Elecktroids - Kilohertz

  • An underwhelming reissue from the Drexciya canon.
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  • Like most records in the Drexciya canon, Kilohertz is enigmatic. It's the only EP released by the project Elecktroids, and it came out originally on Warp in 1995, at a time when liner notes were often all people had to go on. "Background: based in Flint, Michigan, USA, the four young sons of an electrician, known simply as the Elecktroids, have welded together their debut album," read the text with Elektroworld, the only Elecktroids album, before mentioning Kraftwerk as an inspiration. In 2007, the Drexciya Research Lab blog speculated that Alex Lugo and Dennis Richardson of Ultradyne could have been involved in the project, on account of there being four figures on the album's cover (those two, plus Drexciya's Gerald Donald and James Stinson), as well as the fact that both acts were releasing on Warp at the time. Then in 2008, Warp apparently relisted the CD version of the LP with the text: "Produced by Drexciya's late James Stinson." So far, so Drexciya. But what's less common about Kilohertz is that it is, honestly, quite average. The feeling that the EP is something of a minor work is further fuelled when you dig into the other music that Stinson and Donald released around the time. Most immediately, the Elecktroids album was a bit of a gem. Where at some points the tracks on Kilohertz slip into Kraftwerk pastiche, Elektroworld successfully allowed the iconic German group to influence the developing Drexciya aesthetic. (On tracks like "Midnight Drive," you can also hear a template that Stinson would later expand upon so incredibly on Lifestyles Of The Laptop Café.) 1995 was also the year of "Wavejumper" and "Journey Home," tracks that could vie for a place in a top-ten list of Drexciya tracks. Next to these, the electro-funk keyboard flourishes on "Magnetic Field" and "Algorithm" seem dated. The synth line on the stomping "Remote Control Hornet," meanwhile, is as appealing as the track's title suggests. "Digital Warlock" didn't appear on the original EP, and while it has a certain madcap, '80s-influenced energy and features the only vocal on the record, it doesn't seem like an essential inclusion. This is, of course, all relative. On the title track, you can at least sense the magic that Stinson and Donald brought to an unfathomably large number of records. It's perhaps just best to go enjoy one of those.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Kilohertz A2 Magnetic Field B1 Remote Control Hornet B2 Algorithm B3 Digital Warlock
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