Gerald Rydel Simpson was born on 16 February 1967, and is better known as the British record producer and musician A Guy Called Gerald. In his youth he absorbed jazz fusion and electro funk at clubs and youth clubs, where the dancefloor in the early 1980's inspired him to study contemporary dance. Influenced by electro and early hip hop, breakdancing and b-boy culture from Detroit and Chicago, he began experimenting with tape editing and drum machines, and the regular jams in the attic of his house led to the formation the Scratchbeat Masters. They released a 12" single 'Wax On The Melt', a collaboration between a number of crews, plus Graham Massey and Martin Price, and their first album, 'Newbuild', was released in 1988 under the name 808 State. Simpson soon left the group to concentrate on his solo work, and the result of heading back into his bedroom studio was 'Voodoo Ray', which was first played at the Hacienda in 1988, before entering the UK Singles Chart a year later. It was the first acid house track produced in the UK, and released on a small Merseyside independent label Rham! Records, based in Wallasey.
At the same time, a track Simpson started before leaving 808 State, 'Pacific State', was released and hit the charts, but according to Simpson, the group had finished and released the track without his permission. Although Simpson was credited on its first release on the album 'Quadrastate', both as a writer and co-producer, the dispute escalated as Simpson claimed to have written the entire track. He subsequently signed with Sony Music and released the albums 'Hot Lemonade' in 1989 and 'Automanikk' in 1990, to moderate commercial success, after which he was allowed to leave his Sony contract after the label refused to release his intended follow-up album 'High Life, Low Profile'. In 1991, he started his own label, Juice Box Records, releasing a string of 12" singles which were later compiled on his third album '28 Gun Bad Boy' in 1992. Juice Box Records lasted until 1998, and provided an outlet for Simpson's work for seven years, with 33 titles released under various other pseudonyms such as The K.G.B. and Ricky Rouge, and collaborations between Simpson and artists including Lisa May, DJ Tamsin, Goldie (as 'The 2 G's'), and Finley Quaye. The label has been identified as being responsible for influential releases that provided the blueprint for what was to become jungle, and then drum and bass.
In 1997 Simpson moved to New York, shortly before closing his label, and in 2000, released 'Essence' on the independent label !K7 Records. This was his first song-based rather than dance/club album, featuring guests such as Lou Rhodes, David Simpson, Lady Miss Kier and Wendy Page. This was therefore the perfect time for mp3.com to release a compilation CD-R of his early drum and bass work, with 'Cryogenix' appearing in 1999, subtitled 'A Decade In Dance'. It collected together hard to find and unreleased recordings from the previous ten years, and was released as a D.A.M. CD, with the audio portion being mastered from 128 kbps MP3s. The CD-ROM content consisted of a music folder with the MP3s, and a custom MP3 player application (Macromedia Director-based, for Windows) which played only those files. The player had an artwork & info panel that provided lyrics and/or song history for each track as it plays, as follows:
01: "The motivation for this track was to maintain a balance in harmony. The entrainments masked within the lower oscillations echo reflections of music from our past civilisation."
02: "you will have to check you're dance history books for this one they have a nice selection in the virgin mega stores look for 808 sate v a guy called Gerald"
03: "This track was part of a project called Emotions which i did in 93. @ this time, I was seriously scrutinising the music I was making and the behavioural patterns sounds had: using an oscilloscope for this purpose. "
04: "i just finished Voodoo Ray and I thought I hadn't used the 303 baseline machine enough on the EP. So I decided the write this track."
05: "blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down so blow already blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down so blow already" "i felt the need for something house but melodic & party"
06: "i wanna spread love iei wanna spread love [pause] all over the world. repeat as required..." "old, i don't know.... the way house music used to be... more soul than sample"
07: "this track was recorded i Manchester in 94 & is just 1 from the men tracks from the cryogenix files.some of these tracks came out on juice box witch was i label i started in 92 the distribution was poor so if you wasn't in the wright place at the right time you might be missing tracks like this because of the poor distribution i put a lot of this material on ice due to the overwhelming power of this mp3 thing &the need to do a pre millennium clear out i present you with cryogenix"
08: "see description"
09: "As it was being made someone was burning my kitchen down, so it rang true that anything could really happen. This track for the record books was recorded back in 1993. "
10: "Navigator came up to Manchester one day and decided to cut some music. This is just one of four tracks we did. Because everything is in alphabetical order, you will probably hear it later on down the line if you stay tuned to this page."
"Some of this music dates back to the time before 808 State were 808 State; before DrumnBass was Jungle; before JungleTechno was Rave ; before Rave was House . The sounds you will hear are my underground dance decade ....the volts are unlocked....be prepared".
So if you have fond memories of 'Voodoo Ray', are a fan of 808 State, or just want to hear how Jungle and drum and bass evolved, then try this hard to track down collection from the Guy who was influential in starting the whole genre.
01: "The motivation for this track was to maintain a balance in harmony. The entrainments masked within the lower oscillations echo reflections of music from our past civilisation."
02: "you will have to check you're dance history books for this one they have a nice selection in the virgin mega stores look for 808 sate v a guy called Gerald"
03: "This track was part of a project called Emotions which i did in 93. @ this time, I was seriously scrutinising the music I was making and the behavioural patterns sounds had: using an oscilloscope for this purpose. "
04: "i just finished Voodoo Ray and I thought I hadn't used the 303 baseline machine enough on the EP. So I decided the write this track."
05: "blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down so blow already blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down blow your house down so blow already" "i felt the need for something house but melodic & party"
06: "i wanna spread love iei wanna spread love [pause] all over the world. repeat as required..." "old, i don't know.... the way house music used to be... more soul than sample"
07: "this track was recorded i Manchester in 94 & is just 1 from the men tracks from the cryogenix files.some of these tracks came out on juice box witch was i label i started in 92 the distribution was poor so if you wasn't in the wright place at the right time you might be missing tracks like this because of the poor distribution i put a lot of this material on ice due to the overwhelming power of this mp3 thing &the need to do a pre millennium clear out i present you with cryogenix"
08: "see description"
09: "As it was being made someone was burning my kitchen down, so it rang true that anything could really happen. This track for the record books was recorded back in 1993. "
10: "Navigator came up to Manchester one day and decided to cut some music. This is just one of four tracks we did. Because everything is in alphabetical order, you will probably hear it later on down the line if you stay tuned to this page."
"Some of this music dates back to the time before 808 State were 808 State; before DrumnBass was Jungle; before JungleTechno was Rave ; before Rave was House . The sounds you will hear are my underground dance decade ....the volts are unlocked....be prepared".
So if you have fond memories of 'Voodoo Ray', are a fan of 808 State, or just want to hear how Jungle and drum and bass evolved, then try this hard to track down collection from the Guy who was influential in starting the whole genre.
Track listing
01 The Feelings Can't Explain
02 Spesiphic Hate
03 Anxiety
04 Rhapsody In Acid
05 Blow Your House Down
06 All Over The World
07 24 7
08 Machine Room Jam
09 Anything Can Happen
10 Badness A Madness
