Jez Courtez
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Everything posted by Jez Courtez
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Good old Negativland. I remember listening to the Escape From Noise album while walking to my girlfriend's house on Sunday evenings when I was nineteen. It's worth checking out. Happy memories!
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Exactly :) Have switched around various different headphones for the same reason. It's like coke from a can or glass bottle. The same but different. ha!
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It was out of curiosity and boredom on a train journey... I was listening to the Tuss tracks in fact, not syro, and playing with the ipod EQ options. It did provide a smidgen of extra interest in tracks I'd already been reciting chapter and verse for years. Just a little 'oh ,I never fully realised that bit as much before' type thing.
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I've settled on listening to syro with my Beyerdynamic DT770s, which can be way too clean/bright for a lot of genres, but really provide a lot of 'room' for aphex and other electronic music in my collection. Syro definitely benefits from a neutral can and a big sound stage, imho. What's everyone else listening on / through? And how you like dem ipod EQ presets? lol. When I'm out and bored with my ipod I switch around between the various EQ settings and they do foreground different elements in a way that can throw new light on tracks I already know inside out, but it sort of feels sacrilege for some reason, precious aphex fanboy that I am.
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Nothing much beats a few drinks and a dive into the Soundcloud dump; the gift that keeps on giving. just fall asleep, slothscrape, RANDOM FX, spectrum, lmt, triple d, phukup 2, messy, medievil rave mk2, gak bass.... When you get locked in to that aphex mode it's as slick as a whistle
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Finally got to buy this release and listen on my headphones... so so so so so freaking good! Loving this EP. So full of life and rewarding of multiple listens. And since everyone else is doing it; Bought the CD from Sister Ray record shop on a trip to London. Track list sticker on outside of the cellophane wrap, just like Syro when I purchased that. What's all this talk of transferring stickers from shrink-wrap to digipack? You weirdos! I ain't defacing the artwork with a sticker... I cut around that mofo with a pair of scissors like a normal person and tuck that shit into the crease of the unfolding sleeve. Pulled the same trick with the Syro album sticker. Bet all your Panini doubles went on your headboards when you were kids ;)
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LOL From http://www.polynominal.com/cheetah-ms800/index.html WAVEFORMS internal ROM features 21 companded waveforms. Most of wavetable contains basic waves (e.g. sine, triangle) noises and harmonics. FULL WAVEFORMS LIST WAVESEQUENCE special wave cycling mode for sweeping sequences a bit like Korg Wavestationor Commodore 64 wavetable. The wavesequence allows some harsh digital sequences but it badly lacks a filter structure. Here's roughly the typical wavesquence edit structure, be aware that the interface offers quite no clue about your programming steps: STEP 1- volume STEP 2- waveform STEP 3- crossfade time STEP 4- go to next wave or [LOOP] or [END] ENVELOPE no EG generator but a simple "attenuation" parameter, a kind of attack. MIDI unit is multitimbral and manages some basic Midi parameters including: velocity, pitch bend, program change and exclusive systems. Sadly no computer editors. MEMORY: - 50 ROM patches - 49 RAM patches - 50 ROM tones - 50 RAM tones. Sounds can be saved only by exclusives system using internal sysex DUMP utility. THE APHEX TWIN JOKE in 2016 for some weird and funny reasons, the famous English musician released the CHEETAH EP with a reference to this cheap module. Some people think the artist has been inspired by Ms800 sound, but it is mainly a joke like he did for the previously album SYRO, claiming to use the expander ORLA DS24/12 which is another unspiring, cheap and hard to program module.
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It's worth reading up on -and listening to- the whole plunderphonics movement to put v/vm into its proper context, if you're interested. It's an interesting seam of musical history that had an odd moment in which it jinxed with the mainstream music trend of mash-ups in the early 00s.
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Radioshow was awesome, dunno why you'd feel it was successful missing that.... In fact I'm going to play it for the sixth or seventh time in a minute It was. Especially as I couldn't play it through bleep; even after signing in. Thanks bbc. But that presenter and his preoccupation with constantly announcing the exact track running times! Nothing wrong with it but just a little weird. Like that clap thing the Iceland fans did in the Euros. Kinda intimidating.
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You can only preview the whole ep if you've already purchased it, is that right? I can only play 7b and CIRCLON3 on bleep.
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Absolutely agree about umil. That and MARCHROMT are larp and I can't get enough of them. Snap reaction to 2X202; I like it. Nothing mindblowing and I do wonder what I'd have thought if it wasn't aphex. In fact, the recent output has made me a lot less snobby about loads of electronic music out there. If I'm going to enjoy ODS and Cheetah then I have to concede my aphex bias and acknowledge artists like Rone and Com Truise just as much. Feels good to begin to lose the fanboy obstruction that's been with me since aphex blew my mind as a young teenager. Used to think no-one could touch the guy but now I appreciate a bunch of others beyond the 90s Warp roster. Man, it was hard not to post while the video love-in was happening. Didn't want to piss in your chips. Wonderful gesture but... I'll stop myself. Realised I had a cold, black heart of stone when I came here. Great for the kid tho.
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The famous aphex twin 'studenty' sense of humour. Between that and the source-free-alternate-history reading list, vaccination conspiracy theories and dietary delusions, the man's a real bore. Good thing he's best ever at making music :)
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The age of more-al decline ;)
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[hand wave] These are not the headphones you are looking for... Or, for older heads; The headphones you like are going to come back in style... ;)
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My kids also come out with funny words when I try to teach them about the twin towers conspiracy and hidden vampire elite. This is JUST A JOKE, beloved aphex ;)
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Well now, that sounds a bit silly... Maybe I mean I love listening to it despite not feeling emotionally attached to it. This is a moment of clarity... I'm addicted to listening to syro without having a strong emotional connection with it. You called it.
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Me, nah, I LOVE this album, seriously. Listen to tracks off it almost daily! Just comparing it to his other albums and picking apart why I get so much pleasure from it despite not feeling emotionally attached to it. Maybe I'm just maturing as a listener ;) Didn't mean to come off as critical!
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Agreed :) Add to that 4:27 - 4:55 of syro u743t8+e, 3:20-4.15 of minipops, 3:08-3:34 of CIRCLONT6A, and the joyous nostalgia of 3:35-4:15 of earthportal. It definitely has its moments, just not a whole track of awe, except maybe XMAS_EVE. Aphex did call it his pop album so fair enough! And produk29 is sexy as hell!
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180db is definitely a dancefloor banger, I'll give you that. Trouble is, I never listen to this album on the dancefloor ;) I don't hate it, I just don't like it enough to listen to it that often. Kinda like most of the stuff on 'classics'...great at the time but rarely gets an airing now. Although that's just reminded me of Polynomial-C and I have that soundtracking this post now. Tune! Aisatsana is the most obviously out of place track but gets a free pass as the album closer. It reminds me a tad of the way that Next Heap With closes ICBYD. That one's a bit less of a departure for that album compared to Aisatsana for Syro, but stands apart from the rest of the album while ushering us out perfectly. Really grown to love that track. I'm starting to shuffle Syro into the canon now and compare it to its cousins. ICBYD has always been the benchmark for me. I adore Syro, but strings are such a shorthand for emotional depth, maybe falsely so, that it's the one thing I notice an absence of on Syro. It's endlessly interesting, textured, gets me smiling and nodding, but only XMAS_EVE10 and Aisatsana get the emotions brewing. Just me? Maybe I'm brainwashed. I remember describing some later Autechre albums (despite liking them) as po-faced to a friend, who then said they found them emotionally engaging. Each to their own ;)
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Interesting stuff. Thanks!
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Reminds me of how I was with SAW2 - took me a good couple of years of occasionally wheeling it out for a dutiful listen, before eventually it clicked. It's like visiting an unapologetic criminal relative in prison and one day discovering they've reformed. Or how you eventually see the beauty in your average looking co-workers ;) Fascinating video. Shame they never asked Mandy about the clipping; that discussion was thrilling when Syro came out... Now, as a complete lay person, I guess that her desk is expressing its analogue character by dint of the construction of its inner workings, but can someone explain to me (without being mean) the benefit of her knobs having fixed-click increments instead of being analogue too? Thanks in advance ;)
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Apologies in advance for pretentious extended discussion post about Syro... in a Syro thread on an IDM message board... Take your memes to the dank memes thread, meme fans. Everyone else watch out for the MFM mud sling ;) That's a good job of explaining where you're coming from, doorjamb, and I understand the position without agreeing with it. Syro overall does feel more serious but I also think that tracks like Circlont6a and syro u473t8+e are fun, if not playful in the same way as RDJ and CTD. I remember the first time I listened and heard the motif that repeats across those two tracks. That seemed like a piss take at first but I think it's just a bit of fun. I was disappointed that the album didn't seem to go anywhere on the first couple of listens. After a while, it clicked. I think it's an album of music that spirals in on itself rather than goes anywhere. There's definitely a lack of emotion (other than aisatsana) and, for me, the pleasure in listening comes from the interplay of textures, beats and micro-melodies. There's loads of little melodies that, on first listening, I wanted to continue for whole songs but are abandoned after just a couple of bars. Now I enjoy the continuous shifting and cutting. I'm getting old (and spending more on headphones ;) ), so simply listening for the pleasure of textures is enough for me, and I can live with aphex not flexing the melody muscles. There's lots of detail to enjoy on the album. The varying attack on the piano notes at the start of XMAS_EVE 10, that soaking wet kick on produk 29, the 90s Jungle snares and bongo on earth portal and PAPAT4, the 80s sci-fi movie pads on 4 bit, the bubble popping synth on CIRCLONT6A. The retro analogue sound is du jour, as you say, but to be fair, this is a palette aphex has been playing with and exploring for over a decade now. And nobody has used it this well. Well over a year from release and I'm still listening to tracks from this album almost daily. The pleasure of exploring the interplay of every subtle, and unsubtle, element has only become stronger with familiarity. Knowing what's coming next in different levels of such labyrinthine tracks has only boosted the dopamine rewards of repeated listens. Having said all that, I too can't be doing with 180bd..... nope, not for me. I prefer the seriousness and occasional fun of Syro to the cringy student humour of milkman and come on you slags etc., and everyone's got the aphex they don't 'get'; I still can't break into Expert Knob Twiddlers and don't feel particularly excited about MFM. Cute little ditties for computer games. That's the silly stuff for me ;)
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Do tell? Philistine though I doubtless be, I would point to the ~4m breakdown bit of Piezoluminescence and honestly all but the last 30 seconds of Circlont6a. Still crisp and lush in terms of production, but disappointing and, as I say, silly insofar as tone and melody. ¢2. Yeah but hasn't there been silly stuff the whole way through his discography? I mean, he's always had a sense of humour; a light touch here and there. A glint in the eye, a wink and a nudge, arched eyebrow and an eye on the mainstream. And an extra set of eyes to do all that ;)
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There's always the Traditional Synthesizer Music album that comes out under his Venetian Snares alias to look forward to on Friday ;)
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I have it on very good authority that new shit is imminent. Said everyone always.
