Music
Gerald Donald
· electronic musician, producer
Reclusive Detroit electro producer, co-founder of Drexciya with James Stinson and the mind behind Dopplereffekt and Arpanet.
- Also known as
- Arpanet · Dopplereffekt · Der Zyklus · Drexciya
- Detroit years
- 1990s–
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Gerald Donald is a Detroit techno and electro producer who has made anonymity part of his art. In 1992 he and James Stinson formed Drexciya, whose records on Underground Resistance and later Tresor built the myth of the Drexciyans, an underwater people descended from African women thrown overboard during the slave trade. The duo played live only in masks and gave few interviews; Donald has said the music and the concept matter more than any personality, and he declines even to confirm which projects are his. After Drexciya he continued the Detroit electro tradition in several projects: Dopplereffekt, a cool, scientific duo with To Nhan Le Thi; Der Zyklus; and Arpanet, named after the forerunner of the internet and once suspected to include Stinson. His work links the Motor City's machine aesthetics with themes of science, history and race, and it remains a reference point for electro producers around the world.
Highlights
- Co-founded Drexciya with James Stinson in 1992.
- Main member of Dopplereffekt.
- Also records as Arpanet and in Der Zyklus.
- Known for refusing to discuss his identity or involvement in projects.