Richard D James SoundCloud - A Gift To The Fans

Yeah, I believe it's new:

https://musicbrainz.org/recording/29da6bd2-ff9f-47b2-a475-79f92855c333

Contrast with e.g. Bank Lullaby:

https://musicbrainz.org/recording/210689c6-c80a-4bde-ae94-4437731e4abe

  On 8/17/2017 at 6:09 PM, DavieAddison said:

ICBYD would be my all time favorite if you include the bonus tracks and remove Ventolin

Totally!  I could live without some of the older tracks on that album too.  I much prefer a lot of the new old stock tracks.  This album has grown on me to a big extent, from one of my least favourites of his to one of my favourites.  The new tracks make it my firm favourite album of his now, I think.  I can't imagine why they didn't originally bump off some of the older tracks for some of the previously-unreleased ones, it would have been much stronger for it.

The two Ventolin releases, taken as a mini album in their own right, are really neat too.  Difficult in places, but so out there that there's nothing else like them.  And the On pair, for that matter.  That whole era.

ICBYD still stands (for me) as RDJ's masterwork; so many of the tracks (and now the newly unearthed ones created in that era that I finally have proper names for) demonstrate just how far ahead musically he was in terms of production and technique.

Yeah, though I wouldn't even say he was ahead of other musicians, so much as he was (and still is, to a certain extent) so idiosyncratic that if he didn't make this music, no-one else would either, ever. Which is a good philosophy to have, largely doing your own thing.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that any of his tracks have what you might call proper names, though... I guess that's the nature of abstract, instrumental music.

Happy Birthday RDJ!!!

  On 8/18/2017 at 3:18 AM, diatoms said:

Happy Birthday RDJ!!!

 

I personally find drukqs and SAW 2 to be his most influential and cohesive. I feel like those albums show how far you can push the art of electronic music making in different directions. A textural/melodic/ambient direction (that to this day remains some of the finest listening on this planet) to the most technical and alien drum programming and song structure and sample manipulation (that to this day remains distinct, I've never heard anything quite like it since).

  On 8/19/2017 at 1:16 AM, Bubba69 said:

I personally find drukqs and SAW 2 to be his most influential and cohesive. I feel like those albums show how far you can push the art of electronic music making in different directions. A textural/melodic/ambient direction (that to this day remains some of the finest listening on this planet) to the most technical and alien drum programming and song structure and sample manipulation (that to this day remains distinct, I've never heard anything quite like it since).

I couldn't agree more!

  On 8/19/2017 at 1:33 PM, Aural Unrest said:

 

  On 8/19/2017 at 1:16 AM, Bubba69 said:

I personally find drukqs and SAW 2 to be his most influential and cohesive. I feel like those albums show how far you can push the art of electronic music making in different directions. A textural/melodic/ambient direction (that to this day remains some of the finest listening on this planet) to the most technical and alien drum programming and song structure and sample manipulation (that to this day remains distinct, I've never heard anything quite like it since).

I couldn't agree more!

 

Also remember being totally blown away by Wax The Nip!!!

  On 8/8/2017 at 9:24 PM, ZoeB said:

Speak for yourself. You just need a partner who's also a musician. Couples who play together stay together!

Well easier said than done. You literally found one who not only likes acid and braindance and IDM but makes it as well, and makes similar music (at least I'm pretty sure she does). Pretty rare.

You should see the module she's currently making me... 

I realise it's absolutely the best "problem" to have when I'm trying to make music (or get day job work done), and she's at her desk next to mine, loudly making much better music, heh...

Found this on youtube.

dunno if its legit, but i love the track regardless

if that's legit, i'll eat my shoe

Its got a nice melody, Im a massive aphex fan, but like all artists. hate to tell you, they make a good share of shit tracks in between the great ones. 

I really like this track on that person's channel. I highly doubt it's Aphex though

Its just opinion really. Aphex has made some shitty tracks. Maybe what I think is shitty others like, who cares, but it's good to know as an artist you can say fuck it and just make music and let shit fall as it may

Yeah he did some shit ones. I've spent most of today sorting out all the analords and new versions of the old albums from the bleep shop, some of the original tracks on ICBYD were not good.

huh!?

whether it's aphex or not hasn't got much to do with whether i think it sounds shitty. it doesn't sound like aphex, thats all. even a shitty aphex track would sound like aphex.

How cool that young RDJ had access to digital multitrack recording equipment in the mid 80s!!

  On 8/27/2017 at 11:41 PM, jejunum said:

How cool that young RDJ had access to digital multitrack recording equipment in the mid 80s!!

Maybe you were being sarcastic but in the case that you weren't, RDJ has said that he doesn't multitrack when he records.  He sequences everything and just hits record on whatever he's using, DAT/laptop/hard disk recorder/etc, then hits play on the sequencer.  He records everything straight to a stereo two-track.  

  On 8/28/2017 at 1:10 AM, aDiscoBall said:

 

  On 8/27/2017 at 11:41 PM, jejunum said:

How cool that young RDJ had access to digital multitrack recording equipment in the mid 80s!!

 

Maybe you were being sarcastic but in the case that you weren't, RDJ has said that he doesn't multitrack when he records.  He sequences everything and just hits record on whatever he's using, DAT/laptop/hard disk recorder/etc, then hits play on the sequencer.  He records everything straight to a stereo two-track.  

 

Really? What's the source on that?

Totally sounds like an aphex track. Get your ears checked

  On 8/28/2017 at 1:46 AM, clarktrent said:

 

  On 8/28/2017 at 1:10 AM, aDiscoBall said:

 

  On 8/27/2017 at 11:41 PM, jejunum said:

How cool that young RDJ had access to digital multitrack recording equipment in the mid 80s!!

 

Maybe you were being sarcastic but in the case that you weren't, RDJ has said that he doesn't multitrack when he records.  He sequences everything and just hits record on whatever he's using, DAT/laptop/hard disk recorder/etc, then hits play on the sequencer.  He records everything straight to a stereo two-track.  

 

Really? What's the source on that?

It's always good to check, so:

  Quote

Everything was originally mastered on standard tape on a hi-fi cassette deck...  It's 99% sequenced.  Strings I'll play, but everything else has to be accurate...  I never keep sounds on disk.  This does record companies' heads in 'cos they like you to remix, but I just don't like to do it.  Sometimes I might spend three or four days to get the sounds together, then do a track with them.  The next time I work on something, if I have a wicked idea for a melody and I'm feeling lazy, it would be too easy to use a disk of drums that I'd used before.  That's why I don't save anything, because I like everything to be different.

 

Over twenty years later:

  Quote

...there were no analogues runnin live on druqks at all...  none of the tracks on syro were multi tracked into the computer , they were all recorded live to 2 track, which is kinda insane but the way i like it.

It all depends on the setup he's using at the time.  There's no right or wrong answer.  Most of his music, I believe, is heavily sequenced, with some live FM pad playing over the top, recorded live, albeit with multiple takes to get one that's spot on.  He doesn't seem to multitrack record all that much, which seems bizarre to me, but there you go.  Then for Drukqs (and I'm guessing the Richard D. James album), it's all samples of analogue gear that he then composes with after the sound design, as far as I can tell.  Yay tracking!  Takes me back...

It seems odd to me that where most people would just record a part, then record the exact same part again to double it, he'll instead buy twice as many modules to do the same thing live:

  Quote

that 1.54 [into Fenix Funk 5] is a conventional europatch but dual path , so like 2 mono synths, so 2 filters,2 osc's 2, vcas etc i rek it was mostly doepfer modules, there wasnt many other eurorack modules out then anyhow, you can make the doeper modules sound much smoother/delux like that, 2 of everything and pan it

I'm not sure how he avoids the problem of running out of hands two twiddle knobs with...  Presumably he uses a lot of automation!

Wow I missed that part with syro. That's cool because that's what i do now too to avoid using computers so it makes me feel more justified.

I knew that Analord was recorded live into a fucking minidisc recorder. That blew my mind at first, the Syro thing is even more mindblowing.

I'd like to hear more about the recording process for the tuss.

OK, my turn: anyone have the citation for any Analords being recorded to MiniDisc? I can find another WATMM thread on it, but again with no citation.