Of course with IDM it's a bit distorted because when Aphex Twin started he was competing with maybe ten others, and now he's competing with hundreds, thousands of bedroom tinkerers, so the possibility of recognisable innovation shrinks dramatically.
In comparison people aren't likely to criticise Bob Dylan for not pushing boundaries (although I get the impression that Love & Theft evidences *personal* artistic progression) because the critical model that surrounds evaluation of Dylan - and traditional songwriting generally - usually adheres to a fall-from- paradise model rather than a race-to-the-finish-line model.
― Tim, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― nathalie, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Nathalie, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Melissa W, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ronan, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
- and hey, maybe Drukqs makes more sense if you try and put it into a Dylan template! It's Aphex's New Morning or Self-Portrait - sprawling but also cosy, perverse and domestic at the same time (all those gentle interludes, the phone call from his parents, the general resting-on-laurels-having-fun ambience that pisses progressive Aphex fans off...). I like it, anyway.
― Tom, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
As for Drukqs, what I like about it is the sequencing of the record. It's the one album of 2001 (and I use that term instead of my customary 'LP' deliberately) that only makes sense if you play it all the way through in the prescribed order. Not that I've had the inclination to do that very often! We probably won't know unless and until RDJ deigns to release any of his more recent noodlings if this is just a self-indulgent nod to the influence of 'classical' composers (Delius, Stockhausen, etc.) and drum and bass, or if it's the direction he really wants to go in now. Personally, while I'll always be hoping he can repeat the Windowlicker trick, I'd be equally happy with more stuff along the lines of Gwarek2.
― Jeff W, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
oh well. that always happens to me. AND it bloody fades out, so is pretty hard to mix with.
― ambrose, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― gareth, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Not this again. ;-) Both Dan and I think it is very wonderful, thank you. Yay us!
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― o. nate, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Andy, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― A Nairn, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
and, no, they do not nessecitate the same thing.
― Wyndham Earl, Wednesday, 13 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 8 February 2007 17:23 (seventeen years ago) link
and yeah, i like drukqs too
was actually my favourite until i was told i should be liking the 'ambient' stuff more.
― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Thursday, 8 February 2007 17:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― KeefW (kmw), Thursday, 8 February 2007 17:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― jimn (jimnaseum), Thursday, 8 February 2007 17:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― jimn (jimnaseum), Thursday, 8 February 2007 17:56 (seventeen years ago) link
― Disco Nihilist (mjt), Thursday, 8 February 2007 18:17 (seventeen years ago) link
For me, it's got plenty of good things but it's the least interesting of the "proper" studio albums, no doubt.
― It's Tough to Beat Illious (noodle vague), Thursday, 8 February 2007 18:23 (seventeen years ago) link
I pretty much thought it was shite when it came out.
― KeefW (kmw), Thursday, 8 February 2007 18:33 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 8 February 2007 18:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― and what (ooo), Thursday, 8 February 2007 19:11 (seventeen years ago) link
― and what (ooo), Thursday, 8 February 2007 19:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― held tony (held tony), Thursday, 8 February 2007 19:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― held tony (held tony), Thursday, 8 February 2007 20:03 (seventeen years ago) link
― Treblekicker (treblekicker), Thursday, 8 February 2007 21:19 (seventeen years ago) link
I got into Aphex Twin way late and sorta heard everything all at once. Drukqs struck me as the best. It's still my favorite.
― Nigel (Nigel), Thursday, 8 February 2007 22:46 (seventeen years ago) link
― Christopher Costello (CGC), Thursday, 8 February 2007 23:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― plan b: videodrome (fauxhemian), Friday, 9 February 2007 00:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― friday on the porch (lfam), Friday, 9 February 2007 03:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Friday, 9 February 2007 03:16 (seventeen years ago) link
― Zachary S (Zach S), Friday, 9 February 2007 03:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― and what (ooo), Friday, 9 February 2007 03:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Friday, 9 February 2007 03:50 (seventeen years ago) link
but... the drill stuff was already getting kinda old when this came out and he was looking to end his relationship with warp. I found the analord stuff actually pretty good and at least had a bit of a new direction.
― hector (hector), Friday, 9 February 2007 03:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― Christopher Costello (CGC), Friday, 9 February 2007 04:25 (seventeen years ago) link
I keep replaying "Avril 14." Is the rest of the album this good?
― Tape Store, Sunday, 21 October 2007 19:11 (sixteen years ago) link
i finally picked this up a couple weeks ago. it's a bit of an inconsistent album, but i think there's some great stuff on it. i've not yet really digested disc 2 (which seems a little spottier) but disc 1 is excellent.
it kind of got trashed, it seems, when it was first released, but i'm quite happy i finally picked it up. it's a lot better than some of those early reviews made it out to be.
― Mark Clemente, Sunday, 21 October 2007 19:44 (sixteen years ago) link
Tape Store, it's his most complete album, however it was let down by the fact it came out about 4 years too late. Rather than a huge stylistic leap, it's a sprawling double album that concentrates on refining what he had been doing since 1996, so to seasoned fans who expected another wacky twist in the ongoing Aphex saga, they were to be disappointed. It has an awful lot of material, some of it excellent and a lot of it, well, awful. But that was always the idea with Aphex I suppose. It was never about being polished and more about the fun ideas. Throw it at a wall and see if it sticks, and if it doesn't chuck it in the pot anyway.
― the next grozart, Sunday, 21 October 2007 20:09 (sixteen years ago) link
"54 Cymru Beats" is one of his all-time best.
― Noodle Vague, Sunday, 21 October 2007 20:38 (sixteen years ago) link
The stretch between "vordhosbn" and "Afx237 V7" is great, but after that I usually turn it off or skip 7 tracks
― robertwolf8080, Sunday, 21 October 2007 20:50 (sixteen years ago) link
You can makea a dinky 60 minute cut by ripping out all the whoops-I-left-the-tape-running moments.
― Autumn Almanac, Monday, 22 October 2007 05:51 (sixteen years ago) link
grozart's response intrigues me; I'm going to buy this.
― Tape Store, Monday, 22 October 2007 06:32 (sixteen years ago) link
"Avril 14th" is like the best soundtrack piece Jon Brion never wrote.
― jaymc, Sunday, 10 August 2008 21:51 (sixteen years ago) link
i love drukqs
― Creeztophair, Sunday, 10 August 2008 22:03 (sixteen years ago) link
i wonder if druckqs will be one of those albums that gradually gets the kudos and props that weren't there initially, until, one day, it is described as a classic (probably around the time of the next release, when people will say "man this, shit is just druckqs redux, now that was a cool lp"???
― gareth, Monday, March 11, 2002 8:00 PM
^^
― am0n, Saturday, 5 September 2009 23:53 (fifteen years ago) link
miss gareth :(
― ian, Sunday, 6 September 2009 04:17 (fifteen years ago) link
Hmm, I just noticed that my copy of "Druckqs" has a parental advisory sticker on it. What am I missing?
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 6 September 2009 15:45 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― frogbs, Monday, 22 April 2024 14:59 (five months ago) link
the computer controlled instruments are real
https://www.logosfoundation.org/instrum_gwr/HAT.htmlhttps://www.logosfoundation.org/instrum_gwr/snar2.html
― Who u? I don't kno u (noz), Monday, 22 April 2024 19:47 (five months ago) link
I can only hope their instrument manufacturing is more sophisticated than their web design.
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 22 April 2024 19:50 (five months ago) link
i like their web design
― Who u? I don't kno u (noz), Monday, 22 April 2024 19:54 (five months ago) link
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.
― Keith, Tuesday, 23 April 2024 14:52 (four months ago) link
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.
― octobeard, Tuesday, 23 April 2024 20:37 (four months ago) link
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
― flopson, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 07:00 (four months ago) link
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.
― Keith, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 14:56 (four months ago) link
Drukqs is full of samples from 1970s records by all accounts
Is this documented somewhere(?) First I have heard of it!
― rendered nugatory (morrisp), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 16:15 (four months ago) link
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)
― Keith, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 16:22 (four months ago) link
Thx! Wild... "When the Levee Breaks"(!)
― rendered nugatory (morrisp), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 17:45 (four months ago) link
Yeah I know... They're pretty much all weird—even the idea that he has actually listened to any music from the 1970s!
― Keith, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 17:47 (four months ago) link
i feel like i'm taking crazy pills do you guys not know what breakbeats are
― Who u? I don't kno u (noz), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 18:07 (four months ago) link
or where they come from
― Who u? I don't kno u (noz), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 18:08 (four months ago) link
so its probably more he's sampling breakbeats that sampled these tunes not that he's perousing Marva Whitney records for samples
― frogbs, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 18:11 (four months ago) link
Yeah, could be. Still, I like to think he's a massive secret soul boy
― Keith, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 18:18 (four months ago) link
well i doubt he had to dig for it, it's a canonical b-boy break, as is basically everything he uses on the album
― Who u? I don't kno u (noz), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 18:25 (four months ago) link
i promise you guys aphex twin has listened to marva whitney unwind yourself in its entirety at least a few times in his life this is not debatable
― Who u? I don't kno u (noz), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 18:29 (four months ago) link
I guess I'm pretty uninformed, I didn't realize he used samples like that at all.
― rendered nugatory (morrisp), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 19:31 (four months ago) link
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.
Haha, yeah I can imagine that, but then I can imagine that I'm imagining that. It's pretty painful. I've forgotten the name of it, but there's a paradox that came up when I did AI back when no one cared about AI, including the people doing AI, where you cannot tell if someone is lying if they say they are a liar—I like to imagine him having a chuckle at that.
Re: the Cheetah stuff, I know what you mean frog, though there is a slower version of the CIRCLONT stuff from Syro available (interview tracks—goes on for ten minutes) and it does sound similar, but not sure it's quite the same.
― Keith, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 20:25 (four months ago) link
Re: b-boy breaks, yeah I found that surprising too, partly because it doesn't really sound like it at all, like all these late 80s records that did that did—I mean I can't hear Led Zep even although I'm told it's there, but also partly because I don't think he did much of it before or even since, but I may be missing it—does he use canonical breaks on all his other records?
― Keith, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 20:36 (four months ago) link
Ha, Aphex Twin definitely uses breakbeats. In the case of that Levee Breaks one, he's just using them as one-shots and using the texture, not the groove. I don't know that I would have ID'd it pitched up like that. But the Marva Whitney one is clear, ghost notes and everything.
Sometimes he doesn't use breakbeats! Often the drum sounds are pretty clearly synthetic. But, say, Come to Daddy has real drum sounds mixed in there, so he clearly took them off some record or other. Pretty sure the new stuff (Blackbox Life Recorder) has some as well.
I agree that it's surprising to hear a breakbeat longer than one hit in his music, usually the drums are so meticulously chopped up out of tiny samples (whether they originally came from breakbeats or drum machines).
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 20:58 (four months ago) link
i think the drums on most of his 90s stuff were programmed, even when he was channelling the jittery spirit of dnb on hangable auto bulb or whatever he was usually doing it with sequenced single hits, he got heavier into using classic canonical ultimate breaks and beats type loops on the later stuff - druqks, syro and the tuss - though yeah he chops and layers the hell out of them usually to the point of inscrutability
that led zep id might be absolute bullshit though i don't really hear it either
― Who u? I don't kno u (noz), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 21:26 (four months ago) link
he chops and layers the hell out of them usually to the point of inscrutability
Yes, SHIP OF THESEUS. It would be quite in character for that to be the case.
I'll need to listen again for the Marva Whitney one—can't say I had noticed, but then it's also so massively out of context.
One thing I did hear/learn recently was the bit in I think Taking Control, where his mum is saying "Would you like a blackcurrant drink?", and now I learn that many years later, as a clear fan of blackcurrant drinks, he has married a Ms. Rybena.
― Keith, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 21:35 (four months ago) link
poking around further on whosampled i realized he actually flipped two different breaks from the same marva lp on drukqs
https://www.whosampled.com/sample/261703/Aphex-Twin-Taking-Control-Marva-Whitney-Unwind-Yourself/https://www.whosampled.com/sample/350772/Aphex-Twin-CockVer10-Marva-Whitney-Things-Got-to-Get-Better-(Get-Together)/
― Who u? I don't kno u (noz), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 21:40 (four months ago) link
it is probably instructive to think of drukqs as his most direct engagement with dnb/jungle production modes (vs dnb aesthetics on rdj/hab/c2d) - bringing in more breaks, doing everything in a tracker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAZo7x83it4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WeKUEL6GNE
― Who u? I don't kno u (noz), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 21:45 (four months ago) link
also i think the collapse 'britfunk' sample you mentioned is actually from a us freestyle dub https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhgmX903oh0
so much pre idm dna is buried in random '80s dance dubs
― Who u? I don't kno u (noz), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 21:52 (four months ago) link
No it wasn't that. It wasn't from whosampled though, it was some YouTube video I watched about Aphex samples, I think. It had some film of the original, which I think I remembered from the time, and was quite obviously just the same thing but maybe doubled in speed. When I'm in a better place to do so, I'll see if I can find the video.
― Keith, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 22:00 (four months ago) link
Man I loved composing with trackers back in the day. It really did feel perfect for making drum and bass and hyperactive percussion editing.
― octobeard, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 22:04 (four months ago) link
This isn't a Britfunk track and I certainly don't remember it from when it came out, but I think this might the sample I was referring to on the Collapse EP (video should be set to the right time)—I would have to have got most of the facts wrong though, although that is entirely possible. If I come across something more fitting, I will post it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWqRlAXGn-4
― Keith, Thursday, 25 April 2024 10:32 (four months ago) link
i think ilm strips the time parameters
Collapse is about 7 minutes in
― koogs, Thursday, 25 April 2024 12:40 (four months ago) link
Haha, you mean I stripped the time parameters! To be fair to me, I dunno if YouTube has time parameters when I wrote it.
― Keith, Thursday, 25 April 2024 12:50 (four months ago) link
Very polite of you though, A.