Linear Acceleration

Gigolo 99 vinyl release in 2003 presented two tracks of rare beauty by Dopplereffekt. The CD version that followed was a weird long play including these and four more.

Instead of the typical Drexciyan electro or the '80s retro sound of earlier releases, a more experimental approach was attempted. Two repetitive fully FXed dark & noisy abstract tracks of 21' and 14' duration each for a start, followed by a 15' ambient excursion into really deep space. Then the 12" tracks fall from the sky, full of analog synth beauty and melodies and weirdness. Borrowing heavily from the Berlin School of Kraut electronics, it's like they're out of a '70s soundtrack for a sci-fi film or a thriller, such as the ones Tangerine Dream members produced in plenty (check some of them here). The closing act is the more typical Drexciya one, sweet pads and soft arpeggios over a chopped, no bass drum electro beat. Overall it's a difficult album, with it's three quarters of being too weird for the average Gigolo fan and no beat at all.

A smart move of Mr.Hell, this one. Although experimentation was always a part of Gigolo mentality, it was only the second time a listening album was issued (after the Tuxedomoon one which didn't go well I think). Only Dopplereffekt could made this effort more accessible to the critics and interesting to the listeners at the same time.
After this one Gigolo tried to make a drastic turn towards more 'difficult', non dancefloor music, away from the '80s electro and oldschool techno norms (although there was always an appropriate remix available). The infamous NYC associated Gigolo Rock phase came along with the Fisherspooner releases and kept me away from Gigolo for some time (I liked the older ones more, no other reason). It's interesting though that after four years rock influenced electro still rules the market. Hell was making a leap forward then and soon others followed (he took no credit for that).

Still, this for me is the last release of the first era of Gigolo, even if it's an atypical one. And it's a Detroit affair. Check the vinyl if you find it.

Dopplereffekt - 2003 Linear Accelerator CD
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.

P.S. In Drexciya Research Lab, a different opinion is stated here on the reason of this album's inaccessibility.