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The agency that created an interactive installation for the Collapse release did a walk through of how the project was created and executed. Pretty cool to see the design and tooling behind the scenes. RDJ had sent them samples to work with but apparently Warp thought it was "off brand" so it was changed out last minute to use clips from the Collapse songs.

 

"AFX in his third Analogue Bubblebath"

Well... What to say here.. I'll keep it short because I'm sure any and everything Aphex has been discussed thousands of times over on this site and elsewhere. The CD edition coming in early 1993 slightly after the 12" in 92, contained 5 extra tracks left off the original vinyl. These were later put to wax when they repressed AB3 in 1997. I'll get to one of those in a moment.

In the context of his entire oeuvre, I would say this is a pretty weak release for him, sounding like discarded scraps from SOSW and Caustic Window releases. Probably why it came out on "his" label. I still like them and they have an unmistakable aphexy-ness, but after making my way though the soundcloud dump I'm not totally clear as to why *these* tracks were selected. For serious heads only. Sound off in the comments.

There is one track on this CD however that i would rank as one of His Best Ever. I'm speaking of course of "(CAT 00897-AA1)"  which is a happy, uplifting piece of simple electronic music that only RDJ can come up with. It is a treasure and always puts me in a good mood. It's often on background playlists for when I have people over and it always gets "ooooh what is this?"

 

For this track alone the CD is worth it. It's a magical one. Another track I like is .1993841, a nice long moody groove. (CD only track #1) is also a nice "b-side" from SAW II perhaps. The rest I could probably do without. Anyone here absolutely love this release?
 

So.. AB3: 3/5

(CAT 00897-AA1): 5/5

 

Up next.... more RDJ with the Caustic Window Compilation CAT 009 CD 🙂

 

 

 

Just got a notification that the Autechre mixlr account is live again.. I can't remember if it was a legit one or not but posting it here just in case 😄

http://mixlr.com/autechre/?utm_source=new_broadcast_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert

"A selection of Electronic Music.... for Dance and Thought"

Well this was the "first" Rephlex CD, released in 1992, in cooperation with the ART label that was run by Kirk DeGiorgio (still is I think) An excellent start for Rephlex, which I think had only released Bradley's Beat before this. Hence why it was "shared" with ART.

This is an exemplary compilation of the "British Techno Sound" that Rephlex would showcase for the first third of it's life. The sound we all associate with IDM. Aphex, B12, Black Dog/Plaid show up big here. All good tracks, although the Red Cell track is really excellent. B12 are so so underrated imo. The Aphex tracks are more humorous and lighthearted than the remaining comp, which is quite "spacey" and contemplative. The Soit P.P. track is the ageispolis beat obviously. I'm actually interested if this CD came out before SAW 85-92. 

The album certainly gives Artificial Intelligence I a run for its money, although the horrendous album art (a holdover from the detroit era) is hokey and misleading. Warp did a better job in that respect. Other weak points for me are the Derrick May remix, and the Mike Dred track, which needs about 2 min cut from its run time, but I'll be getting into that when we go through freaquenseize....


Most of these tracks appear on other releases, on 12"s from that era or on various other comps later on in the decade and into the aughts. I believe this is the first appearance of Blue Calx, a full 2 years before it shows up on SAW II. I've of course listened to it 190809320943 times and it's seared into my brain, but I could easily imagine thinking this CD is worth it for that track alone. What a feeling that must have been in '92!! 

I give this a 4/5. It's retro now, a time warp, but in a great way.

 

Up next... Synectics - The Purple Universe. stay tuned.

The first official Rephlex only CD is upon us in the form of CAT 006 CD: Synectics - The Purple Universe, released in 1993 and sporting a flashy translucent purple jewel case!

Let's get through the technical details before we talk about the music. The CD release contains 3 tracks left of the original LP release, which itself sported a rather bizarre sleeve and label, neither containing purple (!?!?) It's clear the definitive edition of this release is the CD. Synectics was made up of a Swiss duo of Marco Repetto & Stefan Riesen, who were in the process of starting their own (excellent) label Axodya, which released all sorts of continental early 90s IDM with v high quality control imo.