Drukqs

In an interview, Richard D. James said that on this album, his music no longer reminds him of shades of yellow. Somehow, I think this is the best statement that could be made in comparison of drukqs to his other work. This album is his most mature (and probably most sincere) and yet manages to be among his most interesting as well. It is honest and sounds timeless while being lucid (surprisingly low amount of Aphex's characteristic clipping/distortion), intricate, and primal all at once.The opener of the album may blow Aphex diehards away; the rest of us have learned to expect the unexpected from RDJ. It's thoughtful, soothing, sincere - and could even (rather easily) be called "quaint". It sounds much more at place in an antique store than in an IDM listener's bedroom. The next track is almost apologetic, a return to his drill and bass habits for the Aphex devotees in that area of the map. The rest of the first disc contains a smattering of more drill and bass(which unfortunately isn't quite up to his standards, in my opinion, which peaked at Hangable Auto Bulb, but nonetheless is fast, confusing, and silly, which is to be expected of Aphex), some spooky ambient noodlings, angry downbeat hip-hop (a la "Cow Cud is a Twin" and the Marazavose Mix of "Ventolin"), a smidgen of the ambient spookiness from his "Works" albums, and a surprising amount of this new, "acoustic" (I can't tell if it's "real" or not) complete, but somehow logical, departure from all that we know and love as Aphex. Some of these latter tracks are beautiful, sincere, and some of the best Aphex to date. "bbydhyonchord" would have to be my personal favourite from the first CD...very mellow and summery, like a calm, breezy drive on lazy open roads. The first disc ends with a spooky, melancholy piano piece that sounds almost like Chopin.The next disc kicks off with some good old violent Aphex drill and bass, complete with silly, sometimes familiar samples, and odd but catchy melody. Also is some synthesised voice saying something like "puppybear" (??) Then comes some almost Christmassy sounding, churchy bell song drenched in reverberation. Next is probably the most intimate moment on the album (perhaps his whole recorded career), his parents singing "Happy Birthday" on his answering machine. What appropriately follows is a tearjerking, powerful lullaby of droopy, weepy strings and woody, swampy knocking sounds, probably my favourite on the second disc. The album leaps back into action with a mellow but ambitious and very melodic drum (not quite drill) and bass track. Next is one note of a googly, perverted FM drone stuck in a pool of reverb. Then comes a little over a minute's worth of tinkering much like "strothatynhe" from the first disc. An almost amusingly detuned, confused, mechanically marching piano track comes next. After this is a silly but excellent classic Aphex track that seems to be making fun of General MIDI and Linn Drums (maybe a little too late) - very cheezy sounds abound here (including a synthetic voice proclaiming "I AM IN CONTROL OF THE DRUM MACHINE"), but mixed in a very clever way and wrapped in characteristic and rather well-executed Aphex noodlings. A couple more very nice acoustic tracks follow, the second more childish than the first. Then are another a couple more drum and bass tracks which are par. The album closes with a couple more acoustic tracks. The final piece is very nice, and an excellent closer, though it could have been on a thousand different solo pianists' albums.Overall, this is a great album - it has a little something for every Aphex fan, and if you are patient with it, it will give you something new. It is certainly the most diverse record this year, even diverse for Warp.

I have read many favorable reviews on this album. It seems that even hardcore Aphex Twin fans are slightly perplexed by this albums format. Consider the fact that every single Aphex Twin track before this release had been electronic in nature. Now, we are presented with many beautiful prepared piano pieces. I truly believe this album contains the best of the best when it comes to meticulously programmed brain-dancey tunes. I believe that one of the main reasons for the stark contrast between the brilliantly melancholy piano pieces with the incredibly complex digi-tunes is that, despite his claim of having hundreds and hundreds of unreleased tracks on his hard drive and three unreleased albums, at the time of this albums creation, these were the best tracks he had made. Out of this albums 30 tracks, the following 9 are the complex, IDM, drill'n'bass, brain dance tracks you have come to expect from Richard, and they are the most dynamic, sonically powerful, and well textured tracks out of his entire career. Before you decide this album contains too many piano pieces and filler tracks to warrant your attention, check these tracks out. These 9 tracks alone would have made an incredible album.VordhosbnOmgyiya Switch7Cock_Ver10Mt Saint Michel mix +St Michaels Mount54 Cymru BeatsMeltphace 6Taking ControlAfx237 v7Ziggomatic v17I love this entire album, but I have a disc burnt and a playlist on my computer containing just these tracks, because frankly, out of anything I have ever heard, these 9 tracks are my favorite things to listen to and I find it hard to listen to anything else(!!!)So grab a nice pair of headphones, sit back in a nice comfy chair, close your eyes and prepare to be sent off to a dream world of seemingly infinite possibilities.

I bought this cause the CD I had from 2001 (when this came out) was finally too wrecked to play.This album. Boy oh boy. In the context to all that’s going on today in the music world, it’s easy to forget how revolutionary this album was upon release.RDJ covers EVERYTHING here. Erik Satie like piano pieces? Check. Electronic controlled instruments? Check. The most complex beat work ever imagined and properly executed, (he referred to them at the time as “next level beats”)? Check. The most gorgeous melodies and synth patch tones, many of which he made himself? Check.Some of the darkest, insanity inspiring complex tracks you’ve ever heard, which changes from aggressive drill and base to the most beautiful minute or two of a song EVER (Mt Saint Michel mix + St Micheals Mount).RDJ takes precision chaos, and consistently makes that chaos heart wrenchingly brilliant. Buy it and be amazed what a human being can do.

Love Aphex Twin! But unfortunately I thought this was a Vinyl record, so right now I’m pretty disappointed that I received a CD instead. I have nowhere to play this 🥲