Anticipating SYRO the new (2014) album by Aphex Twin

oh sorry you're right - wrong track

so i listened to the whole thing yesterday at the listening party and it's very good. not a whole lot of new tricks but the few that i took notice of were vocal manipulations. lots of acid. one of the ch00ns sounded like a direct allusion to SAW1 and was awesome. as mentioned before in this thread (or the other) the final track is the piano one and i was slightly disappointed that there was no panning effects on it in reference to the pendulum stuff

i was holding out for third-wave ska for this album. shame.

also it doesn't sound like analord at all

one of the most fun tracks I thought was the fifth (?) one, which was sort of a hooverish ravey track. layers of detuned synths.

What were the listening parties like? Lots of attendees?

the one in chicago was pretty well attended (i'm really bad at estimating crowd size but maybe a couple hundred?), the line wrapped around the block. basically they just shut off the lights and then played the album with a laser AFX symbol projected on the wall the whole time, a few puffs of fog here or there

crowd was a bit awkward, not a lot of dancing, lots of nodding and staring at the laser

exactly the same in new york. it took an hour or so before the album played, so everyone had a chance to drink a beer or two and talk about music they were recording.

haha, i've never attended a listening party before. i could imagine it being quite a strange ascetic experience.

then... gentle swaying, some foot tapping, light head nodding. one guy in the corner really dancing.

probably the best and loudest system I'll ever get to hear this on at least!

in a way, a night where they just play my favourite album at brilliantly loud volumes on a really good sound system + beer, would be close to ideal for me.

of course in reality it would probably be a bit lacklustre.

in my naive youth I went to listening parties for Kid A and a Sigur Ros album, I think the brackets title one. just awkward tbh. are you supposed to applaud at the end?

it sounds good on paper, but you feel a little silly standing in a room full of respectfully silent strangers listening to something you don't know if you'll like, sort of conscious of everyone feeling like they need to develop an opinion by the time the lights come on. I ran into a few friends though which made it go down easier.

people applauded after each track, there was one guy who'd shout out a wisecrack once or twice

lol imagine heckling a CD

listening party sounds awful!

Sounds a bit surreal and awkward, but at least more social than staring into a monitor.

wish i couldof brought my phone in so i could take a picture of the dude with the homemade yellow aphex twin suit vest

the a+ weirdest listening party i ever went to was the pre-release of scarlett johansson's album of tom waits covers. she sat on stage with publicists and hired interviewer while they played the music in the room in two minute snippets and then she sorta responded to unasked questions between tracks. it was awkward.

listening party would be cool if you were allowed to each lie on a couch

it could double up as a blood donor station.

And Aphex could take the donated blood and blend it into a polymer or something and use it to press the vinyl copies of the album.

WIRE review: http://i.imgur.com/ORCD5BU.jpg

God that first line completely proves my point.

Urgh now I have to find that Tuss album urgh

Review has renewed my interest in hearing the record.

Still embargoing reading any reviews at all of this, but my god. He is just the most beautiful man. (Even if he has not changed his blue sweater in about 2 years now.)

Ew

So he wasn't lying about the divorce.

But who knows about the rest of it...

http://kleineschriften.tumblr.com/post/97549542103

He says the Caustic Window record that was auctioned was Grant's, too. Shame about Rephlex.

‘Apparently Skrillex said that Flim was his favourite track. I’m afraid that says it all really.’

lol

"everything happens for a reason" and batshit conspiracy theories eh.

It's leaked: https://soundcloud.com/scarequotes-1/sets/syro-ilx-precovers

Might be sliiiightly less unconvincing without the "ILX precovers" in the URL?

No it must be true. That cover art is completely accurate.

Creepiest cover yet!

the cover nearly made me spit out my coffee you assholes

He says the Caustic Window record that was auctioned was Grant's, too. Shame about Rephlex.

Is Grant OK? I knew about Rephlex shuttering, but I assumed it was out of boredom. While we haven't spoken in a few years, he was always an upstanding guy to me and I think about him often.

One of my favorite music memories is hearing a group of booty DJs play in Detroit with him and Soundmurderer. I was 18 so I was pretty starstruck. It ruled.

didn't know myself about rephlex shutting down. 'all good things...' i guess..

Well, read the interview, and Richard explains.

Oh, and I guess he did come "up" by train to London because he was coming from Cornwall. After a birthday party. He explained. Jeez, Richard, if you don't want stalkers, stop explaining every aspect of your life on the internet. Please.

the chemtrails thing is a joke i hope

remember this is a dude who doesn't really want to leave his room

neither do i and i can tell the chemtrails thing isn't real (like the moon landing)

drip

I was inspired to make an infographic for my record which also came out this week.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3848975/nye2point014nasonex.jpg

Amazing.

Minipops is a real jam - didnt think I would dig it so fast