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Album Reviews
Album Review: A Guy Called Gerald – Tronik Jazz: The Berlin Sessions (Laboratory Instinct)
By Paul Vig | Published on Thursday 8 April 2010
Gerald Simpson is probably best known for his ‘Voodoo Ray’ acid house track, released way back in 1988. He then went on to release one of the first jungle LPs – 1995’s ‘Black Secret Technology’ – before relocating to Berlin and taking a more techno approach to his composition, as evidenced by his ‘Proto Acid’ album from 2006.
Here he crafts techno with a pinch more soul. The opening cut ‘People Moover’ sucks us right in, with its lush sweeping synths and abstract keys, sounding akin to technomeister Fabric Lig. The harder ‘Nuvo Alfa’ follows, and then the menacing ‘Flutter’, and then the highlight – ‘Iland’ – an excellent house tinged stormer.
After the peak comes, aptly, ‘The Dip’, which goes too minimal, before making way for some average breakbeat bass in the form of ‘RoundEco’. Next track ‘Dirty Trix’ is overly mechanistic, but ‘Wow Yeah’, a more tribal track, restores earlier quality levels. Then he retouches ‘Pacific’ by 808 State, which he co-wrote, before providing us with a rather nice meld in ‘Pacific Samba’, a great a slice of future tech in the lush sonic textures of ‘F Min Blue’, and the slightly tripped out ‘Merfed’ as a finale.
‘Tronik Jazz’ is not really that jazz-influenced, but some great tronic work is on offer here, and while not a consistent high, overall AGCG is on good form with his eighth studio album. PV
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