


Great lecture/interview by Mr Simpson for Red Bull Music Academy from 2010 (transcript included).

Title quote from Mark Fisher's review in FACT's 100 Best Albums of the 1990s feature. BST made number 4.
posted by thatwhichfalls (9 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
Hah! I guess it’s because I only even got into those sounds years later, but I don’t even know that I’d picked up on the distinction. I’ll have to pore through these!
posted by Going To Maine at 8:26 AM on February 3, 2020


Jfc I'm old
I need some Voodoo, Ray!
posted by lalochezia at 8:49 AM on February 3, 2020 [1 favorite]


Techno. It's all Techno and it's wonderful. So wonderful I willfully refuse to participate in the genre splinters game.
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:26 AM on February 3, 2020 [1 favorite]


I'm gonna go with the latter, the first DNB album. It felt so exciting at the time - Liz Fraser style vocalists and rich textures. Something about jungle though - less sophisticated, but always exciting. Once DNB entered, it was much easier to over-texturize and water down the breaks. DNB was pretty boring by 2000.

As GoblinHoney says, genres are pretty useless, but I love the way jungle/DNB really came in and rebooted the break, paving the way for all the creative splinters that got under my skin in the 90s and 2000s.
posted by SoundInhabitant at 11:08 AM on February 3, 2020


DJ Persuasion - Dedicated To The Dedicated 94-95

^ really great dj mix if you're into 94-95 dnb
posted by jcruelty at 12:10 PM on February 3, 2020 [2 favorites]


Massive collection of jungle tapes. I think this may have been an fpp at some point.
posted by Television Name at 1:23 PM on February 3, 2020 [2 favorites]


90s techno really loved to turn up that chorus plug-in.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 2:03 PM on February 3, 2020


90s techno really loved to turn up that chorus plug-in.
i know i'm being trolled i know i'm being trolled i know i'm being trolled
posted by prismatic7 at 3:00 AM on February 4, 2020 [1 favorite]


I remember liking that album but around Detroit, we were still mostly rocking his old Voodoo Ray b-side, Blow Your House Down, all through the 90s.

Gerald was also uploading to Youtube for a bit, here's a nice little studio demo.
posted by p3t3 at 4:12 AM on February 4, 2020 [1 favorite]


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