What's up with the apathy toward Drukqs back in 2001?

[Guest WNS000]

To me Drukqs are much more impressive technically than Go Plastic. Go Plastic has very basic mixing, mastering and basic sound design. Drukqs (the drill tracks) actually excels on all fronts. Composition, mixing, mastering, sound-design, beat programming, FX work. Everything is just right. That is why I cannot find any competition for it.

[Brisbot]

I think the mixing and mastering in go plastic is generally better. Or maybe I've just heard Drukqs so much it doesn't impress me. Though I don't remember a time the mixing/mastering ever stood out to me, it was always the composition.

[Guest WNS000]

Go Plastic better mixing and mastering? Wow. Very interesting. I cannot see how that would be possible for anybody but I respect that.

[Guest bitroast]

apologies if retreading old points here but i aint gonna bother reading this thread sorry lol :^)

 

was thinking. the 'apathy' toward drukqs at time probably had to do with the build up leading up to the release.

you have RDJ album in 96. good good good. you have come to daddy music video which is massive and just about makes aphex twin a household name. you then have windowlicker in 1999 which again.. massive music video and just about everyone has seen it or talking about it. maybe not, but music review people and journalists would all definitely know all about aphex twin at this point ... and maybe expectations for 'the next aphex twin' had everything to do with the muted response. overall BLEAK tone of the album probably did not help either.

[Guest WNS000]

^ nice points.

[Brisbot]

I feel like Drukqs is kind of flat. I liked the mixing on the Come to Daddy ep better than drukqs. Syro is my favorite of his mixing. The Tuss a close second.

Btw, the mixing/mastering on Drukqs and Go Plastic aren't on different levels or anything.

Don't forget part of a style is the mixing. And it can be very subjective. Like how Aphex used to throw almost everything in the middle of the stereo field, which is what Squarepusher and Wisp did on both their newest releases. in Squarepusher's case, it's like everything is in the middle, and the actual field is used for feedback/verb/etc. which is a choice.

On Syro, it's like Richard was anti-middle, so many of the synths are slightly to the right or left.

[Guest WNS000]

Sure, mate. It is an artistic choice and therefore subjective. I agree. I just feel the drill tracks on Drukqs (especially 52 Cymru Beats and Meltphace 6) are mixed so perfectly in all aspects. It really gives justice to the rhythmic properties of the tracks and contrast of various parts. I also love that the mix is not monophonic and not overly wide at the same time. The depth positioning of individual sounds is also exceptional in my opinion. I would definitely label Go Plastic as flat. It reminds me of my mixes in some way and I don't like that, lol.

[Brisbot]

yeah, I should mention I like it when artists use the stereo field more. It's understandable when the drums are in the middle, but not preferential when everything feels thrown into the middle.

That said some of my favorite songs compositionally are very 'middling' tracks, and I always find myself wishing, while I listen to them, that they used the stereo field more. It definitely shows in my own music as I play with the stereo field a lot.

That said, tracks that are monophonic or stick everything in the middle tend to sound best on speakers or monitors than headphones.

Damogen Furies, since its very monophonic, has 'worse' mixing than Go Plastic, imho even though I like a lot of the tracks. The mix is pretty boring to listen to on headphones. Just the mix though. On speakers they're just fine.

[fxbip]

 

I always felt that Go Plastic blew drukqs out of the water in terms of beat programming, specifically boneville occident, go spastic, my fucking sound, greenways trajectory

Beat programming is one thing. Beat programming and melody programming and overall song development and FX programming and panning programming and mixing and mastering are another thing.

 

Loop and amen programming is one thing,making everything yourself is another.

Also i think the loops in Drukqs are more idiosyncratic,unique than the Go Plastic loops,more tasty and fat.

Just listen to the Vordhosbn breaks.Best breaks ever no contest.

Was there anything like it before or since?

That being said Go Plastic is amazing,and im being picky here.

Its a question of personal preference and taste more than anything.

We are talking about asolute top drum programming for both album.

[fxbip]

Also about Drukqs apathy:He might have being a good idea to do the same has he did for Syro and Computer Controlled EP,

that is splitting the beat and drill and piano ambient tracks in two different cd.

One thing i notice is most of the time when i feel like listening to the drill tracks i dont feel like listening to the piano pieces

and vice versa...so if i actually listen to the cd i always want to skip tracks...

So i made a playlist with the drill tracks and one with the piano pieces.

And will burn them to writable cd instead of listening to the real cd.

 

But i guess he had a vision for a grandiose album with many contrast and a kind of crazy journey adventure.

It works but not all the time.

[fxbip]

apologies if retreading old points here but i aint gonna bother reading this thread sorry lol :^)

 

was thinking. the 'apathy' toward drukqs at time probably had to do with the build up leading up to the release.

you have RDJ album in 96. good good good. you have come to daddy music video which is massive and just about makes aphex twin a household name.

you then have windowlicker in 1999 which again.. massive music video and just about everyone has seen it or talking about it. maybe not, but music review people and journalists would all definitely know all about aphex twin at this point ... and maybe expectations for 'the next aphex twin' had everything to do with the muted response.

overall BLEAK tone of the album probably did not help either.

I dont agree.Drukqs is a absolutly new and fresh after come to daddy and RDJ.

Its completly different.He completely reinvent himself in that album.

Its an argument i never get,that it was the same stuff has he did in RDJ album,IMO its a lot different,melodies are different

drums are different,mood is different.Its new has you can get.And its an evolution,no doubt about it,he took his art to the next level.

And without a doubt he broke new ground.

But i guess many people did not see that,electronic musician,hardcore music fans probably surely did but others?

A casual listener will probably think its just weird music haha

But how the hell can you say RDJ album and Drukqs sound the same!!???Its beyond my understanding!

 

But i agree about the bleak mood of the album,might have helped for the negative response,not everyone like to be challenge with these kind of mood.

[Audioblysk]

Re-listening to Drukqs the other day really made me appreciate it more. I really don't understand the 'tracks are thrown around with their placement' comments -- I kinda like the randomness of it all. So many different emotions in that album. Something that IME some of SP's more technical work is missing. Vordhosbn has such a bleak but beautiful melancholy going on... I could go on.

[zlemflolia]

Go Plastic is not even on the same level I mean come on. How can that even be suggested

 

RDJ album is nothing liks drukqs

 

Wtf I mean all the ridiculous claims here I just don't understand them one bit. That's all.

 

Find us something else like cock/ver, vordhosbn, st michaels. PLEASE PROVE ME WRONG THAT DRUKQS IS THE BEST OF ALL TIME I DON'T WANT IT TO BE, I WANT THERE TO BE MORE but there isn't...

[zlemflolia]

Go Plastic is contained within its medium and not in a good way

 

Drukqs could be converted into a gamelan orchestra and if the timing was right it would still be drukqs

Drukqs could be coverted into a classical orchestra and even if the timing was off, the ambience and melody would still make it drukqs

Drukqs could be converted into a (kickass) violin solo with a solo drummer and if the timing was right it would still be drukqs

I don't think this can be said of Go Plastic and everything that is often compared to drukqs, they are all a bit more superficial and tied to their medium, the specific timbres used and textures. The textures of drukqs are in themselves fucking beautiful. You could make 4/4 dance shit with these textures and it would still be top notch best of all time within its genre

 

What am I saying

Something I say of RDJ that I never say of anyone else is:

 

his textures are so beautiful and well chosen as complements to each other that you could play random notes with random timings in those timbres and the result would still be pleasant on the ear. Obviously wouldn't hold a candle to real rdj music, but the result would not be bad because of the sheer beauty of those textures

 

wow im fanboying too much here

[Ivan Ooze]

100% behind dat fanboi's above me oh shit whaddup

 

best album ever

[Guest WNS000]

his textures are so beautiful and well chosen as complements to each other that you could play random notes with random timings in those timbres and the result would still be pleasant on the ear.

 

agreed.

[hello spiral]

wow im fanboying too much here

 

Agreed

[psn]

 

wow im fanboying too much here

 

Agreed

 

 

+1

[YangYing]

man this thread is a tuff read

[GetSquirrely]

Go Plastic is not even on the same level I mean come on. How can that even be suggested

 

afx said in an interview around drukqs release that he was greatly inspired by how intense squarepusher's music sounded during that era. surely his own words should put them somewhere on the same level, no?

 

i dont think you can approach both albums from the same standpoint while listening. go plastic has a very clear cut purpose as an album to show how brutal and maniacal music could be come with electronics, not to be an emotionally cathartic rollercoaster like drukqs. i do feel that both albums perfectly convey what both artists were trying to express at the time, but you need to be in the right mindset while listening or else you will not feel the full experience of either albums.

[fxbip]

 

Go Plastic is not even on the same level I mean come on. How can that even be suggested

afx said in an interview around drukqs release that he was greatly inspired by how intense squarepusher's music sounded during that era. surely his own words should put them somewhere on the same level, no?

 

i dont think you can approach both albums from the same standpoint while listening. go plastic has a very clear cut purpose as an album to show how brutal and maniacal music could be come with electronics, not to be an emotionally cathartic rollercoaster like drukqs. i do feel that both albums perfectly convey what both artists were trying to express at the time, but you need to be in the right mindset while listening or else you will not feel the full experience of either albums.

 

Anyway there is enough space on planet earth for both of them i think heh?

They are both very good and very different,which is a good thing.Variety is more than welcome.

[ceiling]

Drukqs is the sound of someone who is completely at ease with themselves musically.

[Time Tourist]

I don't understand the comment of rdj album being the same as drukqs, really can't understand it.

If anything I think their difference might be the biggest reason for the negativity around drukqs at first. Everyone was expecting a second rdj album (or hoping for it, myself included at the time), and then something completely different comes along like drukqs, disappointing a lot of people (again myself included at the time). It's all about what people expect. Now I think it's right there at the top...

[koolkeyZ865]

Drukqs is the sound of someone who is completely at ease with themselves musically.

[Twelvetrees]

Drukqs is definitely his best music. Rushup Edge comes close, but it's just not the same. For all its insane complexity it's just so listenable so incredibly emotional and so complete. I find GP hard to enjoy because it's, apart from a few tracks, so devoid of emotion. Squarepusher's weakness is his obsession with showing off. RDJ shows off by not showing off - his fucking hardcore tracks come from the same place as his ambient tracks. An RDJ, TJ is simply not.