FOUNDATIONS: A GUY CALLED GERALD
Heading deep into the jungle with Manchester's finest.
Friends.
It’s Friday and we’re relaying the foundations.
Massive love and respect to Stef for stepping up for the past two weeks. Some amazing selections, many more to come.
And thanks to everyone supporting the works with comments and shares, it’s hugely appreciated.
This week we’re heading deep into the jungle.
A GUY CALLED GERALD
Gerald is part of the deep structure of dance music.
A term I’ve heard him use to describe his own output is ‘grammar’ i.e. the fundamental components of musical language and how they interact with each other to create meaning and artistic substance.
There is probably no one else, certainly in this country, who’s made as much of an impact over so many years on so many different parts of the culture.
But, for me, Gerald will always be King of the Jungle.
JUICE BOX
By 1988, A Guy Called Gerald was already a household name.
The word ‘seminal’ gets bandied around a lot these days, but it’s hard to think of a more fitting way to describe Voodoo Ray. One of the defining tracks of Acid House and the second Summer of Love.
But by the early 90s Gerald had become jaded with the mainstream of club culture after being burnt by the major label forces who had already begun to encroach, and the ‘abuse’ he was subjected to as part of 808 State, the Acid House supergroup who Gerald had been a core member of, before leaving over creative differences. Substantial parts of his work were then released without credit.
The first track he made in this new era was Specific Hate.
The keen-eared amongst you will instantly recognise the pads from 808 State’s Pacific State. This was Gerald reclaiming ownership of his work.
He was pissed off.
Jungle was a way of letting off steam.
The introduction of breakbeats and influences from dub and hip-hop had been discouraged by his label and band mates. Gerald’s reaction was to fully embrace them.
He started a new soundsystem called Juice Box. An outlet for this new sound he was building, creatively sparring with a few small core crews like Reinforced.
This was a time when jungle and hardcore were still very much London and Home Counties focused. Gerald was digging his own trench and putting Manchester firmly on the map.
The best place to start is at the beginning: Juice Box 001.
A Storm Is Coming
A personal favourite. Top 10 all-time business.
Masterful use of samples, tectonic subs, hand-crafted breaks delivered with detail and sophstication at a time when a looped Amen or Apache was still often the norm.
For me, this is the perfect balance between rave diva euphoria and proto-junglist urban badness.
When that Cutty Ranks lyic drops… the damage is done.
Let It Move You
One of the things I love about Gerald is the way he reuses and recycles his own work. The template might be new, but the Voodoo Ray samples floating in the background leave no doubt about who you’re listening to.
This is a pattern that repeats again and again. One of his trademarks, IMO. Nobody else really works like this,
Could You Understand
Automatic Don Gorgon.
Similarly, updated with new lyrics on Gerald’s 2000 LP, Essence.
The Track
The finest hardcore you’ll come across. Check the whole release.
Like a Drug
Diva business.
There is something about the tone and personality of these riddims that is unlike anything else out there.
Let It Go
This formative Juice Box era was perfectly encapsulated in Gerald’s 1993 LP 28 Gun Bad Boy.
This one takes me back. Riding shotgun in my mate Matt’s Peugeot 305, driving around Nottingham late at night smoking skunk spliffs and learning about sub bass. A formative era.
Not in 1993 though, I was only 12.
We progress »
Darker Than I Should Be / JBOX 9
“Pickney dem suffering”
1993, and the junglist template is becoming clearer. Peerless sampling, sub bass pressure and street level vibes.
Note the reference to ‘Black Secret Technology’, which would go on to inform the 1995 LP of the same name.
Another completely unique artistic statement from one of the masters of the craft.
Get your big headphones out and lock in.
You know what, I could sit here and write about this guy and this era all day. But time is passing and I have things to do and places to be.
To be revisited, probably at some length.
For now, enjoy the music and I’ll see you next week.
Big up Gerald, each and every.
Peace and love.
Rubin