''Newbuild'' is the debut studio album by English electronic music group 808 State, released in September 1988 by Creed Records. It was the only album recorded with founding member A Guy Called Gerald, Gerald Simpson, who departed shortly afterward for a solo career. The group recorded the album on tape found discarded outside the BBC's Manchester studios because it did not meet the organization's quality requirements. The album was named after a local council housing project.

Release

In a 1988 review, ''OffBeat (music magazine), OffBeat'' described the album as "compulsive stuff, you don't exactly listen to it, more like feeel the frequencies... and respond." In 1999, ''Alternative Press (magazine), Alternative Press'' called it an "artificial dystopia" in which the tracks "strip away the soul of Detroit techno and replace it with a cold and rhythmic paranoia." Later techno artists Aphex Twin and Autechre have saluted the album as a major influence. The former reissued the album on his Rephlex Records, Rephlex label in 1999. He stated: "It was the next step after acid house#Chicago movement (mid-1980s–late 1980s), Chicago acid, and as much as I loved that, I could relate much better to 808 State. It seemed colder and more human at the same time." He also made a remix of "Flow Coma" in his 2001 EP ''2 Remixes by AFX''. A collection of unreleased material from the era was released in 2004 as ''Prebuild (album), Prebuild''.

Track listing

# "Sync/Swim" – 6:20 # "Flow Coma" – 6:01 # "Dr. Lowfruit (4 A.M. Mix)" – 7:36 # "Headhunters" – 5:02 # "Narcossa" – 5:17 # "E Talk" – 4:01 # "Compulsion" – 5:22

Personnel

*Performer, writer – A Guy Called Gerald, Gerald Simpson, Graham Massey, Martin Price *Engineer – Graham Massey *Artwork – Metropark *Design – Johnson & Panas

References

1988 debut albums 808 State albums {{1980s-electronic-album-stub