i care because you do

ICBYD is by far the best album overall he's ever done - there are some tracks on there that will go down as the all-time best tracks Richard ever did.

Acrid Avid Jam Shred is one of my personal favs. It's even more interesting if you read the year each track was recorded in.

Some of these songs are nearly 25 yrs old!

The way Acrid Avid Jam Shred slow-builds into one of the most beautiful tracks in Aphex's entire discography is breathtaking.

The two Aphex releases that seem most like "albums" to me in the traditional sense (a specific collection of tracks, sequenced in a specific order (i.e., tracks in dialogue with each other)) are ICBYD and the RDJ album. Personally, I connect with RDJ album more -- probably just because I've listened to it a few hundred times more. You can't beat "To Cure A Weakling Child" into "Goon Gumpas" into "Yellow Calx."

Either way RDJ went on an insane run in the mid 90s.

'Start As...' has some of my favorite drum programming and sounds. That distorted low pass filter combo is pure joy.

  Quote

I always thought he shouted "Alright?!" at the start of Cow Cud. Could be wrong though.

 

Me too. I always figured it was him yelling out to see if the mic was getting a signal so that he could sample the door slam.

  On 11/17/2014 at 12:10 PM, conjugacy said:

My favorite aphex release. I even like the title the most.

Yeah, i gave it a spin last weekend, awesome record, really insane how AFX mixed raw sounds, industrial, ambient, strings, evil techno beats and managed to offer a truly personal/intimate mood out of it. The record sounds like a diary, almost private in a way. It must be my favorite AFX record, with the RDJ album. Insane how he managed to release two masterpieces during a course of 2 years (1995-1996).

Glad that many others see the beauty in the build of Acrid. I remember the first time I heard the high sine-wave type portamento synth that comes in at 3:whatever. Pure chills. The Waxen Pith is eerie and unplaceable. Alberto is utterly beautiful and has gotten incredulous reactions (positive) when I have played it for non AFX fans in the past. The whole thing is maybe the last totally alien LP that he produced. It's probably tied with RDJ for my favorite. Although (as someone said in another thread), if Come to Daddy and Windowlicker were combined in a LP, it would be my favorite ever. Flim changed my life a good bit.

  On 11/18/2014 at 12:03 AM, k h o v said:

Yeah, i gave it a spin last weekend, awesome record, really insane how AFX mixed raw sounds, industrial, ambient, strings, evil techno beats and managed to offer a truly personal/intimate mood out of it. The record sounds like a diary, almost private in a way. It must be my favorite AFX record, with the RDJ album. Insane how he managed to release two masterpieces during a course of 2 years (1995-1996).

His output in the mid 90's was ridiculous. Don't forget the Girl/Boy, Donkey Rhubarb and Ventolin EP's, and Hangable Auto Bulb of course. All outstanding pieces of work.

valleyinaire, do you even sleep?

wheres stephenG?

why am i here?

I c b y d is the best. First Aphex Twin I ever heard wwhile working in our price. A colleague who used to wear a Nepalese temple ball tshirt said it would be great toking music.

I had it on cd but the cover got lost and disc got scratched.

Last week my wife bought it for me on vinyl.

  On 11/17/2014 at 5:25 PM, Joyrex said:

ICBYD is by far the best album overall he's ever done - there are some tracks on there that will go down as the all-time best tracks Richard ever did.

That's also my sentiment. I can still play the album 20 years after its release and it works. He was clearly ahead of his time with this one.

one of the best things about Acrid Avid is just how casually it builds into its crescendo. with such a powerful melody, most artists would sweat and strain as much as they could out of it, stacking up the tension until the finale would just sound desperate and overdone. but what Richard does with Acrid is so carefree and casual, you don't even expect it to rise so high, yet it makes so much sense when it arrives. his sense of direction in impeccable, not only can he create a thoroughly engaging mood out of even the gentlest, most undeveloped parts of a track, but he knows just how to make it rise and flourish into something truly rapturous, without any of the transition feeling forced or overdone.

it's a hallmark of RDJ's career, but as has been said it's especially visible in the ICBYD era - Start as you mean to go On, Pancake Lizard, Ventolin (Probus Mix), Wabby Legs, the 1st and 5th tracks on AB5 and pretty much the whole of MfM are good examples. absolutely timeless stuff, and it makes me wonder just what he has stashed away in those mid-90s vaults...

The first time I heard come on you slags-- when the percussion entered I teared up. It was a moment where you think, "I have been looking for this sound my entire life." It's menacing, low-life, but playful and tribal. Like the works of an evil shaman. The reverberating strings on Icct Hedral sound like the joy of watching a hex succeed. The relaxed tunes like Alberto Balsam are when the illusion falls away and he takes off his cloak and smokes a spliff. Funky free-floating, snapping, dandelions in the wind. That being said, I'm out of metaphors and I'm not in love with every song on the album.

This is the aphex era I enjoyed the most - ICBYD, RDJ, HAB, Rhubarb etc. I would absolutely love for any future releases to be more in this vein

Acrid Avid Jam Shred cured my tinnitus

Moo Kid tho

probably the best afx album imho tbqh ffs brb

  On 12/12/2014 at 5:52 PM, MadameChaos said:

Moo Kid tho

Moo kid makes me cry/moo.

  On 12/12/2014 at 6:04 PM, LUDD said:

probably the best afx album imho tbqh ffs brb

His best AFK at least.

I. Love. Ventolin. Those sounds are pure pleasure to my ears.

  On 11/17/2014 at 5:43 PM, B1000 said:

Acrid Avid Jam Shred is one of my personal favs. It's even more interesting if you read the year each track was recorded in.

 

Some of these songs are nearly 25 yrs old!

 

Coincidentally, the '94 tracks are definitely the strongest on the album.

IMO.

i skip tracks and it's one of the best albums i got

I did a year abroad at Glasgow School of Art in 2001-2 and this album was part of my soundtrack at the time (and of course Drukqs which just came out), perfect mood for a sort of dreary industrial place but also a time of transition and exploration.

I love this album because some of it has kind of a loungy/video game tone that Richard seems to have gotten away from in the last decade or 2 (acrid avid jam shred, cow cud is a twin, mookid, alberto balsalm), kind of similar to Mike and Rich and some tracks off the new Caustic Window (flutey, squidge in the fridge, jazzphase, 101 rainbows ambient mix).

Also Start as you mean to go on is a banger

Mookid reminds me of my life at a little town far away of the city in 2007.

The mrs surprised me with some wax for Christmas. Infinitely stoked.