Aphex Twin - Melodies from Mars

  On 9/24/2014 at 5:10 PM, MassfreeKid said:

 

  On 9/24/2014 at 4:15 PM, Joyrex said:

 

 

What Richard needs is someone trustworthy with a good ear/understanding of his music to go through his archives, and do a few rounds of selections, get back to Richard, have Richard select the ones he feels meet his standards, etc.

 

 

Mike Paradinas, anyone? It's already his job at Planet Mu and he's collaborated with Richard before. Why not?

 

Well, for one, I would imagine Mike is pretty busy as it is...

  On 9/24/2014 at 5:40 PM, Joyrex said:

 

  On 9/24/2014 at 5:10 PM, MassfreeKid said:

 

  On 9/24/2014 at 4:15 PM, Joyrex said:

 

 

What Richard needs is someone trustworthy with a good ear/understanding of his music to go through his archives, and do a few rounds of selections, get back to Richard, have Richard select the ones he feels meet his standards, etc.

 

 

Mike Paradinas, anyone? It's already his job at Planet Mu and he's collaborated with Richard before. Why not?

 

Well, for one, I would imagine Mike is pretty busy as it is...

 

He must be pretty busy, you're right. But too busy to work on Planet Mu's best selling album in years? I mean, it would be a good opportunity for Planet Mu... But what do I know anyway, it's just a suggestion really. No idea if Mike and Richard are still in touch.

  On 9/24/2014 at 6:06 PM, MassfreeKid said:

 

  On 9/24/2014 at 5:40 PM, Joyrex said:

 

  On 9/24/2014 at 5:10 PM, MassfreeKid said:

 

  On 9/24/2014 at 4:15 PM, Joyrex said:

 

 

What Richard needs is someone trustworthy with a good ear/understanding of his music to go through his archives, and do a few rounds of selections, get back to Richard, have Richard select the ones he feels meet his standards, etc.

 

 

Mike Paradinas, anyone? It's already his job at Planet Mu and he's collaborated with Richard before. Why not?

 

Well, for one, I would imagine Mike is pretty busy as it is...

 

 

He must be pretty busy, you're right. But too busy to work on Planet Mu's best selling album in years? I mean, it would be a good opportunity for Planet Mu... But what do I know anyway, it's just a suggestion really. No idea if Mike and Richard are still in touch.

 

I seriously doubt Richard would release anything on Planet Mu - not that Mu is a bad label or anything... but I think WARP would be the logical choice. If Mike did something like this, it would be for a fixed fee (aka professional services).

  On 9/24/2014 at 6:08 PM, Joyrex said:

 

  On 9/24/2014 at 6:06 PM, MassfreeKid said:

 

  On 9/24/2014 at 5:40 PM, Joyrex said:

 

  On 9/24/2014 at 5:10 PM, MassfreeKid said:

 

  On 9/24/2014 at 4:15 PM, Joyrex said:

 

 

What Richard needs is someone trustworthy with a good ear/understanding of his music to go through his archives, and do a few rounds of selections, get back to Richard, have Richard select the ones he feels meet his standards, etc.

 

 

Mike Paradinas, anyone? It's already his job at Planet Mu and he's collaborated with Richard before. Why not?

 

Well, for one, I would imagine Mike is pretty busy as it is...

 

 

He must be pretty busy, you're right. But too busy to work on Planet Mu's best selling album in years? I mean, it would be a good opportunity for Planet Mu... But what do I know anyway, it's just a suggestion really. No idea if Mike and Richard are still in touch.

 

I seriously doubt Richard would release anything on Planet Mu - not that Mu is a bad label or anything... but I think WARP would be the logical choice. If Mike did something like this, it would be for a fixed fee (aka professional services).

 

Ah ok, I was hoping Richard would sometimes release some of his music on another label, but if Warp is the way to go, then let's forget about Mike Paradinas. At least, we agree that Mike would have a good ear and the right mindset to assemble a great album from Aphex's archives.

Didnt Luke Vibert help with the selection of Analord tracks?

He's the only one i can think of that knows his stuff, loves his stuff, knows him well, has an ear and is trustworthy .

I have a hunch he's heard a good chunk of the vaults anyway

  On 9/24/2014 at 5:10 PM, MassfreeKid said:

 

  On 9/24/2014 at 4:15 PM, Joyrex said:

 

 

 

What Richard needs is someone trustworthy with a good ear/understanding of his music to go through his archives, and do a few rounds of selections, get back to Richard, have Richard select the ones he feels meet his standards, etc.

 

Mike Paradinas, anyone? It's already his job at Planet Mu and he's collaborated with Richard before. Why not?

  On 9/24/2014 at 6:21 PM, Ivan Ooze said:

 

  On 9/24/2014 at 5:10 PM, MassfreeKid said:

 

  On 9/24/2014 at 4:15 PM, Joyrex said:

 

 

 

What Richard needs is someone trustworthy with a good ear/understanding of his music to go through his archives, and do a few rounds of selections, get back to Richard, have Richard select the ones he feels meet his standards, etc.

 

Mike Paradinas, anyone? It's already his job at Planet Mu and he's collaborated with Richard before. Why not?

I'll do it! :p

 

LOL, I bet you would!

  On 9/24/2014 at 5:10 PM, MassfreeKid said:

 

  On 9/24/2014 at 4:15 PM, Joyrex said:

 

 

 

What Richard needs is someone trustworthy with a good ear/understanding of his music to go through his archives, and do a few rounds of selections, get back to Richard, have Richard select the ones he feels meet his standards, etc.

 

Mike Paradinas, anyone? It's already his job at Planet Mu and he's collaborated with Richard before. Why not?

This is why I suggested a Warp employee to it, as someone could be tasked with doing this as their job, and it sounds like it would be a fulltime job for a good few weeks, going through all the old DATs and compact cassette tapes (which don't last forever), transferring it all into a neatly ordered filesystem on a hard drive in CD quality, then making an offsite backup for safekeeping. That part alone would be pretty mind numbing work, but as a paying job it's not the worst, or alternatively a fan doing it would likely do it for cheap or even free just for the privilege of getting to hear it all. But I'd trust a Warp employee (especially after Syro didn't leak) more than a fan to not leak it all. Not leaking it is pretty important, and someone with a vested interest in the commercial success of such a release would be more likely to respect that. For one thing, some people would be less likely to buy it if they could get it illegally for free; for another, getting access to all the tracks would diminish the artist's reputation of never making sub-par tracks. (Every artist's B-sides do this to a certain extent. If anything, the Joyrex tape seemed less likely to diminish James' reputation than Gak, as although the Joyrex tape's tracks mostly weren't his best material, they were certainly interesting curve balls that showed very interesting directions he went in then apparently discarded without releasing anything from those sessions. Don't even get me started on Melodies From Mars, which contains melodies better than most of his released work. That leak just improved his reputation.) Anyway, after archiving it all, then you've got to go through and pick the best tracks. But I suspect that wouldn't be such a daunting task for James himself if everything was all in one place, in one medium, easy to sort though.

It does mildly concern me that presumably many good artists (in various different media) are sitting upon a lot of good unreleased material without a backup strategy. Master tapes will eventually corrode.

I doubt crowdsourcing it in any way would work. As Joyrex suggested, it's too much like releasing it. Which is a shame, as polls on favourite Analord tracks, for example, made for playlists that I for one would have preferred to Chosen Lords, which is very nice in its own right, but missing a few lovely tracks.

OK, forget what I said about Warp. He sounds like he needs an archivist more than someone to choose tracks, but one he can trust.

Maybe Brian Tregaskin could help.

Richard should just label tracks as 'releasable' or 'unreleasable' when he finishes them. That way he knows what stuff is good without having to listen to it ^_^

It would probably also help if he slowed down production for a bit...

Re Mike P, I wonder if there is any unreleased Knob Twiddlers material knocking about that they could put out?

  On 9/24/2014 at 6:49 PM, Tricone RC said:

Re Mike P, I wonder if there is any unreleased Knob Twiddlers material knocking about that they could put out?

I kind of look at Melodies from Mars as some unreleased Knob Twiddlers material, only devoid of Mike P. But yeah, who knows how many other songs they wrote during that psychedelic weekend!

I always feel like "Vodka" would have fit perfectly on MFM

This thread is mental, and it's doing my head in (in a good way)

Wish RDJ would REALLY say fuck all the nonsense of "releasing an album" (promo, interviews, meeting with label, choosing artwork, blah blah etc etc....) and use the .onion site to release collections of shit with no organization whatsoever. just drop a fucking load on the deep web.

I mean, I guess the only reason to properly "release" stuff is to make some money and provide that dividing line/closure he was talking about. but come on, you know hes already made closure on multiple styles without ever releasing them. Just dumping it would provide that line while bypassing the whole process of everyone looking at him and asking him questions. Teh ultimate expression of: "Here you go, just leave me alone"

  On 9/22/2014 at 10:41 PM, psn said:

6. Steinvord album

Grant gave up on Rephlex so we will never get that now. This really sucks. He should have waited for it and for the Monolith release as well. Both releses were planned as mentioned at the interview, they should release these 2 records at least, before ending it. They know people love them. Aleksi and Jodrey have released their stuff somewhere else but it would have been better in Rephlex. I don't know what Monolith will do and I don't see Steinvord giving a flying fuck unless it's put out on Rephlex.

  On 9/24/2014 at 9:49 PM, colunga said:

Wish RDJ would REALLY say fuck all the nonsense of "releasing an album" (promo, interviews, meeting with label, choosing artwork, blah blah etc etc....) and use the .onion site to release collections of shit with no organization whatsoever. just drop a fucking load on the deep web.

 

I mean, I guess the only reason to properly "release" stuff is to make some money and provide that dividing line/closure he was talking about. but come on, you know hes already made closure on multiple styles without ever releasing them. Just dumping it would provide that line while bypassing the whole process of everyone looking at him and asking him questions. Teh ultimate expression of: "Here you go, just leave me alone"

Why doesn't he just create a bandcamp then? Or releases his stuff digitally only under the Rephlex label? He says he wants now to reach as much people as possible, but he has said he hates the hassle of record labels... why not get a bandcamp/Rephlex digital release only? And with the later you would get more amazing artists getting more noticed thanks to him. After 13 years, he's getting at the top of the charts again, clearly people love Aphex Twin and anything he releases anywhere, regardless if it's in Warp or not, it's going to be a success, so why the hell would you keep getting ripped off by Warp? Just look at the humongous list of stuff he has to pay arround, and who knows if they told him everything. If he goes the bandcamp/Rephlex route, he would control absolutely everything and be totally free, while continuing to be financially set because people all over the world is going to pay for anything he does.

Warp didn't rip off anyone. They spent a lot of money telling music fans that the album exists.

  On 9/25/2014 at 10:21 AM, ZoeB said:

Warp didn't rip off anyone. They spent a lot of money telling music fans that the album exists.

Which is totally unnecessary, since he could have announced it on bandcamp/Rephlex and it would have gotten worldwide headlines anyway. He's an stablished name, he's going to be on the news. Being on Warp would make sense for artists than need promotion because they aren't as known. Aphex Twin is still an huge name, it doesn't need Warp PR at all.

  On 9/25/2014 at 1:35 PM, pissflaps said:

 

  On 9/25/2014 at 10:21 AM, ZoeB said:

Warp didn't rip off anyone. They spent a lot of money telling music fans that the album exists.

Which is totally unnecessary, since he could have announced it on bandcamp/Rephlex and it would have gotten worldwide headlines anyway. He's an stablished name, he's going to be on the news. Being on Warp would make sense for artists than need promotion because they aren't as known. Aphex Twin is still an huge name, it doesn't need Warp PR at all.

 

totally agree! ;-)

I'm pretty sure Syro sold more units than the Caustic Window LP. While I'm not sure how much of that is because it was advertised, it probably didn't hurt.

  On 9/25/2014 at 1:53 PM, ZoeB said:

I'm pretty sure Syro sold more units than the Caustic Window LP. While I'm not sure how much of that is because it was advertised, it probably didn't hurt.

mhmmm... i'm not sure - Syro is also leaked... but i can't confirm it

Would be so nice on Rephlex.

(and regardless of what's been said/ speculated, on their current website (Discogs) there is no mention of it being defunct)

sorry mate its confirmed somewhere ^
check the rephlex subforum

Even though I like the bandcamp idea. I have to say that at least here in NYC, a LOT more people know about there being a new Aphex release just because of the promo. People who would never normally mention Aphex - are now talking about him. Hype-heads who only scan the upper edges of the release radar (i.e. official physical record label releases that actually show up in record stores on Tuesdays). There is a certain percentage of people - the type of people who are like "Oh Cool remember that scary video Come to Papa? dudes got a new album!" - who bought the album when they would have NEVER bought anything by The Tuss or Caustic Window.