Lane Visitor

Kewt! I remember playing MFM for my wife and she said it was the cutest music she's ever heard and could totally imagine quirky friendly little aliens dancing and partying lol... Can't disagree.

I was just messing around, but realize that wasn't very cool of me lol.

Wouldn't it be?? 😥 Maybe the idea will inspire it to manifest lol

EDIT: NOT REAL! Sorry if this was mean of me to trick my fellow Aphex fans 😕 Quadruple LP announced from Warp Records: Aphex Twin - "Melodies From Mars Quadrant" Includes: -Original release fully remastered -"MFM2K22" Reconstruction of the original dleivered in a new light by Aphex Twin -The Vienna Philharmonic Secret Symphony Series - Aphex Twin - Melodies From Mars, reinterpreted -Noodlings from Neptune - the unexpected sequel from Aphex Twin -26 page deluxe booklet with original artwork and graphics from Weirdcore and Aphex Twin

Thanks prdct, and so well said on that medium/msg quote. It's an absurd state we've gotten to. I left out a few more contributors that might be just as big as the rest imo: -artists that want a big following or even just enough of one to be able to survive on their music have to follow certain sort of algorithm-enslaving protocols and to be social media influencers as an entire full time job. This leaves little time for actual music creation and process. Which also leads to and helps perpetuate this other contributor... -said artists / producers that want to break are swayed into the allure of ever-evolving templates and tutorials to "make that xyz sound" but at the same time endless plugins, presets... flavors and options to tweak unil perfectly satisfied. "Follow these best practice production templates to make bangers the right way" but hey also... watch these shootout reviews and demos to decide what you like best... play with these digital tools to sculpt out your perfected product to a tee, exactly to your vision. Where this leaves the artist is a state somewhere between misguided hyper ambition and OCD option paralysis. ... Many who choose the easy path of 123 chords here, click here, loop this vocal wav (or emulate with real voice) from the pack and repeat are usually the same people who are good at charisma, stage performance, persistence, building following, BSing it, telling a story, and therefore that's what gets out there, esp. if it benefits entire industries built out of encouriging the template approach. The music itself? Just auxiliary to the "content" they are producing for their fans. Sad reality.

Re: consumers not thinking music is worth much, I think about this a lot. I think there are a lot complexities that add up to this feeling of music being worth less, but it's all kind of one thing too, and all falls under the internet/social media/saturation umbrella: -One part of it is technology / social and shared media culture which sparked initially by Napster/mp3 culture and now has born an entire industry (streaming) that dominates this element. Aside from vinyl enthusiasts and hardcore music folks like us at watmm, there's just really no incentive to go out of the way to deal with cds, records or tapes. And why would anyone want to figure out how to acquire electronics that play these strange old formats? People only have bandwidth for laptops and phones (their "me" devices and are already fully invested in them for almost everything life has to offer. -Another part of it is the personal bubble/channel/feed that everyone now has which makes listening less about the artist or the music or concept or story and more about the person listening and their vibes/mood/mindset. I'm at place xyz with scenario 123 and feeling ___ mood, therefore I click playlist abc. Discovery of new sounds and the experience of physical media is so far from where we are now. Another part is the meme-ification, and sound bite aspect. Every sensation, phenomenon, trend, idea ... is even more fleeting than the past, and must be reduced to a quick snapshot. Everyone is suddenly a busy Wallstreet broker with only time for a quick headline on the way to their next board meeting to file away. Does anyone actually remember that somewhat cool artists they discovered from the new playlist while waiting at the Apple Store while also texting their buddy? I realize this is a pessimistic take on music media/technology/culture in 2022 but I do believe that there are many benefits of the current state. Do they outweigh the costs? Depends on my mood when I answer lol. I also do believe that one day things will be different and we won't be using our devices for consuming art and media as much. At least I hope.

Yes I'm sure. I was referring to his musical progressions, I know he still made drilling noisy experimental and techno pre y2k, esp minimal stuff with mostly drums and bass and some samples. But when it comes to tracks he put out that had musical progressions, (which doesn't include Elephant lol), they were usually classical-inspired in nature at least imo (or at least derivative via the epic/euphoric trance or symphonic/ progressive electronica that was big at the time. Everything from RDJ album to HAB to AB1, AB3, ICBYD, Come to Daddy EP, and of course both SAW lps, all had good amounts of standout tracks with the kind of stuff I'm referring to. He even mentioned in an interview at the time how much he liked strings too, not that that implies much but ya know.

Haha yup, honestly anything with some aggressiveness or rdj classic emotive / playful melodies would be awesome. On the flip side, some minimal ambience would satisfy me just as much lol

Yeah MFM remake would be so appreciated these days... Just some oldschool rdj tunes / classic melodies redone in a new light and slick and snappy sounding. Wonder if we crowdsource this to encourage him ?? 🙂

I think part what is making Syro so perfect sounding is the super lush reverb especially on those already very lush pads, which just sort of swallows everything into like this hypnotic cocoon. This element I think sort of contains the dynamics and makes everything sit in this glowy floating space. The compression style used is very buttery and chocolatey and pillowy which just adds to that. Esp when you hear some of those old school drum machines crushed hard and super dry juxtaposed against all the wetness of the other tracks. It's super thick chunky goodness. He set out to make an ear pleasing, chill groovy album and he succeeded! It would be a fun treat to hear some abrasiveness or more rawness in an upcoming release of course 🙂

What dawned on me today re Drukqs is that up until and including this album, Richard's musical progressions seemed to be based around classical and orchestral. Even when it didnt include actual strings, plucks, or voices, still the arpegiators or polysynths followed classical sounding riffs, often trancey too, sometimes even deceptively simple colorful melodies... Analord and forward, it seems more experimental, atonal, fusion, funk, jazzy and so forth. Less musical simplicity / beauty / emotion, and more complexity, texture, and nuance. This isn't really a judgement, his music post 2001 is still brilliant as it is, I guess I never thought of this too much how Drukqs feels like it was the turning point until now. And I for sure miss that aspect. Also, isn't that kind of the state of electronica / acid / idm / techno? Much of it from the mid 2000s.and forward was less of this simple melodic thing and more intricate musically or understated or "retro" whatever that may mean.

Wow this is really fascinating and I don't doubt that analysis here at all, when I think about those 2 lps and how unique they are. And yup, HAB jumped right into UK jungle territory. So did Richard move to London around 95ish?

This is well said and couldn't agree more!

What is it about SAW 85-92 that feels like some untouchable magical thing where no artist would ever be able to draw from or recreate, maybe even Richard himself? Like this light heartedness, chillness and peacefulness floating around in the tunes. Part of me when I hear it is almost like man this is wholly unique and a holy grail. And the other part is like this is just really good ambient techno. But then when I'm like hmm what other "ambient techno" is out there like this? Nothing Ive found is in the same vein or even close. Closest stuff maybe Global Communication / Reload / Pritchard / some Orbital.

I miss new tunes too, but the way I see it, it's like a natural correction period from a major AFX bull run that was Syro / SC Dump / Collapse / Live Releases / Cheetah / Orphaned / Acoustic etc. If you're spending like 10 straight years every day in the studio and releasing like a machine, a good 3-5 year break is probably necessary for regaining inspiration, ideas, purpose etc. Otherwise, you may just shit out recycled iterations of past works over and over. Richard seems the kind that would keep making music into his later years like others here have said. Bowie, Sakamoto and other prolific songwriters / composers / artists have kept creating and releasing into their late age. Of course everyone's different but no reason to think Richard won't be doing the same given his obsession with the machines (you've got so many machines richaaaaaard!) 🙂 That kind of passion doesn't usually just fade.