ulul Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 It's been four and a half years since release and I just cannot get this album to click. What the fuck is it? Every Aphex release was an immediate classic for me, full of fucking magic I'd never found anywhere else, or never have since. Aphex Twin is just the best of best for me, absolutely untouchable, completely reliable, then out of nowhere Syro comes along and I just think it's awful. I hate every second of it and I don't understand why. I've always thought that if I could figure out why I loathe it so much maybe I'd find the best Aphex album lurking past my blindness but I don't know. I just don't understand how an artist who's blown my mind over and over and over can suddenly drop something which sounds like complete muck to me. Obviously not to a lot of you - this is just how I feel, but I don't understand. I just cannot figure out what is WRONG with this album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hello spiral Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavieAddison Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 Is it possible that there's nothing objectively wrong with the album and you just subjectively don't enjoy it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 You try making sure the volume is above zero when you listen? jk, guess it's different strokes for different folks. I love that album, especially how there are changes rhythmically, tonally, and in timbre every single measure. If I remember correctly, he set out to put songs on there that he had lived with for a while and enjoyed himself, wasn't setting out to do next-level innovative stuff just quality listening, something that might even draw in new listeners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andihow Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 while i kinda like syro i do recognize it as the beginning of boring era afx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hello spiral Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 while i kinda like syro i do recognize it as the beginning of boring era afx That started with analord surely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaggerMcGuirk Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 while i kinda like syro i do recognize it as the beginning of boring era afx That started with analord surely Nah, Bradley's Beat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goiter Sanchez Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 Do you like the Post Syro discog or do you not like that either? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YangYing Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 I have said it many times but since tuss it's all just been kinda shitty (comparatively) imo edit: wasn't setting out to do next-level innovative stuff just quality listening, something that might even draw in new listeners. precisely, and he's been doing that since. (n that's fine don't get me wrong, just not my cup of tea afx) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brisbot Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 ^^^ what goiter said TBH if it's been 4 and a half years and you don't like it, it's time to move on. I think I listened to Syro too much myself and honestly I rarely listen to it these days. I listen to Cheetah/Field Day/ and Dejay Selek more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usagi Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 autism. that's why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ulul Posted February 1, 2019 Author Share Posted February 1, 2019 But for me the Tuss was his peak. I sat through my first listen to Rushup Edge in total awe and that was one of the last Aphex releases I got around to. I just feel like he hasn't released anything truly incredible since the Tuss. I admit, 1st 44 is a good track but it's really only the best of a mediocre lot. I just don't understand how the dividing line between God-tier Aphex and complete shit Aphex is so definitive. His technical skills are obviously the best they've ever been right now, Collapse proves that without any shadow of a doubt, it's just a shame that the music itself is so fucking awful. And yet going back to any pre-Syro release, nothing's changed. Perfection is still perfection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goiter Sanchez Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 Collapse EP is fast becoming my fav Aphex release; it truly has it all and smells minty-fresh! Sorry Syro hasn't made an impression on you. It doesn't slam like some of his past werk and some of the compositions/arrangements are so schizophrenic it can be hard to appreciate as a coherent piece of music. Took me over 10 listens before it left much of an impression, but so did drukQs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brisbot Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 idk sucks for you man. He's moved past that Tuss and Analord sound really. I think they're all great and feel he's improved over time. There is no magical combination of words to get you to like it.^^^ Agree with Goiter I think I like Collapse the best of his most recent stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Extralife Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 But Xmas Eve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweepstakes Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 I didn't get into Syro either, but Collapse is very nice. Better than ABB1, SAW1, and Windowlicker imo. Probably most of Analord and drukQs too. SAW2, Ventolin EP and ABB5 are my faves but Collapse is definitely above average for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaggerMcGuirk Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 Collapse EP is fast becoming my fav Aphex release; it truly has it all and smells minty-fresh! Sorry Syro hasn't made an impression on you. It doesn't slam like some of his past werk and some of the compositions/arrangements are so schizophrenic it can be hard to appreciate as a coherent piece of music. Took me over 10 listens before it left much of an impression, but so did drukQs! I still haven't fully gotten into Drukqs. Individual tracks are amazing, but it's so disorganized to me. To be an Aphex fan in the 90s meant getting your brain blown open with every new release through Windowlicker, IMO. When Drukqs first came out, it seemed just more DSP breakcore with some pretty piano tracks throughout, but it all seemed like stuff I'd heard before, but occasionally faster. Drukqs had some mixed reviews, and then came the Analord tracks, where he went the complete opposite route(no computers, old gear). I suppose you can see these as the culmination of the "innovation in the dynamics of acid" motto from early Rephlex. For me, though, they seemed like Aphex's version of Random Access Memories, in that they were records that seemed preoccupied with times(and gear) gone by. Rushup Edge felt like a confident return to sonic fuckery, and it has some of the best tracks he's ever made. It's very nearly perfect. Syro felt like a more grown up record, and a greatest hits of styles rolled into one album. Xmas eve is an all time top 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whosebrian Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 I can Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goiter Sanchez Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 Yeah, as Bagger said, Syro feels "grownup" & comfortable in its own skin, exuding a quiet confidence. DrukQs is quite the opposite where it seemed as though RDJ was hellbent on pushing the compositional blitzkrieg as far as humanly possible to make an absolute statement, jam as many human decisions as could be made audible into each second of the drill tracks offset by stately piano compositions which, by their inclusion, imbued the record with a rarefied air for better or worse. Syro doesn't need all that flare and showboaty programming but is still every bit as impressive as drukQs, albeit in a more understated way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 What the fuck is it? The album is meh. As simple as that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diatoms Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 readtherules:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J3FF3R00 Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 I’ve been a massive fan since “On” was new and my 3 least favorite albums are Field Day, CCAI2 and Collapse. Pretty much everything else is 10/10 for me. Syro is actually 11/10. I love that album. That is just me, though. I’ve actually been less interested in his “fuckery” stuff since Drukqs. Even on that one, only some of his more frantically produced tracks don’t ding my bells (I’ve been hesitant to mention that here because I don’t want to be burned at the stake). But whatever. Different strokes for different folks. I think I realize what really does it most for me are either his more classically melodic tracks or his more straightforward booty-shakin tracks (so most of analord for me was also 11/10). I feel like Syro is kinda 50% Polygon Window / 50% Tuss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YangYing Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 But for me the Tuss was his peak. I sat through my first listen to Rushup Edge in total awe and that was one of the last Aphex releases I got around to. I just feel like he hasn't released anything truly incredible since the Tuss. I admit, 1st 44 is a good track but it's really only the best of a mediocre lot. I just don't understand how the dividing line between God-tier Aphex and complete shit Aphex is so definitive. His technical skills are obviously the best they've ever been right now, Collapse proves that without any shadow of a doubt, it's just a shame that the music itself is so fucking awful. And yet going back to any pre-Syro release, nothing's changed. Perfection is still perfection. agree 100% w this, i meant post-tuss in my previous post (altough tuss being top varies from week to week) Yeah, as Bagger said, Syro feels "grownup" & comfortable in its own skin, exuding a quiet confidence. DrukQs is quite the opposite where it seemed as though RDJ was hellbent on pushing the compositional blitzkrieg as far as humanly possible to make an absolute statement, jam as many human decisions as could be made audible into each second of the drill tracks offset by stately piano compositions which, by their inclusion, imbued the record with a rarefied air for better or worse. Syro doesn't need all that flare and showboaty programming but is still every bit as impressive as drukQs, albeit in a more understated way.yea, no. I grant that since syro rich has sounded confident, id even say grounded, settled with his sound.. and that's fine. But that to me is not where the appeal towards aphex lays. He was always exploring unexplored territory, that inscesent (and perhaps immature?) push to find out what you can do is what innitialy drew me to idm and what still drives me regarding music. Aphexs' post syro stuff is not bad imo it simply doesn't scratch that itch (I feel for example that u could swap any track he has released since syro w one in syro and it'd sound like it belongs there (except maybe T03 delta t and T47 smodge): he has settled w his sound, grounded, mature, uninteresting imo) Maybe is because I'm still pretty young and that "immature", exploratory spitit from the pre (and including) tuss stuff is still what resonates w me the most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hello spiral Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 The Tuss worship has always been a headscratcher to me. It's fine and all but.....really? The pinnacle? Syro's pretty great though, sound design wise. I think it took a while to get into as his melodic sense has matured which has actually made his melodies weaker. A lot of it sounds like cop show dad funk now. Melodic simplicity was key in his earlier work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
may be rude Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 i don't like ham much lately Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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