Drukqs is truly a modern masterpiece.

[beerwolf]

Let’s get back on track. I was hoping Syro would take the same trajectory as Drukqs (but no such chance). Like a capuchin attempting to climb the monkey puzzle, Drukqs was a true sonic conundrum for me when I first played it and was for many repeated plays. I was simply bamboozled by the light-years ahead genius of Aphex trickery. 
I’m not sure if younger listeners nowadays, with every track and album ready to play at the touch of a mouse understand the concept of the ‘slow burner’ an album that takes many months, sometimes years to reveal their true glory. For me I think the Joy Division albums took a long while to like (not sure why….) and I’m trying to rack my brains and think up others but it doesn’t matter because Drukqs is the master of slow burners. Even this spring I decided to sit with this album and ‘listen’ even more. And yes of course more deep Aphexian magic was revealed. I can’t believe now, looking back and thinking about my initial reaction to Drukqs this is my favourite Aphex Twin album. But it is. I guess it would be ultra cool to hear some tracks that never made the final cut.
I remember Ivan Ooze saying something about Drukqs and ‘feels like dying in a corner at a rave’. Which is a way to describe some of the sounds on here, but even the more savage tracks are cloaked in bristling, potent darkness. Anyway I’ve ran out of steam myself. No more words.

[xxx]

On 7/24/2021 at 11:17 AM, beerwolf said:

I remember Ivan Ooze saying something about Drukqs and ‘feels like dying in a corner at a rave’.

I know this isn't getting us back on track but this happened in Canada. A young DJ was reported missing for a year. When Canada enforced an indoor smoking ban, people were finally able to smell the corpse of the DJ a year later. He had mashed himself into a tight corner in the bar. It was too late for forensics/toxicology but no foul play was suspected. It was hypothesized that he went into a k-hole or had a speed freak out and wound up asphyxiating in the corner. I'm gonna drop some Gwely Mernans now.

Edited August 6, 2021 by xxx

[chronical]

7 minutes ago, xxx said:

I know this isn't getting us back on track but this happened in Canada. A young DJ was reported missing for a year. When Canada enforced an indoor smoking ban, people were finally able to smell the corpse of the DJ a year later. He had mashed himself into a tight corner in the bar. It was too late for forensics/toxicology but no foul play was suspected. It was hypothesized that he went into a k-hole or had a speed freak out and wound up asphyxiating in the corner. I'm gonna drop some Gwely Mernans now.

Damn that's pretty disturbing. Are you saying he was lying there all this time?

Reminds me of a party I was at.. when people started packing up some guy fell asleep in a field next to the party, ended up being mutilated by a combine harvester the next morning.

[xxx]

10 hours ago, chronical said:

Damn that's pretty disturbing. Are you saying he was lying there all this time?

Reminds me of a party I was at.. when people started packing up some guy fell asleep in a field next to the party, ended up being mutilated by a combine harvester the next morning.

Yeah he was in the bar the whole time. There were a few complaints when the cigarettes were still in play but it was chalked up to sewage trouble. There's all kinds of age ranges on WATMM but any clubs, concerts, etc in the 80s and 90s were walls of smoke. It's hard to describe how bad it was to those that have grown up in indoor smoking bans but I can totally see how a corpse could decay freely and it not be fully detected. Proper grim about your friend!!

[cern]

Listen to whole Drukqs again and must say it is the best album he ever fucking made! 
 

 

[thefxbip]

Props to Richard to even be able to challenge himself to make more music after making Ziggomatic 17, because that track is perfection, plain and simple.

 

Edited October 13, 2021 by thefxbip

[cern]

5 minutes ago, thefxbip said:

Props to Richard to even be able to challenge himself to make more music after making Ziggomatic 17, because that track is perfection, plain and simple.

 

Yo I just had that beast on like 10 mins ago I'm not joking I had goosebumps the whole minute in the ending. 

That track just fucking leave me to tears in my eyes.. The perfection of a electronic music track right there! 

Just listen to the ending part on Piano!
 

 

[Himelstein]

There are a lot of reasons that I dislike Pitchfork- but the fact that they shit all over drukqs really sealed the deal. It also caused this annoying sea of followers complaining about the album, who I’m pretty sure didn’t even listen to it.

It’s such a good album, and I consider it to be almost a “grand finale” to idm. Like- electronic music can almost be broken up into “post-drukqs” and “pre-drukqs”

[psn]

20 years, yay! 

[cern]

Happy birthday my little Drukqs! My little 20 year old Drukqs! 

The koncept of doing tracks with prepared instruments, harmonium and beautiful piano pieces surrounding the melodic total complex electronic music must be one the best idea for doing an album. 

Timeless classic and perfection!

[zero]

wow 20 years...I can still remember buying it in the fall of 2001 from a Sound Warehouse (now defunct record store chain). lonely memories from that period. I had recently ended a relationship and moved to a different city where I didn't know anyone. this album was a part of my life soundtrack then. some tracks definitely got me misty eyed, and still occasionally do, usually after I've been drinking too much and start banging around sad thoughts inside the noggin.

[guidewire]

I remember seeing the vinyl at a record store and not caring at the time.... but oh how I want it now. 

[YEK]

2 hours ago, guidewire said:

I remember seeing the vinyl at a record store and not caring at the time.... but oh how I want it now. 

I remember seeing the vinyl and couldn't afford it as I still lived at home. 

[Rubin Farr]

[cern]

 

[Uros]

Don't forget these:

Edited October 23, 2021 by Uros

[Transferrin]

if u follow the numbers and lines on the tracklist it sort of makes out the words "aphex twin." the clearest part is 9-10-11-12 making an X, could never quite get the rest. the smudge off of 09 makes the cross of a "t" and the afx237 v.7 could be part of the "i." also not sure why 29 is on there twice. im sure someone else could figure it out better. rough example:

[guidewire]

Now-a-days I listen more to the "Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Pt 1" side of Drukqs

[Berk]

Yeah fucking fantastic album, life changing, hbd

[beerwolf]

https://www.stereogum.com/2164888/aphex-twin-drukqs-turns-20/reviews/the-anniversary/

nothing new but a nice little read. I think Stereogum has had a recent refurbishment. It’s a quite good music website.

Edited October 26, 2021 by beerwolf

[psn]

Nice little present day contextualization.

[T3551ER]

On 10/13/2021 at 1:51 AM, cern said:

Yo I just had that beast on like 10 mins ago I'm not joking I had goosebumps the whole minute in the ending. 

That track just fucking leave me to tears in my eyes.. The perfection of a electronic music track right there! 

Just listen to the ending part on Piano!
 

 

 @Scarb0rocking this transcription like a pro. Ziggomatic 17 features what may be my favorite moment in all of music (7:11ish - the "pause") and is easily my favorite Aphex Track/track of all time. Drukqs, easily my favorite electronic album ever, ever. 

Fond memories: I actually kind of came LTTP with the whole Warp catalogue/electronic music in general - I'd been aware of Aphex peripherally due to friends who were cinephiles and voraciously devoured visual media and turned me on to Chris Cunningham (Windowlicker + Come to Daddy still are phenomenal vids that, I think, have stood the test of time). I had another good friend who sat me down and got me good and ripped and played me the vid for Come on My Selector and then the fan created video for Exploding Psychology which, of course blew my mind - after which he played me WAP155 (aka "Do You Know Squarepusher") - that's probably the moment I realized I HAD to know more about this music. It was so otherwordly but also utterly familiar - like someone was writing music that spoke to an internal language in my head.  

A few days later I was rummaging around in the local record shop and ran into another friend (remember he was rocking his Gaiman "Sandman" shirt) who I knew was a music head. I asked him about which Aphex albums to get and he pointed me towards the RDJ album - Drukqs was relatively new and I figured I should probably grab it too, just to see what the most current music was like. 

I still remember ripping the plastic off the CD, and loading that sucker into the car for my first playthrough. Listening to Jynweythek on an Autumn day with the sun on the decline was just perfect. That track is so atmospheric, so rich in texture that it really focuses your mind/pushes you into the zone. Kind of locks you into the frame. Then, Vordhosbn. Those first 30 seconds just wrecked me, and as the song just kept going I started laughing hysterically. I was like "THIS IS IT. THIS IS WHAT I'VE ALWAYS BEEN LOOKING FOR" in terms of music. The incredibly dense, hyperspeed programming just made 100% sense to my brain. Basically, something that moved just at the limits of what my mind could process using all of it's attention, while also being human, groovy, emotional, textured and ultra musical. It goes on from there. There is not a corner undiscovered in the span of tracks (dark ambient, classical piano, random Bjork talking about something, tracks where it sounds like people being tortured, a song that I've determined is based around the ultrasound of a baby and seems like it's from the perspective of an infant in the womb, and those hyperspeed works of staggering genius like MSMSMM that don't seem like any human could have written them). 

Here's the kicker/irony: Being so new to electronic music I just assumed that there was a TON of music out there like this. Turns out, I just hit the jackpot on the first pull. 

That's fine. That this album exists at all is some sort of divine blessing, and that it made its way into my hands and my heart is truly something I'm eternally grateful for. I won't go so far as to say the album saved my life, but it certainly gave me great comfort through many tough times (including the soon thereafter death of my father, and the many strained years of life that followed). Ziggomatic in particular made me smile on days I thought all I could do was cry - and cry on days when I needed to be reminded of the fragile beauty of existence, and what wonders can be created by man (when so often all we seem to make is chaos). 

Thanks for the memories, here's the many more!

 

[thefxbip]

Saw Rubber Johnny in theaters at an experimental shorts screening back in the days.

Mind was beyond blown.

[phudoshin]

Massive Aphex fan.. but i still find drukqs grating a little bit, like harsh and  the drums "tinny", except when RDJ plays individual  tracks in sets. 

(In comparison to later Tuss tracks, analord, syro era and his 2019 era output in live sets)... "mount saint michael" gets a pass for its warmer synths and less tinny drums and certainly theres many moments that stand out. also the ambient pieces are genious. BUT.. overall... as a full listen through, its a harsh mess.  I think i can compare it to Go Plastic, its contemporary .. which to me is chaotic and drilly too, in a good way but a lot more unified and warmer.

IMHO!!

 

 

[milkface]

2 minutes ago, phudoshin said:

Massive Aphex fan.. but i still find drukqs grating a little bit, like harsh and  the drums "tinny", except when RDJ plays individual  tracks in sets.

I couldn't agree more, Vordhosbn genuinely painful to listen to in headphones/ earphones. Ziggomatic 17 too but I love the track enough to jam through the pain