Bleep

Many of the releases that have passed through James Stinson’s hands have been labelled as “essential” and “classic”, from the universe-spanning Afrofuturist saga of Drexciya to those produced under his various aliases (such as Lifestyles Of The Laptop Café). Take a dive into any one of them and it’s not hard to see why. The lone album from his Shifted Phases name surely sits high up in those ranks, and with Tresor’s continued reissues of the Drexciyan canon, has been rescued from the depths for us to revisit once more.

Conceived as part of the Drexciyan storm series that struck throughout the early 2000s, The Cosmic Memoirs… departs from the bubbling techno of Earth’s oceans to pursue extraterrestrial electro rhythms (perhaps reaching its destination at Drexciya’s Grava 4). The album verges on experimental and even intimate, with the tender pads of ‘Lonely Journey Of The Comet Bopp’ introducing icy piano particles that flutter across tightly woven beats, while the anxious shuffles of ‘Alien Vessel Distress Call’ glue together sirens, alarms, and sonic tornadoes buzzing from side to side.

‘Solar Wind’ speeds in with swishing beats, chopping up interplanetary signals atop a deep bass. Low end conversations in ‘Dance Of The Celestial Druids’ occur between a thumping four to the floor pattern and rumbling synth lines, taking on a meditative quality that is broken up by the complex and whimsical melodies on ‘The Freak Show’, propelled by a squeaky, booming kick, and curiously reversed vocal samples.

Not only is The Cosmic Memoirs… a necessary chapter in the wider Drexciya story, but it is also an electro album of the highest calibre.