- As RA's Lee Smith pointed out in a feature on the site early last year, the fate of Spencer Kincy, AKA Gemini, has been subject to much speculation. After five prolific years of accomplished and diverse house and techno productions on labels like Relief, Cajual, Heartbeat, Peacefrog and Classic, Kincey became disillusioned with the business, briefly moving from Chicago to San Francisco's Bay Area before reappearing in his hometown without any equipment, allegedly not acting like his usual self and having to rely on begging to get by.
Chicago journalist Terry Matthew recently posted an intriguing couple of articles that indicated that he was still alive and in Illinois—albeit allegedly trying to sue both the FBI and the US Department Of Defense amongst other parties—but even if this is true, Kincy shows no sign of returning to the music business any time soon. All that fans can do is enjoy the legacy that he has left, either through picking up his releases second-hand or via re-releases such as this one on Carl Craig's Planet E imprint.
A Moment Of Insanity was Kincy's sole release on the label, and has become a fairly sought after item, even though the original issue was pressed rather quietly. Fans will therefore be pleased to hear that the reissue on Planet E's Classics series has been remastered and sounds crisper than ever, making it much easier to mix the four included cuts with more contemporary releases. The two versions of "Crossing Mars" that grace this 12-inch are the strongest of the bunch; the original's paranoid bleeps, powerful kick and militaristic snare patterns coming together to create a tense jacker, while the remix stretches things out for a slightly deeper and padded out techno jam.
The chirpy one-note stabs and slightly more rigid beats of "A Dream" don't really have the necessary dynamism to make it a successful dance floor killer, but Kincy again comes correct on the title track, utilising a simple, bumping backbeat and frenetic affected hi-hat fills for a real heads-down vibe that should get more clued up members of the crowd lost in the groove. What with his disappearance from the music scene, it's a shame that further reissues seem unlikely to resurface, but A Moment of Insanity provides a good starting point for house and techno newcomers looking to delve into Gemini's strong back catalogue.
Tracklist A1 A Dream
A2 Crossing Mars
B1 Crossing Mars (Remix)
B2 A Moment of Insanity