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Farewell to Drexciya

Drexciya's James Stinson passed away this week. This is our goodbye to him.

Tekst: Omar Muñoz-Cremers

Publicatiedatum: 06 september 2002

It is at these moments that one feels a mythical despair, like standing at the grave of the slain hero, demanding of the gods why they always take away the fairest, the brightest and the most talented too soon. On September 3 James Stinson, better known as the driving force behind Drexciya, died of heart complication. We enter dark times. With cultural stasis reaching a high degree of mediocrity at an alarming speed, we simply can't afford to lose artists like Stinson. Artists who dream the new into our lives. No doubt you will not read about his death in newspapers, there will be no radio specials paying homage to one of the great musicians of our time. Damning evidence that the struggle for acceptance of our music is far from over. But this does not mean his achievements will be forgotten. Word of his passing away, praise of his music is heard elsewhere, murmured in disbelief throughout the digital ocean.

Over the years Drexciya and its many side-projects had grown to hold a status in dance music only reserved for the likes of Richard James, Carl Craig and Mike Banks. To state that his music touched us perhaps carries too many implications of old-fashioned soul although the music certainly could be beautiful. After resuming activity with Neptune's Lair (1999) the harsh sounds of his early work, as collected on The Quest, were at times illuminated with a gentle alien beauty, a fascination with the sublime forces of nature or the abstract wonder found in chemical reactions. But more than our souls Drexciya moved our minds. The intricate conceptualization with which the music formed a unique mythical universe made Stinson a direct heir to Sun Ra and one of the great unsung heroes of science fiction in the nineties. Indeed one of the reasons his death is so shocking, lies perhaps in the fact that subconsciously we not only accepted the symbolism of Drexciya but really believed him to be a mythical creature, eternal.

Without biographical facts or photographs, eschewing the cult of personality the anonymous Drexciya evolved into a cultural force. In this time of ideological clashes within electro he remained a bridge-builder between the United States and Europe, forging alliances by releasing records on such diverse labels as Warp, Underground Resistance, Tresor, International DeeJay Gigolo's, Supremat, Rephlex and Clone. The output always remained of the highest quality, instantly recognizable yet never the same. In a recent interview Stinson hinted at two albums that would complete an amazing run of seven albums released in a period of little more than a year. But even without the completion of this cycle, Stinson leaves behind an impressive body of work that will eventually ensure the name Drexciya being talked about in the same hallowed tones as Kraftwerk.

Black waters are growing still. The last waves whisper your name after which the wind is left alone to sing new songs of futures unknown. Rest now, you warrior soul.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/achtergrond/drexciya/farewell-to-drexciya/1822/
Meer Drexciya op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/drexciya