springymajig

It's probably that whole strategy of targeting "whales" right? Comes from the world of mobile gaming, ie: if you can get 1 million people to play your game, you only need 1 percent to spend $100 each on skins, hats etc (usually rich kids with more money than sense) to make some decent money. For the rest, give it away for free. So their marketing manager will have identified how many fans they have and worked out what percentage might be willing to spend this much on limited edition nonsense to earn a retirement nest egg. They know most of us will just listen on Spotify, which they basically earn nothing from.

For me some stuff in the green album era tipped over from humorous to cringe, in particular Macro Head, but at least that's a pretty obscure track.

Yeah these are all excellent. Impressively consistent, especially after the also excellent Dark Life last year. A friend of mine is on their mixtape subscription list thing and says these were initially all exclusively released in bits and pieces through that. So technically it's all material from over a couple of years or so. Just thought that was interesting.

It's entirely possible that Yxguden threw me off cos it stands out on the album, it's a lot more exaggerated and has that silly music video and so I think that colored my perception of the album. But I guess if I think about it... this album can be taken totally seriously and still works as a "love letter" as you say. I think that idea may have also gone over my head cos there's a lot of music like that (90s trance and hardcore) still being made that sounds more obviously a continuation of it's roots... this mixes in some more modern sounds and ideas. Maybe I just overthink this sorta thing

The one thing that I find a little off putting about this sort of thing is that it feels like he's trying to "have his cake and eat it too": It seems like it's trying to be ironic and parody but also earnest and loving homage at the same time. I find this to be the case with a lot of modern electronic music, especially hyperpop/PC music. Sometimes I really get into it for a few weeks and get sick of all the "irony" and just want someone to be honest for a change so I go back to listening to Autechre To be fair... the only track on this album that reeeeally fits that uncanny irony/homage balance is Yxguden, if it wasn't for that track I'd assume the whole thing was meant to be taken seriously.

Yeah never really thought about it befbut yeah, LP5 is totally about interesting chord progression (I guess that's why T ess xi sounds like LP5). Like the chord progression on Vose In is spectacular, I love how it so seamlessly transitions from dark and sinister to that kind of warm-but-sad nostalgia (that "yearning" they talk about in that interview).

Yeah I liked the album but it's a bit more samey than I expected. Pretty much all sounds like the second single. Also again... I totally get why people are mad at this but also I have seen people shit on warp's choices since... I think it was around 2005 with Jackson and his Computer Band maybe? I think maybe warp were NEVER consistent/predictable in who they chose to sign.

I saw Warp post Yxguden on Facebook and man people HAAAAATE it there too (unless it's just you lot again...) Oooh... I see the whole album is out now...

Yeah I can see why WATMM doesn't like this stuff but I've liked all of it so far. The latest one is very PC Music/hyper pop so again... I understand the reaction. Also the video is awesome. This should be a fun album.

Oh yeah meant to post this a while back... it's good. All these side project albums have been good.

I like the new one. Feels a little like Second Toughest (although obviously not as good): instrumentation is mostly cold and mechanical and slick, but then the chords on those layered vocals are warm and pretty in a trance athem kind of way. By far one of my favourite Underworld tracks has always been Tin There which does a similar trick (except it's trance style strings instead of vocals) so I like it. I kinda prefer when they go a little more on the cold side than goofy nursery rhymes (although that can be fun too).

Gave it a listen yesterday, not sure what to think yet, feel basically the same as @beerwolf so far: it's a jumbled mess, it all blended together in an overwhelming way, seems genuinely pretty weird, need to listen a few more times to "get" it. That's basically how I felt about Replica and R+7 when I first listened to those so maybe I'll like this one more with future listens but so far I didn't have strong feelings for it one way or the other. Liked it more than the last two tho.

I realise now my original post was a little vague... the only part that was meant to be directed at you was "do you really care" cos I suspected you DID care (good!) but were being ridiculed for it. The part under that was aimed everyone being snarky This is the stuff I find interesting... I watch a lot of music theory stuff on Youtube... have you seen that video by Adam Neely on the whole "rhythm is harmony" thing? @chenGOD This is me too, very interested in the why of any discussion, even if I don't agree, and to be fair, I find the posts you've made since (making reasoned arguments about why you disagree with Hoggy's questions) far more interesting.

One of the things I find very off putting about this music discussion forum is the hostility toward discussing music. To be fair, it's not always this bad but it often is and I don't understand it. Also @hoggy is it really just for "shits and giggles" or do you actually care? I mean I care, I think it's a reasonable question. I mean some people are objecting to the questioning which I have no issue with but then if you disagree why not respond with your own opinions? I will probably agree that Face Rhombus is "in the wrong place" but at least they gave an opinion and added to the discussion.

I am very much of the mindset that "if it sounds good, that's all that matters". I think that imbedded in that statement is the idea that we have an emotional reaction to music and that is the most important part, the end goal. Innovation serves that goal, not the other way around.

Been using it for I guess 23(!!!) years now and I still feel like a noob but I still love it, almost everything I do is 100% FLStudio.

I like the new song, feels like R+7/Commissions but with orchestral elements. If the whole album is like this that would be cool, but I find it hard to predict artists like him based on an initial single... Also thought the video is cool

I cringe at stuff I posted a week prior, regardless of content Also I thought Venetian Snares was pretty popular hete in his heyday, I don't remember seeing any hate... I still really like a few of his albums.

You described my feeling seeing the image exactly. ... Curious about what it will sound like but not expecting to like it much (didn't really like the last two albums).

I am absolutely loving this album, thanks for sharing, I'd never heard of him before.

This is the first Aphex Twin release I've really clicked with since Drukqs (although I kind of liked Cheetah and Collapse but only ever listened to them once... I should give them another go). Also I really liked the video, but I can see why others might not be into it as much.

Hmm yeah... It's not what I was expecting. I actually really liked the first single even though it's pretty generic but the rest of it ranges from bland to cringe. To be fair I didn't quite get all the way through but I gave it a shot. Disappointing cos the collaborations he's done on his own sub label in the last couple years have been really good.

Well I guess I'm in the minority that prefers Persistence of Vision over Trademark Ribbons of Gold, so on first listen I really liked the new one too. Part of what I like about this (and PoV) is how overwhelmingly dense it is but that also means repeated listens are required to make any sense of it.

To be fair, one thing I've realized is that Orbital have ALWAYS made music like this... They have always had a very cheesy, intentionally goofy side...I mean... Macro Head sounds like something that could fit on any album they did from Altogether onward... Others like The Saint and The Sinner fit the bill too. I think that tracks like that were just never the focus, they were oddities they seemed to have lying around and tacked onto obscure releases or as b sides etc. Anyway that was an important revelation for me cos for years Altogether seemed like it came out of nowhere (although all the Middle of Nowhere b sides also fit this era of orbital, doctor lookout, beached etc. As much as I love the style remixes, they're goofy as fuck)

I found an old version of orbus terrarum on vinyl a couple of years ago and I'm pretty sure Plateau is slightly longer too... Other bits too. It wasn't hugely different but it still felt like I was listening to it for the first time... Magical! According to Discogs: