Aphex Twin What takes them so long?

This topic will probably annoy some people, but it's an honest, simple question. Do you really think BoC (and, perhaps, Aphex Twin, though we've had 'Analord' and The Tuss and some other bits and pieces) take so long to put stuff out because they're perfectionists? I can't help but feel that's got nothing to do with it. I don't know much about music production, but I can't see why it would take quite this long from a musical standpoint. When I listen to 'MHTRTC' or 'Campfire Headphase', I find them to be pleasant, nostalgic, relaxing, finely produced affairs, but nothing about them screams that more time was put in than any other decent electronic artist I listen to (Geogaddi is my favorite, and another story. Amaizng album.) They don't tour, either, so that has nothing to do with it.

I suppose I think success has something to do with it.

yeah, they're probably just lazy/don't care/got enough money right now... plus, they had kids, yeah? i would imagine that would take up most of your time for a while.,.

boc have to tie all the daisies together to make the belt for the flower power generator to run their organic studio gear which takes ages

Long time for us, mere minutes for them--all those oriental exercises. The degradation technique is unintentional.

8 hour video of BoC running to studio :

They have a heavy focus on the flow and cohesion of their albums, so it takes them a long time to find the perfect track selection.

maybe they became aware of the poor quality of their latest album and just decided to not release anything until their music gets good again

That's not very nice, Brian.

all major WARP artists are lazy

family, living in opposite parts of the world and perfectionists. i'd rather wait 5 years and get a finely crafted album than a half-assed album every two years.

  Lianne said:

This topic will probably annoy some people, but it's an honest, simple question. Do you really think BoC (and, perhaps, Aphex Twin, though we've had 'Analord' and The Tuss and some other bits and pieces) take so long to put stuff out because they're perfectionists? I can't help but feel that's got nothing to do with it. I don't know much about music production, but I can't see why it would take quite this long from a musical standpoint. When I listen to 'MHTRTC' or 'Campfire Headphase', I find them to be pleasant, nostalgic, relaxing, finely produced affairs, but nothing about them screams that more time was put in than any other decent electronic artist I listen to (Geogaddi is my favorite, and another story. Amaizng album.) They don't tour, either, so that has nothing to do with it.

 

I suppose I think success has something to do with it.

Time travel takes time.

  Brian Tregaskin said:

maybe they became aware of the poor quality of their latest album and just decided to not release anything until their music gets good again

I think they made Campfire Headphase so that all the hipster/prick fans move to Aphex Twin so they have a proper fan base to make good music for. Okay? Okay.

When you consider the hiatus between each of their albums, a release this year would be right on time.

Whats with the hate on TCH? In my opinion it is way a more cohesive/less gimmicky album than geogaddi. I think the main reason their albums take so long is because like any artist they want their music to move forward, yet they don't want to abandon their original musical roots. They have to balance their music out to be their own crafted style and not just an album filled with shoegaze/post-rock with an idm tinge.

It's family. I don't care if BoC ever releases anything ever again. What they've released up to now is great.

they lost their beanies that keep all their creativity in their head... that and something about getting teabagged!

  all_purpose_sandpaper said:

8 hour video of BoC running to studio :

 

LOL

Anyway, from one of their interviews:

  Quote

"We take such long, individual paths to get where we go, paths that nobody else could ever follow," says Mike.

"So it takes us ten times as long to finish things," says Marcus.

 

"Where some people will work on a track solidly for four days, we'll spend that long just on a hi-hat sound," Mike laughs.

"It'd be funny if it wasn't true," Marcus chuckles.

"Than again, if there was a way of doing it easily, by pushing a button, we'd do something else because it wouldn't be special anymore," says Michael.

"We like to make things hard for ourselves," shrugs Marcus.

  mistymountainhop said:

Anyway, from one of their interviews:

 

  Quote

"We take such long, individual paths to get where we go, paths that nobody else could ever follow," says Mike.

"So it takes us ten times as long to finish things," says Marcus.

 

"Where some people will work on a track solidly for four days, we'll spend that long just on a hi-hat sound," Mike laughs.

"It'd be funny if it wasn't true," Marcus chuckles.

"Than again, if there was a way of doing it easily, by pushing a button, we'd do something else because it wouldn't be special anymore," says Michael.

"We like to make things hard for ourselves," shrugs Marcus.

There's an argument for perfectionism...

  Mesh Gear Fox said:

All the dudes who were doing a lot of shit in the 90's have slowed down now because they've gotten older, had families and stuff like that. They're still doing music, just not as much.

Most older people with families still work for a living. I know that's not the fate of rich music superstars, but they're either working or they're not. I guarantee you that having kids does not make men want to stay at home and play with children all day...They're probably just being a bit lazy and traveling a ton with friends and family (if they're not working on an album right now, which they probably are...)

they decided to remake all of their gear from scratch to get the perfect sound. Then they have to make atleast 200+ songs and find the perfect aspects of those songs and make another 100 out of those, then 50 out of the best parts of those etc.

I do wonder why most of the WATMM artists take as long as they do to release albums. They all claim to make music all year round and have loads they dont release (100 tracks a year ish), as you would expect when they can make music at home. It is annoying that they release such a small percentage of it. At the very least every album they do release could be a double (even triple) cd.

yeah why dont they just come round to all of our houses, one by one and spunk all over our faces, the selfish cunts

  LUDD said:

yeah why dont they just come round to all of our houses, one by one and spunk all over our faces, the selfish cunts

I'd much prefer they just released more music. Spunk does not make up for lack of music output, no matter how tasty.

they put the masters for each track behind a radiator for 6 months to get that right level of tape damage.

  musicforairports said:

Whats with the hate on TCH? In my opinion it is way a more cohesive/less gimmicky album than geogaddi. I think the main reason their albums take so long is because like any artist they want their music to move forward, yet they don't want to abandon their original musical roots. They have to balance their music out to be their own crafted style and not just an album filled with shoegaze/post-rock with an idm tinge.

Hmmm, geogaddi for me is the most consistent album of theirs for me. I think the gimmicky thing happened when loads of people started reading into everything on the album too much. As they said themselves they made something way more stripped down because of that. Personally I found tch to be lacking in anything for me to latch on to. While it's a nice enough listen I just lost interest. I don't ever really feel the urge to listen to it.

Hey, they could take three or four years and produce the same old shite (hi U2 fans) but the way they've not stayed in the same sub-genre of music keeps everyone, and probably themselves, on their toes. Don't forget, they may surprise us yet with some revamped old material. We just don't know what they're working on.

I think Campfire was an awesome album, not as good as Geogaddi (perhaps the greatest record i've ever heard) but every bit as good as Music Has The Right To Children. Yeah, it's a lot easier on the ear and a great record for cruising to, and obviously made with road trips on the mind, but outstanding none-the-less.

It must be a nightmare being perfectionists cos you'll never be happy, but i for one am quite happy to wait. I do think though, we'll get new material this year, if not a complete album then something linked to Warp 20.