- Clone has just served up another posthumous release from techno legend James Stinson under his moniker Transllusion. Being one half of Drexciya, he also released timeless projects under the names Clarence G, Lab Rat XL and The Other People Place. He was also a member of the influential Detroit collective Underground Resistance. This sets the stage for A Moment of Insanity, Clone’s latest offering from the Aqualung Series, containing four unreleased tracks that were pulled from a recently discovered DAT-tape. Recorded in 2001, they were produced around the same time and in the same studio as the Transllusion LPs Opening Of The Cerebral Gate and L.I.F.E..
Like 2017’s Jack Peoples record (another unreleased Stinson project from DAT-tape), it's great to hear more unheard material. Like much of the later day Stinson, the tracks are heavy on experimentation. There are the typically 808 beats but the atmosphere is abstract. Moment 1 has scattering drums and all manner of synth tones, numerous parts cycling throughout the track. Moment 2 is my pick of the four, being the most club-ready. Drum machine is punctuated by offbeat, percussive synth hits and clicks. A thick bass line swings in completing the groove masterfully (there are some wild, randomized bleeps in there as well which I always appreciate). Moment 3 starts with swirling chirps and heavy drums. Chords eerily fizz until the 808 once again comes in, providing propulsion. Moment 4 is another abstract groove, all its parts balanced, percolating in and out.
Ostensibly, Stinson isolated himself from his contemporaries production, sterring clear of other peoples electronic music, as not to be unduly influenced by other peoples' ideas. Instead he’d listen to jazz. Consequently, Stinson’s music is distinctively raw and loose, two qualities that electronic music often lacks, to its detriment. Not feeling out of place amongst the more experimentally inclined dance music that has proliferated the last couple of years, his productions remain fresh to this day,
- Hillfolk.