Richard D. James Album / Girl/Boy EP

[bubbhasdance]

Now I know last week's turnout was a little low (due to the fact that I had finals and all lol), but this week should be great, cause we've got the RDJ Album and its companion EP (yes, it's a companion EP), Girl/Boy. The child of Hangable Auto Bulb's drill breaks and Melodies From Mars/AB5's lighthearted melodies and synth work, have a great listening week!

 

 

Edited May 17, 2010 by bubbhasdance

[Guest Rabid]

Great album! I love listening to it in the morning and getting psyched for the rest of the day. Will review later, brb

[Boxing Day]

I have Mixed Feeling about the RDJ Album , there are 7 songs that i absolutely love , and then there are those three (Peak 82.., To Cure A Weakling child and Yellow Calx) that I HAVE TO BE IN THE MOOD to tolerate. Still , this album is classic. 9/10

Girl/Boy EP is short but sweet , the only track i don't like the the Snare Rush Mix. 9/10

 

Top 5 (Week 10)

 

Logan Rock Witch (Top 5 in the best AFX tracks ever list)

Fingerbib (Top 10 in the best AFX tracks ever list)

InKey$

Carn Marth

Goon Gumpas

Edited May 17, 2010 by Boxing Day

[beerwolf]

Holy guacamole!

 

Well this album represents the time when I started to metamorphasize from Reign in Blood by Slayer into the world and universe of Aphex Twin. Which might seem like a mighty leap forwards or backwards depending on your point of veiw LoL, but I had a penchant for bizarre non-mainstream music and I was looking for something different. I always had a liking of electronic music bubbling away in the background, THOUGH I HATED DANCE MUSIC! (that was in the charts). I was just looking for the right thing. Here I found it.

 

I was listening to John Peel on Radio 1 and he played Girl/Boy song which hit all the right spots, something about it just appealed to me so that weekend I skipped on down to the record shop and got this album. I immediately liked the cover. Somebody with a funny amusing grin, but with a glint of madness and insanity in the eyes.

 

Not going to write an essay and I wont dwell on the few tracks I dislike. It has to be 10 out of 10 for me for obvious reasons.

 

To me a lot of the tracks have this playful, childlish, nusery ryme feel to them. They remind me of childrens television when I was growing up, like Bod, Mr Ben and Ivor the Engine. Aphex conjoures up those images to me, I presume he watched those same programs as we are roughly the same age but I have no idea if there is a purposeful link here? All of this sound is charged with currents of beats and madness and on the whole I love it.

 

Yeah this album changed my whole perspective on music. And it proberbly changed my life.

Edited May 17, 2010 by beerwolf

[beerwolf]

Ps Bubbahasdance this idea of yours is pretty good.

 

I Care Because You Do has been elevated up a notch because of your review threads. It was on a 7, I realise this is complete tomfoolery and now its an 8.

 

Ahhh Happy Days!

[bubbhasdance]

Ps Bubbahasdance this idea of yours is pretty good.

 

I Care Because You Do has been elevated up a notch because of your review threads. It was on a 7, I realise this is complete tomfoolery and now its an 8.

 

Ahhh Happy Days!

 

haha thanks, I'm pretty proud of this whole thing! Thanks to all the participants, posting or not!

[Guest Rabid]

4 - One of my favorite tracks ever, and the one that I have to credit for getting me into aphex in the first place. I won't go into the whole story; this track blew me away when I heard it. I still like it a lot, maybe not as much anymore. It gives me this strange wistful feeling inside that I don't fully understand but it feels wonderful. The "Richard, yep" sample is like his signature on the track.

 

Cornish Acid - This one took me a while to appreciate. I think it's one of the weaker tracks on the album but by no means bad at all. Funky acidy goodness.

 

Peek 232421535 - Like someone said above, the chorus really makes this track. The whole track is so far ahead of its time, production-wise, that's its not even funny.

 

Fingerbib - Definitely one of the most overrated aphex tracks, next to Alberto Balsam. Still a great one though - good driving song.

 

Carn Marth - YES. YES. YES. Number 2 track on the album for me. The sudden changes, the build, the ending, it's a perfect moment musically and technically.

 

To Cure a Weakling Child - Playful and fun before getting crazy halfway through. I like it a lot.

 

Goon Gumpas - A good track to transition into after Weakling Child. Fucking epic bassline, an amazing two minutes.

 

Yellow Calx - Meh, it's good for sure but not a favorite of mine. I don't think it really fits on the album.

 

Girl/Boy Song - Great track, a little mini masterpiece. Really brings me back to summer nights, relaxing and listening to the album. I've heard complaints about the drumming - some say it's overdone, but I personally like it a lot. I love the David Firth video to girl/boy, and it's probably half the reason I'm so into the track itself.

 

Logan Rock Witch - A mindbending track. you really have to give this one a good listen if you don't get it.

 

Overall: 10/10. There are some weaknesses on the album I think - it's repetitive, it's short, whatever. I still think it's a seminal album, insanely far ahead of its time. It was also ballsy as fuck to release this kind of album. It's aged very well and I can only imagine what it sounded like on first release. I think his only other releases as perfect as this one are Drukqs and Come to Daddy.

 

The EP tracks: none are really as good as the tracks on the actual album, though I dig them all. 7/10.

[Ragnar]

I guess Drukqs is supposed to be the most IMPENETRABLE album of rdj's but I think some tracks/moments on rdj album are much more bizarre. I don't think Fingerbib is that bad to be on the same overrated level as Alberto Balsalm, I heard the albums out of order and I thought Alberto was going to be another Fingerbib or something and was disappointed. Also Yellow Calx doesn't really fit but isn't that the point. only calx track that really makes sense with the rest of the album is Blue Calx. I always figured the effect was something akin to a warp pipe/bonus stage of the album - temporary segue from the sound of the rest of the album. But yeah Fingerbib is ok imo, tracks like that and Peek numbernumbernumber are just so out there these tracks really cemented the idea for me that RDJ could make tracks with a feel completely unlike each other/anything else. When they get into that "zone" I forgive if it isn't really the best made track. Kind of like the burnt/semi-burnt/soggy french fries you hope to get some for the experience and take the risk of leaving a bad taste in your mouth. 26 Mixes isn't really that great but almost every track has that feel, and they're all from these different periods/eras, when I first got it I was overwhelmed where to even start. Even some of the tracks from Girl/Boy are pretty good, stuff like Redruth mix though is just so generic richard becoming a parody of himself sort of feel that made Come to Daddy/Windowlicker a little annoying. I don't really like 4 to me that's the overrated track of the album. Girl/Boy does the majestic sort of feel a lot better I think

 

also Fingerbib = Fingerbobs http://www.thechestnut.com/finger.htm didn't somebody on this forum mention that? I found out some way or another

Edited May 17, 2010 by Ragnar

[gunnar]

repetitive??? it's anything but that. i have a short attention span i should know :)

[gunnar]

also alberto balsalm and fingerbib deserve all the credit imo. and i'm probably in the minority thinking yellow calx is a brilliant track. it blows my mind a little bit the imagination needed to come up with something like that, nobody has done drums like that. the whole album is so ahead of it's time, i don't think it has even been surpassed today.

[Ragnar]

i'm probably in the minority thinking yellow calx is a brilliant track. it blows my mind a little bit the imagination needed to come up with something like that, nobody has done drums like that. the whole album is so ahead of it's time, i don't think it has even been surpassed today.

 

yeah I like when it turns all transparent and shit and sucks into itself

[sneaksta303]

Yellow Calx is ace

[Cryptowen]

As I said before, I think this album has the best pacing of any released under the Aphex Twin alias. The older albums all have some tracks that feel too long to me, unless I'm in the mood for APHEX ACID. Drukqs is well paced, but there's so much going on that it's rather draining listening to it all at once (which is how I like listening to albums). RDJA is one of the few half hour long albums I've heard that actually feels like a complete work. It gets in, does it's business, & gets out.

[sneaksta303]

Logan Rock Witch is overrated.

[Guest Calx Sherbet]

4 - i remember the first time i heard that spewing freakout moment toward the end (before it goes back to the tranquility again), it scared the shit out of me. once again it's a genious way of mixing beauty with abrasiveness, like Rich has done many times before.

 

Cornish Acid - it's simplicity is what makes it so great. i love it plenty

 

Peek 232421535 - as described before, really is otherworldly. the beginning (before the melody) sounds like some sort of malevolent slug scooting along, leaving an acid slime trail

 

Fingerbib - not overrated even the slightest. just as gorgeous and heartfelt as the first time i heard it, maybe even more so now. it sounds like the emotional ending at the end of an amazing movie

 

Carn Marth - really doesn't take long to get going. the track just flies out of nowhere and socks you in the gut, then as you're recovering, the chaotic bashing just doesn't let up. and then it's gone

 

To Cure a Weakling Child - i loved this song so much the first time i heard it. it's so childlike. it's like a bunch of old wooden children's toys coming to life in a dark attic, and moving in clunky unison.

 

Goon Gumpas - i want to say this track is just bubbling over with joy, but there is something horribly twisted about it. like it's a demented sort of happiness.

 

Yellow Calx - like rabid said, didn't really fit the album. but it's brutally dark like PEEK. it makes me visualise Richard sitting around scattered equipment, completely insomniatic and working away tirelessly. to the point of hallucinating and falling asleep and snapping awake. i love the return to calmness toward the end, like it was at the start. the track seems a little bipolar

 

Girl/Boy Song - i think this is the most powerful, energy driven ride through the aphex soundscape to date

 

Logan Rock Witch - i think this is one of my favorite tracks on the album, lol. every time i here it i think of the fortune teller house in A Link to the Past. ALWAYS in the mood for this track

 

10/10, perfect album. (there are hardly any aphex albums that i DON'T like in there entirety, lol). but it's a piece of electronic art

 

might do the Girl/Boy album later

Edited May 18, 2010 by Calx Sherbet

[Guest Calx Sherbet]

Logan Rock Witch is overrated.

 

never heard any praise over it

[sneaksta303]

i knew you were going to post what you posted. Preemptive strike. Girl/Boy song, same thing.

 

I like 'em both though.

[Guest Rabid]

also alberto balsalm and fingerbib deserve all the credit imo.

They are wonderfully sublime tracks, but I've never enjoyed them as much as others seem to. Different strokes...

 

Yellow Calx is ace

Agreed

[bubbhasdance]

Will be posting my review sometime tonight of the RDJ Album, haven't heard it in quite a while, wow....

[Guest Calx Sherbet]

i knew you were going to post what you posted. Preemptive strike. Girl/Boy song, same thing.

 

I like 'em both though.

 

yea well, your mom, okay?

[chomp]

4 - One of my favorite tracks ever, and the one that I have to credit for getting me into aphex in the first place. I won't go into the whole story; this track blew me away when I heard it. I still like it a lot, maybe not as much anymore. It gives me this strange wistful feeling inside that I don't fully understand but it feels wonderful. The "Richard, yep" sample is like his signature on the track.

 

I remember thinking that the whole "Richard, yep" sample added such an under-construction quality to the track which I loved. (Although, I thought it said "Ready? Yep!" which maybe makes my connotation with construction make more sense). This and Girl/Boy Song are the tracks which most got me into Aphex Twin -- Girl/boy just stuck. Nothing beats it. Regarding Girl/boy song and David Firth, though, I absolutely agree! I think his video is largely the reason I'm so in love with the track.

 

Fingerbib - Definitely one of the most overrated aphex tracks, next to Alberto Balsam. Still a great one though - good driving song.

 

I really liked you until you said this!

 

Yellow Calx is ace

 

AgreEEe.

 

I think I'd give Richard D James Album a 8/10. Likewise, I'd give ICBYD an 8/10. However, I'd give "I Care Because Richard D James Album Does" a 10/10 -- combining these two albums would include everything I love about Aphex Twin. MmmmmmMmMMmmMmMmMM.

[Ragnar]

I always thought it was 'ready? yeah' too

[beerwolf]

Logan Rock Witch is overrated.

 

I never used to like this track either then one day I just couldn't be bothered to press stop and let the album play out. I found myself sitting there and asking the question why on Earth didn't I like this in the first place LoL? That's not unique though is it? It will happen with The Tuss one day no doubt.

Edited May 18, 2010 by beerwolf

[Guest theSun]

yellow calx is probably my fav rdj song. fuck

[baph]

It's definitely my favorite off of the RDJA.