What we have here is the latest set of recordings from the RX-101 vaults to emerge on Suction Records. RX-101 is the project of Erik Jong, a Dutch producer who made plenty of music in the vein of Aphex Twin in the 90s but has only come to prominence in recent years via a series of archival releases - several of which have emerged on Suction. Serenity, a newly-compiled collection of RX-101 rare grooves, finds Suction once again returning to the creative purple patch that Jong went through between 1997-1999.
While Serenity may be the name of the game here, this is not exactly the most calming set of tracks you could wish to hear. Indeed, the area of Aphex Twin’s discography that Jong appears to be pulling from here is the more caustic Rephlex Records stuff that Richard D. James released under the name AFX in the late-90s and early-2000s. This means that gritty, distorted electronic drums and nervous-sounding synth pads are the most prominent sounds across this record. On tracks such as ‘Hearts Utd.’ there is a certain tranquility to be heard in Jong’s treatment of these textures, but by and large Serenity operates at the scuzzier end of IDM-techno.
On Serenity, Rx101’s seemingly bottomless archives are raided once more for a baker's dozen of high-grade AFX-style IDM tunes.
