sufferinsukatash

Aphex Twin's fourth album is named for the Richard D. James who actually is Aphex Twin. This fact has led some to believe that the album is intended as some sort of musical or abstract autobiography. An argument that is given weight due to the way in which Aphex Twin, as a musical figure, gained notoriety around the time of the release (with the mystery of the person seeming to fit in with the mysterious nature of his music) and because some of the pieces are named after geographical areas in Cornwall, England where he was born and raised.

Musically, the album, in comparison to other styles of music outside the confines of the electronica genre, is closer to classical (many of the songs feature string arrangements that help give the often chaotic series of blips and glitches some sort of structure) or even more experimental styles of jazz than it is pop, dance, or more electronic oriented forms of rock music such as new wave or even industrial (though the occasionally harsh and distorted computer noises are somewhat reminiscent of some sounds used by industrial artists such as Nine Inch Nails). This is mostly due to the way in which the music is arranged, meant to musically represent a particular theme or idea found in the title. For example, "To Cure a Weakling Child" includes child-like melodies performed on a number of instruments ranging from a basic (electronically generated) piano to various synths (and possibly a synclavier, though I'm not entirely sure) and contains audio clips of a child who rhythmically sounds like he or she is counting the alphabet but whose actual words are audibly obscured.

Within the confines of electronica, the music is likely to be defined as IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) due to it being more abstract, more likely to employ complicated time changes, involving impossibly complicated beat patterns (only possible due to the computers that made them) and basically meant more for listening than dancing (despite the name IDM). It's musical predecessors are less Disco, R & B, Funk, and Hip Hop and more Kraftwerk, Kraut Rock (Can, Faust), Music Concrete, and the aforementioned classical and jazz. The often blistering tempos, though difficult to "dance" to, are likely to speed up heart rates and dumbfound (especially those who are unfamiliar with electronica or even those whose voyeur into the genre consists of more commercial dance-oriented acts like Daft Punk or the robot-porn funk of Benny Benassi). These tempos do give the music something in common with more extreme examples of Technical Death Metal (Cryptopsy is a good example) for those interested.

Overall, a remarkable piece of recorded music whether you are familiar with electronic music or not. If you are the type to think that electronic music is essentially not music, then this review isn't for you and I don't really care what you think anyway.


Rating: 5/5


Select Tracks:

1) 4: Strange glitches rapidly approach and back away as a snare and kick drum bounce back and forth. All the while synths make light, fluffy formless little melodies and what sounds like a cello makes harmonious dramatic asides. Gradually a violin starts to cry and you know what Modern Classical is actually supposed to mean.

2) Peek 824545201: Like the theme music to some (very) futuristic intergalactic espionage mission with harsh electronic noises filling space with faint chime-like bells recurring in the background.

3) Fingerbib: Light cyclical moving pitches bounce back and forth as a very pleasant buzzsaw tone from a keyboard introduces a loose (yet just formed enough so as to be repeatable) theme that gets taken over by a string section. And then its back to the buzzsaws again.

4) The rest of the songs: It's all good, just listen to it.


Sources/Inspiration of Analysis:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_D._James_Album