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

[awesomeperson]

Isn't it only in 3 trax? =/

2 actually? Syro and Circlont 14?

 

You're not counting the glitched out vocals, not just the russian bits but all the vocals in the album should have been removed to this even be worth more than a single listen, they're all terrible.

[Hugh Mughnus]

After 34 listens through the whole album the vocals (glitched out or otherwise) haven't bothered me in the slightest.

 

Different strokes, I guess.

 

Anyways, this be the drukqs thread.

 

I didn't actually hear drukqs until 2004 or 2005 I think, I don't recall. I was delighted to have found it. No apathy here. lol

[purlieu]

 

Drukqs CCA1

Drukqs Piano EP

Folktronica Really Was Thing In The Early Noughties Single

 

This is all CCA1, really.

I do think it would have been more digestible as an album if it was released as two records: Drukqs and CCA1. Or even a double album split into those two discs. Despite my championing the scrapbook approach up-thread, I think there would be two incredibly consistent albums there. And CCA2 would make more sense in title, heh.

After 34 listens

lol

[Brisbot]

I'm starting to think this thread should've been called "what's with all the apathy towards Syro in 2016"...

heh feel free to make another thread. One for each AFX album and one corresponding to each year. Totaling like... 100s of threads.

 

Yes the Syro vocals don't disturb me in the slightest. I also don't understand Russian so, maybe that helps?

 

Just because it's the drukqs thread doesn't mean you can't talk about other stuff, if you feel apathy toward other albums, why not? The thread's kinda become an analysis thread which is interesting.

[Brisbot]

 

This is all CCA1, really.

I do think it would have been more digestible as an album if it was released as two records: Drukqs and CCA1. Or even a double album split into those two discs. Despite my championing the scrapbook approach up-thread, I think there would be two incredibly consistent albums there. And CCA2 would make more sense in title, heh.

I feel like there should have been a separate CCAI release as well.

 

That said, most of the piano tracks and most of the CCAI tracks works well in Drukqs, but they're somewhat underplayed on this album by the main tracks. It would have been stronger to have separated them. There are pros and cons to both.z

 

 

 

Christ, hes going to go into hiding again. thanks

There's a very real possibility that he's done releasing for a few years. I'm pretty sure the plans he had to release the SC tracks aren't a thing anymore at least.

 

 

[Hugh Mughnus]

 

After 34 listens

lol

 

lol that's the legit amount of playthroughs according to mediamonkey

[Brisbot]

 

 

After 34 listens

lol

 

lol that's the legit amount of playthroughs according to mediamonkey

 

You can try all you want, but you've meticulously counted every track you've ever listened to, and we all know your secret now.

 

I bet you even know how many posts you've posted on WATMM.

 

Gotta get that OCD checked you sexy beast.

[purlieu]

CCA1:

 

 

Drukqs:

 

How fucking good do these look?

[KovalainenFanBoy]

they do look good. It's the most obvious/"reasonable" playlist now that we know drukqs kinda is CCA1 pt 1. Gotta give it a try soon

[killabyte11]

 

 

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.

Agreed.

 

[killabyte11]

 

 

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.

 
Agreed.

 

Couldn't disagree more with this, RDJ and Druqs,HAB, come to daddy, windowlicker are the only releases he used a computer on and they sound more tinny, plastic, sterile (aka computery) then any of his earlier releases. Making music with a computer always imparts a lifeless and static quality to the music and hardware ALWAYS sounds infinitely better. Disagree all you want but people who think Druqs and RDJ are his best albums will always be the very small minority. while all his other works prior to those are still being hailed today and played by the top underground DJ's in the world...people like Surgeon, Inigo Kennedy, the list goes on and on. Druqs is impressive for the novelty of over the top complexity and little more. I'm willing to bet, in twenty years you will not listen to those albums very much but you will be listening to all of his work before 96.
There is a reason we are now in a second renaissance of hardware synthesizers, especially analogue and modular. People were sick to death of lifeless, static computer music and for good reason. Anybody who thinks plug ins sound better than high end hardware needs to have their ears checked.

[Brisbot]

hey everyone's entitled to their opinion. In twenty years I'll probably not be listening to him all that much period. :P. I will have listened to his stuff so much by then. Probably will listen to any new stuff he has out by then more than his 90s/00s stuff

I think Syro is his best album btw, but my favorite sounds from him are his computer tracks. More interesting to listen to as sounds, but he's become much better at actual composition since.

You can call it bullshit all you want, but your opinion isn't my opinion and vice versa

[killabyte11]

Well I've been listening to Aphex Twin since the mid 90's and everything he did until RDJ album I still listen to and never tire of. Every couple years I give RDJ and Druqs another chance and I just can't really get into them. I bought each of those albums the day they came out and tried hard to like them but probably only listened to them a couple weeks before putting them aside....and again, if you prefer his computer sounds or think his compositions have improved I can assure that you will always be in the overwhelming minority in thinking so. I honestly don't even understand how anyone can think such a thing hahah.

[awesomeperson]

Just search for Drukqs in the other place and see some of the comedy, there were people that thought it was a release for DJ's to use like those records with beats and other tracks made to be easily fit into a mix, there were tons of theories. After Windowlicker people just expected more in the same style I guess. My opinion at the time was that it was the best electronic music to ever be recorded, now I think Go Plastic is.

[Brisbot]

You seem to think I care if I'm a minority. :P

Don't forget, you're also in the minority of not liking RDJ and Drukqs.

[Guest WNS000]

I could not care less for the analog cliché. It bores me to death with how non-offensive-typical-analog productions sound. Round tones, round distortion, everything sweet, muddy, full. I don't like it in most cases unless a tune needs it or unless the sound is heavily EQed or combined with some digital processing (which analog lovers tend not to do and often leave their gear sounding as raw as possible which I really dislike in majority of cases). I also like sharp transients and digital precision and perfect pitch in aggressive styles.

 

I remember in AskAutechreAnything that somebody tried to figure out what kind of ANALOG GEAR they used on some of the tracks on Exai. AE answered that it was all digital and deliberately created to imitate analog. So there goes your "analog synth renaissance" reasoning. It is just that analog gear has some properties that can be nice in some situations but there are also situations where analog gear isn't the best option. And I would rather have the option to choose with digital than limit myself with imprinted analog properties and trying to overcome them. So don't put analog everywhere without thinking about it just because of some marketing bullshit that it is "superior to digital". No, it is just different and subjective. Everything has its place. In the same way I wouldn't really want to listen to Meshuggah if it was played on flutes and mandolins.

 

See, Tomorrow Harvest is my BOC's favorite album exactly because it sounds the least analog of them all. There is this precision and the frequency spectrum that I enjoy more than their typical analog stuff. Even if it was created with analog gear they have processed it heavily and created these aesthetics that aren't so clearly connected to that analog cliché. Less boomy bass, more controlled sound, more precision, more clarity. Love it. They have finally abandoned that over-compressed, super-full aesthetics.

 

I also don't give a fuck that I am in a minority of people enjoying AFX's later stuff more than his earlier stuff. In the same way I don't give a fuck that majority of music consumers like to listen to their shit music (not talking about old AFX now, just in general). I love the drill'n'bass tracks on Drukqs to death and I am glad they are not "analog" sounding. They are absolutely perfect. I also really don't care for SAW so you can now go full crazy and throw arguments about analog and the majority.

 

It is also that the "non-offensive crowd" tends to gravitate towards analog because their aesthetic vision is already contained within those fundamental properties analog gear have. Fuck the "non-offensive crowd" - I want excitement.

 

EDIT: Also if the fast Syro tracks were less analog sounding, they would be much better in my opinion. On the other hand, some of the slower, groovy tracks benefit from the analog sound nicely.

[Allize]

Still the best album and It changed my life.

That album alone changed a kids life. Think about this. It doesn't matter what the critics said.

[Allize]

I was very lonely at the time and just finding out about electronic music. I heard rhubarb somewhere and tracked aphex.

I took me awhile to get his whole discography, because of my crappy internet, but eventually I downloaded and listened to drukqs. After that I spent months listening to it in the dark, before sleep. It didn't stop to amaze me and it felt really intimate because it's his most personal album without a doubt. You can feel the feels in there, the dust and the cold. it opened my mind to all the music, it wasn't an alien thing to me, it was like I had found the music that was made for me.

[Allize]

Now that being said, I think syro is boring and unoriginal. I wonder if some kid is going to feel the same way about it than I do with drukqs.

[Time Tourist]

 

It didn't stop to amaze me and it felt really intimate because it's his most personal album without a doubt.

 

This I agree with completely!

[killabyte11]

Not just about Analog, I said hardware. The top digital synths that are available still sound better than any Plug in. You can talk all you want but there's a reason he has abandoned the computer software approach as has the majority of any major artist who has dabbled in it, if they ever botherd at all. And not just Synthesizers but outboard...effects, mixing consoles, EQ's, etc.. There is a reason these things are expensive. For somebody to sit there and tell me that a computer with plug ins sounds better, well you lose all credibility IMO. Transients?? Digital is an approximation of actual REAL sound. I've produced music at a pro level for over ten years on hardware and software extensively, there's not a DAW I haven't used, I've tested nearly every plug in known to find the best of the best and even those still have that subtle but discernable static, sterile, lifeless quality. Good hardware has a quality to it that if I had to describe in a word "alive". A plug won't sound like this....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDlp-65sSg4&nohtml5=False

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ALnPqBxc6I&nohtml5=False

 

That's pure electric current being turned into sound. I own many synthesizers and more digital than analog and they all sound different and can't exactly be replicated by plug ins, analog - not at all. The other major factor in all this is tactile control of a dedicated instrument designed for one purpose. If you don't make music you might not understand but one tends to get more interesting, spontaneous, expressive results for their time and effort with hardware. Chris Carter who's been making electronic music since the 70's sums things up nicely here....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g571IJ50qIA&nohtml5=False

 

I don't give shit either what peoples opinions are about the music I like. It's just obnoxious to read some comments on here and many other threads of people spouting off so matter of factly about things that I just feel an overwhelming need to call bullshit on. In my experience, most people who prefer the compositional style of druqs etc. are fans of crappy, generic, computer driven "EDM" which places it's focus on technical acrobatics, edits and approaches music more like its a sport and consequently it is the biggest shit stain on the face of electronic music history. Not saying Druqs is in that category or that I hate the album, I don't. It's an impressive display of composition and skill, I just find that I don't put it on very often.

 

As for Authecre, I don't rate them anywhere close to Aphex Twin. I like maybe a couple handfuls of their tracks but on the topic of digital sound, they are good example of how digital can sound rather cold and sterile. I'm sure they used computers a lot and I can hear the thin sound of the type of early va synths like the Nord Lead all over a lot of their material and it hasn't aged anywhere near as well as Aphex. Never Got into BOC much, Squarepusher not at all.

[killabyte11]

That's actually 3 videos, couldn't get it to post without the preview.

[Diabrotikos]

#rant

[killabyte11]

Oops autechre not Authecre.

#rant

Yes!

[Guest WNS000]

That is a next level post, killabyte11. I am speechless.