Bleep

The prolific, intricate, and enticing mythos of Drexciya literally made waves throughout the 90s and early 2000s, elevating their already pioneering techno / electro sound to unparalleled levels with a mysterious narrative that unfolded across time and space. Under the Drexciya name, the duo of James Stinson and Gerald Donald released three albums and a handful of EPs before Stinson passed in 2002.

Abstract Thought is one of the duo’s many aliases continuing the story of Drexciya, and its sole album Hypothetical Situations forms a vital piece in the project’s lore. Seven albums in their Storm series struck throughout the early 2000s, and Hypothetical Situations forms Storm #4 with its subtle and dynamic dancefloor tracks that seek to interrogate the human, the inhuman, and the universe. The album is supplemented with questions exploring philosophical quandaries and doomsday scenarios, and the music speaks for itself: tense, dark, and fervently danceable.

Nerves fire in the thought experiments of ‘Bermuda Triangle’, opening with surging synths and curious melodies that drift upwards in quiet contemplation. The fried signals of ‘Solar Pulse’ mimic an energy grid overloaded by punishing beat pyrotechnics, with dense layers of crushed synths whistling, glitching, and zapping around like stray electrons in the air as a domineering and ominous bassline fills the horizon. Arguably the darkest and most unforgiving track of the lot, ‘Galactic Rotation’ closes with its apocalyptic combo of heavy bass and kicks, spinning percussive blades, and synths trembling in awe and reverence.

Now reissued after almost 20 years of being out of print, Hypothetical Situations is a holy grail in the expanded Drexciya universe.