Journey of the Deep Sea Dweller, Pt. 1

This is the first installment in a significant undertaking by Clone, the Netherlands-based label with a catalog that owes much to James Stinson and Gerald Donald's sovereign and conceptual electro-techno work as Drexciya. Like the three volumes that followed it, this offers an assortment of tracks taken from the duo's many 1992-1998 EPs for labels like Underground Resistance, Submerge, Shockwave, Somewhere in Detroit, and Warp, and it also contains some unreleased material. The tracks were mastered from the original tapes by the respected Alden Tyrell, who happens to be one of the many Clone artists whose output has been inspired, in part, by them. This sets the tone for the volumes that followed, with a handful of the duo's most brilliant tracks — such as "Wavejumper," "Bubble Metropolis," "Aquarazorda," and "Sea Quake" here — surrounded by deeper cuts. Previously unreleased track "Unknown Journey I" is decent, certainly worth hearing for listeners who have devoured all Drexciya and Drexciya-related releases throughout the years.