June 8 street date. A Guy Called Gerald has spent the last couple of years flitting through shadows, turning up on labels like Perlon, Beatstreet and Sender like a peripatetic prophet of the Berlin underground, seeding the scene with cryptic singles that return to the past to suggest alternate futures. Now he returns to Berlin's Laboratory Instinct label with the follow-up to 2006's "Proto Acid: The Berlin Sessions" (LI 011CD/LP). "Tronic Jazz: The Berlin Sessions" builds upon the foundation established by its predecessor to create an even more powerful statement of intent, one that communicates more persuasively than ever Gerald's vision for techno. Where "Proto Acid" offered a seamless mix of 24 cuts, recorded in one epic session, "Tronic Jazz" collects 13 stand-alone tracks. That's welcome news to DJs. But there's something else: freed from the flow of the mix, the tracks go deeper into themselves, even while contributing to the overall shape of the album as a single, coherent form. They're more varied in tone and mood, and even tempo. Gerald is a master ofconcision, and he manages to express everything he needs in five-minute chunks -- inside which time stops still, arrested by the interplay of deftly-programmed machine rhythms, carefully arranged chord progressions, and a masterfully intuitive sense of sound design. View all titles by this artist

September 14 street date. This is part 3 in a 4-part series of limited edition 12"s from A Guy Called Gerald's "Tronic Jazz: The Berlin Sessions" (LI017CD). This stuff is wide-eyed and full of life. When it funks, it funks hard, and when it smoothes out, it can be as intimate as a hand-written note left on a lover's pillow. These four tracks include "Illand," "Just Soul," "Round Eco" and "The Dip". View all titles by this artist