In Neutral

Gemini was a pseudonym of Chicago house producer and label boss Spencer Kincy, who, to be frank, was absolutely killing it in the ’90s. In Neutral was his third album, released in ’97, the same year he also dropped two other full-length albums. At the time, Kincy was releasing influential tracks and remixes that could be jarring, edgy and awkward or smooth, intricate and graceful, but which often expanded the idea of what house music could be. Neutral’s eight tracks are generally at the warmer, more inviting end of Kincy’s production style, but there’s something of techno’s detachment here and moments of Kincy’s darker and more atonal approach appear from time to time too. His aesthetic was highly original compared to many of his house music compatriots at the time — his drum and percussion sounds and grooves, for example, really don’t sound like anyone else’s — and although it’s an album with a very futuristic feel it’s simultaneously familiar enough in its rhythm and grooves to prove highly effective on the dancefloor too.