Sequential Biscuits Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 It's my first topic but I come here since a few years as an un-suscribed. I made an account because I think we can have some interesting chat here . So Hi all , I'm Jean. I noticed that several tracks in the Aphex catalog have something in common . A particular abyssal feeling that we can find in the Dark ambiant scene, industrial/noise scene but also in classical music with composers like Xenakis and Penderecki . Those tracks are not the ones he is famous for (in my mind at least) but I find them utterly interesting because this stuff is not made to please the listener and demand an initiation to unregular types of music. An average guy who is into poppy music would think it is torture to listen to these stuff. I'm subject to psychic troubles that made me familiar to anxiety/anger , and I think you have to be familiar to these feelings to be good at producing this kind of suffocating tracks (I think Richard is, may be I'm wrong). I am speaking particularly of those ones : In the "Selected Ambiant works vol 2" : "Radiator" , "White Blur 1" In "I Care because you do" : "Ventolin" (wich is I think the perfect illustration) In the "On" ep : 73 yips In "26 mixes for cash" : "SAW2 TRK 2" (radiator + very dark and interesting mouth-like distorded noises) , "We have arrived QQT mix" (this one is may be less psychological but the amazing physical strenght make it stimulating and irritating at the same time, more powerfull than the industrial techno of these times , jeff mills powned ) And lastly the remix of the Penderecki's Threnody (made me think he's still into this anxious type music) In a more "club" approach less stress inducing but with industrial aesthetic : As "Polygon Window" : "Quoth" , every mixes (Original , hidden and wooden thump) of this track are great , sounds like gigantic razorblades. As "Caustic Window" : "Garden of Linmiri" , one of my fav , pure industrial force , the disto-alarm in the beginning and the power that comes after ... futuristic , violent ,mindblowing . I remember as a kid staring at the Pirelli commercial and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. "We are the music makers" (hardcore mix) naughty track with crunchy evil pad and cool mid-freq drums I could've talked about the Cylob kinesthesia's "meltdown man" but this for another topic haha. I wonder if Richard have more material like this .. Commercially , releasing this kind of sound could be suicide but fuck it's an art thing, deep downard feelings and complete destruction. He is really really good at it , it's so hard to obtain this kind of noises (strident and distorded) without fucking up your mix . It is rare to listen industrial tracks of such quality . I think it's made with distortion , ring modulation, bitcrush and may be pitch-shifting but I could be wrong (If anybody knows , would be cool to share the skills). Another technical interrogation: Concerning the kick drum of Quoth , D-scape , garden of linmiri .. I don't think it's a 909 kickdrum but more something like a layered 707 or lindrumish kick drum plus a dirty 12-bit reverb but I'm really unsure of that and if somebody know , I would appreciate a tip . What do you think about this type of tracks ? We always talk about the "gentle"ones but I like this side of him too. Maybe this topic is jazz band , hope not . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killabyte11 Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Great topic, this aspect of his catalog is among my very favorite. Just straight up heavy duty music with awesome, dynamic energy and intensity. But for me I don't find it stress inducing or claustrophobic at all but actually very cathartic and in that way calming. For me These kinds of tracks create much more of a world that I can enter into and dream a bit...unlike a lot of later, more complex forms of IDM that focus almost exclusively on sonic acrobatics etc.. I can really get into this topic but am about jump off of here for now. Ventolin is great in the right mood. I think it sounds even better on vinyl too. I might even prefer the wheeze mix more...which could be considered even more relentless than the original. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YangYing Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 dustbin-core is the best genre ever: https://soundcloud.com/user48736353001/13-short-mental-afx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lAiVKE5Jew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YangYing Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 tapatalk fuq u https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lAiVKE5Jew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sequential Biscuits Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 Great topic, this aspect of his catalog is among my very favorite. Just straight up heavy duty music with awesome, dynamic energy and intensity. But for me I don't find it stress inducing or claustrophobic at all but actually very cathartic and in that way calming. For me These kinds of tracks create much more of a world that I can enter into and dream a bit...unlike a lot of later, more complex forms of IDM that focus almost exclusively on sonic acrobatics etc.. I can really get into this topic but am about jump off of here for now. Ventolin is great in the right mood. I think it sounds even better on vinyl too. I might even prefer the wheeze mix more...which could be considered even more relentless than the original. Yeah I mean the average guy would find it claustro but the initiated would see cathartic , agression-reducing music that's why I find it interesting . Didn't saw the "13 short mental mix" thx Mixl2 , very nice . Don't hesitate to share your thoughts on the technical level of it , if you think of any machines or effect that could create something like this . I think the moog mf 102 (ring mod) could fit .. good distortion like a soviet big muff and a bitcrush like a frostwave sonic alienator . May be just the bitcrush in fact (just found this video and I want one badly now) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sequential Biscuits Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 Aaah perfect !!! just saw he uploaded some of those hypnotic bitcrushed beats on his User soundcloud , there are some fuckin good ones This one with the sweet woman voice contrasting with the screaming drums is sooo nice : https://soundcloud.com/user48736353001/35-japan-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoggy Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 What do you think about this type of tracks ? We always talk about the "gentle"ones but I like this side of him too. I disagree that we always talk about the gentle ones - some people do but for me Aphex is always about a broad spectrum, there's not one vibe in his stuff I prefer over others - I think lots of people pick one strand and focus on that (which i find a bit weird, but there's no accounting for taste) As for the abyssal feeling in some of his stuff, I think it's partly an aspect of other music that he has brought out and is exploring those emotions in different contexts - in some jungle/drum and bass for example, or lots of noise/experimental etc. - and also it's maybe related to thoughts and feelings he's had (especially on acid for example, when horror at ordinary or commonplace things can be amplified) I don't think Ventolin quite fits in to your list because that is literally how it feels to have an athsma attack - I have asthma so I can confirm this I think anxiety is definitely a strong thread in Aphex's work, maybe because it makes things more interesting and fun, maybe because it's part of real human emotions, maybe because he is curious (I'm not sure) - but for me it is part of what makes his music so exciting and resonant Also, I think it's likely that each track or group of tracks has different inspirations and meanings, so it would be artificial to systematise them to some extent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verdant Hickies Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Interesting, I always thought it was only this way for outsiders... When I first heard ICBYD the majority of tracks seemed evil, disturbing to me, but as I got into it the more calming I perceived them, the best example being Start As You Mean To Go On. That track now puts me in a Zen-like mood and has become one of my favorites of his. I can't believe I used to skip it. Ventolin is still a bit unnerving to me, but it seems more like a vent to release pent-up thoughts and less like something is being imposed on me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaspmf Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Some of my favorites follow the general theme of gentle > chaotic > harder/more chaotic/stressful > intense overload uncomfortable nearly sweating > beautiful gentle melody. They'll go through this in the course of like 30 seconds. The initial gentle/beauty is nice, but it's the one at the end you suddenly appreciate so much.... And only because there was that "strife" leading up to it. In context suddenly it's SO much more gentle and soothing. Some of his albums even seem structured like this on a track to track level. I think that's something that he does better than anyone on the planet. Dip into the chaos for a bit, never too long. Edit:except ventolin, personally I still don't listen to that track :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killabyte11 Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 about the stress factor, I will say that listening to some of these tunes with other people who don't have the same penchant for hardcore musics...you can palpably feel their stress haha. But in a live setting on a big system is absolutely devastating. Also I listen to a lot of the harder stuff in my headphones while riding my bike or roaming about. But let me also start by saying that tracks like We Have Arrived as well some of the harder stuff from Classics is just RDJ's take on styles of the time such as Gabber/Hardcore. He used to really champion the hardcore underground dance styles of music, of course with his own spin on it. Here are a few examples of such... These are just a few gems out of literally hundreds of tracks that came out from the early to mid 90's and beyond. Between styles like this and the harder offshoots of drum & bass such as techstep etc...there was a time in that decade when it seemed music would only get harder and harder. More on production techniques etc. later.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhylumZunami Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 the stress inducing aspect of aphex twin's later music is what drew me to this beautiful realm of electronics. i started off listening to noisia thinking it didn't get much better than that and then i heard windowlicker and it was all over at that point. squarepusher / aphex / venetian snares / richard devine / autechre I've been told to not play this stuff at my workplace because it makes my coworkers feel anxious and upset. its great when the music can instill such a feeling and thats the best part. i think autechre might be the overlord of stress inducing music though. draft and confield for instance... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Key Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Yes, fantastic topic. A lot of the desolate/harsh tracks from this period (Icct Hedral, Ventolin, P-String) are built around the juxtaposition of a dissonant string/pad motif (accentuated with reverb) that call to mind a high-culture, almost gothic kind of avant-garde music, with the brutal percussion of club music more associated with avin it large. It seem to me the unique distorted percussion from this era is a result of having loads of gear and running things through various pedals/amps/patches and just riding the knobs to ridiculous levels. Im surprised his gear survived some of that, that bit at the end of Alis Trak sounds like it would surely have taxed a few speakers, I guess Gwarek2 and a few of the more obtuse detuned pieces on Druqks/Analord and CCAI conjur up some of the same feelings, but it's not a trick he uses often anymore. He's kind of found a way to induce that pant-shitting terror through terrifyingly deft drum programming instead. Not sure about the Quoth kick sample. I remember reading years ago that the "snare" and other percussion was a sample recorded down the mines in Cornwall. Mike P calls it the dustbin sample.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sequential Biscuits Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 Really feelin this Napalm one Killabyte thanks . I like the others but this tempo is more "danceable" and the strident synths seems always very appealing to me . Didn't knew about the "dubstin" appellation and if it's really sampled in the mines it add some hell-ish history behind it. Interesting to read several point of views about this kind of music and the adjectives you have to describe it , it nuance the thing . Here are some tracks I really love that follows this harsh way of producing : (Richard once says in an interview that Cylob was producing really hardcore stuff and that he had "a lil demon inside", I think he was speaking about this ones) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BD4o1_c-ZI From Olivier Moreau , very "quoth-like" And a band I also love a lot , Esplandor Geometrico (1988!) , could be an influence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herr Jan Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Nice idea for a thread! And welcome btw :)I think Grant DJ'd Esplandor Geometrico once, probably an influence for Richard too. In the Noyzelab interview he embedded some tracks that really inspired him, one of them also fits perfectly in this: The first track was posted because he was into the use of vocoders of obscure 80's groups. The first time hearing that last track I thought it could be on Ventolin or MFM. It feels totally claustrophobic. Taking into account all these new tracks this week, I got a similar vibe with this track: Just the way the track becomes more and more gritty'er and noise'er, very weird track for Richard imo. As far as Cylob goes, he nails it with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killabyte11 Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 My fav Aphex performance clip... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RhrgV_nex4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killabyte11 Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Speaking a little on gear and techniques, I can see from that video that he has the Sequential Circuits Studio 440, and one of his 3 Korg MS-20's on stage with him. The Studio 440 can do some interesting things that are somewhat unique to that machine and also it only samples at 12bit which makes for a bit more gritty/lofi sound. So that is likely one factor to the sound relative to the period in question...ICBYD etc.. A look at the gear list on his Wikipedia page and others listed on Vintage Synth Explorer reveals an absolute arsenal of some of the lushest analog and digital synths ever concieved. Some of which I would probably kill for and the likes of which I will probably never be able to afford. It's also important to add that the sound of any of the gear used in the making of material from that era cannot be replicated with software, sorry to say. Same goes for effects...especially when comes to stuff like distortion. The software equivalent is a bit of a pale and cheap derivative. Hardware synths of that caliber have a certain organic quality to them that cannot be replicated. Just sound more alive if that makes sense. continuing with on the topic effects, it's well documented that he used cheap rack effects at that time (like damn near every other techno/dance music producer of the time) such as the Alesis Quadraverb. Another good one would be the Ensoniq DP4. Be aware though if planning to obtain a Quadraverb that supposedly one is considered to have a much more preferred sound than the other...I think it's the first one not the Quadraverb II. Do the research. Another technique is to make your own drum/percussion sounds from stabs/tightly truncated bits shaped on a synth as opposed to the standard Drum machines...a lot of which are made up of just that in first place. Some of my best drums sounds were made this way. Then maybe you take those and throw them in a sampler and manipulate them further...then perhaps run through effects. Basically just get creative with it...the sky is the limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killabyte11 Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Actually I'm pretty sure that's the Quadraverb in front of him in that video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sequential Biscuits Posted February 2, 2015 Author Share Posted February 2, 2015 Thank you Herr Jan . Yeah I saw those ones he was talkin about , the vocoder is quite harsh indeed . Love this period, plenty of experimentations at the time in synthpop and industrial. Easy to find cheesy stuff but sometimes it's surprisingly good and innovative at the producing level, stuff like Crash Course in Science , Conrad Schnitzler ,The normal , Fad gagdet , Nurse With Wound . I Love those people. The end of the 70's too with Thobbing gristle and Spk (their story is crazy). Funny you say that about the 12 bit sampler Killabyte , just got an akai s950 . It have timestretch fonction and good dynamic treatment (not too expensive too). Just waiting my scsi cable to arrive to load the god damned floppy disc. About the cheap rack I agree , boss se-50 do the job for less than 100 euros and I got a modified alesis midiverb one (12 bit too) with a midifex card inside (the delay-echo version), had it for cheap too and I'm very happy of it . You're totally right about the synth-made drums , I already tried to do some kick drums out of my pro-one and the results were great . Can't wait to be able to sample that and make a hole beat out of it with the edition possibilities of the sampler. I worked with a friend's dp4 before but I didn't had a sampler at the time, good multi effect too but loads of people got it, I'm tryin to grab good but unpopular/unknown machines , putted my eyes on a sony dps v77, may be not as good than the eventide h3000 but this one is too expensive for me . Yamaha spx 900 seems fair for 100e too . And the vid of Aphex is really nice too , that's how I found out for the Hidden mix of quoth . Would have loved to be here, but I was 3 yo. To come back on the music itself , really like this relation between industrial and gabber/hardcore techno. I lived in Berlin for a bit more than one year , and spend a few time in this famous Berghain a few years ago. Beside the fact I hate the hype around it , the architecture of the place and the sound system really fits to hardforms of electronic music. Sometimes I was there watching all the pierced big gays dancing around putting fingers to each others on a 130-135 bpm techno and I was thinking "This could be totally more hardcore" because they don't step up this tempo and never play really really naughty tracks like Garden of linmiri or some hellfish, current value, curley shoop... it's too much for them, they go half the way but they got the structure too go very far , it's sad , it's like a mother not recognising one of her child. Don't know , if you play the subversive card , why not going as far as possible? The radicality and otherwordly violence is what is intersting to me in that kind of music (without falling in what imo killed the industrial movement: pro-totalitarism or political ambiguity, it's art ,absolutely not political to me). Whatever , not Babylon yet germans haha. Back on tracks , I'd like to focus on this stress inducing story by illustrating it with less club orientated tracks , and out of genres coming back to the essential : the feeling of insecurity. Do you think I'm wrong establishing a relationship between these tracks and Aphex music ? This one of TG is so evil .. listen to the versions of Dopplereffekt and Bangalter from Daft Punk for the Irreversible movie soundtrack (perfectly fits to the debut scene). This slow pitch modulations barely brings nausea to the listener. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTljpH7cfW8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAyFlkakucc Another great one by Iannis Xenakis , someone who deserve to be documented on , really interesting creation process : Ligeti's Requiem , great composer , worked with Stockhausen and this track have been used in the Kubrick's space Odyssey with others ones named "Athmospheres" and" Lux Aeterna" (for the mighty black monolith). Author of the "Le grand macabre" opera : And to finish , this piece of Penderecki , impressive tonal work . I can definitly hear some similarities between it and the "Biometry" track of Gerald Donald Der Zyklus album (or at least an interest of Donald for this kind of piece of music) Here is the Aphex remix of the threnody , there's a few videos of the event on youtube , this one was the best-sounding one I found. Must be quite an experience to listen it on a large sound system . There is the main dissonant synth plus some acoustic wood-like and water-like noises that give a strong impression of drowning and no escape feeling. Just listened to it from start to end and I ended up breathing deeply , quite moving and that's the purpose. I'm not a musical masochist , I love my ears getting smoothed too but this side of music and its power is so interesting to me and I would like it to be talked a bit , coz my friends don't understand that type of shit and think I'm crazy to like it , I'm not , this deserve some attention Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sequential Biscuits Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 You're right about the lush ambulance track Herr Jan , was listenning to it and at first it seems very innocent and expectative but it's slowly moving to something trouble like a progressive lost of consciousness . It makes a creepy sense with that track title Killabyte , I was checking the stuff and yes some of it are synths we only could have in our dreams ... just imagine a nice buchla in our studio rooms or a Ems synthi .. I saw a guy on youtube proposing something like 50 000$ for it and the owner said he would never sell it . I really wanted to point these kind of songs but feel free to share your knowledge in matter of hardcore man, I'm still listening the napalm one since you shared it , if you got others tracks of that caliber , would love to hear ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mag Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Sequential Biscuitsyour post are really fucking long but thanks for some tunes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sequential Biscuits Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 Sequential Biscuits your post are really fucking long but thanks for some tunes hahahaha Passion is talking, I could go on forever. You're welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcefielder Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Never heard this before, but in case it's interesting to anyone: That label design is a picture of Shoko Asahara, the leader of the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo They were responsible for the only terrorist attack in Japan in 1995, when they released poisonous gas into some Tokyo subway lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sequential Biscuits Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 Never heard this before, but in case it's interesting to anyone: That label design is a picture of Shoko Asahara, the leader of the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo They were responsible for the only terrorist attack in Japan in 1995, when they released poisonous gas into some Tokyo subway lines. Didn't know about that , creepy story . That's the thing with violent music ... It is already strongly evocative and often the imagery used for illustrating it are going too far . It's not helping for spreading the music to a larger audiance . It's normal it's not accepted if people see the artists as pro-evil persons. When Aphex or Cylob did their hard stuff , it was more to promote a dystopic sci-fi feeling , nothing more and it never been associated with something like this. There a lot of artist doing this associations and I think it's wrong, it's not being responsible . Even if it's hardcore , the purpose should still be people having fun or living interesting experience , not bringing them to odd things. Hopefully there are people who promote positive ideas through the negativity of their music , I'm thinking to Winterkälte for exemple who are ecologist trying to move the listener with strong noise oriented music in order do make him aware of the damages caused by the industry . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeAreOceans Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 This one of TG is so evil .. The story behind "the hamburger lady" adds a nauseating quality to it... it's one of TG's most intriguing bits of music, I think. Interesting discussion, I'm seeing some parallels into the world of BDSM and associated cathartic qualities, to what I'm reading here. I've certainly wondered if the "mind numbing" and/or adrenal response I find myself experiencing from harsher music, particularly noise and its ilk, is musical masochism in the most literal translation of the idea. I've never really bothered to find the time to write more about it, though. I might dive into this thread a bit more when I do have that time to burn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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