![]() It’s very effective artwork, hard to put a time and identity of these residents of this electro world. ![]() The artwork doesn’t tell us much either as four masked and boiler-suited people pose on a hill side. So next time you see some latest big thing giving MTV or whoever an 'all access' glance at their working methods or touring operation just think how much more quickly their fans will tire of them and then marvel at how completely they seem to disappear afterward their 15 minutes has passed. Just think how long Drexciya have assured their place in history by not fully explaining themselves. Kraftwerk understood this principle as well and it really came into its own for them when they would take their extended breaks, always returning to the increasing anticipation of new and old fans right up to the present day. But of course they won't resolve it, they understand that we secretly and not so secretly love not having all the answers, as providing finality in anything only hastens our interest coming to an end no matter how good the music is and in Elecktroids case mystery is all we have left. If Ultradyne or even Donald himself would make a comment on the matter this issue would be closed but if they don’t they can only expect people to continue to come to their own conclusions. Unless they just wanted to give the impression of having four members like Kraftwerk, which is a strong possibility. This is the most obvious and certainly the most likely scenario going by the available information. I would plumb for ‘the four sons of an electrician’ being most likely Drexciya’s James Stinson and Gerald Donald and Ultradynes Alex Lugo and Dennis Richardson, there-by creating the link between the two undisputed artists featured on the aforementioned 12“ series. Today there is still much debate about who exactly was responsible for the album and unfortunately or not I am going to have to add to that by speculating on the specifics myself. If that were not enough, 4 years later it would become even more apparent when the un-credited bonus track found on the CD version of the album turned up on Drexciya’s ‘Neptune’s Lair’ as ‘Triangular Hydrogen Strain'. So it would have been obvious from this to those paying attention who the parties responsible for this album were likely to be. Warp had just previous to this released the now infamous and powerful trilogy of 12” singles which were united by their artwork and Drexciyan links, these being Drexciya’s ‘The Journey Home’ aka ‘Drexciya 5’, the debut Ultradyne release, ‘E-Coli’ and Elecktroids themselves with ‘Kilo Hertz’. These notes are all a bit of fun anyway, in keeping with the pop sensibilities found on the album. There was a press release/statement which restated the albums linear notes under two headings which read, ‘Background: based in Flint, Michigan, USA, the four young sons of an electrician, known simply as the Elecktroids, have welded together their debut album.’ and ‘Inspiration: this album, titled 'Elektroworld', is a personal tribute to those well known pioneers of the electro-disco-beat Kraftwerk.’ From this, outside of knowing we are at least dealing with musicians from the state of Michigan we learn nothing more of the fact that we are actually hearing work from some other musical pioneers more usually associated with its capital, Detroit. At the time however I’m not sure how much was revealed to the press and public about its authorship. Today Elecktroids are widely known to have been a side project related to one or both members of Drexciya and possibly two others. Despite apparently came-and-went release status, Elecktroids have enjoyed a somewhat enduring popularity, making it onto two different Warp "best of" compilations as well as contributing two tracks to popular electro mix session X-Mix: Electro Boogie, put together by techno producer/DJ Dave Clarke and released by the K7 label in 1997.In 1995 the UK’s Warp Records put out the much loved ‘Elektroworld’ album by Elecktroids. label Clear Elektroworld, the group's only full-length to date, followed shortly after. ![]() The group released the Kilohertz EP in 1995, at the crest of a putative "electro revival" launched by U.K. Whatever the case, Elecktroids are a well-produced, if vaguely tongue-in-cheek, outfit combining elements of contemporary "listening techno" with early Detroit electro influences and obviously Kraftwerk-derived themes of technological aggrandizement. ![]() A one-off, Warp-released side-project that nobody seems willing to go on record about, mysterious electro outfit Elecktroids have been rumored to be the work of everyone from Detroit underground legends Drexciya to Mark Bell of Manchester bleep popularizers LFO.
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