Jump to content
IGNORED

Drukqs is truly a modern masterpiece.


Guest Snazzell

Recommended Posts

I definitely like earlier RDJ stuff better than Drukqs. ICBYD is a way better album IMO. I had heard his entire discography before that and I wanted so bad to love Drukqs. When I first heard it though was just a little off putting. A little too much about insane programming, and it didn't have the raw warmth that all the rest of his stuff had. Maybe it was the mastering or something that didn't vibe with me? It all felt so thin and digital. I like all of RDJ's output more, including Analords and Tuss. I love it all. But I only just like this album.

 

I haven't heard it in a while......since years before Syro came out. I should listen to it again to get some perspective and see if my opinion has changed. It does feel like a chore to listen to.

 

Reading this thread, a lot of people that say it's the "best thing ever" are people who say this is the first aphex they ever heard, and were also quite young when they heard it. How many people that were into aphex since the 90s and had heard all of his stuff are in the list of people that think drukqs is his best? I'd wager that list is way smaller. (I had also heard Squarepusher's entire discography by that point, and that also made the drum programming on drukqs not that exciting....Tom is a master of that art as well)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Definitely a couple of my favorite aphex tunes on druqks, but nowhere near my favorite album of his. It's pretty cool that aphex has made such good music for so long that different generations can feel so strongly about different releases of his. Stellar.

Edited by cloud capture
Link to comment
Share on other sites

druqkes is aything but weak

it takes time to fully bend your head around it, but when in clicks, youre a junkie for it

 

i remember being super high and listening it for the first time, my head literraly exploded. I had no idea whats going on but i couldnt stop listening. Never music amazed me so much in my life. That day i stoped listening to rock and punk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

druqkes is aything but weak

it takes time to fully bend your head around it, but when in clicks, youre a junkie for it

 

i remember being super high and listening it for the first time, my head literraly exploded. I had no idea whats going on but i couldnt stop listening. Never music amazed me so much in my life. That day i stoped listening to rock and punk

lol

 

I had the EXACT same reaction to Come to Daddy in 97. I immediately stopped listening to Rock and just started exploring RDJ.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest progben

I definitely don't think it's weak, and it's one of my all time favourites.

 

My story with Drukqs is basically that I heard (and loved) SAW I/II era when I was very young (maybe 12?) and then dipped into Drukqs when I was around 17.

 

I didn't really like it at first (although I did like some of the drum programming), but I'd credit my initial interest in it with my love of metal/noise music, and my ongoing love for it with my interest in sound layering, ambient music, classical and jazz.

 

I'd say it's a very difficult album to sit through for the full running time if you're not into a lot of styles of music (although I might be wrong!) For me, the raw warmth is there, it's just buried (which makes it that much more interesting and engaging an album)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Drukqs also was my first RDJ Album ive listened to, about 2,5 years ago I'd say. Before that I only knew a few tracks, the first one I've heard was "4".

I started listening to it during exam weeks and since im always listening to music while studying i was playing it on repeat. it immediately fascinated me and I was literally stopping studying and looked up every few minutes because my mind was blown by how awesome this new music i discovered was. I can't deny that i didn't like some of the piano tracks or Gwarek at first, but the more I got to know the album the more everything made sense and every single song and his placement got increasingly important to me with every listen. And being a huge "world's end girlfriend" fan ( you guys MUST check out this guy) ive always been into strange music.

 

What i liked the most about this album is that i consistently found new amazing moments and parts in songs i didn't really pay attention to at the last listen. MSM and cockver are examplees for that. And finally after at least 30 or 40 listens i noticed that Ziggomatic 17 is one of the best pieces of music i had heard in my entire life, im pretty sure it will be my fav song forever... the only other song i was equally obsessed with is "scarbo" by maurice ravel :D

 

I also find it very hard to believe that this album supposedly is just a random accumulation of songs put out because he lost his usb-stick. Maybe im interpreting too much into the album, but the track order (for example the transition from avril into MSM) is one of the most important aspects of the album. I dont want to go into every track into detail, but the transition from afx237 v7 and its insanely cool ending into ziggomatic wich sums up the whole album by combining all the different styles in one giant masterpiece, starting of with the weird drum-pattern that keeps showing up through the piece ( for example in the background at 5:05 ), and the abstract, weird synths at 6:05 (at one day i think i listened to that part about 100 times) wich don't seem to have any melody or anything but still sound so good, and of course the incredibel final part that dissolves all the hectic into pure beauty starting at 7:27 are the perfect happy ending for the album for me, beskhu3epnm and nannou2 are like a coda I'd say - that doesn't make them less important in any way tho.

Yeah I don't know, I probably couldn't explain to anyone why i like drukqs better than in example rushup edge, icbyd the soundcloud stuff or syro or any of the other epic releases, but somehow drukqs seems to be written just for me, the music ive been waiting for all my life. although that sounds horribly cheesy :p

I don't want to promote myself or anything but if you've read this far and you share the love for ziggo you might be interested in the piano-cover of ziggomatic i did, just pm me and i will send you the link :)

Edited by Scarb0
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For me its still my fav release, I was buying his stuff since the mighty force ep, was in love with him when i heard Tamphex, great to hear these early similar tracks on sc

i love pretty much everything he has released and can only hear him get better with age, so yeah Drukqs as each track is a total journey for me even after all these years its never left my record box, I got both vinyl versions one for listening at home and one for playing out =D

Was equally blown away by the Analord series and The Tuss.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love it but I have to be in right mood to listen to it all in one sitting. I find it a bit unwieldy otherwise. What I love about it are the extreme shifts in mood, really takes you on a journey. Not a journey I can make every day though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Drukqs feels a bit like Richard's Exai. It's way before that, I know, but just in terms of overwhelming sonic craftsmanship it feels eerily similar.
It gives me sort of a room to sit in. Feels a bit like a cabin in the woods. Which is really just the beginning of it, the rest always unfolds differently according to the combination of my mood and the track playing. Not many albums can do this that well and I really appreciate it for being exactly that.

Exai is similar, gives me the same feeling with an entirely different outcome.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Drukqs also was my first RDJ Album ive listened to, about 2,5 years ago I'd say. Before that I only knew a few tracks, the first one I've heard was "4".

I started listening to it during exam weeks and since im always listening to music while studying i was playing it on repeat. it immediately fascinated me and I was literally stopping studying and looked up every few minutes because my mind was blown by how awesome this new music i discovered was. I can't deny that i didn't like some of the piano tracks or Gwarek at first, but the more I got to know the album the more everything made sense and every single song and his placement got increasingly important to me with every listen. And being a huge "world's end girlfriend" fan ( you guys MUST check out this guy) ive always been into strange music.

 

What i liked the most about this album is that i consistently found new amazing moments and parts in songs i didn't really pay attention to at the last listen. MSM and cockver are examplees for that. And finally after at least 30 or 40 listens i noticed that Ziggomatic 17 is one of the best pieces of music i had heard in my entire life, im pretty sure it will be my fav song forever... the only other song i was equally obsessed with is "scarbo" by maurice ravel :D

 

I also find it very hard to believe that this album supposedly is just a random accumulation of songs put out because he lost his usb-stick. Maybe im interpreting too much into the album, but the track order (for example the transition from avril into MSM) is one of the most important aspects of the album. I dont want to go into every track into detail, but the transition from afx237 v7 and its insanely cool ending into ziggomatic wich sums up the whole album by combining all the different styles in one giant masterpiece, starting of with the weird drum-pattern that keeps showing up through the piece ( for example in the background at 5:05 ), and the abstract, weird synths at 6:05 (at one day i think i listened to that part about 100 times) wich don't seem to have any melody or anything but still sound so good, and of course the incredibel final part that dissolves all the hectic into pure beauty starting at 7:27 are the perfect happy ending for the album for me, beskhu3epnm and nannou2 are like a coda I'd say - that doesn't make them less important in any way tho.

Yeah I don't know, I probably couldn't explain to anyone why i like drukqs better than in example rushup edge, icbyd the soundcloud stuff or syro or any of the other epic releases, but somehow drukqs seems to be written just for me, the music ive been waiting for all my life. although that sounds horribly cheesy :p

I don't want to promote myself or anything but if you've read this far and you share the love for ziggo you might be interested in the piano-cover of ziggomatic i did, just pm me and i will send you the link :)

that's such a nice post, i kinda feel the same about drukqs

 

edit: and i think you can post the link here

Edited by Ivan Ooze
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Drukqs, along with Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, are the only double-albums in existence that I'd consider to be entirely flawless. Of course, I haven't actually listened to every double-album in existence, but I've sure listened to a lot. Although many of them are incredible pieces of work, these are the only two I'd class as perfect from start to finish. Even The Wall loses track and starts to go a bit Walt Disneyish towards the end.

 

Richard nailed absolutely everything on this. Not only is it impressive from a technical standpoint with the intense drum programming and whatnot, but the melodies are fucking gorgeous and all the ambient pieces are drenched with atmosphere. Would love to hear some more Drukqs outtakes/sketches uploaded onto Soundcloud, or even better, a Drukqs 2?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The fact that younger generations appreciate drukqs more than older generations could ony show how visionnary and ahead of it's time it was...

Also, he aldready said in interviews that this wasn't some random album with a random playlist. He clarified it was as one of his most personal and hard work.

Edited by Allize
Link to comment
Share on other sites

needs a vinyl repress.

 

pls

Totally agree. I went to an early listening party when the album dropped in Boston and remember seeing the vinyl everywhere, but didn't see the point in vinyl back then. Now I love my record collection but can't find Drukqs anywhere for a reasonable price.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i swear warp's never gonna repress drukqs/saw2/any autechre albums... they're more interested in repressing flying lotus as much as possible it seems

Edited by petina
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a damn good album. It was my first Aphex album and clicked immediately. I was VERY surprised to find out that he also made stuff like 4 when I heard it, most artists seem to make a certain kind of music and have a certain sound, but aphex has a new one for every release.

It's also unique in that no one has really emulated it. People have emulated parts of Tuss (cept Death Fuck) and Analord (like wholly, not sure how much there is left to discover with this sound), but no one I've heard has 'emulated' HAB, RDJ, Druqks, and I guess Syro.. AND I GUESS the Acoustic Instruments. Damn, maybe Druqks isn't so unique after all. Heh.

Okay as a side note, I'd like to see people tackle HAB. That has to be the most unique music he's done.

Edited by Brisbot
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest bitroast

i swear warp's never gonna repress drukqs/saw2/any autechre albums... they're more interested in repressing flying lotus as much as possible it seems

 

never say never! icbyd and rdj album got represses recently. come to daddy is in print too recently i think or was recentlyish.

autechre chiastic slide got a repress but nothing else.

 

i am CRAVING drukqs on vinyl btw. syro and tuss and all that crazy ass shit sounds amazing on record and really brings the music to life. i think i would cry listening to drukqs on vinyl (lol) and warp are holding me back from fulfilling this slobbery tear filled fantasy (lol).

 

seriously. drukqs repress. pls!!

Edited by bitroast
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest bitroast

** yes !! ** come to daddy and windowlicker were 2012 along with the rdj and icbydo albums.

i hope it's more a matter of marketing and logistics and shit other than "we lost the original files for a proper repress", which seems UNLIKELY considering prior albums are getting the warp repress treatment.

 

grammy + sounddump + syro+ccai = perfect time to unlreash the DRUKQs

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.