Confederation Trough / Rushup Edge

And here we are with the last week in the RDJ cycle! It's been an amazing ride, and it's fantastic to see all the different views and opinions on different albums from our favorite musician. I hope it was as enjoyable for you as it was for me, I really did not expect such a turnout, but I'm glad and thankful that we did.

Here are the two releases by the mysterious (lol) Tuss, Confederation Trough and Rushup Edge!

 

I wish there were more music like The Tuss.

I really love the ending to GX1 Solo. I guess that's one of the most expensive synthesized noises ever recorded (since, as far as I know, it can only be produced on the GX1).

My Rushup Edge review:

After the eleven hit and miss Analord EPs, it's good to hear Richard D. James get back on track, even if he's felt the need to assume yet another alias to do so. Calling himself The Tuss this time, he's released Confederation Trough EP and an album of about the same modest length, Rushup Edge. I'm ignoring the EP until it comes out as a sensibly priced download, so on with the album review.

Rushup Edge combines the melancholic atmosphere of Analord 02 (Goodbye Rute) with the manic percussion of Analord 10 (Last Rushup 10, Rushup I Bank 12). So far so good. He's even managed to shed some of his more annoying Analord habits, such as stopping and starting the music in the middle and calling minute long snippets of bleepy sounds music.

Rushup I Bank 12 is a standout track. It features manipulated and detuned samples of the kind of piano playing that electronic music is rarely treated to, coupled with James's signature manic percussion. This combination makes for the kind of track that insists you drink copious amounts of caffeine, crank up the volume and start air drumming until you accidentally hurt yourself (yes, I've done this).

The problem with liking any of James's music is that it becomes difficult to be satisfied with anything else. James combines his unique style of note programming, choice of sounds, manipulation, destruction, idiosyncratic song structure and plain incorrect tuning to come up with music so far removed from popular music's vocal driven verse-chorus structure that you'll feel lost at first, but it steadily grows on you until eventually it becomes the only kind of music that can satisfy you.

In that context, Rushup Edge is a good logical progression of James's existing style, pushed further in its own unique direction. I'd recommend it to fans of his releases as Aphex Twin and AFX, but not to the faint of heart.

Xyrofen, what was that all about?

Rushup I Bank is definitely a standout track but Synthacon 9 really does it for me. In the top 5 RDJ tracks of all time imo, it makes me feel like Optimus Prime break dancing in an inter-galactic club stationed in the center of the universe.

  On 6/28/2010 at 11:21 AM, Bewarethefriendlyfoil said:

Xyrofen, what was that all about?

I took a dance with Confederation Trough.

i might spin these on the turntable later today.

good call

Argh, I still haven't had a chance to digest my thoughts on Analords 6-11 and here we go.

The Tuss stuff is odd for me - I know the whole point of doing it under a pseudonym and all the denials was to try and get people to listen to the music, as opposed to who was doing it - but it's very much had the *opposite* effect on me. That half the time, I'm listening to it, I'm very conscious of trying to spot little AFX-isms that will give the game away, and it's sometimes hard to lose myself in the music and just let it flow. Which is a shame, as both of these records are very lovely pieces of work.

Geeky muso question: WTF time signature is GX1 Solo in? Is it 12/8?

  On 6/28/2010 at 10:41 AM, Bewarethefriendlyfoil said:

I wish there were more music like The Tuss.

  On 6/28/2010 at 11:04 AM, ZoeB said:

The problem with liking any of James's music is that it becomes difficult to be satisfied with anything else. James combines his unique style of note programming, choice of sounds, manipulation, destruction, idiosyncratic song structure and plain incorrect tuning to come up with music so far removed from popular music's vocal driven verse-chorus structure that you'll feel lost at first, but it steadily grows on you until eventually it becomes the only kind of music that can satisfy you.

 

I do understand why people feel that way. I thought this was the case with me as well for a while, but I still discovered loads of other music that I really enjoy without thinking "there's something missing in this song" or something like that. It took a little while, though!

I love the tuss very much but I have trouble buying it as the cover artwork is just so sloppy. Its funny yeah but taking 3 photos of your last vacation and adding some font does not make a cover artwork in my book

  On 6/28/2010 at 2:19 PM, o00o said:

I love the tuss very much but I have trouble buying it as the cover artwork is just so sloppy. Its funny yeah but taking 3 photos of your last vacation and adding some font does not make a cover artwork in my book

sorry man, dunno if you're trolling or what.

if you're serious, you're completely missing the point

  On 6/28/2010 at 2:33 PM, oscillik said:

  On 6/28/2010 at 2:19 PM, o00o said:

I love the tuss very much but I have trouble buying it as the cover artwork is just so sloppy. Its funny yeah but taking 3 photos of your last vacation and adding some font does not make a cover artwork in my book

sorry man, dunno if you're trolling or what.

if you're serious, you're completely missing the point

I like the release very much the artwork just looks kind of cheap

I mean look at this:

and this:

I understand the appeal of good album art and all, but honestly. Who listens to jpegs?

For a work that he's trying so hard to get the focus *off* the author and onto the music again, why's he gonna distract you with pretty pictures?

  On 6/28/2010 at 2:33 PM, oscillik said:

  On 6/28/2010 at 2:19 PM, o00o said:

I love the tuss very much but I have trouble buying it as the cover artwork is just so sloppy. Its funny yeah but taking 3 photos of your last vacation and adding some font does not make a cover artwork in my book

sorry man, dunno if you're trolling or what.

if you're serious, you're completely missing the point

i reckon its pure genius. Sheep are well cool now.

  On 6/28/2010 at 2:49 PM, Masonic Boom said:

I understand the appeal of good album art and all, but honestly. Who listens to jpegs?

 

For a work that he's trying so hard to get the focus *off* the author and onto the music again, why's he gonna distract you with pretty pictures?

if he is all about the music and the artwork does not matter why the drukqs cover that even has art inside and why the binder? sure the music is most important but when I buy something I want something pretty to look at or I could buy a download instead. its just sloppy artwork to use the same image all over again on every vinyl

I love Rushup Edge, it's like a warmer version of Drukqs. But Confederation Trough can suck my big fat tuss. Most boring release ever.

  On 6/28/2010 at 2:53 PM, o00o said:

  On 6/28/2010 at 2:49 PM, Masonic Boom said:

I understand the appeal of good album art and all, but honestly. Who listens to jpegs?

 

For a work that he's trying so hard to get the focus *off* the author and onto the music again, why's he gonna distract you with pretty pictures?

 

if he is all about the music and the artwork does not matter why the drukqs cover that even has art inside and why the binder? sure the music is most important but when I buy something I want something pretty to look at or I could buy a download instead. its just sloppy artwork to use the same image all over again on every vinyl

Did you not stop to think that maybe the minimal presentation of the Tuss *was* the gimmick?

That perhaps, after all these limited edition, triple gatefold vinyl, ring binder formats, they had got a bit sick of the weird, fetishy, collector-scum way that people obsessed about these objects, and wanted to *refocus* the attention on the music?

Everything about the Tuss is saying don't look at the man behind the curtain, don't look at the author, don't look at the super-limited-edition vinyl - just listen to the tunes. It has an internal logic of its own, it seems quite well thought out.

I think he didn't give it too much thought and just thought it was funny to put sheep on the cover.

i'm not gonna buy the next autechre release if they use a typeface that is anything other than Comic Sans. no matter how good the music is.

edit: then again, i refuse to watch any film by Guilermo Del Toro, simply because he favours the voice over version of Blade Runner

  On 6/28/2010 at 2:05 PM, Berk said:

  On 6/28/2010 at 11:04 AM, ZoeB said:

The problem with liking any of James's music is that it becomes difficult to be satisfied with anything else. James combines his unique style of note programming, choice of sounds, manipulation, destruction, idiosyncratic song structure and plain incorrect tuning to come up with music so far removed from popular music's vocal driven verse-chorus structure that you'll feel lost at first, but it steadily grows on you until eventually it becomes the only kind of music that can satisfy you.

 

I do understand why people feel that way. I thought this was the case with me as well for a while, but I still discovered loads of other music that I really enjoy without thinking "there's something missing in this song" or something like that. It took a little while, though!

I am so relieved that other Tuss fans feel this way. I've been in a huge musical slump for like two years. Synthacon, Rushup, etc. have pidgeonholed my tastes and much of the ambient/electronic/whatever I used to dig makes me feel bored and feverish while afx makes me feel stimulated and confident. Not to mention I've lost a lot of love for rock/pop music.

Seriously, not kidding, the Tuss ruined my life. :(

really, that is not sarcasm. I look forward to getting out of this slump.

It's also affected my music-making because it's rare that I can just relax and jam and be happy with what I've made. Instead I stew in self-criticism and worry about how repetitious my music is when what I want to make is progressive, event-filled, forward moving shit like on Rushup. And Druqks.