Photodementia - Fig. 04

[Guest mrgypsum]

whoever made fig03 made this for sure, i really loved 3 so i already bought this without even listening to it. it is however rephlex related apparently.

[sneaksta303]

Grant also said, when he posted that picture of the new ep, that he had pre-ordered it (lol) but that this was the promo.

[Guest murky juan]

[MisterE]

so that's rephlex's latest trick? not being a label anymore? crafty bastards

now we dont even know who is actually signed to them let alone which of those artists are aphex!

[marf]

Grant makes a lot of tracks himself. Could be some of his stuff

[BCM]

Drux and Postpre are fucking awesome. well AFX.

[perunamuusi]

postpre clip is fucking llush

[ascdi]

Courier New

[vertsk8er419]

well well

[awepittance]

I don´t think it´s afx, way too much straight up electro-ey. Too raw/dirty to be Stingray. I still suspect Monolith.

 

Concerning the whole Rephlex debacle: I contacted Grant through FB and he was nice enough to reply! In reply to my "I remember EOD being signed on Rephlex", he said "I rememeber hearing about various assumptions on messageboards to that we dont bother to read or correct". So it's EOD's own fault for confirming that here. Or him playing on Bangface under the Rephlex roster. Or the fact that Grant himself dropped his name on facebook (I can remember that, he deleted it later). Or EOD confirming it on his own facebook. ...

 

He also told me that the last Rephlex release was Pierre Bastien and the EDM, EOD, Photodementia and Ultrademon releases are all on different imprints and he just supports them and get's promo's. I wasn't going to post this here but the answer about messageboards was just worthy of posting on a messageboard.

 

Think of it what you will. I'm still ordering the hell out of Photodementia because it sounds great.

 

i think it's funny that he claims he doesn't read the message boards here, when clearly this whole post Tuss methodology was inspired by the me + Wisp + Gl0tch collaboration on the brian tregaskin myspace page. Don't mean to toot my own horn but it's true. I don't mean to claim what we did was in any way a huge revelation, but when they announced the Tuss release they claimed they found him through 'extensive myspace exploration', no Brian Tregaskin page existed. Following that is when someone from Rephlex decided to put up the Steinvord page (even though i don't think it's aphex, i think that it was an inside job of some kind). They even had a track on there called 'rules the read'. So there are a couple of possibilities, that Steinvord is a watmm poster/reader, or that whoever 'insiders' are involved in Steinvord have read or post to watmm and know of the meme of 'read the rules'. So i call major bullshit on the Grant claim of not reading message boards, lol.

 

so that's rephlex's latest trick? not being a label anymore? crafty bastards

now we dont even know who is actually signed to them let alone which of those artists are aphex!

 

i think it's all one long con so that when the new Aphex full length comes out in whatever fake artist name, it will be harder to pin down 100% certain it's RDJ. At least in terms of the review and press for it. Watmm will know, but so far we even seem confused by things like Steinvord and now this, so I see it as just an attempt to create a smoke screen for some future plan. Or maybe there is no plan?

[Gordon]

Omg lol

[syd syside]

Stickfigger, on 22 Feb 2013 - 16:10, said:

Not to completely derail the thread but the best way to treat Aphex is to work on the basis that there will never be another release under AFX or Aphex Twin, just like there will never be another BOC. There will also never be a confirmation of any artist actually 'being' afx... too much time has been wasted wondering about whether or not these artists will release again. Enjoy the old stuff as its likely they will never release anything better than that and thats the reason why there is no more new music.

 

On another note, Photodementia i thought was overhyped.

The Tuss is brilliant as is aspects of Photodementia. Both match Richards prior work at least, though I am not sure how you directly compare them as its stylistically different as well. But Aphex has never stayed in one style for very long so what you are arguing is complete bullshit as I don't think anything has changed aside from Richard not wanting massive press, expectations, and contract commitments. He just wants to make music and release it to the public under new aliases so that he can get a better idea of how much of himself is recognizable and how much praise and respect it gets vs. if it were to be an official AFX release. It's a psychological game he is playing. And I promise he will release an official Aphex Twin album that will be a Double Disc release featuring the Manchester / Metz tracks.

 

Your theory = debunked.

[syd syside]

Hmmm... when did I say that he would never release again as Aphex Twin?

 

Fair enough. And I'll add he's saving his next gen druqks or whatever the hell for his Aphex Twin moniker, these aliases are for more fun and older experiments. But that doesn't mean they aren't impressive. They just are more grounded or branched from his prior work/influences.

[syd syside]

I'm not 100% anything, but if I was a betting man...

[Audioblysk]

Random Bit: In the interview NME did with rich, or which ever one where they ask him about living in the bank. He says that his downstairs neighbor 'Victor" creates loads of music, but never showed rich because he thought he might not like it.

 

Sounds more like Dave's production to me. Who knows. It certainly doesn't have the caliber of production that the tuss did, but loads of AFXy sounds. Whatever.

[neurp]

mine just arrived, YAY!

[MisterE]

yeah its been over 10yrs since last aphex twin release, i dont see it happening any time soon if ever. and if it does happen it will be like a one time event probably.

 

him wanting to avoid the press and stuff so much is one thing, but he is only human. i dont think ANYONE can entirely shut out any and all cares as to what 'the people' or even any press may think about something you make. maybe he's worried that he releases a proper album and it won't live up to the hype, even here at watmm. look at whats happened to squarepusher. ae releasing exai was like this huge event. but relatively few people seem to even care about the pusher anymore, and he's been at least trying to do different styles. for him it seems like actually doing different styles got people to turn on him. yes i think the whole fake band thing is a bit wonky, but the tracks still have some appeal. and ufabulum i thought was like a return to form but with a new sound. and few seem to like it even around here. that probably stings the ego a bit, even for a guy like SP who had his successes, and supposedly tries to build this wall around him so things don't influence him so much. so maybe aphex has some small part of him that doesn't want to see his core group of fans (ppl here) talking about his stuff as people have about the last few SP albums.

[Audioblysk]

yeah its been over 10yrs since last aphex twin release, i dont see it happening any time soon if ever. and if it does happen it will be like a one time event probably.

 

him wanting to avoid the press and stuff so much is one thing, but he is only human. i dont think ANYONE can entirely shut out any and all cares as to what 'the people' or even any press may think about something you make. maybe he's worried that he releases a proper album and it won't live up to the hype, even here at watmm. look at whats happened to squarepusher. ae releasing exai was like this huge event. but relatively few people seem to even care about the pusher anymore, and he's been at least trying to do different styles. for him it seems like actually doing different styles got people to turn on him. yes i think the whole fake band thing is a bit wonky, but the tracks still have some appeal. and ufabulum i thought was like a return to form but with a new sound. and few seem to like it even around here. that probably stings the ego a bit, even for a guy like SP who had his successes, and supposedly tries to build this wall around him so things don't influence him so much. so maybe aphex has some small part of him that doesn't want to see his core group of fans (ppl here) talking about his stuff as people have about the last few SP albums.

Quiet, Tom.

[Lucas]

yeah its been over 10yrs since last aphex twin release, i dont see it happening any time soon if ever. and if it does happen it will be like a one time event probably.

 

him wanting to avoid the press and stuff so much is one thing, but he is only human. i dont think ANYONE can entirely shut out any and all cares as to what 'the people' or even any press may think about something you make. maybe he's worried that he releases a proper album and it won't live up to the hype, even here at watmm. look at whats happened to squarepusher. ae releasing exai was like this huge event. but relatively few people seem to even care about the pusher anymore, and he's been at least trying to do different styles. for him it seems like actually doing different styles got people to turn on him. yes i think the whole fake band thing is a bit wonky, but the tracks still have some appeal. and ufabulum i thought was like a return to form but with a new sound. and few seem to like it even around here. that probably stings the ego a bit, even for a guy like SP who had his successes, and supposedly tries to build this wall around him so things don't influence him so much. so maybe aphex has some small part of him that doesn't want to see his core group of fans (ppl here) talking about his stuff as people have about the last few SP albums.

 

Interesting points. I'm sure that Aphex practically doesn't release anymore because he's conscious that he won't be able to bring something that would surpass his progression as a releasing artist. He probably just wants to protect the integrity of the myth he creates around his name, and he's not willing to put out something that would "only" be good. Instead of that, releasing under mysterious names (The Tuss and Steinvord, obviously. I mean come on, listen to those tracks again and be honest with yourself ) and making contemporary music concerts is a way of going beyond this myth. In the same time, I'm pretty sure he's still making loads of music and simply enjoying it for himself and for the people who are close to him. At some point he only seemed to release for money anyway ; I'm pretty sure he doesn't need public recognition anymore, but in the same time would still put something out under the name Aphex Twin if he came out with something pushing the myth forward.

 

In the other hand, Squarepusher takes an opposite - and maybe a more humble - approach, which is publicly continuing to experiment, and which is maybe not so good for the myth (look at how people so easily label him "cheesy" and "bad taste" around there), but which is in my opinion extremely respectable, since I'm still enjoying his music a lot and loving how he's constantly reinventing himself, both with talent and with a particular way of playing on the edge of cheesiness, still without wanting to pretend he's bringing a revolution with each album.

 

Anyway, I don't think afx could be Photodementia at all. As it's been said it sounds too straight for being him (at least to my ears). I don't know Monolith's music a lot but I'm pretty sure it couldn't be him as well as Photodementia sounds a lot more inspired to my ears. And while we're at this guess game, it's obvious for me that Squarepusher is also involved into the Steinvord name (sorry I know this has been discussed thousand of times but I can't hold my opinion on the question every time there's an occasion to expose it...).

[Amen Lare]

Fig.03 doesn't sound like AFX to me in general, but Fig.04 is much much closer. Synth gurgling on Postpre has AFX signature on it, i don't believe Monolith or anybody would be trying that hard to mimic him on presumably old-school electro record. When i listened to D's Groove the stylistic skills of this person became clear, Rephlex boys learnt to do Analords and stuff but not purist Detroit electro.

[Gordon]

None of this record sounds like it's trying to mimic afx or drexciya to me at all, and especially not analord. D's groove reminds me much more of carl craigs earlier stuff as Psyche. Sure it has the same/similar sound pallet but they are put together by someone different. And drexciya and afx don't own every synth sound. Sure doesn't sound like a complete rip off of afx like the EDM thing

[Guest milorad]

This thread would be much more constructive and fun if we would focus on analyzing the press release and look for clues. I don't think they would just write a complete fabrication, no fun there. I have a few ideas which I will share later, I'm too lazy at the moment.

@photodementia is Aphex:

Think about what you would do if you were in Richard's shoes. I would stop releasing music under my own name completely and try to have some fun instead. Like, what if he sent his tracks (in various styles obviously) as demos to more or less obscure labels just to see if they'd release them? Imagine being a dickish label owner listening to a demo by a fucking Richard James and not knowing about it. I'm not sure if it would be more fun if they ditched it or released it. I'm quite convinced there are a lot of these floating around, and one day he will tell us just to take the fucking piss. So I don't think photodementia is his project.

[Amen Lare]

None of this record sounds like it's trying to mimic afx or drexciya to me at all, and especially not analord. D's groove reminds me much more of carl craigs earlier stuff as Psyche. Sure it has the same/similar sound pallet but they are put together by someone different. And drexciya and afx don't own every synth sound. Sure doesn't sound like a complete rip off of afx like the EDM thing

 

Nobody mentioned Drexciya here, and by referencing Analords (and Tuss) i meant what new Rephlex artists are reflecting in one way or another, that's why i doubt Photodementia is one of them. It's not synth sound in Postpre i am talking about, but certain technique of articulation.

[Gordon]

Both drexciya and dopplereffekt have been been mentioned countless times regarding photodementia so that's my basis

[beerwolf]

Hey kids!!

 

Just enjoy the music, I don't really understand all the fuss over who it is or is not.

 

I guess perhaps it could fun for you to deliberte? If so then thats cool.

 

Carry on Sherlocks!!