Bleep

LP Bundle

Richard D. James

Richard D. James' fourth, autobiographical' album as Aphex Twin is regarded as his 'drill n' bass' showpiece. Originally released in 1996, 'Richard D. James' continues the lineage of his digital era (beginning from the previous Aphex Twin album, '...I Care Because You Do'), where familiar, playful melody locks into aggressive, hyperspeed breakbeats and quasi-jungle rhythms. This album also yielded the single 'Girl / Boy Song' which, memorably, uses a self-parodying, macabre image of grave, scribed 'Richard James - November 1968' as a sleeve image.

...I Care Because You Do

Aphex Twin's third studio album, originally released in 1995, is regarded as Richard D. James' greatest work under his Aphex Twin guise; whereas 'Selected Ambient Works Vol. II' consummated Aphex Twin's analogue era, '...I Care Because You Do' was the beginning of more intricate, lengthy, abstract digital compositions. Quite different to the previous, familiar sound of ambient music and techno.

Anagrams for tracks titles ('The Waxen Pith', 'Wet Tip Hen Ax', 'Next Heap With' etc.); in-jokes and innuendos; samples of dialogue from ponographic films and other eccentric production nuances fold into distorted hip-hop style beats and tangled drum loops. '.... I Care Because You Do' captures a new era of bracing sonic experimentation (a self portrait on the cover appears to endorse this change), yet maintaining levels of familiar melancholy and aggression in an equal measure.

Syro

Easily the most highly anticipated LP of 2014, the announcement of Aphex Twin’s latest LP Syro since the seminal Drukqs LP in 2001 promoted mass hysteria and excitement in equal measure. What followed was 12 pieces of lush, detailed electronic music that could only be attributed to Richard D. James; for instance the pensive melodic interplay on ‘XMAS_EVET10 (thanaton3 mix)’ or the brittle micro detailing on ‘CIRCLONT14 (shrymoming mix)’. Whilst some may argue Syro doesn’t advance the Aphex Twin sound in any particular direction, when one has already revolutionized electronic music the way Richard D. James has, did it really have to? It’s still an astounding collection of beautiful, intricate material that’ll live on long after the dust settles and a poignant reminder of the relevance of one of the most important artists of our time.

CD Bundle

Come To Daddy

A vibrant and exuberant collection from Richard D James, aka Aphex Twin, with three wildly different versions of the title track alongside a series of high-tempo yet heartfelt electronic works. The terrifying thrash of the infamous Pappy Mix of 'Come To Daddy' is a difficult track to surpass, yet make it through and there's another world inside. From the playful melodies and door-creak percussion of 'Flim' and 'Bucephalus Bouncing Ball', right through to the stirring melodies of 'IZ-US', it's an essential collection for any Aphex fan.

Windowlicker

Quite unlike anything else he's ever done, 'Windowlicker' is perhaps the most accessible and dancefloor-friendly track Richard D James has ever created. A simple, gurgling riff paired with childishly sung vocals and thrown over straight-up 4/4 beats, groaning and developing, the bizarre sonics straining to burst through the shackles of form and expectation. 'Formula' provides uunexpected blasts of sound, lengthy breaks, explosive aspirates - it seems to escape and transcend this very plane of existence. 'Nannou' is a chilling lullaby, minor-key themes that evoke thoughts of traditional melodies while percussion seemingly made out of household trappings ground it in the everyday.

Collapse EP

Aphex Twin aka "The Duke Of Rave and The God of Electronic Music" (depending which time of night it is) returns once again with the Collapse EP, a five tracker hailing from the underground. Its five tunes chew up notions of exhilaration with life-affirming abundance, high hats and sauntering arrangements, brain-scrambling noise and much much more, all cloaked in an absolutely jaw-clenching sleeve design from Weirdcore.

Cheetah EP

Using the impossibly rare digital synth the Cheetah ms800 (which was discontinued in the early 90's and from what synth heads say of it, was for good measure) to create the base( bass) of each track, this relatively unknown digital synth is said to be impossibly hard to programme but those who manage to crack the code, it has the capacity to spill forth 'low-fi digital weirdness', so who better really than RDJ to tackle such a puzzling machine? The first half of the EP rolls out an unexpected squashed acidic (almost) dub techno suite with CHEETAHT2 [Ld spectrum] and CHEETAHT7b. Both revolve around a dazed 4x4 kick that spirals into view with the Cheetah's neon-crystal like synth gloss wrapping itself around the beat with a radioactive sheen that places the tracks way outside any of the recent years Aphex/AFX excursions, whilst sounding like a spun out update of early grime and sublow styles (for which Aphex was a champion on the Rephlex Grime & Grime 2 comps) imagine if early SND had moved in the direction of grime instead of UKG and you are a few inches close to what we have here. These are followed by the quickfire analogue bubbles of CHEETA1b ms800 and CHEETA2 ms800 that disappear as fast as they float out of the speakers.