An uncovered early-1990s transmission from Gerald Donald aka Heinrich Mueller – the producer behind Drexciya, Arpanet, Dopplereffekt and a constellation of further aliases – surfaces under his Intellitronic moniker via Glasgow’s Rubadub. Three of these four tracks have never been released before, and Pixel is available now at Inverted Audio Record Store.
The lead track Pixel made its sole prior appearance on the Magic Tracks (Deep Detroit Volume Two) CD compiled by Juan Atkins in 1993 — a fitting home for a record that carries the unmistakable DNA of Detroit’s first wave. But Stencil, Inkjet and Hex Colour Code remained in the archive until now, thirty-plus years later emerging as vital and as strange as the day they were made.
Four tracks of stripped-back machine funk referencing pre-millennium printing technology, the conceptual rigour that has always run through Mueller’s work is present from the first bar. These are productions built with the same focused intelligence and alien character that defined the best of the Drexciya catalogue, applied here in an earlier and rawer form — the Detroit electro lineage unmistakable beneath the lo-fi, functional precision. If anything, the passage of time has only sharpened their edge.
Pressed on clear vinyl at Archer Record Pressing in Detroit – the same plant behind deep-groove classics from Juan Atkins, Underground Resistance and J Dilla – the format feels like a deliberate act of tribute, the music returning to the city that made it in the most physical way possible. An essential archival discovery from one of electronic music’s most singular and enduring minds.
Pixel is out now. Listen to clips and buy a vinyl copy from Inverted Audio Record Store.
TRACKLIST
A1. Pixel
A2. Stencil
B1. Inkjet
B2. Hex Colour Code
