Aphex Twin Aphex Twin to feature new series of 33 1/3 books

[Ivan Ooze]

This reeks of money hungry vampires that feed on fanboy/girls

And from his whole discography they make one of saw 2, give me a fucking break

[Kanakori]

this

 

Oh wait I'm gonna buy this and fill my shelfs, I'm sure girls will be impressed.

[dr lopez]

This reeks of money hungry vampires that feed on fanboy/girls

And from his whole discography they make one of saw 2, give me a fucking break

ehhh conceptually his most interesting and singular in execution. Makes it easier to "say" something about it. My god do I hate music journalism.

[psn]

Got this in the mail today. Decided to read it along with listening to the album, and ended up reading the whole thing in one go. Funnily, I finished the book within two minutes of playing through the whole 25 track version.

 

The writer has practically no first hand sources (ie, no RDJ), so the book is rather fluffy. The most interesting parts to me were the historical/factual parts based on interviews with people working with Aphex on the business side in the early-mid 90s. Other than that, it mostly reads like a mix between an associative record review and an academic interpretation. The author has chosen to base large parts of the book on other artists' appropriations and reworks of the music (classical arrangements, choreography, film score, remixes).Some of this is interesting, but it is clear that there is not enough substance to write about. Ie, too much about the Amish, too much about classical transcriptions. Another large part of the book deals with the fact that the tracks are untitled, without being very interesting. In the end, the balance between discussing the actual record/music/history and discussing peripheral stuff is obviously skewed.

 

For an above average fan, there's some interesting history/trivia in there. For anyone else, pretty pointless read.

[Guest potabo]

Got my copy in the post today, too. I haven't managed to get through much of it, I'm about a quarter of the way through, and from what I've read so far it's pretty damn pretentious. To be perfectly honest I didn't know what to expect, but I'm trying not to make too many judgments and analysations just yet as I really haven't read much. Looking forward to the rest of the book, through.

[encym]

Got this in the mail today. Decided to read it along with listening to the album, and ended up reading the whole thing in one go. Funnily, I finished the book within two minutes of playing through the whole 25 track version.

 

The writer has practically no first hand sources (ie, no RDJ), so the book is rather fluffy. The most interesting parts to me were the historical/factual parts based on interviews with people working with Aphex on the business side in the early-mid 90s. Other than that, it mostly reads like a mix between an associative record review and an academic interpretation. The author has chosen to base large parts of the book on other artists' appropriations and reworks of the music (classical arrangements, choreography, film score, remixes).Some of this is interesting, but it is clear that there is not enough substance to write about. Ie, too much about the Amish, too much about classical transcriptions. Another large part of the book deals with the fact that the tracks are untitled, without being very interesting. In the end, the balance between discussing the actual record/music/history and discussing peripheral stuff is obviously skewed.

 

For an above average fan, there's some interesting history/trivia in there. For anyone else, pretty pointless read.

Thanks for sharing!

[Herr Jan]

no first hand sources (ie, no RDJ), it mostly reads like a mix between an associative record review and an academic interpretation.

Snore...

 

The few facts in here about the context of the album could appeal to me, but is it worth it getting it just for that? Considering I instantly fall asleep when reading music reviews that try to describe abstract electronic music, I'll probably just let this pass. It would only be worthwhile if the book contained only one page quoting RDJ from about a year after SAW II was released, at 2:39 till 3:24. Oh, the irony.

 

http://youtu.be/i-fYouVrIWo?t=2m39s

 

I read that there will be a 33 1/3 book about Dilla's Donuts, I think that one could have a lot more depth in terms of context and trivial stuff. Maybe.

[AnalogueCreamPie]

I'm pretty sure I remember Adam Buxton mentioning these on one of the Adam & Joe podcasts. He said he read the OK Computer one, and it was the most pointless, over-thought, arbitrary, pretentious music writing he'd ever read.

[Guest Aces]

I'm pretty sure I remember Adam Buxton mentioning these on one of the Adam & Joe podcasts. He said he read the OK Computer one, and it was the most pointless, over-thought, arbitrary, pretentious music writing he'd ever read.

 

On a similar note, I have the Daydream Nation and I thought exactly the same thing about that. It was a total bore.

[Alcofribas]

for the most part i agree that the book feels pretty pointless. it's cool that some one added an aphex record to the series and I hope it draws in new listeners but the book itself really doesn't offer much in the way of insider access, deep new insight or basically anything a fan of the record wouldn't be familiar with after years of listening, thinking and posting on watmm. at times it seems like he has so few ideas that he can't help but drag out the ones he has in order to fill a book; e.g. there's literally a chapter of like 10pp comprised of quotes from numerous reviews that describe the album as "beatless," a fact certainly worth pointing out but definitely not worth such exhaustive citation. and once he's so thoroughly established this phenomenon he ends up just trailing off without accounting for it or offering some unique view.

 

plus, when discussing the "mould" track he describes a "wavering set of downward notes on what appears to be a keyboard synthesizer." wtf? a keyboard synthesizer? come on...

 

for diehard fans such as myself there's no way I'm going to skip reading a book about this record and it isn't offensive or anything but for anyone who is on the fence i would just say it's something chill to read on the bus or whatever but don't expect truefeels or anything.

[Alcofribas]

also: big shout out to watmm's very own Wisp who is mentioned in the book, and favorably.

 

WISP

[dr lopez]

quite a disappointment in my eyes.

 

he tried to force the album to do too many things - opened the book with the ye olde "I'll deal with the album on its terms" but then tried to connect to too many precedents, named-dropped Jon Hassell (lol why?), kept going on, like alco said, about it being beatless -- I don't really care how wrong or how often music journalists were wrong in 1994 - what about the actual form of the album?

 

he kept returning to the idea of the windchime as an ever-changing natural rhythmic "grid" or something - i disagree completely in choosing this piece as the ur-compositional model for this album.

 

to me it's about self-replicating machines - an engine of sound that RDJ simply flips on and opens the door - weathered stone and domino being the most powerful to me - they don't really read formally as a thru-composed work or as a "recording of a landscape" like ambient 4 or something. Domino will repeat itself forever if he doesn't quickly fade out the door.

 

bleh anyway i have serious feels about this shit and i'm always disappointed --- CLASSIC IDM WANKER OVAH HERE

[awepittance]

also: big shout out to watmm's very own Wisp who is mentioned in the book, and favorably.

 

WISP

nice!

[beerwolf]

for diehard fans such as myself there's no way I'm going to skip reading a book about this record and it isn't offensive or anything but for anyone who is on the fence i would just say it's something chill to read on the bus or whatever but don't expect truefeels or anything.

 

 

Sums up the 33 1/3 Reign in Blood book I have. Worth a read, but could of spent some time tickling trout bellies instead.

[tec]

Finally got around to reading this book, it contains this sentence - "Raves were less concerts than what has become fashionable to term temporary autonomous zones",

[beerwolf]

This album still sounds so mysterious too me. I'm reluctant to read a book on it as I don't want to risk unweaving the spell.

[psn]

[afxual healing]

also: big shout out to watmm's very own Wisp who is mentioned in the book, and favorably.

 

WISP

Hi Wisp!

[Hugh Mughnus]

 

also: big shout out to watmm's very own Wisp who is mentioned in the book, and favorably.

 

WISP

Hi Wisp!

 

He's not wisp.

[Alcofribas]

 

also: big shout out to watmm's very own Wisp who is mentioned in the book, and favorably.

WISP

 

Hi Wisp!

hi

[MassfreeKid]

I agree with some of the other posters: this book doesn't feel professional at all. I really wonder who this was written for, certainly not for the die-hard fans. The coolest thing would have been to interview Rich or at least his gang of composer friends and other ambient artists of the time and try to contextualize the significance of SAW-2 in the 90's. All we have here is this man's opinions about SAW-2 and they're not really groundbreaking either. We've heard it all before. He could have published the whole book in a WATMM thread. Aphex deserved a much more elaborate treatment. This is a banal book on an extraordinary album.

[Aphex_Squarepusher_Twin]

I do not think it exists in french version...

 

[tec]

I don't think he had enough primary sources, far too much time is spent discussing the Alarm Will Sound covers.

[Bertolt Brechtakt]

It seems a general problem of those 33 1/3 books that they don't have much content to deliver. I've read a few so far and most of them were completely pointless. The only issue which was really fun and really interesting was Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique.

[dr lopez]

the state of music criticism these days ----- everyone is either too afraid or too dumb to actually write a formal analysis of the work. hey marc weidenbaum: please just write about what you think the music is about. Who cares about whether dumb people thought it had beats or not.

 

I was actually appalled. I should probably just write up my computer world thoughts and send it in to them.