Review: Thankfully, Richard D. James has decided to finally release at least some of the output that he's been banging on about since mid-2000s. In a number of interviews, the might Aphex Twin hinted that he has vast artilleries of tracks stacked up and unreleased, probably more on purpose than out of laziness...or maybe not. What we do know is that AFX is reborn after the string of acid 12"s released about 10 years ago on Rephlex, that saw the alias become one of the most popular of James' alter egos. Orphaned Deejay Selek is a collection of tunes that contain all of the Twin's magic and unpredictably, but that also cut straight to the point and head to the middle of the dance floor. This is banging brain dynamite coated in the man's iconic style and flair. Welcome back AFX, and many hats off to Warp for making it happen.
Review: Some 25 years after delivering his debut 12", Richard D James hasn't lost the ability to thrill or inspire. By his obtuse standards, the material that makes up the surprise Cheetah EP is actually rather laidback and melodious. "Cheetah2 (LD Spectrum)", for example, sounds like a slow house jam written by robots, while the even deeper "Cheetah7B" shuffles along in a metronomic fashion, seemingly oblivious to the increasingly aggressive World at large. Of course, those trademark skittish IDM rhythms are present - see the B-side's lead cut - and the Cornishman has thrown in a couple of hazy ambient cuts for good measure.
Review: Some 25 years after delivering his debut 12", Richard D James hasn't lost the ability to thrill or inspire. By his obtuse standards, the material that makes up the surprise Cheetah EP is actually rather laidback and melodious. "Cheetah2 (LD Spectrum)", for example, sounds like a slow house jam written by robots, while the even deeper "Cheetah7B" shuffles along in a metronomic fashion, seemingly oblivious to the increasingly aggressive World at large. Of course, those trademark skittish IDM rhythms are present and the Cornishman has thrown in a couple of hazy ambient cuts for good measure.
Review: While his AR antics and massive stage shows might be a far cry from the subversive rave culture he came up in, Aphex Twin remains one of the most fascinating and gifted electronic dance music producers of his generation. Get past the fanfare and bluster, and it's still an incredibly exciting prospect to be opening up a new box of his charms, and he's as generous as he's ever been on this new four-track EP. As a key architect of the braindance sound (whether he likes the tag or not), Richard D. James demonstrates his gift for uncanny emotionality and dexterous drum programming on the lead single 'Blackbox Life Recorder 21f', hitting a spot not too far from the realm of his last album Syro and The Tuss material. With a lush fold-out sleeve to house it all in, it's another fine addition to the canon of a true cult phenomenon.
Review: The hype machine may have kicked into overdrive at the announcement of a new Aphex Twin EP, but after all there's a reason we all get so excited. Richard D. James is just a rare sort of artist - one who can wrench untold depth, detail and feeling from the oddest of angles and still keep it rave-ready in the process. It's been a while since we had some new material from the Cornish wonder, but now he's gifting us four fresh slabs of braindance par excellence which bristle with his distinctive touch. Those subtle microtonal shifts in the melodies, the particular flair with which the drums are dissected, the overall head-spinning tapestry of the whole thing - no one does it quite like Aphex, and this CD single gives you his considerable skills in the highest definition.
Review: The Expanded Edition of Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Volume II is here; this is a reissue of an album that still serves as one of the ideasthetic backbones to most music fans' idea of 'ambient music' at large. A lesser-known fact is that when James recorded the record, he had concurrently undergone a period of lucid dreaming, and in this vivid lucid state, had heard many sounds akin to those heard on this record, which he had subsequently attempted to recreate. The sound of dreaming is usually an ineffable thing, but not to Aphex Twin, who had perhaps been one of the first to articulate dreams' bleary, smeary, selective and dream-distorted sonic quality. Many different interpreters have harped on this record, some hearing a 'cold islationism' in it, others a purer bliss; what is most evident is this one helped popularise ambient music in a formal, less connotative way, and continues to do so even today.
Review: By 1996, Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin, had a prolific career at 26. He co-ran Rephlex Records, signed with Warp Records, and had multiple releases and MTV-aired music videos. His fame surged with the 1997 Come to Daddy EP and Chris Cunningham-directed music videos. James was constantly creating music, describing his output as endless. The Richard D. James Album marked a turning point, featuring his creepy distorted smile on the cover, solidifying his bizarre persona. Despite his unassuming demeanor, James's music was wildly innovative. Raised in Cornwall, he preferred making music in solitude, viewing himself as "some kid mucking around in his bedroom." Departing from previous methods, the album was entirely computer-made, reflecting recent work. James aimed for accessibility with hidden complexity, making the music engaging yet intricate. The album featured more structured songs with clear melodies, such as 'Girl/Boy Song,' blending orchestral sounds with drum solos. Symphonic elements persisted, creating emotionally resonant moments. Tracks like '4' and 'Fingerbib' showcased his ambient sensibilities and inventive sounds. Vocals, heavily altered, added a unique touch.
The album combined delicate symphonics with intense beats, exploring drill ‘n’ bass. It had a cohesive vision, evident in tracks like 'Cornish Acid' and 'Peek 82454201.' Named after his deceased brother, the album held personal significance, subtly influencing its depth and emotion.
Review: Originally released in 1996, Aphex Twin's fifth album in as many years meant business from the very moment the wild and whimsical opener "4" scribbled it way through the speakers. With jaunty jams such as "Cornish Acid" and "Fingerbib" running amok mid-set, Richard D James Album acted as a fine mission statement to expect the unexpected and never anticipate formula or form. And it still carries that very same message today. Essential.
Review: Just four months after the release of the long-awaited Syro, Richard D. James has dropped an EP of all-new material, more than making up for his 13 years of radio silence. Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Pt 2 is an album comprised of music that's just that, making for one of the most unique collection of Aphex Twin tracks of James's entire career. From intricate piano miniatures to almost jazz-inspired drum rhythms, it's essential listening for those willing to delve deep into the strange sonic world of the producer.
Review: It's the album that redefined ambient music, not least for a generation of parasympathetic ravers. Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Volume II marked a stylistic shift away from the first edition in the infamous ambient LP 'series', Selected Ambient Works 85-92. Volume II differed substantially; this time, there would be no 'techno' addendum to 'ambient', and all tracks thereupon would lack the usual indulgence of beats, however easy-on-the-ears these had been beforehand. Known for its many numbered tracks - which on the original edition, rather than track names, denoted references to images of natural forms, textures and geologic readymades, all bathed in orange, and from which fans had to infer the written names - this expanded edition stays faithful to this origin. Even so, it adds two unreleased D. Jamesian treats - 'th1 [evnslower]' and a reversed version of 'Rhubarb' - as well as a the previously vinyl only '#19'.
Review: So, how long have you been waiting for this one to drop? The answer really depends on two things - whether you've just been waiting for new long form material from the UK IDM legends Autechre, or whether you've been waiting for Autechre to put a proper album together that stays true to the principles and format of a 'proper album', as this does.
Either way let's just say Sign has been some time in the making, and it's definitely a case of payoff for patience. For the most part it's the waves of space age melody that really stand out, tracks like 'Esc Desc' seem to fill the room with bands of sci-fi harmony. Of course there's plenty of glitch and bleep here, too - the stepping 'Au14' is a case in point - alongside rumbling, bass-heavy business like 'Si100', where playful drips of percussion create a juxtaposition of innocence and menace.
Review: The fourth full-length from Autechre came at a point in time when the Greater Manchester IDM duo had really carved out their own place in music. Not only did they release this album, 1997 also saw the two EPs, Envane and Cichlisuite land, the latter made entirely from remixes of Chiastic Slide track 'Cichli'. And they still found time to drop the now-super rare Radio Mix, in which, alongside their takes on tunes by other artists, also contained a short interview with the producers that in moments was pretty much beyond comprehension.
People don't do things like that unless they have found a rhythm, identified a direction, and garnered an audience they know will get onboard with the combination of madness and genius. In terms of Chiastic, in many ways you can see this as a signpost for where things were going next, straddling inviting harmonies of the past with harsher, less human, razor sharp elements nodding to a new sonic future.
Review: We won't make the obvious joke about buses - you know, the one about waiting ages for an Autechre album and then two turn up pretty much at the same time. But we will say this. If Plus, the second of Sean Booth and Rob Brown's two albums to drop within a fortnight of each other after a lengthy absence, were a bus, it wouldn't be headed out on any recognisable route that we know about. You might find the odd bit of scenery that feels vaguely familiar - the tension-laden strings of 'ii pre esc' or the scrambled drum & bass machinations of 'X4', but in the pair's hands they are splintered and re-assembled very much in their own image, one foot in the frenetic exhortations of electro and the other deeply planted in the land of industrial experimentation. Closing track 'TM1 might bear a slight resemblance to the squelchy acid of Drexciya, for instance, but its occasionally four-to-the-floor beats stop and start with a wonderfully disorientating playfulness. Brave and original, as ever, this is not for the faint hearted but at the same time takes you places you never thought you'd encounter.
Review: As Autechre set out on an extensive live tour, Warp has decided the time is right to reissue their 1994 classic, Amber, on vinyl. Given that it's been unavailable on wax since then, and second hand prices have shot through the roof, this is undoubtedly a good thing. It remains one of the legendary duo's standout albums: a peerless collection of brilliant IDM tunes offering a perfect balance between the glistening, atmospheric melodiousness of their early work, and the crunchy, mathematical rhythms of their later releases. There are moments of eyes-closed calm ("Silverside"), bubbly, melody-led workouts ("Montreal", "Slip"), far-out electro missives ("Glitch"), and the odd icy epic (the brilliant "Further").
Review: Sure to sate all of their North Face and/or Arcteryx-jacketed obsessives, a new reissues spate of Autechre's best albums is underway courtesy of Warp Records. This reissue of Confield (arguably one of their most straightforward and 'chilled' experimental records) comes in the form of a double LP and digital download. The album is characterised by its shifting in and out of tempo structures, as well as its serene pads and digital sloshing sounds, producing the overall sonic character of a transhuman rainmaker.
Review: A new reissue run of Autechre's best albums is underway, courtesy of Warp Records. The seventh LP Draft 7:30 is one of their many lesser-cited projects, but easily rivals many of the greats for all its ahead-of-its-time tinkerings and extrahuman sonic abstractions. Highlights for those not yet in the know include the stop-start snares and machinic crunches of 'IV VV IV VV VIII', and the mood of psychic absentia conveyed by the rapid-delayed big beat breaks of 'V-PROC'.
Review: A lot of good shit happened in 1998. Musically, it was the year of Air's Moon Safari, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and the beginning of Mos Def and Talib Kweli's Black Star project. Among other things. Meanwhile, in a parallel sonic dimension, Warp Records was backing the logically-titled fifth full length album from Autechre. A landmark moment in British electronic music some have come to call Autechre, others simply Album. For the purposes of clarity, though, we're sticking with the original title.
This marked a departure from the Autechre we had been used to, with the old warm, full, almost-orchestral sound of earlier work cast aside, or perhaps just put to rest, in favour of something more technical, machine made, and pin-point precise. Good enough to rank in Pitchfork's top 10 IDM albums of all time, what else do you need to know?
Review: 21 years since its release and a good 15 years after its last vinyl repress, Tri Repetae's new vinyl revitalization is incredibly welcome news to fans old and new. Without wanting to preach to the choir but everything about this body of work remains ahead of its time and on its own. From those opening robotic purrs and mechanical breaks to those final tubular space echoes on "Rsdio", the whole album still sucks you in with such alien, otherworldly allure. How they made those sounds and arranged them in such a way with the technology at the time blew minds back then and blows even more in hindsight. A serious document.
Review: B12's 1993 debut album, Electro-Soma, has long been regarded as one of intelligent dance music's "must-have releases". Offering a decidedly intergalactic blend of otherworldly techno, ambient and deep space electronica, it remains a brilliant piece of work. Here, Warp Records give it the reissue treatment, packaging the peerless original album with a second disc of early B12 rarities and hard-to-find cuts recorded during the same period. There's naturally plenty to admire on this bonus disc, from the shimmering electro bustle of "Transient Pathways" and Motor City futurism of "Debris", to the intoxicating ambient brilliance of "Go With The Hiss". That this material is every bit as good as the tracks included on Electro-Soma is testament to the (then) duo's rarely matched brilliance.
Review: When it comes to a reissue such as this it can't be understated just how arresting the work of Boards of Canada can be in the right situation. This EP, that came to light in between Music Has The Right To Children and Geogaddi, represents the enigmatic duo at their most powerful, channeling their energy into four long-form tracks that draw on all of their combined strengths. "Kid For Today" is haunting and dark but utterly heartbreaking, whilst "Amo Bishop Roden" heads into more mysterious territory. "In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country" is eerie in its titular invitation to join a cult, and "Zoetrope" tips its hat to Terry Riley et al in its looping phrases, but really there's no describing the magnificence of these gems, pleasingly reissued on vinyl to beat the Discogs chancers.
Review: Warp's Boards of Canada reissue campaign reaches Geogaddi, perhaps the duo's most expansive (if not their most popular) record, presented here on a 3LP gatefold edition. Considerably darker than its predecessor Music Has The Right To Children, the claustrophobic sounds of "Gyroscope" and sampled spoken word in tracks like "Dandelion" and "Energy Warning" present a somewhat dystopian setting, filled with unsettling sounds, such as the light but eerie melodies of "Alpha & Omega" and "1969". Undoubtedly one deserving of reappraisal.
Review: Given that it's been eight years since the last Boards of Canada album, Tomorrow's Harvest should, by rights, push Daft Punk's Random Access Memories in the hype stakes. Certainly, it's a fine set. During their sabbatical, Marcus Eoin and Michael Sandison have lost none of their power to amaze and impress. Chords drone, samples hiss, synths shimmer and beats swing. There are intense ambient moments and intoxicating, post-IDM dreamscapes. It is in turns icy, warm, introspective and blindingly picturesque. Throughout, Tomorrow's Harvest is impeccably atmospheric, conjuring images of windswept Scottish moors, becalmed Cornish bays and maudlin pagan ceremonies. As comeback records go, it's pretty darn good.
Review: One of several final demo collections by the band Broadcast, all recorded between 2006 and 2009, to be released before they say their final goodbyes to the world as a group. Comprising songs and sketches drawn from the four-track tape archives of the late Trish Keenan, who died in 2011, Spell Broadcast seems a befitting title for the audio-incantation that this large set of 36 originals seems to cast over us. The recordings lay the groundwork for what would have been Broadcast's fifth album, offering a window into Trish and James Cargill's creative process during the post-Tender Buttons period from 2006-2009.
Please Call To Book (Le'ts Write A song Project) (4:41)
Review: Broadcast's Collected Demos collections span era-defining moments that dot the band's career. One of several new demo compilations to mark the band's sad closing knell, Distant Call is one such record, and comprises fourteen demos that were worked into finished productions appearing on Haha Sound, Tender Buttons and The Future Crayon. Though most of these are tenderer versions of these songs of yore, two cuts here - 'Come Back To Me' and 'Please Call To Book' - are formerly unheard originals, both of whose songwriting is credited to the band's own Trish Keenan, discovered shortly after her passing in 2011. Full of dusty deuteragonies and gothic, tape-hued waltzes, this is a rare, once-in-a-lifetime, stripped back snapshot of the band's cutting room floor.
Please Call To Book (Le'ts Write A song Project) (4:41)
Review: As the title suggests, Broadcast have collected all their demo recordings made between 2000 and 2006 and compiled them onto a single 14-track record. But that's not the main piece of news: sadly, this one marks the end of releasing from the band, tying the bow on an game-changing career to say the least. Many of these tender tidbits were worked into finished productions appearing on Haha Sound, Tender Buttons and The Future Crayon; it's an impressive flex to be able to flaunt your one-offs and pack them onto a single recorded finale. What's more, the connotations aroused by form - demos - as well as the sonic content of these gems plays nicely up to Broadcast's now well-established aesthetic, which is one for the ages, to be sure. The album also includes two songs discovered by James after bandmate Trish's passing: 'Come Back To Me' and 'Please Call To Book' which was her response to Broadcast's 2006 'Let's Write A Song' project, where fans were asked to submit lyrics on a postcard which would then be worked into a finished song.
Review: Danny Brown has long been an underground hip hop superstar. Now up to his fifth studio album he has pretty much achieved it all so decides to drill down and make a supremely focussed record that says a lot in just 11 tracks. His flow is reined in and superbly controlled throughout, it's hip hop laced with a sense of psychedelia but also strongly informed by classic, golden era boom-bap - no doubt thanks to the legendary producer behind it all, namely Mr Q-Tip. Featuring raw energy, spiritual thoughtfulness, guest spots from Run The Jewels and Blood Orange, this is an accomplished record from an accomplished artist.
Review: Following on from 2019's super groovy, Q-Tip executively produced Uknowhatimsayink and this year's Scaring The Hoes collaboration with JPEGMAFIA, alternative hip-hop wizard Danny Brown has announced his highly anticipated new solo full-length Quaranta (Spanish for 40). Billed as a "spiritual bookend" to 2011's XXX released in tandem with the celebration of Brown's turning 30, the new album boasts both an impressive array of producers such as Alchemist, Quelle Chris and Skywlk, as well as featured artists like MIKE, Bruiser Wolf, and Kassa Overall, while lyrically and sonically detailing the animated MC's unique and chaotic rise over the past two decades.
Review: Serving as follow up to the acclaimed 2019 ludicrously groovy, Q-Tip executively produced Uknowhatimsayin? as well as 2023's Scaring The Hoes collaborative album with JPEGMAFIA, alt hip-hop hero Danny Brown has unveiled details of his much hyped new solo full-length Quaranta (Spanish for 40). Billed as a "spiritual bookend" to 2011's career-defining XXX, which was released in tandem with Brown's turning 30, the new record boasts both an impressive array of producers such as Alchemist, Quelle Chris and Skywlk, as well as featured artists like MIKE, Bruiser Wolf, and Kassa Overall, while lyrically and sonically delving into the animated MC's uniquely poignant and chaotic ascension over the past two decades.
Review: Chris Clark does a new album every few years or so, but few have been reissued let alone this seminal project from 2006 - which saw to an as yet unheard collaboration with longtime lo-fi electrists Broadcast. Now released, 'Herr Barr Improv' gets added to the compact slew of slippery and proto-wonky experimental electronic cuts, as it should have done originally. The track is is a breaksy 6/8 sneaker, and an early example of Clark's wide-ranging inspiration.
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