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Drukqs is truly a modern masterpiece.


Guest Snazzell

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I was thinking about the title 'DrukQs' today because I've always struggled with it being about 'drug use' or whatever - doesn't really seem to match the depth of the music.

 

So I split the phrase into 'druk' and 'qs' and found that:

 

'druk' is derived from the old Scottish 'drukna' which means 'drowning' and q.s. (in medicine) = quantom sotis, or 'the amount which is needed'.

 

So we end up with 'the amount which is needed to drown'. I'm not saying that this is the meaning of the title, but the sheer weight of the music, mixed with the journey between cornwall and france conjured by the mont + mount track really feels appropriate to me.

It may not be like that, but it's my favourite ever explanation for the album title. Even tho I'd prefer to think about it like "drowning a little"... I imagine it being a reference to rdj drowning under the huge amount of work that has gone in putting the tracks together... He just released them before drowning completely Edited by pierlu
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ophex twang druqks

ophex twang truqks

ephex twan truqks

uphex tween truqks

aphex twan trucks

aphex twin tracks

 

mai druqcks are

mi drucks are

my trucks are

my tracks are

 

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

 

R-13965-1146508607.jpeg.jpg

 

shlong

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  • 1 month later...

It's so brilliant because a lot of the sounds on drukqs aren't synthy at all, they sound really accoustic and strange at the same time, it's hard to explain. The sounds in those tunes blend so well with the piano tracks. I think this is one of the reasons songs like vordhosbn give me goosebumps every single time

 

fuck it. best album ever.

Edited by Berk
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This album, I listened to umpteen times - since its release in 2001 until 2007... with the arrival of the new The Tuss, but I still listened a little Drukqs. The series of Analord in 2005 was not "prevent" me to listen Drukqs at times... I have very little listening compilation 26 Mixes for Cash, the sound...

This is to tell you that I listened Drukqs during over 6 years... And I listened to so much that I need to step back with this album... take a nice break to be able to better appreciate in years to come when I would hear it again...

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i too listened to a bunch of tunes from druqks for the longest time. i wonder if i would still be listening to them everyday if syro hadn't come out. drukqs was when afx stepped up and became a mature composer. his earlier stuff was beautiful but not as complex.

Edited by jchgf
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Thanks ivan, i wasn't quite sure how posting own stuff in an aphex twin thread would be received, thats why I did not put in the link at first.

Yeah, hope you guys enjoy my piano transcription of the ending of ziggomatic:

 

This is amazing, nice job

 

yes! bravo!

 

 

mind to share the midi file?

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Thanks ivan, i wasn't quite sure how posting own stuff in an aphex twin thread would be received, thats why I did not put in the link at first.

Yeah, hope you guys enjoy my piano transcription of the ending of ziggomatic:

 

This is amazing, nice job

 

yes! bravo!

 

 

mind to share the midi file?

 

second that

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I gotta ask my friend for the MIDI files first, hope he still has them. Gonna post it here as soon as i got them :)

 

The slow ziggo is epic, im facepalming myself atm for not using it for my transcription :D would have made things a lot easier...

Edited by Scarb0
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I just heard a Druqks track on NPR the other day... one of the prepared piano/ chime peices, cant remember which one.. but they used it as bed music for one of their programs. it seems like Aphex Twin is perfect NPR music lol

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I was thinking about the title 'DrukQs' today because I've always struggled with it being about 'drug use' or whatever - doesn't really seem to match the depth of the music.

 

So I split the phrase into 'druk' and 'qs' and found that:

 

'druk' is derived from the old Scottish 'drukna' which means 'drowning' and q.s. (in medicine) = quantom sotis, or 'the amount which is needed'.

 

So we end up with 'the amount which is needed to drown'. I'm not saying that this is the meaning of the title, but the sheer weight of the music, mixed with the journey between cornwall and france conjured by the mont + mount track really feels appropriate to me.

It may not be like that, but it's my favourite ever explanation for the album title. Even tho I'd prefer to think about it like "drowning a little"... I imagine it being a reference to rdj drowning under the huge amount of work that has gone in putting the tracks together... He just released them before drowning completely

 

 

I also recall in some interview, can't remember which one, Richard talked about a near-death experience being carried out to sea and he managed to catch a wave back to the shore before drowning

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I've been a fan of Afex for a couple of years now but i still dont think I've ever listend to Drukqs all the way through.

 

I like it, but I can't listen to owt that long.

According to rdj, if you listen to it all in one go, you will die

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I think it's interesting that several people said that Drukqs feels deeply personal, that it brings back memories,etc.

 

I'm another who had this album as their first, when I was 16 and I had been making computer music for a while, but was still listening to grunge, metal,etc I was introduced to Windowlicker and I just kind of had the reaction of "Okay..."

Well, Mount St Michele came up on yt next, and after having listened to it 5 or 6 times, and a few other Drukqs tracks I knew this was the music I wanted to hear, like, all the time. The complexity, the twitchy, no holds barred percussion, and the emotionality. I really like it that someone else here said that it "feels like music made for me"

 

And the memories... I have gotten little windows into different parts of my life many times listening to this album. Defintely more than other music. Petiatil CX Htdui, for example, the first time it clicked fully, brought back a memory of when I was 6 or 7, in the early fall, watching the dust flow through beams of light coming through high windows. Melancholy and happy and ponderous...

Edited by ganus
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This thread is intersting to me, been into Aphex since '95. Got Drukqs when it came out.. have the deluxe one, Vorhosbn is one of my favorite tracks by anyone of all time. That being said, I never could get fully into Drukqs as an album (full disclosure I've never gone full Aphex - Autechre is now my fave although it was Boc early on). I've never really been able to reconcile I find this the album to be a bit of a pastiche, the swings from treated piano to freakout tracks were always a little sudden. Seemed to extreme and never jelled as a singular listen.

 

Other than the just dropping the needle (or in my case during my longish commute on the iPhone) any advice on how to approach? My Aphex interest is at an all time high and I've been spending a lot of time listening to Soundcloud dump...

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I don't know what it is about Vordhosbn, but it makes me feel incredibly focused/driven and relaxed/meditative at the same time. That seems like an oxymoron, I know, but I can't describe it any other way. I feel oddly grounded and centered every time I hear it. It's as if it manages to tap into something within me that just feels... right.

 

And the way Jynweythek opens the album and goes right into the track is incredibly perfect.

 

Listening to Drukqs (still never fucking remember how to spell it right lol) for the millionth time right now, and I still discover its mysterious magic around the corners of every measure, every bar, every sonic nuance. Thank you RDJ, Universe/God, Warp, Fans, Watmm.. everything connected to this life changing release, and all the other similar inspiring and beautiful musical releases from countless artists before and after, from the beginning and til the end of time. <3

 

Edited by Lane Visitor
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I've been a fan of Afex for a couple of years now but i still dont think I've ever listend to Drukqs all the way through.

 

I like it, but I can't listen to owt that long.

According to rdj, if you listen to it all in one go, you will die

 

This explains watmm...we're all dead and stuck in purgatory until every human on the planet has listened to drukqs in one sitting. I fear we will never be let out...

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