A Guy Called Gerald: Proto Acid - The Berlin Sessions

Album Review

Urban Pollution
October 2006
Web link

A Guy Called Gerald’s Gerald Simpson has been a notable figure in electronic dance music since the 80s, putting out quality releases in a variety of genres. Proto Acid – The Berlin Sessions is a seamless DJ mix of new material, all produced by Simpson himself. While there’s plenty of use of the Roland TB-303, this isn’t an acid house retread. Just as the title implies, Proto Acid is a re-imagining of acid house with a strong mix of Detroit techno, finished off with the cold, precise sound of German electro. Despite the production embellishments, this is at its core nothing more than a dance record, and it unarguably succeeds as such.

As with any dance record, the record’s flow is its most important aspect. The record glides from beginning to end, starting off with the harsh edginess of “Marching Powder”. As an opening track, the mix begins with built-in momentum. The following tracks are mostly short and to the point, each one dissolving into the next. Rarely longer than two to three minutes, the frenetic pace of the 24 tracks continuously keeps things moving forward at a nice, danceable 130 bpm range.

A sci-fi darkness tends to permeate the essence of each these songs. In particular, the densely layered “Droid”, and its intro track “Space 1999” are mechanical and never seem to shake their anxious uneasiness. The mood isn’t too consistent, however, and is subject to change. “Nasty,” “Andromeda,” and “Skitzoid” exude off-kilter quirkiness cut with a crazed, disturbed tinge. “Clock” is just plain oddball, with a fun, almost goofy quality that doesn’t get lost in the gloom. “Monday” uses an ambient pulse to give a contemplative contrast to the track’s thumping beats, and “Downstroke” might sound like a weird dream if it weren’t for the pounding house rhythm.

Two of the best tracks serve as the album’s closer. The penultimate track, “Voltar”, is also the longest on the record, at more than seven minutes. The track’s first half uses a filtered sample that could be described as a synthetic harmonica. It provides the mix with an upward shift in mood. This mood swing is short lived, as the sample drops out halfway and is replaced with a bleak hum. “Sweet You” finishes things off with another rousing change in mood. Using swing heavy pianos washes, the dramatic colour of “Sweet You” is like another classic techno track of old, before the utopia of dance music was crushed by overexposure and sub cultural burn out. It avoids sounding nostalgic as well, conveying a certain sense of wisdom that bubbles through the surface.

Thankfully, the record in large part avoids this type of nostalgia. This is essential to the record’s success, as getting lost in retro sappiness would make it irrelevant. Instead, Simpson tries to form something new by finding the unexplored connections between several different genres simultaneously. There probably isn’t a better person to try, either. Simpson’s past experience results in a record with perfect production that avoids sounding hollow. It does sound a little faceless at times, but this isn’t necessarily a detriment. As a dance record, it’s more important that it serves to inspire those on the dance floor, rather than indulge the whims of the DJ. The fact Simpson keeps his tracks short, never letting them overstay their welcome, also shows signs of a an artist who knows how to keep ego from spoiling his work.

Proto Acid – the Berlin Sessions is a good watermark for the state of electronic music today. Simpson himself now lives in Berlin, having long ago left his hometown of Manchester. This is unsurprising, as the part of Berlin’s culture that allows artistic exploration and supports alternative lifestyles has made it the new Mecca for electronic music in the western world. Simpson’s decision to revamp techno’s past by embracing the present only serves to propel the music into the future. It’s a well-crafted record that will further cement A Guy Called Gerald’s legacy in the techno world.

Uncut
Take 113
October 2006
Page: 99

***

Acid house veteran's techno jam.

Having faded from relevance after a stint producing existential drum'n'bass, Berlin-based Gerald Simpson returns to the sinuous acid style he mastered in the late '80s as one of the original members of 808 State. Aimed squarely at the dancefloor, Proto Acid is a pacey 71-minute mix with 24 new club tracks, most of which have a functional anonymity. A dippy few stand out, ("Xray", "Voltar" and "Feel The Heat"), but it's clear Simpson's main aim is to ride the undulant groove from the safety of his studio.

PIERS MARTIN

Mojo
October 2006
(Issue?)
Page: ??

Pop Matters
8th September 2006
Web link

US release date: 22 August 2006
UK release date: 14 August 2006

by Tim O'Neil
PopMatters Associate Music Editor

Listen up, kids, I’m about to drop some science on your heads: there once was a guy called Gerald Simpson, who went by the name A Guy Called Gerald. Perhaps not the catchiest nom de guerre, but hey, it was the ‘80s. After techno and house incubated in the United States during the mid-to-late ‘80s, dance music crossed the Atlantic to find a welcome reception in Britain. Simpson was right there in the thick of it—you’d be hard pressed to pick up a classic rave compilation from the era that didn’t have “Voodoo Ray” on it. He’s so old school he gets props for helping define both acid house and drum & bass—this from an era before the two genres had ever split in twain.

So, yeah, when A Guy Called Gerald drops a new disc, it’s time to pay attention. Dance music, like hip-hop, is a particularly fickle field where pioneers are not often accorded the respect they are due. The crucial difference, however, is that very few hip-hop legends are still producing work anywhere near as good as their best, if they’re even working at all, whereas dance music fans are privileged to still a large number of the architects alive and kicking. Let’s put it this way: if LL Cool J or Kool Moe Dee put out a four-and-a-half star CD in 2006, wouldn’t it be cause for celebration? Well, that’s probably not going to happen anytime soon, so let’s instead celebrate A Guy Called Gerald, who is still producing records as good or better than anything he released almost two decades ago. That’s some astounding longevity, especially in a genre often dismissed for its faddishness and fashion consciousness. A Guy Called Gerald has been around long enough that it really doesn’t matter whether or not his style is in fashion, because the sensibility he brings to the music is — at the risk of courting hyperbole — timeless.

Proto Acid: The Berlin Sessions is something of a concept album, at least according to Simpson’s own descriptions — an attempt at peering into a parallel universe wherein rave music had not exploded in England, and where house and techno had remained American phenomena's. Of course, there’s more than a bit of irony here, considering that Simpson is, as I mentioned, quite British, a native of Manchester. Dance music’s fatal Achilles Heel in America has been the (often justified) perception of the music as a predominantly European field, despite the fact that house and techno were born and bred in the United States. Perhaps house music could have become more popular if it hadn’t become so closely associated with European style? I don’t know—based simply on living in the here and now, it’s hard to envision a world where a track like “Marching Powder” could duke it out with Jessica Simpson at the top of the charts.

In any event, irony or no, Simpson doesn’t let the concept get in the way of creating a damn fine piece of music. The album is composed of 24 tracks, all of which are blended in such a way as to create a single cohesive composition. From the very beginning it’s hard to mistake this album for anything other than a blisteringly hot slice of hardcore techno album. Forget your microhouse or minimal techno, and despite Simpson’s feigned protestations to the contrary, this is old school acid at its very finest. The aforementioned “Marching Powder” kicks things off in high form, with tribal-influenced kick drums and pungent synthesizer riffs to singe your eyebrows off. Most people probably associate acid with a particular style of 303 riff — the noodly sound on a track like Josh Wink’s “Higher State of Consciousness” — but that’s really not the whole story. Sure, there are some obvious 303 wiggles here, but acid is more than just a single sound. It’s an attitude, a fast and loose evocation of the mind-expanding powers of hypnotically powerful dance music. Of course, the name “acid” brings all sorts of connotations—fittingly so, because while you hardly need drugs to appreciate dance music (certainly not if it’s any good!), good dance music can often synthesize a state of psychedelic abandon not dissimilar to a drug trip.

So yeah, this is some good stuff. Taken as a whole, it’s hard to isolate any real standout tracks. “Voltar” is the longest track, a slow-burning climax with a slight Latin influence; “Xray” uses subtle atmospherics to create a sensation of ominous vastness. The album concludes with “Sweet You”, a fittingly intimate expression of tenderness that replaces the hot synth stabs with gentle keyboard arpeggios and jazzy snare drums. More than anything else on the album, it reminds me of early A Guy Called Gerald—techno that wasn’t afraid to be baldly emotional, wasn’t afraid to represent something as seemingly slight and poignant as falling in love. The real strength of the album lies in the way it flows together so cohesively. Before you can get tired of any single groove, the track changes, new patterns and melodies coming to the fore. Themes and motifs build in intensity, cresting at peaks and sliding down into quiet valleys, just like a fine DJ set.

Dance music is a polyglot genre, and Proto Acid: The Berlin Sessions takes advantage of this fact to create something uniquely international: a British artist making an effort to reconnect with the music’s American roots, and recording in Germany (Germany is the one country that could possibly lay a claim to pre-eminence in techno over America, thanks to a group called Kraftwerk—you may have heard of them). Although Simpson is aware of his roots, this is fierce stuff, hardly an exercise in retro fetishizing. At its best, dance music still sounds like nothing so much as the future—and the future’s looking really good.

RATING:


8th September 2006

M8
Number 210
September 2006
Page: 122

Gerald Simpson's still one of those artists that deserves our respect...even if we have waited a little too long for a flash of 'Voodoo Ray' genius to surface from his output over the years. He apparently felt pressurised into using vocalists on recent albums, but with this 24-track live studio mix he's ditched the divas and decided to get back to his dirty, acid house roots and it really suits him. Recorded in one take from his new base in Berlin, this is a raw collection of club-orientated tracks, woven into each other like a DJ set; there's no gradual build up though, as 'Marching Powder' comes rumbling out of the traps, abruptly laying down the Detroit-meets-Chicago template that follows. It's definitely got a groove too with electro, house and techno elements vying for pole position throughout and acid tweaks never far away from the mix. It peaks with eight-minute, jacking thumper 'Voltar', but there's a continuity and freshness about the whole album that suggests that Gerald is making music he believes in again. Underground DJs across the globe will be licking their lips.
M7/M8.

International DJ
September 2006
(Issue?)
Page ??

The boundaries between artist album and DJ mix have been blurred before - but never quite like this. For his first album for the German label laboratory Instinct, the legendary British producer Gerald Simpson (who now lives in Berlin, hence the title) recorded 24 new tracks which were then fused together, in one take, using a couple of laptops and a mixer. In most instances just a couple of minutes of each track makes it into the mix, which, presumably, means plenty of scope for experimentation should he be inclined to tour. Proto Acid: The Berlin Sessions' is aimed fairly and squarely at the dancefloor, and it's completely instrumental, so when and where you listen to it will make a big difference. Occasionally it all gets a little linear and pedestrian the Berlin allusion in the title is perhaps all too literal), but there's still much to recommend: the 303 is conspicuous only by its absence as AGCG instead coaxes all manner of tweaks and warm, pulsing basslines from his myriad machines.

****

Dave Stenton

Clash
September 2006
(Issue?)
Page ??

Gerald Simpson is the man responsible for 'Voodoo Ray'. This set him on a long and twisted musical path, which has now come full circle. Gerald, who now resides in Berlin, describes his remarkable new album as 'proto acid', or 'how I feel house/techno music would have sounded is the whole rave thing hadn't happened in England'. Back in the day, acid house wasn't just about twiddling a TB 303. Although created using two laptops and a DJ mixer, the album sounds like it could've been created in a Chicago basement 20 years ago. The 24 tracks tracks steer through bass-heavy funk-throbbers like 'Marching Powder' and 'Xray', corruscating jack-ups like 'Voltar' and ghostly deep house vamps like 'Monday', while 'Feel The Heat' and jazz-flecked 'Sweet You' show that one of the most important ingredients in this music was soul and emotion. As we start to mark over 20 years of acid house, A Guy Called Gerald has again made one of its defining statements.

Brainwashed
September 2006
Web link

Written by Gary Suarez
Monday, 25 September 2006

His most relevant work in what seems like ages, Gerald Simpson's latest matches the feverish vitality of the early acid house era without resorting to Vibertian schtick or pure retro reproduction.

The reductionist Proto-Acid, a 71-minute storm of bleeps, bass, and beats, plays like a distant cousin to Simpson's classic "Voodoo Ray" and his recordings with the once-mighty 808 State, as well as the Motor City innovators that made these classic works possible. Produced live on two laptops and a mixer without any additional hardware, it thoughtfully re-imagines techno as if in an alternate timeline, one in which the rave scene's dumbed-down degeneracy and laughable neo-hippy nonsense never materialized. The results of this endeavor wont find their way into the record crates or hard drives of posturing celebrity DJs playing for sweaty meatheads and obnoxious bimbos across the globe, nor will they play to the demographic needs of trendy advertising agencies. This is, unquestionably, to Simpson's credit.

Opening with the bleating electro blasts of "Marching Powder", this 24-track mix flows smoothly with its mostly shorter passages alongside a few slightly longer pieces that vary enough to keep the inherent sameness from turning monotonous. "Monday" utilizes filters with exceptional creativity and ease before easing into a subtle stabbing melody that refuses to overtake the general groove no matter how tempting. For Simpson, the mix seems just as important as the music itself, a methodology worthy of reverence. The 303 emulator finally makes a boastful appearance on "Bumpt", its gurgling tones recalling the old Plus8 records I still can't get enough of. The last minute or so of "Night Flight" ushers in a somewhat more jacking vibe that pays tribute to the unmistakeable sound of Chicago house, as is demonstrated on the subsequent "Scaffolding" and the ultra-techy "Bass-O-Tran". 'Proto-Acid' closes with two now-uncharacteristically lengthy cuts, the minimal yet epic "Voltar" and "Sweet You".

Much has changed since Simpson's glory days, though this fantastic disc demonstrates that maturity hasn't dulled the man's innate ability to construct emotive tapestries from unfeeling machines. Those who have chosen to ignore A Guy Called Gerald's output for the last decade should take this opportunity to welcome him back into their lives once more.

DJ Magazine
Volume 4, Number 22
16th August - 30th August 2006
Page 84

The acid house pioneer returns to his roots for this brilliant tech session.

****½

Playlouder
18th August 2006
Web link

A Guy Called Gerald
Proto Acid: The Berlin Sessions

****

Briefly, let's talk pioneers. On reflection, 808 State only escape their era when Gerald supplied their clockwork stomp. Then we have the outer space Braille gamelan of 'Voodoo Ray', the peaks of 'Automanikk' when it reached a take-off point of hyper-kinetic skitter, and the time-stretched rhythm commandment that was 'Black Secret Technology', arguably the ONLY truly coherent cohesive junglist long player as statement in a morass of Mercury prize winners and soft-jazz genre borers.

Ten years down the line, the jungle is a barren parody of its former luscious glory, Gerald departing as quickly as he arrived. Two albums of vocal infused Detroit electro followed, more than fine to be sure, but nothing, compared to THIS.

This was recorded live in one session at Gerald's Die hold studio using two laptops and a DJ mixer to create 23 new tracks, alongside the brutally edited re-recorded title track from the aforementioned 'Automanikk'. The concept is, according to the man himself, "...the culmination of a dream I've had since I started making music, and that's to take the studio into the club..."

Naming your opening salvo 'Marching Powder' is a statement of intent in itself and boy, does he deliver on that promise. 'Proto Acid: The Berlin Sessions' is a maniacal mechanical latticework of beat and texture. Gerald insists that everything he does is acid (and far be it from us to disagree) but everything herein is rhythm. Every nuance is geared towards body movement and everything is beat- a mechanoid onslaught of machine rhythm that sounds like the purest album he has ever made. And, in its way, this is possibly closer in spirit to jungle than our fave skanking powder of the moment, dubstep. The hook, the melody, the mnemonic and the chorus are all shot from the drum like Brian Wilson as Robocop. You do get the odd vocal snatch, a low-end drone here and there but no, the machine chimes with a million heartbeats, and all at the same time.

But also, this feels like the start of something. Gerald calls it a "snapshot" of possibilities. For someone who was present at the birth of dance music in this country, who has ceaselessly innovated and who likes to vanish from time to time, could this be the dawn of something new? Well, whatever happens, this is a mighty fine brew. Steel yourself to Gerald's mechanoid voodoo soul.

Jon Fletcher

reviewed on 18 Aug 2006

DJ Magazine
16th August 2006
(Issue?)
Page ??

Acid legend is seduced by Berlin.

The title of this album of studio-mixed new material by A Guy Called Gerald is misleading: while he made his name during acid house, this album is more influenced by Detroit techno and Berlin minimalism than Roland-torturing. Opening salvos 'The Strip' and 'Auto Rebuild' feature arcing acid lines, but the focus quickly shifts to splurging Berlin-style rhythms and wiry percussion - 'Droid' and 'Nasty' - and the jacking groove and tight claps of 'The Stink'. Gerald even touches on the metallic otherworld of Drexciyan electro - 'Monday' - and outros with the atmospheric, Derrick May-esque 'Sweet You'. If you expected him to bang the box, you may be disappointed, but as a collection of pristine electronic music, 'Proto Acid' is unparalleled.

Richard Brophy

Mint track: 'Monday'

****½

DMC Update
14th August 2006
(Issue?)
Page ??

I've been waiting years for someone else to repeat the original Chicago manifesto that acid wasn't just about twiddling a TB 303. Now Gerald Simpson has come out as he explains the sound of his remarkable new album which, although created using two laptops and a DJ mixer, sounds like it could've been created in Phuture's basement 20 years ago. The man responsible for 'Voodoo Ray', who now resides in Berlin, describes the sound as 'proto acid', or 'how I feel house/techno music would have sounded if the whole rave thing hadn't happened in England'. Hence the 24 tracks tracks effortlessly steer from bass-heavy funk-throbbers like the opening 'Marching Powder' and 'Xray' to corruscating jack-ups of 'Voltar', taking in ghostly house vamps like 'Monday' in the process. The 'Smokebelch'-recalling 'Feel The Heat' and jazzy 'Sweet You' show that one of the most important ingredients in this music was soul and emotion. As we start to mark over 20 years of this music, Gerald has appeared again to make one of its defining statements.

KRIS NEEDS
*****

Sound & Recording
August 2006
Page 151

Immer noch ziehen alle nach Berlin. Auch A Guy Called Gerald - aus Manchester stammender Entwicklungshelfer von Techno und Drum'n'Bass, der mit „Voodoo Ray” unsterblich wurde - macht da keine Ausnahme. Jetzt hat er dort ein Album ein-gespielt. Anders als auf dem letztjährigen To All Things What They Need" ist es fast komplett instrumental und widmet sich dem Themenbereich Acid, Detroit Techno, Chicago - also den Wurzeln aus den Achtzigern. Dazu brauchte er nicht mehr als zwei Laptops und einen DJ-Mixer. „Was, keine TB-303?”, fragt der Purist. NB, die Roland-Bassline ist seiner Meinung nach nicht das Kriterium für Acid. ‚, For me, Acid was all about tweaking of synths and riding a groove, you know what I mean?", konstatiert Gerald zu Recht und liefert den Beweis gleich ab: ein modernes, schön groovendes Werk aus dem Geist der Pioniertage, das aktuellem Tech-House in Sachen Frische und Lässigkeit um Längen voraus ist.
Album / Laboratory Instinct / Hausmusik, Indigo
Bernhard Lösener

Intro
August 2006
(Issue?)
Page ??
Web link

A Guy Called Gerald
Proto Acid – The Berlin Session

Wenn jemand in Anspruch nehmen darf, so etwas wie Roots-Techno zu machen, dann Gerald Simpson a.k.a. A Guy Called Gerald. Bevor er Mitte der 90er einer der wichtigsten UK-Drum’n’Bass-Pioniere wurde, hatte der Mann aus Manchester mit „Pacific State“ eine der größten Rave-Hymnen geschrieben, und sein Track „Voodoo Ray“ gilt heute noch als Vorlage für Acid-House im Allgemeinen. Das neue Album „Proto Acid – The Berlin Session“ wirkt daher wie ein Zeitsprung und zeigt, wohin das alles noch hätte führen können, wenn damals das Rave-Ding in England nicht gleich so explodiert wäre. „When I say proto acid I’m saying this stuff has direct lineage to Chicago and Detroit in the mid-to-late 80s“, verrät Gerald, der inzwischen in Berlin lebt, im Info zur Platte.

Tatsächlich schafft Gerald es meisterhaft, die kompakte Klarheit, Kraft und Magie dieser frühen Techno-Phase in die Gegenwart und darüber hinaus zu transportieren. Ohne Zeit zu verlieren, setzt der aus 24 sehr rohen, Club-orientierten Tracks bestehende Mix mit dem tiefen, pumpenden Groove von „Marching Powder“ ein, um im Laufe eines über 70-minütigen Jams die Kraft eines Live-Gigs zu entfalten. Die Beats und Sounds klingen dabei immer zwingend und direkt, wirken gleichzeitig aber so leicht und differenziert, wie das nur ein wahrer Meister wie Gerald hinbekommt, dessen Liebe zu seiner Musik tiefer zu sein scheint, als man es bei anderen Produzenten jemals für möglich halten würde. Auch darum ist „Proto Acid“ eine wunderbare Platte.

Text: Christoph Büscher

Hot Press
Volume 30, Number 16
August 2006
Page: 69

A GUY CALLED GERALD
PROTO ACID: THE BERLIN SESSIONS [LABORATORY INSTINCT)

A Guy Called Gerald rose to prominence with classic acid house tracks like 'Voodoo Ray', but there's a world of a difference between his back catalogue and this current incarnation. Inspired by Detroit techno and Berlin minimalism - Gerald moved recently to the German capital - rather than heads-down Roland-torturing, the focus is on violent, Sender-style basslines and tight, jacking workouts like 'The Stink'. He also touches on the spooky otherworld of Drexciyan electro and outros with the atmospheric, Derrick May-esque 'Sweet You'. If you expected merely a succession of 303 tracks, you'll be disappointed, but if you're adventurous and take this full trip, you'll come up smiling.

EIGHTPOINT FIVE/TEN

[Reviewer: RB]

Boomkat
August 2006
Web link

A GUY CALLED GERALD - Proto Acid - The Berlin Sessions
Laboratory Instinct

Gerald is back! Drenching Detroit-styled techno in sparkling electroid acid killers, this set was recorded in one session using two laptops and a DJ mixer at Gerald’s Diehold Studio on February 11th, 2006. With one exception (“Auto Rebuild,” the third track, is a remake of 808 State’s “Automannik”), the album’s 24 raw, club-oriented tracks are all new and were created over the last year in Berlin. The collection departs from the style of his last full-length, ‘To All Things What They Need’, in many ways, the most obvious being the absence of singing. Asked why he decided to make Proto Acid wholly instrumental, Simpson doesn’t mince words. “On my last two albums, I felt pressured to include vocals,” he replies. “Nowadays, I feel singers should be put on a bale of hay with a piece of straw hanging out of their mouths while playing acoustic guitar—keeping it real, if you know what I mean. I want to make music for clubs and sometimes you just have to get down and dirty into the machines and, to take it there, you can’t hold anyone’s hand. Some things just don’t need a vocal". Asked to describe the album’s sound, Simpson says, “To me it’s proto acid; it’s how I feel house/techno music would have sounded if the whole rave thing hadn’t happened in England. When I was younger, I would go to soul and funk clubs and you could easily mix a techno/house track into your set without spoiling the environment. Could you imagine playing a techno track at an r’n’b club today? Things have splintered and fragmented and floated so far apart that funk seems to have dropped through the cracks. I’m one of those preserved creatures that basically loves to use genres as a palette. So when I say proto acid I’m saying this stuff has direct lineage to Chicago and Detroit in the mid-to-late 80s.” “For me, acid was all about the tweaking of synths and riding a groove, you know what I mean? Like, before the masses thought the Transistor Bass machine was a special tool for doing acid house music, I was already bored with it and had moved on to tweaking envelopes on other Roland machinery, so I never really possessed that value for the 303 like everybody else did. I feel like I followed my own path and was inspired by what was going on in Detroit and Chicago but always did my own thing. To me, the new album is acid and acid’s a part of everything I do.” At this stage in his career, one might assume that Simpson has covered every base imaginable, but apparently that’s not so. Referring to the new release, he says, “It’s the culmination of a dream I’ve had since I started making music, and that’s to take the studio into the club; this album is snapshot of those possibilities.”

Future Music
Autumn 2006
(Issue 180)
Page 32

This is an album of undiluted mechadroid body-moving music from one of the pioneers of the UK Acid House scene.

Yes, we all know that Gerald was responsible for one of this period's credible classics, and it's on this Dance tip that he returns with a vengeance. The Berlin Sessions is a seamless edit consisting of 24 tracks created over the previous year, distilled into 74 minutes of flowing hypnotic grooves.

Stylistically it hinges on a slightly retro flavour, encapsulating the abstract sonic landscapes of Detroit and Berlin. In a nutshell, it's the perpetual motion, the transitions and the Acid that drives this mix home.

Marc '01'

ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Marching Powder

7/10