Jump to content
IGNORED

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


Brisbot

Recommended Posts

 

 

(fuck, at the time I didn't even know about DnB, I listened to like, green day and smash mouth and shit like that)

Wow, grats on finding Aphex. First thing I heard of his WAS Vordhosbn, which immediately blew my mind. And I liked/loved all of the main tracks on the album when I subsequently listen to it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 331
  • Created
  • Last Reply

One of the reasons why I love Richards music is because of all the eccentric, off-kilter tunes that pepper most of his releases. Drukqs is one of the finest examples of this. All the bizarre, peculiar left-turns add to the personality of his music imo. Even his crap tunes make me grin, and thats why probably why I think he's just the greatest. Truth.

 

(Hi Richard :wub::cool: )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love drukqs for what it is: a messy, chaotic, jarring masterpiece that goes all over the place and can't settle the fuck down. Richard has spoken about how he felt uncomfortable with Windowlicker's success, and I think drukqs might be the result of an attempt to go full on Aphex. Hasn't he said before that his friends used to influence him on which tracks he put out? Drukqs is so idiosyncratic. Maybe that time he decided to put out only the tracks he wanted and ended up with a very disjointed yet integral record?

 

I think it's undeniably a work of true genius. The sheer range of sound and the meticulous detail on the idm tracks is one thing, but when you look at them in the context of the piano tracks it's most certainly genius. Whether he's limited to just a piano or free to use any sound he can think of, he succeeds. Nanou2 hits just as hard as Vordhosbn. I can't think of anyone else, in any genre, who can match what RDJ did on drukqs. I think he basically showed us the absolute peak of his ability, even if it didn't make a very palatable album. It's not an easy listen, but when did that equate to quality anyway? Thank fuck for drukqs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Around 2007 Drukqs was Rich's 2nd album I ever listened to ( SAW p.II was the first) and I just remember being blown away by it. The stark contrast between this and SAW p.II without any prior knowledge of his music really put his talent into perspective for me. When I decided to look up reviews, being curious as to what the cultural effect the record might have had, I was so surprised to read most professional critics either heavily disliked the album or where disappointed by at least. Now that I've listened to pretty much everything that has surfaced from him, I'm even more baffled at all the hate for this record. It's his magnum opus in my opinion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember being heavily mocked for having Drukqs as my favourite non-Ambient Works Aphex album on a couple of forums. It was seen as an abject failure among a lot of people. I think because his earlier works were very precise and to the point, whereas Drukqs is much more of a sprawling sketchbook, people couldn't take it seriously. Which is odd given how so many people rate The Beatles' White Album as their magnum opus - and the two are exactly the same in approach. Also, on immediate listens, there isn't anything blatantly new in Drukqs - most of the styles had been covered in previous releases, other than the piano tracks. Obviously people took this as a sign of laziness and didn't actually consider that the drill'n'bass (ugh) tracks are so much more complex and dense than those found on RDJ/Come to Daddy. I do remember hearing criticisms of the piano pieces, saying they're very obviously inspired - if not ripped off from - Cage and Satie, and I do think it's the first time Richard wore influences on his sleeve in such a way. For someone who was so highly praised for leading the way with new music, quoting music from the past in such an obvious way could also be seen as a step backwards. Also the Kid Amnesiac era press brought a lot of new listeners in via Radiohead and I think through that there was more pressure on him to deliver some monumental statement.

 

It's impossible to say just what Richard was intending on the album, and we don't know whether he planned to take a break after its release, but to me it really sounds like he's capping off his '94 - '01 run with a crazy, eccentric collection of pieces that take his past sounds to their extreme, and throw in some more personal pieces which, if not as groundbreaking, show a more intimate side to him. Unlike his previous albums it seems like a record by someone who's aware of their past and is taking that into account somewhat.

 

To this day I find the running order somewhat difficult, and even though I have the CD version I have the vinyl edition sequenced into my iPod as I think it runs better. It's difficult, but there's a very organic feeling to it which I don't think has been present outside of his Ambient Works records. The sound of the organ and piano pieces always bring to mind a room warm in wooden paneling, sun shining through the window on a spring day. They're incredibly human tracks. Many of the other tracks occupy a similar space: the Cornish titles, inclusion of his parents' birthday message, layers of drums samples, the occasional abstract or ambient track; these all seem to suggest the world around Richard as he's making them. To me, Drukqs says "this is me, my world and my life: I'm a multi-faceted and sometimes strange person and this album reflects that". It might not make quite the same stride in the five years since RDJ Album as he managed in the previous five years (Didgeridoo to RDJ is mind-blowing), but it's always felt like his most personal and honest album - certainly the most since 85-92, at the very least.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest WNS000

I think because his earlier works were very precise and to the point, whereas Drukqs is much more of a sprawling sketchbook, people couldn't take it seriously.

 

I don't understand. You mean the album as a sketchbook or the tracks on the album?

 

Because it is hard to find more meticulously programmed, insanely detailed and precisely produced and mixed tracks (all those qualities at once) anywhere in the electronic music scene than Cock/Ver 10, 54 Cymru Beats, Meltphace 6 and Taking Control. Those tracks are pure mastery in their area. I would only compare those tracks to the very best AE ever produced and that is pretty much the highest level I know so far. Nothing else comes even close to that. And I am not even an Aphex's fan.

 

Older Aphex's stuff never reached such a brutal, uncompromising level of quality on all fronts as the tracks I have listed IMO. If you (anybody) would like to recommend me something from AFX that is at least comparable, I would love to hear it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I mean the album - my White Album comparison again. It feels like he's got loads of different ideas and jotted them all down. The ideas might be well realised but the album itself isn't based on a single idea. I suppose 'sketchbook' does suggest a slapdash approach which I didn't mean - but the 'anything goes' element of what could be considered sketchbook releases, stylistically, certainly comes into play. It's an album of lots of ideas stuck together rather than a strict singular vision like Richard D James album.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought Drukqs on release day, and to my friends it seemed like a bunch of left over tracks that didn't really advance his sound to the next level the way RDJ did. Plus the piano pieces were a jarring counterpoint and it seemed directionless to a lot of people I talked to. Then, the MP3 airplane shenanigans story, and rumors that it was a contract breaker surfaced, followed by 26 Mixes which seemed to reinforce that assumption. But a new generation appreciates it differently than we did back then. Analord to me was the next level shit I wanted, pushing his technique into a new direction for Richard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i was 16 and dl'd a leak on my friend's dad's mac, but most of the tracks were incomplete, only a minute or so.. i thought that's how they went

 

it blew my mind when the record came out & heard the full tracks

 

my poor girlfriend had to listen it on repeat in the car for months

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest WNS000

I bought Drukqs on release day, and to my friends it seemed like a bunch of left over tracks that didn't really advance his sound to the next level the way RDJ did. Plus the piano pieces were a jarring counterpoint and it seemed directionless to a lot of people I talked to. Then, the MP3 airplane shenanigans story, and rumors that it was a contract breaker surfaced, followed by 26 Mixes which seemed to reinforce that assumption. But a new generation appreciates it differently than we did back then. Analord to me was the next level shit I wanted, pushing his technique into a new direction for Richard.

 

That is very interesting. I cannot personally see how could Analord series be considered the next level for anybody. Standard synth sounds in standard sequences with a bit underground feel to the production.

 

Now don't get me wrong, I think some Analord tracks are very nicely done (I have not heard them all yet) but I would not considered them to be the next level. Or am I the only one who considers adventurous, fresh sound design to be the key component for "the next level" label?

 

Or do you mean next level in a way that he simply tried something different in the context of his career?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Having said that i am listening to DrukQs at the moment and it was all good until "cd1-04-aphex_twin-omgyjya_switch7" this track is just the all-over-the-place mess that put me off the album in the first place.

 

 

Omgyjya Switch7 is one of my very favorite afx tracks. If I had to make a top 10 list, it would be fairly high.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

That is very interesting. I cannot personally see how could Analord series be considered the next level for anybody. Standard synth sounds in standard sequences with a bit underground feel to the production.

 

Now don't get me wrong, I think some Analord tracks are very nicely done (I have not heard them all yet) but I would not considered them to be the next level. Or am I the only one who considers adventurous, fresh sound design to be the key component for "the next level" label?

 

Or do you mean next level in a way that he simply tried something different in the context of his career?

The emotions combined with the 'standard synths' feel next level even if the sounds are nothing new, to me anyway. Other famous artists making similar music didn't approach it like he did, especially when analord is at its best.

 

But the sounds themselves aren't next level no. It's actually worrisome to me a small bit, he's been on the analog tick for over a decade now. Before then he shifted every few years, but Syro is honestly a kind of extension of analord.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Analord, The Tuss and Syro are all variations on the same aesthetic really, but I don't think we're actually missing out on anything. Did you ever consider that drukqs might have been originally intended to be the last Aphex Twin release? I honestly think Richard might have hit the absolute limit of his ability on some of those tracks. That voice that says "Thank you for your attention. Bye" at the end of Ziggomatic always struck me as an actual goodbye, as if he knew he could never do any better than this and decided to release his best possible work as a sendoff for himself.

 

Of course Analord came out only four years later, but simplicity is a big part of Analord's sound plus the whole thing was composed on machines. It's like he went back and started all over again, just making nice tracks he liked without any need to prove himself. These days I think he's just having fun with his music, as opposed to trying to reinvent himself every time. He knows he's already gone as far as he can go and he's released that music, proving his mastery, so now he's just having a blast making class tracks on the machines he loves.

 

And Nanou2 is so sad. I know Nannou was his girlfriend and the track might have been inspired by her, but if my theory about him knowingly realizing his potential is true, you could almost say the track is his goodbye to his music. It starts with such finality. It truly sounds like something has come to a natural, complete end. But then it takes a sad turn and it just falls deeper and deeper. It's like he realized he had reached the end and felt nice after it, but then he thought of how much he would miss it. There was nowhere else to go, nothing else to learn which when applied to the thing you love really would be the ultimate sadness wouldn't it? He's still making music and enjoying it, but he hasn't been breaking much new ground and I think this is why. He's broken it all before.

 

I don't know. These are all just things that go through my head when I listen to drukqs and I'm probably wrong about all of it. But it makes sense if you want it to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Caribou, I don't quite agree. No way he could feel done while still in his 20s. I am expecting a record like the one you described in 30 years.

He has stated in recent interviews that he felt as if he was still getting better. It's hard to describe that meaning, but imho he is better compositionally now than he was during drukqs. I feel like the emotions are more nuanced in his melodies and such than they were back then, and became consistently more nuanced with each release. He rarely goes back to those simple melodies that were present in tracks like alberto basalm or even ziggomatic.

It's kind of hard to describe. Because in some ways he was better back then, though that may be more an emergent property of the kind of music he was making vs now where he can do more with less.

That said I still wish he used his computer more. That's when the sounds he used shined the most, imho. I feel like his recent focus on hardware and simpler sounds means a larger focus on melody and composition.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think he's become more enjoyable since drukqs, but not necessarily better. His music is so emotionally packed now that it's really easy to relate to but it's not as ambitious as it was. So while he's still making brilliant music he's not really finding new ways in which to do it, but refining what he already knows. There's nothing wrong with that either. It's ridiculous to criticize every new Aphex Twin release for not being innovative enough after all he's done. At the end of the day he has the right to relax and enjoy himself too.

 

I liked Analord and The Tuss but I just don't get Syro. I know most people will probably disagree with me on this, but Syro was the first Aphex album I heard where I thought the sounds were sometimes ugly. I like the composition and the structures but the sounds he used on Syro really turned me off. Most people seem to love it so maybe I need to listen to it more, but he really lost me with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well there is not a single person ever where I like everything they've done so, maybe you just don't like it? Do you like any tracks off Syro? I honestly think it's his best 'album', as a whole. Also an example or 2 of the ugly textures?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

True, although I'll probably still listen to it another hundred times to try to figure it out.

 

Ehh, I don't have any particular examples, and maybe ugly was the wrong word. The album as a whole just seems very plasticky? A lot of them sound like presets to me. NOW I know they are most certainly not presets and I do think the album is worthy of the Aphex Twin name, but they sound pretty bland to me. Whatever sounds he used just don't resonate with me and I don't enjoy the album that much, but I DO respect it. It's an Aphex album through and through but it just doesn't do it for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hes next stuff is supposed to be less commercial more experimental.

 

these sites are like a broken record (no pun)

 

im getting too old for these sites it is always the same subjects over and over. just a new batch of chillin's

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Caribou, I think I know where you're coming from. I only he's almost too good at what he does now when he wants to be, and SYRO is the most glaring result of that. It sometimes seems just too polished and perfected.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • 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.