I LOVE DRUKQS+

Well yes, it is a standout track in a kind of a way, but not in a way that makes me want to listen to it lots.

I like that it exists.

In retrospect some of the reactions to Girl/Boy Song were insane - "it's the ultimate fusion of classical and electronic music" etc - great track though.

IIRC he went to a lot of trouble to record all the instrument samples for it himself. I wonder if they pop up on other tracks.

Yeah I wonder... Mind you, he seems almost bloody-minded in 'resetting' his creative approach, so possibly not. I just read that Kate Bush's Experiment IV is sampled on "4"—WTF? Is it? I'm not sure outside of Willy Wonka, I've EVER recognised a sample in his stuff.

You mean you weren't intimately familiar with the cinematic work containing the "Fantasia, having a party is not my idea of a fantasy..." dialogue? (j/k)

Having been an Aphex admirer since purchasing the Analogue Bubblebath 12", I have to say that my enthusiasm was somewhat lessened by hearing "Milkman". I really can't be doing with that kind of puerile guff. In fact, I found the whole "Girl/Boy" E.P. to be a complete letdown. Happily, I was blown away all over again the following year by "Come to Daddy".

Yes, as many have pointed out, the kind of studenty humour can be a bit of a put off. I forgive it, given the profound brilliance of lots of it though. And yeah I agree about Girl/Boy—one of the weakest of that period.

As much as I liked the RDJ Album (US edition), Come to Daddy was almost surely the one I ended up listening to more.

You mean you weren't intimately familiar with the cinematic work containing the "Fantasia, having a party is not my idea of a fantasy..." dialogue? (j/k)

Actually no, is it a grumbleflick or something? TBH, I don't listen to that album much... Lots of people love it, and I actually listened to it yesterday for the first time in a long time—there are some great moments, but I find it a bit of a stepping stone... The abrasive bits are just too abrasive; he hasn't quite yet worked out compelling percussion; too much in the way of 'classical' pretence, but as I say, lots of people love it, and I do think it contains some great moments; I also suspect it was a necessary step.

I do love it, it's my favorite – but it's also the first one of his that I heard/got into (and I think it often works out that way...)

Here's the (sfw) sample source for the dialogue.

Hehe, right.

Listening to RDJ Album now; it's so warm and inviting, more than I even remembered. "To Cure..." / "Goon Gumpas" is such a terrific pair.

Yes, it isn't a difficult listen. I listened to it twice tonight given the chat, and am still amazed how great it is.

Here is Goon Gumpas in Cornwall:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Goon_Gumpas_from_Wheal_Maid_DSC_2951.jpg

UK version feels incomplete to me, ending on "Logan Rock Witch"... had to search for the EP to complete the trip I'm used to.

I guess it's what you're used to.

I used to consider I Care Because You Do as AFX's zenith, but now feel it's the RDJ/Come To Daddy/Windowlicker records, which all feel "of a piece" to me.

xp from Confield discussion above - 100% OTM with the "we weren't ready for it yet" sentiments lol. It's extremely musical when compared to say Untilted, and so infinitely less weird and self indulgent than 1/3 of NTS or Elseq.

the first three tracks of ICBYD are definitely a zenith of some kind

^^word

yes yes yes

Having been an Aphex admirer since purchasing the _Analogue Bubblebath_ 12", I have to say that my enthusiasm was somewhat lessened by hearing "Milkman". I really can't be doing with that kind of puerile guff.

While there’s obviously something, I dunno, Ween-coded about “Milk Man,” the song is such a banger… those beats skittering on top of the melodic swells; synths chiming out that simple little melody; and those goofy, charming bass drops… There is obviously a very specific sort of take-the-piss artistic intent behind – “I’m gonna make these lyrics as dumb as possible” – but damn if it doesn’t work!

(for me, anyway)

Ween has a lot of Aphex-coded tracks too so I'd say the feeling was mutual

> PEEK 824545201

a lot of the cheat codes in magazines at the time POKEd 201 (RET in z80) into memory to terminate routines before lives were decremented. but you are right that PEEK is lookup and even 824545 is way too large for a 16 bit address space (65536 bytes)

(i can't remember the day of the week sometimes but i do still remember random z80 opcodes. 205 call, 195 jmp...)

morrisp OTM

Koogs OTM

"PEEK 824545201" is a missed opportunity. He could have named it so as to perform a public service. For example, POKE 59901,82 fixes the Attic Bug.

Haha

Beautiful classical guitar version of Avril 14 on Shane Parish's forthcoming album.

https://shaneparish.bandcamp.com/album/repertoire

okay I got RDJ Album on now, it's still very freaky, just pure cartoon alien shit. or maybe music for the little mushroom guys. I like how he's sampling so many "small" sounds like water drops or tapping on coke cans, and even household objects like his modem (I think?), but then in spots it'll suddenly go all orchestral. especially like the last track having all those percussive instruments in it, obviously can't be done in your bedroom with your machines. so it feels big and very small at the same time. it does still sound good but not as good as his 21st Century stuff. "Peek" always makes me feel like I have sinus pain.

Yeah would agree it's not as good as the newer stuff, but it is still great, and it was a big step (well, that and Hangable Autobulb)—I guess it's a bit like Revolver is clear big step, but whilst they're both great, I like listening to Abbey Road more.

That analogy perfectly explains our respective taste differences. I'm a Revolver >>> Abbey Road guy and put it on far more often.

I like how minimal and 'in the box'it feels even though it's totally maximalist. I'd compare it to Autechre's LP5 in that respect

Yeah I get this, I find it amazing how spacey some of it is, given how much he seems to jam into every track.

Another thing I love about Aphex Twin is how every time I want some more stuff, you just kind of Google around and he seems to have squeezed at least another LP's worth of stuff out there. Currently listening to Oslo 2 +6.1, which is an unreleased track off of Rushup Edge and it's great; in fact, it might be better than most of the stuff on the actual release.

Wow, [S770SCI 3000,powertran] beautiful Japanese people might be one of his best.

Isn't Cheetah like "Hey I made an album thar sounds like my other stuff except on a redundant piece of hardware that's really difficult to use"?

I've heard similar concept albums by VSnares and Si Begg and my reaction with all of these is "That must have taken you fucking ages, I shall waste no time in listening to it"

if the piano stuff was sampled surely someone would've discovered from what by now?

I get I can see him just loading up samples of the Cheetah and making stuff that way, in fact certain bits I could swear it's like he's loading up a Syro track through a different set of sounds. I can't specify what exactly but there are bits which sound a little too familiar. That said I can definitely see RDJ getting obsessed with that equipment at a young age and pumping out an EP made on it definitely seems like the sort of thing he would do at this stage in his career, like he's got nothing to prove anymore but I think he does still want to challenge himself.

I agree with the thrust of what you're saying. To be clear tho: I don't mean sampled whole cloth from another piece of music -- but using prepared piano samples and then constructing the pieces on a computer as opposed to outfitting his MIDI Disklavier piano with bolts and the like to record those sounds himself (which is what he supposedly did).

My guess is that he is using the gear he says he is BTW -- at least most of the time. But Analord is probably the stuff that made me think about this issue the most -- because as much as I love the TR-606/808/909s, the MC sequencers and the SH-101 and TB-303, all of those sounds and programming styles can be very credibly replicated using computers.

My bigger point was that this is the guy whose 26 Mixes for Cash includes numerous tracks that have no relation whatsoever to their supposed source material. And so much of what he's done since Syro has cited the gear he used (some of which I own) that I can't help but wonder whether he's taking a bit of a piss by challenging people like me to strain to hear things in his music that literally aren't there.

ahh I see what you mean. yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if the prepared piano stuff was actually fake. I wondered about that with that Computer Controlled Instruments EP he did, like it could easily just be samples right? though when I listen to it, it very much does sound like the product of an actual studio. something about the reverb especially sounds authentic.

the Autechre guys were talking about analog vs. digital once and while they agreed the analog stuff sounded special, they did say you can recreate all that digitally if you knew how, it's just that most people don't. I suspect RDJ is one of the guys who knows how.

the computer controlled instruments are real

https://www.logosfoundation.org/instrum_gwr/HAT.html
https://www.logosfoundation.org/instrum_gwr/snar2.html

I can only hope their instrument manufacturing is more sophisticated than their web design.

i like their web design

It's not all that clear to me these days if he is an unreliable narrator... I mean it was easy to see why anyone would think that some years ago, but as the years have gone by it has become clear that he DID have a tank, a bank, and like ten unreleased albums' worth of stuff. It got me thinking if there was anything left that I thought he had been fibbing about, and I'm not sure I can remember any; well, I dunno if he ever bought a submarine or not.

Great point! Just shows how much of a legend he is. Almost out of character a bit that he's gone out to the Scottish countryside and settled down.

they should put the audio equivalent of an epilepsy warning on 'mt saint michel + saint michaels mount', feel like i could crash my car if it came on while i was driving

Recently, I was marvelling at some weird electronic effect on one of the Collapse EP tracks, and it turns out it's a sped up sample from a 1981 Britfunk record. Very hard to work out what he's doing... Drukqs is full of samples from 1970s records by all accounts, and I couldn't identify a single one of them despite knowing most of the records in question.

he's gone out to the Scottish countryside and settled down.

Yeah I wonder why he chose there (I think he's in Ayrshire or Kilmarnockshire; somewhere south of Glasgow). I wouldn't choose there and he's got a lot more cash than me.

Drukqs is full of samples from 1970s records by all accounts

Is this documented somewhere(?) First I have heard of it!

Yeah, it's here... Of course, it might be all made up!

https://www.whosampled.com/Aphex-Twin/

e.g. these from Taking Control:

When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin (1971)
King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown by Augustus Pablo (1976)
Unwind Yourself by Marva Whitney (1967)

Thx! Wild... "When the Levee Breaks"(!)

Yeah I know... They're pretty much all weird—even the idea that he has actually listened to any music from the 1970s!

i feel like i'm taking crazy pills do you guys not know what breakbeats are