Aphex already did it

Thinking about giving up music. It's been a constant in my life, but I look at Aphex's catalog and it's like what's the point? He's done it. Giving up music would allow me to concentrate on more concrete things. To pay the bills. I always feel two things tugging at me. Maybe it is time to pack it in

Don't. I've been there too, and I get similar feelings every now and then.

Aphex is the best at doing Aphex tunes, no contest. Just write the best marf tunes you can, that should keep you busy for a lifetime

tbh whenever this topic comes up i imagine that simpsons episode where homer becomes an inventor, except replace thomas edison with aphex twin on homer's self-comparison chart, and leonardo da vinci with whoever aphex twin was listening to as a kid on his chart

his new tunes never leave the cirklon so humanity needs people like you to fill the void

if you're trying to be Aphex, you're gonna fail. even Aphex can't be Aphex anymore, what chance do you have?

When Im doing music I always tend to be doing dubby stuff and pretty non aphex style. 

Find something that fits you.. People are always gonna say "oh thats sounds like Aphex Twin or Autechre" just because of an odd time signatuere and different percussions. 

 

Just realize that there will always be someone better than you at whatever, and just do your best that you're happy with - stop comparing your efforts against others. I bet this is why Richard is so prolific in his music making, because he's doing it the way he wants and what makes him happy - I highly doubt he ever listens to other artists' music and wishes he could do what they do.

Aphex Twin's rhythms are bad imitations of African music. Even their sound design is better (advanced physical modelling)

Just try listening to some completely left-field music. Get into jazz or listen to some early 20th century classical composer that one else is checking out. It can be your secret! There is like a whole world of music out there that's available to you that Aphex Twin hasn't touched. He himself has dabbled with minimalism and odd modern composers like Penderecki, so he's also got some outside elements to his advantage (which proves the effectiveness of this method), but he isn't even close to having done "everything" within the larger scope of Music, with a capital M.

Generally I have this peculiar idea that if you want to be original within a genre of music, you should really listen to everything else. Listening to something different can also be pretty exciting, it opens up possibilities you wouldn't have dreamt up otherwise.

  On 3/8/2021 at 5:18 PM, dingformung said:

Aphex Twin's rhythms are bad imitations of African music. Even their sound design is better (advanced physical modelling)

Talking of which, definitely give this a go.  Proper African IDM

just get super high and mash the black and white keys together using your forehead. something usable will certainly come of it.

I second what @ArtificialDiscosaid. I spent most of the last several years exclusively listening to music far removed from the kind I was making, and honestly it felt pretty liberating. My brain wasn't going to even attempt to compare my stuff to, say, an Isaac Hayes song, because they're clearly completely different things

also tbh the fact that making music is by far the single pursuit I've put the most time into in my life & my stuff still sounds extremely unprofessional is just funny to me more than anything else. it keeps my priorities straight - i'm doing this for the sake of doing it, not to obtain any particular result. ultimately you need to either be in it for the love of the game or because you're trying to make music that sounds like the rapper The Game, all other motivations beyond those two eventually fizzle out

The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those who sang the best.

Has anyone put together a comprehensive list of tracks that Aphex has never made? It would be handy to have a list like that. I'm pretty sure he never made a track called River Wharfe that starts with a reversed 808 cowbell. Unfortunately, I can't think of any other tracks he never made besides this one

if you haven't done so already, learn how to play piano or guitar. study rhythm and harmony. learn how to improvize. should keep you busy for a while lol 

listen to jazz (not free jazz, free jazz is terrible and has no application - listen to bebop) and classical, contemporary, baroque. listen to blues, gospel, bluegrass, country. listen to music from other parts of the world too. should keep you busy too lol

oh and don't give me any of that "oh but i listen to all kinds of music man" crap because that's not true. if that was true you wouldn't be aiming to achieve afx level of goodness because you wouldn't give 2 shits about that

most importantly you need to come to terms with the fact that most afx sucks my balls and realize that bartok eats him for breakfast 

Who tha fuck is bartok 

  On 3/8/2021 at 5:16 PM, Joyrex said:

Just realize that there will always be someone better than you at whatever, and just do your best that you're happy with - stop comparing your efforts against others. 

 Phobiazero is dead now. You have to let it go Papa.

  Quote

Autechre already didi it

fixt

  On 3/8/2021 at 6:45 PM, cern said:

Who tha fuck is bartok 

A classical composer with an odd taste in breakfast.

  On 3/8/2021 at 6:35 PM, brian trageskin said:

listen to jazz (not free jazz, free jazz is terrible and has no application - listen to bebop)

Free Jazz is like talking normally instead of reciting a poem or otherwise stick to a given form or meter. Bebop is reciting a poem, free jazz is having a normal conversation. The least weird form of jazz

i've listened to free jazz barely at all, but the few times i have the vibe i've gotten is that it's music made for other musicians. ie you listen to it & there will be all sorts of really cool bits that give you ideas for things, but you can't go in expecting it to come together like a conventional song of any sort

  On 3/8/2021 at 4:33 PM, marf said:

Thinking about giving up music. It's been a constant in my life, but I look at Aphex's catalog and it's like what's the point? He's done it. Giving up music would allow me to concentrate on more concrete things. To pay the bills. I always feel two things tugging at me. Maybe it is time to pack it in

Aphex ruined his entire discography after Analord, if he can do it, so can you. 

                                                            let your cat walk on your keyboard, worked for aphex

  On 3/8/2021 at 7:26 PM, dingformung said:

Free Jazz is like talking normally instead of reciting a poem or otherwise stick to a given form or meter. Bebop is reciting a poem, free jazz is having a normal conversation. The least weird form of jazz

wrong. both bebop and free jazz do the same, which is improvised conversation in a language that has a metaphoric meaning instead of a literal one, although they differ in vocabulary, syntax and stuff. the only major difference is that in bebop, you improvise over a preexisting tune so the overall frame of the conversation is predetermined.

a good analogy would be going out with friends: things were planned in advance, everyone expects certain behaviours of others, but inside that frame, everyone's improvising. so it's really not like reciting a poem

Fair enough, but how does that make free jazz "not applicable"?