A GUY CALLED GERALD - To All Things What They Need

ALBUM OF THE MONTH

A Guy Called Gerald - To All Things What They Need (!K7)

BY MATTHEW COLLIN

****

Mancunian tech no veteran takes magical mystery tour.

COSMIC B-BOY Gerald Simpson helped to define British acid house, first as an early member of 808 State in the '80s, then with the mesmerising Voodoo Ray. He went on to become a significant player during the genesis of drum'n'bass with his itchily paranoid 28 Gun Bad Boy album before dropping below the public radar. The Mancunian, like many techno-generation auteurs, has now pitched up as an expat in Berlin, and has found yet another voice. While there's an audible debt to the deep-space voyagers of Detroit's Red Planet label, this is a dreamier, more introspective take on techno. Hip hop beat-poet Ursula Rucker adds one of her compulsive manifestos, while Finley Quaye eschews his usual happy-clappy vibe for a more mysterious lyric that fits with the album's general air of enigmatic reverie.