alright listen you little shits
― frogbs, Monday, 9 December 2019 14:35 (four years ago) link
Magnetic Fields
It's Les chants magnétiques, not Les champs magnétiques, except of course 'chants' and 'champs' are homophones in French.
I agree with the others that Afx's pose probably isn't a callback but I like the speculation.
― pomenitul, Monday, 9 December 2019 14:39 (four years ago) link
Brilliant as ever. Visuals no slouch either. https://youtu.be/961uG4Ixg_Y
― Pyschocandles, Friday, 3 January 2020 01:02 (four years ago) link
WTF @ 2/3 of Smojphace (which I just listened to for the first time and which will probably be the last thing I ever hear now that my eardrums have been thoroughly scoured)
I don't 'do' memes but if I did this would be a great candidate for the 'Lou Reed: (records Metal Machine Music); RDJ: Hold my beer.' treatment.
― Pizza is Really Yummy for Me (Old Lunch), Monday, 13 January 2020 20:14 (four years ago) link
since it's my thread, i am gonna vouch for Ovuca - Onclements, which is great and I've been listening to it all week (and it's on Rephlex so semi-on topic)
― Ludo, Monday, 13 January 2020 20:50 (four years ago) link
it's amazing how consistently good these dj(+live?) sets are xxpost
― lukas, Monday, 13 January 2020 21:09 (four years ago) link
I think those Smojphace tracks are supposed to be fed through a visualiser thingy
― doorstep jetski (dog latin), Monday, 13 January 2020 21:35 (four years ago) link
(Not new music)
what the fucking fuck is going on here?https://t.co/cPLG868cP0(h/t @djhausUTTU)— Posthuman (@posthuman) March 4, 2020
― groovypanda, Wednesday, 4 March 2020 10:53 (four years ago) link
Probably forgot to renew the domain registration? The incest pron link on the contact page seems like a giveaway tbf
― Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 4 March 2020 11:03 (four years ago) link
looks like a "prank" to me !!!
― frogbs, Wednesday, 4 March 2020 13:01 (four years ago) link
I vote prank
― dan selzer, Wednesday, 4 March 2020 13:27 (four years ago) link
it's a very well observed one if so
― doorstep jetski (dog latin), Wednesday, 4 March 2020 16:42 (four years ago) link
The domain's WhoIs details are weird (the registrant/tech contact is purported to be someone named Elizabeth Hanks in Clinton, NJ) -- but it's hosted out of the UK and doesn't appear to have changed hands recently.
― tamagotchi revival artist (morrisp), Wednesday, 4 March 2020 17:39 (four years ago) link
New tracks?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 15:42 (four years ago) link
download the mp3s and check the comments ;_;
― lukas, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 17:53 (four years ago) link
huh?
― brimstead, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 18:56 (four years ago) link
Oh, yeah, I saw that. (Apparently his father recently passed, and he dedicated at least one track to him.)
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 18:59 (four years ago) link
brimstead: https://soundcloud.com/user18081971
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:09 (four years ago) link
better: https://soundcloud.com/user18081971/tracks
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:10 (four years ago) link
no I got it, I just thought lukas’ initial post implied it was fake or something
― brimstead, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 20:31 (four years ago) link
o i c
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 20:53 (four years ago) link
'qu 1' is beautiful and sad.
― brain (krakow), Thursday, 9 April 2020 22:03 (four years ago) link
I won’t attempt to parse the exact p.o.v. behind the cluster of URLs in the profile’s “Bio,” but there’s definitely a p.o.v. being expressed.
― morrisp, Friday, 10 April 2020 01:04 (four years ago) link
oh he's a covid truther cool
― frogbs, Friday, 10 April 2020 01:14 (four years ago) link
That stuff seems to have now been removed from the bio. Good, I guess.
― I eat fast foods (morrisp), Sunday, 26 April 2020 17:59 (four years ago) link
Pretty fun thread. It’s almost hard to believe now because mental drum programming is so synonymous with Aphex but the RDJ Album was really seen by many at the time as him embracing the drum n bass movement. To that point, drum programming had been a feature of his releases, but with RDJ—and esp. Come to Daddy—it became a focus and a signature of sorts. TBH, I’m not sure I’ve ever totally warmed to it but in some cases I dialed that’s intentional.
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 21 September 2020 04:27 (three years ago) link
Those albums are the most dated he’s released
― beard papa, Monday, 21 September 2020 07:11 (three years ago) link
still love his digital drill n bass stuff. a lot of the humour has aged badly, but I still get a lot of pleasure from the tracks
― Specific Ocean Blue (dog latin), Monday, 21 September 2020 07:54 (three years ago) link
I can’t hang with some of the cloying melodies on RDJ these days, still love 4 and yellow calx...if anything Druqks has grown in my estimation never a big come to daddy fan apart from IZ-US
― brimstead, Monday, 21 September 2020 15:13 (three years ago) link
and “arched maid via rdj” def a timeless aphex drill n bass tune
CTD EPs are very much my favourites in a career of highlights. Maybe not so much the title track, but everything else is lovely.
― Specific Ocean Blue (dog latin), Monday, 21 September 2020 15:14 (three years ago) link
Cloying Afx and creepy clown Afx (not mutually exclusive) are the facets of his music I like the least.
― pomenitul, Monday, 21 September 2020 15:15 (three years ago) link
once you take those out, there isn't much left though, is there? not sure about 'cloying' melodies though - any examples?
― Specific Ocean Blue (dog latin), Monday, 21 September 2020 15:19 (three years ago) link
'Milkman' bridges the gap between the two and is thus doubly insufferable.
― pomenitul, Monday, 21 September 2020 15:24 (three years ago) link
forget I said anything
― brimstead, Monday, 21 September 2020 15:29 (three years ago) link
I’d just like to take this opportunity to point out once again that Syro absolutely rules.
― pomenitul, Monday, 21 September 2020 15:31 (three years ago) link
So I’ve been digging thru the entire Aphex discography over the last several weeks … I wasn’t exactly a noob to him—I’ve had I Care Because You Do and Mike and Rich since they were released and RDJA and the SAWs on my iTunes forever—but I’ve never done a proper deep dive until now. It’s actually really interesting to hear his complete output with 2020 ears and sensibilities and absent the nostalgia I think that colors a lot of recent-ish writing about him, particularly since his 2014 comeback.
A few thoughts on his “proper releases” — some of which is gonna make me seem like a hater, but trust me when I say I’ve been really into and excited about this stuff on the whole and appreciate most of what he's released.
SAW 85-92 — This is probably the record that has the biggest gap between reputation and reality. Don’t get me wrong — I like it. Heliosphan is a killer tune (tho I like the live SC dump one better) and some of his signatures (melancholy keyboard melodies aching in the distance) get a trial run here. But it remains the least boundary-pushing record he’s done. While the tunes are nice, the conceit and execution are sort of strikingly basic, from its use of samples (like the Gene Wilder nick) to the beats. The whole thing sounds like it uses a grand total of three or four pieces of gear — one drum machine, one or two keyboards that use a couple of presets fed thru a cavernous Quadraverb. Is that part of its allure? For sure — and the cassette mastering here adds to the charm. But for a record that won Pitchfork’s ranking of 50 best IDM albums (some good writing in there BTW), a lot of this feels slight ... and slightly faceless in some ways. I’m not going to say they were doing it better necessarily but there’s not a lot here that many of his contemporaries weren’t doing at the same time.
SAW Vol. II — Let’s get this out of the way: most of the best loved stuff here sounds like Eno pastiche. Rhubarb nails the hyper-melodic Apollo/“An Ending” vibe. Stone in Focus is pretty much the last track on On Land. And Lichen is straight up Discreet Music. There’s a lot of kind of aimless atonal noodles here—“Curtains,” “Radiator”—that don’t feel much more significant than his SC dump. Of course, there’s also some really excellent sound design — “Trees” has a cool rumbling — and several tracks seem to have been slowed down, adding to kind of a spooky feel. “Blue Calx” is also gorgeous — where the authentic Aphex compositional style kind of emerges. A part of me feels like this is the record where IDM’s “anything goes” ideology really took hold — where form, melody and beats even aren’t really necessary anymore. Which I can appreciate if not always love. And which may have something to do with why this record is seen more as a masterpiece today than when it was released.
I Care Because You Do — Ok, now we’re talking. "Acrid Avid Jam Shred" is one of my favorites — it’s a simple pleasure in a lot of ways but what makes it special is how you start to hear Aphex’s mutating structures. What starts as a bouncy drum piece with a modest chord refrain completely changes when he introduces a longing pad figure at about three minutes in. When he takes the beat back up and adds a little whistle counter-melody, the whole track becomes glorious: beautiful, head-bobby, funny and emotional all at once. The pacing is extraordinary. If the rest of the record doesn’t *really* live up to the promise of its opener, that’s ok because it’s still pretty terrific. The introduction of “proper” orchestral textures (reinforced by the later Philip Glass arrangement of Icct Hedral) is an obvious but welcome reference point — and on tracks like “Wax the Nip” gel nicely with the frantic drums. “Mookid” and “Alberto Balsalm” get a lot of the love because they’re respites from a lot of what comes before—and they’re nice—but that’s probably all. Even still, this feels like the record where the whole Aphex aesthetic really kicks in — from the evil grin artwork, to the you-will-try-but-never-dance-to-these beats, to the melodies that don’t seem like much but are oddly affecting.
More when I come back up for air from work ...
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 15 October 2020 15:46 (three years ago) link
Co sign every bit of that
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 15 October 2020 16:17 (three years ago) link
Awesome! Squarepusher when you're done plz?
― Maresn3st, Thursday, 15 October 2020 16:22 (three years ago) link
The whole thing sounds like it uses a grand total of three or four pieces of gear
I know you acknowledge this in the following sentence, but yes, this is part of the allure and why it deserves a place on Pitchfork's or anyone's top 50 IDM albums (it'd be in my top 5). It's easy to forget now how alien this felt and sounded at the time.
I mostly agree with your SAW2 take though!
― Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 15 October 2020 17:43 (three years ago) link
Nice write ups!
In new aphex news, he seems to have again been collaborating on some gear with novation
AFX is back, but what are @WeAreNovation up to? https://t.co/MCmgGa00ik— DJ Mag (@DJmag) October 8, 2020
― kites aren't fun (NickB), Thursday, 15 October 2020 18:13 (three years ago) link
Haha, every time this thread gets bumped, I'm kinda like... ::bites nails:: OH GOD RICHARD WHAT HAVE YOU SAID NOW. WAHT.
So it's really cool to open it up and read something interesting? It's funny because (thank god the most extreme of my RDJ phanboy days are over!) I agree with many of your assessments, but for me, that's kind of the point, and that's why I love those records, especially 85-92? It's so absolutely basic and nothing-y from a compositional point of view or a gear point of view or a programming/structure point of view, yet it hits such a beautiful place for me. Even with almost nothing in the way of technical gimmickry, the guy still knew how to write a beautiful-haunting-sad-evocative tune.
― Branwell with an N, Thursday, 15 October 2020 18:21 (three years ago) link
oh dang a Novation collab now? I'm 100% on board with this. The Peak is currently my favorite synth in the studio and easily the best bang and sonic variety for the buck, what a gorgeous piece of gear.
― octobeard, Thursday, 15 October 2020 19:18 (three years ago) link
He already collaborated with them on the last iteration of the Basestation 2 mono - there was an Aphex mode where each step of a sequence would be a totally different sound to the step before. Not sure how useful that would be tbh, but I guess it would add a bit of spice to things
― kites aren't fun (NickB), Thursday, 15 October 2020 22:15 (three years ago) link
This looks more like a whole new device though
― kites aren't fun (NickB), Thursday, 15 October 2020 22:17 (three years ago) link
AFX STATIONWITH @WEARENOVATIONhttps://t.co/R07TcQl6h1 pic.twitter.com/xu09wVLyv2— Aphex Twin (@AphexTwin) October 20, 2020
― groovypanda, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 15:03 (three years ago) link
Let’s get this out of the way: most of the best loved stuff here sounds like Eno pastiche.
I don't think I quite agree here. SAWII is where the alien-ness of Aphex really clicks for me, from the melodies to the sound of the equipment used to how it is recorded. I'm as big of an Eno nerd as you can be, but I've never really noticed much similarity between Eno and SAWII besides the most obvious aspects that it shares with virtually all ambient music. In fact, one thing I think it does even better than Eno is really getting at the darker undercurrents that Eno explored with something like "On Land" but never really delved into much further.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 15:58 (three years ago) link
I feel rhubarb so much more than saccharine apollo mush.. don’t like mushy eno
― brimstead, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 17:32 (three years ago) link
Didn't RDJ once say he had never heard Eno before making that album? Or am I confusing this with something else...
― bagel in the streets, donut in the sheets (morrisp), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 17:34 (three years ago) link
that sounds like something he would say, and also one of his many lies
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 18:01 (three years ago) link