WAPP480

  On 11/23/2024 at 4:03 AM, Lianne said:

I need to listen to Drukqs and The Tuss again. 

The things Im not so into with this main track is how everything is drained thru this huge reverb and even the drums. 
I was dissecting the Drumaccapella version to find some good drum hits and breaks to sample but honestly I end up with only like 3-4 one hits. 
For me the drums are pretty weak specially that first drum machine sounds going off.. What is that thing? Is Like a super old little Boss Dr rhythm or something that has no power to it.

He uses the Korg minipops in the first track of SYRO. That drum machine is not much to the world but in that track it sounds fucking huge!
Just compare that intro to the Blackbox Life Recorder intro. Big difference! 

I've been giving the Blackbox EP a lot of listens today. I still like it!

I think the slightly underwhelmed fan/critic reaction to the Blackbox Life Recorder single is cause its a standalone single after a bit of a hiatus and people are ravenous/greedy for more. It is to my ears a high quality, top tier track, and I love it -( that said, it's no Windowlicker). It would be like in 2005 instead of Analord he dropped Klopjob single b/w Midievil Rave 1&2. People would be like yeah, its good stuff, is that it? Putting extra tracks on it beefing it up to a full EP might be a way of placating some of those disappointments.

I really like blackbox, I just want an album

  On 11/23/2024 at 6:52 PM, Alcofribas said:

imo richard has always had a certain apathy about releasing music. i've felt that "i care bc you do" was another way of saying "i don't really care." 26 remixes were "for cash." drukqs was again a cash grab so he could make money before anyone else after he left his hard drive on a plane. every now and again he seems to get serious about an album. analord seemed like a really honed in project and releasing it as a series of 12" was cool. seemed like he had fun with that one. syro felt like he was finally sharing important tunes again, really giving us a fine-tuned classic style LP of tunes. he also released the best ever interview along with syro where he actually seemed really open and candid and even shared studio pics and shit. syro felt like richard was being real af. the soundcloud dump is somewhere in between, it's just a "dump" of music online but it was an event that felt like he was really hanging out with fans almost in real time, sharing stuff from his archive. so idk, i feel like he's never had one way of doing things and there's been such a consistent tendency to just be like yeah whatever when it comes to releasing tunes. one era will be a beautifully crafted series of 10 eps of some of his best ever music, another era will just be random 12"s with just a few tunes, nothing mind blowing. 

i have no insight into why he releases what he does. but it does feel like releasing music is not very important to him, or at least he doesn't always take it seriously. taken as a whole tho, his ouevre is one of the all time best in electronic music history so i'm not complaining.

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Still that doesn’t justify the current laziness when compared to for example what autechre is doing. He is creating this big fuzz about releases that feel very much like milking his legacy for cash instead of creating something genre bending he was famous for in the past. 
 

during analord / drukqs / tuss era I was genuinely excited about anything he put out while last time during field day I wasn’t bothered coming early to buy merch and was genuinely surprised that he did a very awesome DJ set. At the point was kind of not expecting anything and was exited to see arca instead. 

  On 11/21/2024 at 12:43 PM, Kennylogg Bubblebath said:

also

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Damn, mp3/flac downloads and all, ace.

  On 11/25/2024 at 11:04 AM, o00o said:

He is creating this big fuzz about releases that feel very much like milking his legacy for cash

Not sure he is ... think it's an increasingly desperate Warp trying to work out its identity in the current era

  On 11/25/2024 at 12:02 PM, mcbpete said:

Not sure he is ... think it's an increasingly desperate Warp trying to work out its identity in the current era

Are you sure? The only thing warp might interfere is the contract limited to a certain amount of releases they are obligated to put out. Autechre recently renegotiated so they can put out anything they like not only LPs but also live acts if I  understood it correctly.

Did you have the impression the promotion for syro was paid by warp? I don’t think they do much besides fulfilling what they are contractually obliged. 

Most of their recent signings show they only care for a fast buck and nobody with deep musical knowledge is in charge anymore. Everything creatively is done by the artists themselves. They also dropped Clark for some generic dance acts as his contract ran out.

At warp 20 Steve Beckett still showed up personally I don’t see him at any of these parties anymore or giving interviews. I wonder who is actually in charge nowadays.

this might also be the reason for boards of canada not releasing a new lp as they don’t have the resources to promote an lp of that margin by themselves so they just don’t put anything out that has to be promoted on its own and stick to remix of popular artists as these are promoted by themselves

“If you cannot please everyone with your deeds and your art, please a few. To please many is bad.” – Friedrich Schiller

                                                               acid  

We can only speculate on the behind the scenes stuff, but considering he never gave Warp anything for 13 years and they basically just let him do whatever, I imagine the ball is firmly in Richard's court and the BBLR release must've been his idea. Sure they might have asked if he had anything ready for release but ultimately it would have needed his approval.

I don't fancy getting drawn into a discussion about Warp's motives or capabilties, but even as I sometimes personally don't like some of their decisions, they never once struck me as a soulless corporate in-it-for-the-money type organisation, quite the opposite in fact.

From what I've understand, it's quite pleasant to work with Warp. IIRC from on of his recent itws, when it comes to promo, RDJ exposes his ideas and they try to make them true. They have the will and the means to promote effectively their releases in a way the artists want them to.

If looking at both Aphex and Ae output, I'm not sure they're forcing any of the artists of their roster to release something they wouldn't, or in a way they don't want to. 

Pretty sure Warp top artists could get juicy deals with any other label*, so if they stay with Warp I guess it's worth it.

Also, not sure RDJ has gotten lazy or anythting, even if I'm not that much into his last few releases. Sure I'd love him to continue what he alluded to with The Tuss, or even *just* to release his unreleased live tunes... 

* Richard, Sean, Rob... DM me for 3OP details

aside from the infrequency of releases it's not like he's ever been a stranger to putting out EPs with like 4 tracks on them. maybe he doesn't feel like putting out something that needs to be the really culturally important "Next Aphex Twin Album" and instead wants to put out the "Next Xylem Tube EP Or Some Shit"

  On 11/25/2024 at 1:05 PM, o00o said:

Are you sure? The only thing warp might interfere is the contract limited to a certain amount of releases they are obligated to put out. Autechre recently renegotiated so they can put out anything they like not only LPs but also live acts if I  understood it correctly.

Did you have the impression the promotion for syro was paid by warp? I don’t think they do much besides fulfilling what they are contractually obliged. 

Most of their recent signings show they only care for a fast buck and nobody with deep musical knowledge is in charge anymore. Everything creatively is done by the artists themselves. They also dropped Clark for some generic dance acts as his contract ran out.

At warp 20 Steve Beckett still showed up personally I don’t see him at any of these parties anymore or giving interviews. I wonder who is actually in charge nowadays.

this might also be the reason for boards of canada not releasing a new lp as they don’t have the resources to promote an lp of that margin by themselves so they just don’t put anything out that has to be promoted on its own and stick to remix of popular artists as these are promoted by themselves

 

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you might want to listen to this:

provides a lot of insight into how warp handles different releases. the blimp is discussed around 30min mark.

aphex isn’t paying for his own promotion lol. that’s what a label is for. 

  On 11/25/2024 at 5:10 PM, Alcofribas said:

you might want to listen to this:

provides a lot of insight into how warp handles different releases. the blimp is discussed around 30min mark.

aphex isn’t paying for his own promotion lol. that’s what a label is for. 

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Thanks for sharing 

  On 11/25/2024 at 2:01 PM, Key said:

I don't fancy getting drawn into a discussion about Warp's motives or capabilties, but even as I sometimes personally don't like some of their decisions, they never once struck me as a soulless corporate in-it-for-the-money type organisation, quite the opposite in fact.

Dunno. They seemed to drop or devalue a lot of their old artists/bands when they signed !!!, Grizzly Bear, Maximo Park and more. I always felt they tried to ride the "new rock" money train after The Strokes, BRMC, and so on.

Don´t know how the Warp/AFX dynamics is, but this def feels like over-hyping by the label.

Some people in here need to chill out and not be so critical of him. He’s had his share of eras where he showers us with material. Now is an era where he has actually put out quite a bit of quality stuff (in bits and pieces) and we know something else is always coming. 

PLUS, didn’t both of his parents die in the past couple years??
Y’all need to relax. 

  On 11/25/2024 at 5:10 PM, Alcofribas said:

the blimp is discussed around 30min mark.

aphex isn’t paying for his own promotion lol. that’s what a label is for. 

i heard the blimp was his. Traded the tank in for a blimp.

  On 11/25/2024 at 8:51 PM, Bubba69 said:

i heard the blimp was his. Traded the tank in for a blimp.

i hear it's the secret to his lush highs

  On 11/25/2024 at 8:20 PM, J3FF3R00 said:

Some people in here need to chill out and not be so critical of him. He’s had his share of eras where he showers us with material. Now is an era where he has actually put out quite a bit of quality stuff (in bits and pieces) and we know something else is always coming. 

PLUS, didn’t both of his parents die in the past couple years??
Y’all need to relax. 

Hope you 'won the day' with that post my friend

  On 11/25/2024 at 8:20 PM, J3FF3R00 said:

Some people in here need to chill out and not be so critical of him. He’s had his share of eras where he showers us with material. Now is an era where he has actually put out quite a bit of quality stuff (in bits and pieces) and we know something else is always coming. 

As an Autechre fan I maybe spoiled but Aphex is at least touring and releasing something else than just remixes and generally communicates with the public, unlike some unnamed brothers from Scotland.

I think some fans that is always criticize one for criticizing artists needs to chill out. 

My whole life is dedicated to the artists in this watmm forum. Their music is on every fucking day and will sure always be.. How many times haven't I go thru tracks I love so much like on and on.. I can write a book of my endless love and passion for their music. 

But brining one single critics and fans going nuts like "How fucking dare u?" 

Clearly every artists and every individual doing their thing and choose to drop whatever they like whenever they want.
If an artist is bringing banger tracks in his live sets but choose to drop an according to me weak release like this then I feel to express that.
it is my opinion and nothing more.. Maybe it is his best release ever made. 

Some say I criticize but to me It is very positive feedback as I know he can release so much better tracks and that is shit he have even played live!! That is not even a comparison to a different era or something. 

I would never be like "uh he was much better in the 90's, I want him to go back to that sound" because that is just silly say. 

  On 11/25/2024 at 5:51 PM, scumtron said:

Dunno. They seemed to drop or devalue a lot of their old artists/bands when they signed !!!, Grizzly Bear, Maximo Park and more. I always felt they tried to ride the "new rock" money train after The Strokes, BRMC, and so on.

Don´t know how the Warp/AFX dynamics is, but this def feels like over-hyping by the label.

Honestly I don’t blame an indie label to dive into other forms of indie music. Like yeah it’s a shame and I wish they showed more love for their roots and sign more of what they were beloved for, but honestly it’s not like they never fully abandoned those sounds or artists, they just branched into other genres and it seems like a lot of people really love the artists they sign. Ninja Tune is doing the same thing and it’s honestly cool getting to hear a label support some of those alternative bands that I feel would’ve been showered by corporate radio in the 90’s.

also I love Aphex Twin and I feel people should chill about the lack of releases lately. however XTAL is still mid

  On 11/25/2024 at 11:04 AM, o00o said:

Still that doesn’t justify the current laziness when compared to for example what autechre is doing. He is creating this big fuzz about releases that feel very much like milking his legacy for cash instead of creating something genre bending he was famous for in the past. 
 

during analord / drukqs / tuss era I was genuinely excited about anything he put out while last time during field day I wasn’t bothered coming early to buy merch and was genuinely surprised that he did a very awesome DJ set. At the point was kind of not expecting anything and was exited to see arca instead. 

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Did you not like the previous 6 sets that he did on the tour?