Is Aphex Twin's Recent Music Less Ambitious Than His Earlier Work?

[hoggy]

1 minute ago, cruising for burgers said:

things r gonna get messy though ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

that's ok, just set fire to the bed at the end with the candles

[cruising for burgers]

2 minutes ago, hoggy said:

that's ok, just set fire to the bed at the end with the candles

there's not gonna be any candles left in the end...

[hoggy]

Just now, cruising for burgers said:

there's not gonna be any candles left in the end...

why where are they going? oh..

[Ivan Ooze]

[hoggy]

6 minutes ago, cruising for burgers said:

I got that 45 from slsk, if u can't find it I can go online and share it...

pls, I can't

[cruising for burgers]

they've melted in the meantime?

Spoiler

[hoggy]

Just now, cruising for burgers said:

they've melted in the meantime?

  Hide contents

I hope they're not birthday cake candles then

[hoggy]

10 minutes ago, hoggy said:

why where are they going? oh..

 

[Bubba69]

In my head I'm imagining a bunch of IDM dorks fighting over how complicated the patterns in songs are like the dudes in that ITYSL sketch fighting over the complex patterns on dan flashes shirts.

[xxx]

Something that I noticed recently and cannot unsee is that Richard has really stout forearms and hands. For a dude that's very trim everywhere else, it really started to stand out to me. Do a pic dump analysis over the years and tell me I'm off base. I have an inverse problem--pretty good upper arm definition but genetically troublesome forearms. 3 times a week, I do 3x5 40 lb. forearm curls with my thumb over the grip and they're murderous. I can see more definition but I just can't get that RDJ circumference. So, it truly is a tale as old as time. I sit down to my synths and I definitely can't manage a "Synthacon 9" and it's unlikely that I'll catch up to his forearms either. 

recites "Serenity Prayer" under breath.

[YEK]

1 hour ago, xxx said:

Something that I noticed recently and cannot unsee is that Richard has really stout forearms and hands. For a dude that's very trim everywhere else, it really started to stand out to me. Do a pic dump analysis over the years and tell me I'm off base. I have an inverse problem--pretty good upper arm definition but genetically troublesome forearms. 3 times a week, I do 3x5 40 lb. forearm curls with my thumb over the grip and they're murderous. I can see more definition but I just can't get that RDJ circumference. So, it truly is a tale as old as time. I sit down to my synths and I definitely can't manage a "Synthacon 9" and it's unlikely that I'll catch up to his forearms either. 

recites "Serenity Prayer" under breath.

oh come on, now we're picking on his physical appearance?! sheesh. poor Rich  

[hoggy]

1 hour ago, xxx said:

really stout forearms and hands

mmm you know what those are good for 

[hoggy]

5 hours ago, Bubba69 said:

how complicated the patterns in songs are

funnily enough that's not the issue at all, obviously Collapse and Syro are just as complicated, right? (right? not sure about that) So maybe it's somewhat true about the sound pallete idk

Just listened to Collapse - I like it, but actually I think it's kinda rhythmically flat - there's all this cool stuff going on, but the kicks and snares are so small sounding - and I'm sure it's on purpose - but it's not really about the tone of the individual sound, it's how the rhythm doesn't contribute to the expression of the melody - it's like they are ignoring each other - like in the distorted kick section, there's a melody but it's kinda drifting around in the background by itself, where something almost similar on drukqs, the contrast/relationship between the spidery timid voice of the melody and the harsh frenetic voice of the drums would give them moments of connection which were emotionally really amazing while also feeling kind of un-self conscious - or like on 4 Bit 9D Api+E+6 there's this funky bass that really commits to the 1, but the kicks (and other drums) are almost ignoring the 1 completely... at the same time it's really boring to think about music like this, though it's making me think about how rhythm and melodic content are linked, and how important the relationship between them is (for me anyway).. though it's not just that - there's other disconnection between layers, where melodic lines are kind of tangential to each other - they come in and out, and are like in the same key, but don't have a shared emotional progression together

And in contrast, papat4 which I way prefer, all the layers are working together, and each section speaks to the previous one in a way that elucidates the emotion - there's even sections in the middle where all the parts are stopping and starting together

But there is a unique vibe to the new stuff that to me feels curious and I feel weird saying this (I don't mean this derisively at all) but kind of autistic - like when my autistic friends talk to me and the emotion is not expressed in the same way as someone who is not autistic, like, the flatness of affect but the richness of detail, and there's an unusual sense of impersonal enthusiasm

ugh I hate myself

Edited September 4, 2023 by hoggy

[cern]

Is like RDJ read this thread and like "Okay you think I lost it?"  

Starts raving with non stop Aphex Acid and breaks + Jungle in highest class! Man those 2 last gigs is another level. 
He is in his fucking prime now! 

[hoggy]

40 minutes ago, cern said:

Is like RDJ read this thread and like "Okay you think I lost it?"  

Something tells me he probably hates watmm

[beerwolf]

17 hours ago, hoggy said:

Something tells me he probably hates watmm

He probably views it as the nature of the beast. And a necessary evil. 

Edited September 5, 2023 by beerwolf

[mcbpete]

On 9/3/2023 at 1:54 PM, hello spiral said:

cop show dadfunk

Kinda wish it was more 'cop show dadfunk'.... thinking that'd be more like that soundtrack project FSOL (As Amorphous Androgynous) did called The Cartel:

The nearest simile I can get with his recent output is that it's like sad ghosts listening to their spookPods during a melancholy haunting

 

[purlieu]

I kinda get both sides here. Ultimately, if his tunes are doing it for you, then that's what matters. And he's clearly not lost any of his talent or passion for writing stuff. Most of the recent material hasn't really been up my street, but I'm not going to suggest he's phoning it in - there's some crazy detailed programming and lots of rich melodic stuff. And despite never sticking to one sound, there's usually just something Aphexy about it all that means it ticks a lot of people's boxes. Which is great.

On the other hand, there's the progress from the first Analogue Bubblebath to Hangable Autobulb, a span of five years in which he released a shit ton of music in numerous styles, succeeded in pretty much all of them, developed pretty much unheard sounds and changed his own to almost unrecognisable levels. And that's not really been the case for - arguably - anything post-Drukqs. So I get why people can feel a bit deflated when another new release sounds like tracks that could have come from the last few (to an extent - I think there's a fair amount of interchangability between a lot of recent releases, although the mixing and mastering give them all their own timbres). Like it or not, novelty is an appealing element for a lot of people, and there's comparatively little of that these days.

HIs focus has just changed, though, hasn't it? In the '90s, a lot of the stuff happening was new. He started at the peak of acid and began releasing just as the post-rave scene came along, people were finding new ways of using this comparatively new approach to music making, and there was such a huge wave of excitement that Rich no doubt got carried along with. Sitting around in a messy bedroom, a bit stoned, fucking around with gear to see what new noises he can make and send over to Mike or whoever. By the mid '00s things have changed a lot, musicians have moved on, focuses have changed, life has different priorities, maybe things are calmer, and he's set up some studio rooms in which he's placing an increasing collection of expensive and exciting gear, and he spends ages playing around with it to see what he can do with it all, because eventually you need to challenge yourself in new ways. The adrenaline rush of the mid '90s has passed and he's now got time to noodle to his hearts content and learn to continually refine his creative process using whatever gear he's fondling this week. He's no longer using his gear to create completely new sounds, he's seeing how much gear he can bend to his will to make stuff that sounds like him. Which is no less impressive on a creative level, but it does lead to a slightly more homogenous end result. 

And that's fine, because it happens to a lot of people. Ae's past decade has been far less varied than any other decade in their career. Mike P's been returning to old sounds using new gear. Paul's Orbital tracks sound like they've come from a box of unspecific-era unreleased Orbital tracks. Brian's heavily into his synths these days, and there's a similar kind of homogenous sound to more recent FSOL albums as a result. Wire have always been referred to as an always-moving-forward band, but at least half the stuff from their last six or seven albums is reasonably interchangeable. etc. etc. Has anybody remained truly sonically groundbreaking after 30 years? 

[cruising for burgers]

one thing I know fo sure, the afx twins are and will ever be very better then the squarepuxer...

[o00o]

On 9/12/2023 at 8:05 PM, purlieu said:

I kinda get both sides here. Ultimately, if his tunes are doing it for you, then that's what matters. And he's clearly not lost any of his talent or passion for writing stuff. Most of the recent material hasn't really been up my street, but I'm not going to suggest he's phoning it in - there's some crazy detailed programming and lots of rich melodic stuff. And despite never sticking to one sound, there's usually just something Aphexy about it all that means it ticks a lot of people's boxes. Which is great.

On the other hand, there's the progress from the first Analogue Bubblebath to Hangable Autobulb, a span of five years in which he released a shit ton of music in numerous styles, succeeded in pretty much all of them, developed pretty much unheard sounds and changed his own to almost unrecognisable levels. And that's not really been the case for - arguably - anything post-Drukqs. So I get why people can feel a bit deflated when another new release sounds like tracks that could have come from the last few (to an extent - I think there's a fair amount of interchangability between a lot of recent releases, although the mixing and mastering give them all their own timbres). Like it or not, novelty is an appealing element for a lot of people, and there's comparatively little of that these days.

HIs focus has just changed, though, hasn't it? In the '90s, a lot of the stuff happening was new. He started at the peak of acid and began releasing just as the post-rave scene came along, people were finding new ways of using this comparatively new approach to music making, and there was such a huge wave of excitement that Rich no doubt got carried along with. Sitting around in a messy bedroom, a bit stoned, fucking around with gear to see what new noises he can make and send over to Mike or whoever. By the mid '00s things have changed a lot, musicians have moved on, focuses have changed, life has different priorities, maybe things are calmer, and he's set up some studio rooms in which he's placing an increasing collection of expensive and exciting gear, and he spends ages playing around with it to see what he can do with it all, because eventually you need to challenge yourself in new ways. The adrenaline rush of the mid '90s has passed and he's now got time to noodle to his hearts content and learn to continually refine his creative process using whatever gear he's fondling this week. He's no longer using his gear to create completely new sounds, he's seeing how much gear he can bend to his will to make stuff that sounds like him. Which is no less impressive on a creative level, but it does lead to a slightly more homogenous end result. 

And that's fine, because it happens to a lot of people. Ae's past decade has been far less varied than any other decade in their career. Mike P's been returning to old sounds using new gear. Paul's Orbital tracks sound like they've come from a box of unspecific-era unreleased Orbital tracks. Brian's heavily into his synths these days, and there's a similar kind of homogenous sound to more recent FSOL albums as a result. Wire have always been referred to as an always-moving-forward band, but at least half the stuff from their last six or seven albums is reasonably interchangeable. etc. etc. Has anybody remained truly sonically groundbreaking after 30 years? 

That sounds like a really good explanation to me