APHEX TWIN - SYRO

[Hugh Mughnus]

probably shouldn't link to videos infringing copyright

 

might get banned

[MassfreeKid]

I feel like Produk 29 sounds like Vibert... for the first minute. Then it's nothing Vibert ever did, because it's 100% Aphex.

[Friendly Foil]

XMAS_EVET10 intro sounds very similiar to EDM A2's 'Men Part 2'

 

lol sounds nothing like it

[funkaholic]

out of the the tracks that have never been dj'ed Syro u473t8+e (Piezoluminescence Mix) is my favourite so far, part of it get me humming forgot about dre for some reason...

http://youtu.be/E5a93wABHNM

[Kavinsky]

Circlont6a is some lext level shit

[Kavinsky]

Best record for the next 13 Years

[Mammal]

it reminds me a bit of hangable autobulb, must be the rhythmic quality.

[azatoth]

I've never been a huge Aphex fan, have some of his albums and there are some true gems on them, but his stuff never blew me away as some other IDMz has. Didn't really get the Analord hype. Sure, the analog-y sound is nice but never got what was so damn special about it. And this new album is no different. It's alright with a couple of great tracks but hardly as mindblowing some of you make it out to be. RDJ definitely has his own sound and all these tracks are unmistakably him. I get the 80s vibe that some reviews have mentioned, could imagine 4bit playing in some bizarro Miami Vice episode. The previous three tracks are also good. Syro is also a stand out track. Album gives me ear fatigue, probably due to the lack of dynamics, otherwise production is quality (although think Drukqs is slicker and more polished) and lush and the 'phex plays a lot around with the stereo field.

 

quite good/10

[Hugh Mughnus]

I've never been a huge Aphex fan, have some of his albums and there are some true gems on them, but his stuff never blew me away as some other IDMz has. Didn't really get the Analord hype. Sure, the analog-y sound is nice but never got what was so damn special about it. And this new album is no different. It's alright with a couple of great tracks but hardly as mindblowing some of you make it out to be. RDJ definitely has his own sound and all these tracks are unmistakably him. I get the 80s vibe that some reviews have mentioned, could imagine 4bit playing in some bizarro Miami Vice episode. The previous three tracks are also good. Syro is also a stand out track. Album gives me ear fatigue, probably due to the lack of dynamics, otherwise production is quality (although think Drukqs is slicker and more polished) and lush and the 'phex plays a lot around with the stereo field.

 

quite good/10

 

I haven't heard syro yet but have to ask... did you get ear fatigue from Exai?

 

I get the impression syro is jam packed with sound.

 

Edit: I use exai as an example because I found that gave me ear fatigue.

Edited September 18, 2014 by StephenG

[B1000]

 

XMAS_EVET10 intro sounds very similiar to EDM A2's 'Men Part 2'

 

 

lol sounds nothing like it

 

 

clean your ears

[Brisbot]

I've never been a huge Aphex fan, have some of his albums and there are some true gems on them, but his stuff never blew me away as some other IDMz has. Didn't really get the Analord hype. Sure, the analog-y sound is nice but never got what was so damn special about it. And this new album is no different. It's alright with a couple of great tracks but hardly as mindblowing some of you make it out to be. RDJ definitely has his own sound and all these tracks are unmistakably him. I get the 80s vibe that some reviews have mentioned, could imagine 4bit playing in some bizarro Miami Vice episode. The previous three tracks are also good. Syro is also a stand out track. Album gives me ear fatigue, probably due to the lack of dynamics, otherwise production is quality (although think Drukqs is slicker and more polished) and lush and the 'phex plays a lot around with the stereo field.

 

quite good/10

 

I guess it depends on what you want to hear in a track. As versatile as Aphex is, he never really veers into Autechre 'territory' or Ceephax 'territory' and so on.

 

Cept Squarepusher, plenty of that... and Luke..

[Friendly Foil]

 

 

XMAS_EVET10 intro sounds very similiar to EDM A2's 'Men Part 2'

 

 

lol sounds nothing like it

 

 

clean your ears

 

dat irony

[B1000]

I must say the album is growing me, it didn't vibe with me at first - mainly due to knowing the live tracks. But after listening to each track individually, it feels completely different to my 1st listen

 

I'm loving CIRCLONT14 One of the few tracks that reminds me of drukqs

Edited September 18, 2014 by B1000

[Brisbot]

 

 

 

XMAS_EVET10 intro sounds very similiar to EDM A2's 'Men Part 2'

 

 

lol sounds nothing like it

 

 

clean your ears

 

dat irony

 

Sure it sounds similar, but nothing to write home about. Not that you'd ever write home about that in particular. Would you?

[azatoth]

 

I've never been a huge Aphex fan, have some of his albums and there are some true gems on them, but his stuff never blew me away as some other IDMz has. Didn't really get the Analord hype. Sure, the analog-y sound is nice but never got what was so damn special about it. And this new album is no different. It's alright with a couple of great tracks but hardly as mindblowing some of you make it out to be. RDJ definitely has his own sound and all these tracks are unmistakably him. I get the 80s vibe that some reviews have mentioned, could imagine 4bit playing in some bizarro Miami Vice episode. The previous three tracks are also good. Syro is also a stand out track. Album gives me ear fatigue, probably due to the lack of dynamics, otherwise production is quality (although think Drukqs is slicker and more polished) and lush and the 'phex plays a lot around with the stereo field.

 

quite good/10

I haven't heard syro yet but have to ask... did you get ear fatigue from Exai?

 

I get the impression syro is jam packed with sound.

 

Edit: I use exai as an example because I found that gave me ear fatigue.

 

I don't think I did, it's been a while since I gave it a listen. Then again listening to a 2 hour album in one sitting might give anyone ear fatigue.

[gl0tch]

Those first listen "reviews" were pretty useless. This is a completely different album on the second listen.

[Brisbot]

 

 

Okay so (this is a long-shot but hear me out), on the back of the dropcard, the website ends with /orys (syro backwards) - I thought this was odd.

 

I googled Orys and it's an old name. Apparently it translates as 'Keeper of the Hours' (Which is hilarious considering the wait for this album).

 

 

Interesting. I just looked it up and one site starts off the meaning of the name with "You are patient, persevering and strong willed". Lol.

 

I also think it suits the mood of the album somewhat.

 

 

Haha yeah! Very much so. 'Keeper of the Hours' also works well with the mind-bending nature of the titles too, in a God kinda way, and also with the cover art - being a literal, physical notation of the costs during the time leading up to release.

 

Screw it, it makes sense. "Syro: Keeper of the Hours" it is.

 

I've said this several times before but it's been 113,000 hours or so since the release of Drukqs....

[randomAmateur]

I fell asleep on the chair yesterday night, woke up and it was on... ~ 5:45 german time... vinyl is coming tomorrow. I'm to lazy to look up the tracknames so I will just use their numbers, 11 is the most advanced aphex twin track on the album I believe, 2 METZ! better than x-mas, 10 is weird but a I like it, it is actually really cool hymn like from AFX. 12..... lovly! 5 is ok! 4 is bonkers! the whole record is easy listening but still echter untergrund! Yes you can say Aphex Twin is still able to reach new levels and come up with new hights! I would not compare it with tuss at all, also not with drukqs. Syro is a pretty straight take on some parts that also exist in drukqs, it is not as much "in your face" as other stuff, but if you look carefully and "fold it up" there is 0 of the complexity gone. The most bizarr track on the album is this "skit" track 7 it send me outer space but because I never looked at the playlist it also made me sad, why isn't that an intro to a full track?

 

sorry for my bad english ;)

Edited September 18, 2014 by Herr Jan

[chim]

Ok I knew it was gonna be good but this is crazy. fucking album of the decade material. you shouldn't review an album on the first few listens but there's so much great shit on there.. CIRCLONT6A, Syro and s950 in particular are perfect...

 

First proper listen to Metz track brought me to tears..

[klore]

i just made few interesting statements,

 

first Syro on Headphones and speakers is extremely different, some will say, like all albums, and i'd say even more,

headphones allows us to catch the nerd stuff, the technique, mixing, details, it's pretty impressive,

 

but on speakers is even better because the mastering is exceptional, for an RDJ album not a single beat sounds "aggressive" everything is so clear, powerful, the volume is surprising big, all track are melting together, the outros to intros, the progression, the tracks are always splitted (almost all of them) in rythm and structure first and more melodic after

 

also either it's a question of RDJ more experience or mixing wise or mastering, but the overall is quite popish sounding,

i'm playing in my restaurant and as a background music is fit perfectly, again for a RDJ album it's not usual, i couldn't play any other album in my restaurant, there is always a weird distorted sounds, industrial etc... somewhere and i know people will give me the look

 

it's amazing to me, and i'm sure i'm topping the iceberg only

[randomAmateur]

It's a great album I really didn't expect it will be lovly like that.

[Guest Shit Attack]

is there meant to be a weird tapehiss sound on every track or are my headphones/ears/brains broken

[Jobe]

Big pitchfork interview: http://pitchfork.com/features/cover-story/reader/aphex-twin/

 

In the very first answer, Richard confirms he reads WATMM :)

 

Other tidbits:

 

For the equipment list, Richard had trouble remembering what was on what track. I find that interesting, since I picture him as an exacting, perfectionist type.

 

He mentions having a weird balance problem, like vertigo. Maybe Richard has Meniere's disease? He also says he can hear the same pitch in both ears, whatever that means.

 

He's still going on about the five-year-old using Renoise, cracking it off of Pirate Bay, and putting tracks on Bandcamp, hahaha. Supposedly he made music with his kids and played a couple of the tracks to folks at Warp.

 

Jungle is "the ultimate genre, because the people making it weren't musicians."

 

He has "a whole other persona" from before SAW that "people don't even know about, and probably wouldn't even recognize."

 

Syro isn't "particularly innovative" in his mind, and releasing it makes him not want to do anything like that again.

 

Totally waffled on the question of whether he has stuff out there already that people don't know is his.

 

He's been living in Scotland for about 8 years.

 

He's done "loads of electro-mechanical stuff" with the robot drummers, MIDI pipe organs, and a Disklavier "for other projects."

Edited September 18, 2014 by Jobe

[Rbrmyofr]

is there meant to be a weird tapehiss sound on every track or are my headphones/ears/brains broken

That's the sound of old analogue synths going through analogue eqs and effects into analogue mixing desks. A lot of the older digital equipment has a pretty high noise floor also.

[Guest HokusPoker]

I fell asleep on the chair yesterday night, woke up and it was on piratebay... ~ 5:45 german time... vinyl is coming tomorrow. I'm to lazy to look up the tracknames so I will just use their numbers, 11 is the most advanced aphex twin track on the album I believe, 2 METZ! better than x-mas, 10 is weird but a I like it, it is actually really cool hymn like from AFX. 12..... lovly! 5 is ok! 4 is bonkers! the whole record is easy listening but still echter untergrund! Yes you can say Aphex Twin is still able to reach new levels and come up with new hights! I would not compare it with tuss at all, also not with drukqs. Syro is a pretty straight take on some parts that also exist in drukqs, it is not as much "in your face" as other stuff, but if you look carefully and "fold it up" there is 0 of the complexity gone. The most bizarr track on the album is this "skit" track 7 it send me outer space but because I never looked at the playlist it also made me sad, why isn't that an intro to a full track?

 

sorry for my bad english ;)

 

Sorry if this has been discussed, I just got very confused today. So as StephenG said, I will get the MP3s tomorrow (need to reschedule my day!), but I ordered the vinyl from Bleep, not a Germany based shop. Will my vinyl also arrive tomorrow? On Bleep it doesn't say anything about different release dates depending on territory, just: shipping 19th.