Aphex Twin: Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2 EP

  On 1/26/2015 at 8:14 PM, skytree said:

Was honestly quite confused with this release after 3 listens. The obvious loops are so amateurly cut that they seem like a grinning "fuck you" to anyone listening even somewhat closely - they remove a sense of continuous space and fluid arrangement in the tracks, and honestly seem rather unnecessary given the concept of the EP, as do other clearly edited portions. Perhaps it's just a joke, but if so the punchline seems lost in translation.

 

There are also quite a few tracks with peaking throughout, which sounds frankly like the recordings were made too hot (similar to some of his early recordings). He obviously knows better, or simply prefers the distortion. For me it just renders those portions unlistenable, but I suppose I respect his appreciation for really grating dissonance and murkiness. Sounds only a mother could love but someone's got to...

 

Compositionally I can't help but notice a significant difference in complexity and emotiveness between these tracks and the interludes a long time ago on Drukqs. It feels like these were made first, not ten years later, and none feel very complete. So much more that he could have done with this concept that I'm quite surprised he and Warp decided to release it. The whole thing has left me scratching my head and wondering if this really is just a big joke?

 

I know this is probably a deeply unpopular opinion on here. He's welcome to do whatever the fuck he likes at this point. There are great bits here and there, and reading about how some of the machines were built made it worthwhile personally. Fascinating work in that regard and immense amounts of potential - just only see glimmers of that here and it would be great to see him or someone else do it better...soundwise I love the character of the prepared, handbuilt instruments vs. mechanical precision of the Red Bull machines that Squarepusher tried his hand at (and did quite well).

my main gripe here is I really love the music but cannot bring myself to listen to it becuase he used the wrong micpre on the last track, shame.

Also the waveform is not to my liking, I liked it before I saw the waveform, now I dont but I do actually really like it.

I could overlook this if it were recorded 24bit but its not, so no hope with this one even though I do actually love it.

  On 1/26/2015 at 9:29 PM, chops727 said:

 

  On 1/26/2015 at 8:14 PM, skytree said:

 

Was honestly quite confused with this release after 3 listens. The obvious loops are so amateurly cut that they seem like a grinning "fuck you" to anyone listening even somewhat closely - they remove a sense of continuous space and fluid arrangement in the tracks, and honestly seem rather unnecessary given the concept of the EP, as do other clearly edited portions. Perhaps it's just a joke, but if so the punchline seems lost in translation.

 

There are also quite a few tracks with peaking throughout, which sounds frankly like the recordings were made too hot (similar to some of his early recordings). He obviously knows better, or simply prefers the distortion. For me it just renders those portions unlistenable, but I suppose I respect his appreciation for really grating dissonance and murkiness. Sounds only a mother could love but someone's got to...

 

Compositionally I can't help but notice a significant difference in complexity and emotiveness between these tracks and the interludes a long time ago on Drukqs. It feels like these were made first, not ten years later, and none feel very complete. So much more that he could have done with this concept that I'm quite surprised he and Warp decided to release it. The whole thing has left me scratching my head and wondering if this really is just a big joke?

 

I know this is probably a deeply unpopular opinion on here. He's welcome to do whatever the fuck he likes at this point. There are great bits here and there, and reading about how some of the machines were built made it worthwhile personally. Fascinating work in that regard and immense amounts of potential - just only see glimmers of that here and it would be great to see him or someone else do it better...soundwise I love the character of the prepared, handbuilt instruments vs. mechanical precision of the Red Bull machines that Squarepusher tried his hand at (and did quite well).

my main gripe here is I really love the music but cannot bring myself to listen to it becuase he used the wrong micpre on the last track, shame.

Also the waveform is not to my liking, I liked it before I saw the waveform, now I dont but I do actually really like it.

I could overlook this if it were recorded 24bit but its not, so no hope with this one even though I do actually love it.

While this EP is not my favorite thing, I can't imagine judging any music by any of that criteria. Weirdo.

  On 1/23/2015 at 3:08 AM, bunyip said:

Anyone that wants to hear the digital file at the equivalent speed shift that one gets from playing a 33.33 rpm record at 45 rpm should speed their file pitch up 5.12 semitones.

  On 1/26/2015 at 9:29 PM, chops727 said:

 

 

my main gripe here is I really love the music but cannot bring myself to listen to it becuase he used the wrong micpre on the last track, shame.

Also the waveform is not to my liking, I liked it before I saw the waveform, now I dont but I do actually really like it.

I could overlook this if it were recorded 24bit but its not, so no hope with this one even though I do actually love it.

 

You're completely kidding right? If so

  On 1/26/2015 at 9:29 PM, chops727 said:

Also the waveform is not to my liking, I liked it before I saw the waveform, now I dont but I do actually really like it.

 

this is sig worthy

i still like it better that Tom's robots, it feels less pop and more like jamming with robots, not giving serious fucks and having a good time. it reminds me of mussic is rotten 1note for some reason, that i like very very very fucking mush, but in richrads style.

its a laugh he released suck experimental stuff like a proper EP, and uploaded all 90s goodies for free on soudcloud. if he did it another way, and released 2/3xLP of "Unselected ambient worls/box set" and just uploaded acoustics on soundcloud hed have lots of money more. its such a richards way the king

  On 1/26/2015 at 11:08 PM, ghOsty said:

 

  On 1/26/2015 at 9:29 PM, chops727 said:

Also the waveform is not to my liking, I liked it before I saw the waveform, now I dont but I do actually really like it.

this is sig worthy

 

its just... beautiful

Looking forward to hearing this when I can afford the cd in a few weeks. Are people comparing it to music for robots because it was played by robots or because it's similar music?

ridiculous! but because played by robots...

That's so fresh that Tom & Rich are playing with musical robots.

HOLY FUCK. To anyone not aware, Richard is posting TONS of tracks right now on soundcloud (its legit). So beautiful.

http://www.factmag.com/2015/01/26/early-aphex-twin-demos-appear-on-soundcloud/

https://soundcloud.com/user487363530/1-chink-101

lol banned

WATMM: Aphex forum for Aphex fans who hate Aphex

next big thing will be VHS showing remote orchestra of robots with afeks faces controlling acoustic instruments on swinging piano, afeks levitating in druid robes over lasers n shit

  On 1/26/2015 at 11:32 PM, baph said:

lol banned

ha. me? Just trying to get the word out. I noticed there wasn't a thread dedicated to this. People are talking about it under the old 'mysterious afx soundcloud'. which was referring to another account (I think?) anyway. tons of good tracks. He has been posting all day. I missed it until now so I figured others did as well.

https://soundcloud.com/user487363530

he's patently clear how he likes old badly made jungle and techno [where the sampled loops are often out of time or worse] and listened to squarepusher's robot e.p and thought it was shit.

wtf are you guys smoking weed? :D

  On 1/26/2015 at 11:43 PM, fenton said:

 

wtf are you guys smoking weed? :D

i do

  On 1/26/2015 at 11:43 PM, fenton said:

he's patently clear how he likes old badly made jungle and techno [where the sampled loops are often out of time or worse] and listened to squarepusher's robot e.p and thought it was shit.

 

 

wtf are you guys smoking weed? :D

See, this is why context is helpful. It's patently clear if you read absolutely everything he's said obsessively, then subtract the 50% that's horse shit. He has some fittingly peculiar preferences that he's welcome to. Still thinking it might be possible that he achieved this mechanically in real time. It's a weird subjective gray area of creative depth I guess. Overall, things like that knock me out of my attentiveness when I'm listening (as is the case with other facets of many of the tracks on this EP). Everyones' ears are different - I admittedly like "pretty" sounds more than grating ones and that's a personal bias/preference.

i think, but i'm not going to check right now, that he went on about both of those things in more than one interview.

or else i wouldn't have remembered it.

p.s. i hate loosely looped breaks and i loved squarepusher's robot music so fuck you afx gimme your tank

  On 1/26/2015 at 9:11 PM, auxien said:

 

  On 1/26/2015 at 9:06 PM, apriorion said:

To be clear, I'm NOT asking anyone around here to justify anything. I just like thinking about the things I like, and I enjoy hearing other people's explanations for their different perspectives. It helps me to think more deeply about the stuff I like. On the other hand, pure aesthetic relativists are as annoying as fuck, too, so you have that. That's just my humble opinion, which I should never have to justify to anyone.

 

Agreed! It seems everyone's been having a nice discussion thus far.

 

  On 1/26/2015 at 8:59 PM, AnalogueCreamPie said:

Reading this thread is frustrating & entertaining in equal measures. Why anyone should have to justify their tastes & opinions when it comes to music is beyond me. It's the most subjective thing in the world. God forbid someone couldn't like an Aphex release! I've seen perfectly reasonable posts here with someone explaining that this new EP is not really to their taste, and occasionally they then try to explain why it's not really to their taste. The response? Anger, vitriol and a sincere desire to make these people stand up in the court of 'braindance' & explain themselves. Why? It's not disrespectful to dislike some of Aphex's material. He doesn't care. Aphex is one of my fave artists, and I probably like about 95% of the stuff he does. That's more than the percentage of stuff I like from my other fave artists which is usually around 80%. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO LIKE EVERYTHING EVERYONE DOES, EVEN IF MOST OF THE TIME YOU DO.

 

Dissent isn't being forced out. We're all just chatting...this is a forum, ya know. I only like maybe 50ish% of what RDJ does, honestly. So yeah.

 

Actually the tone of some people's responses seemed to be peppered with anger & despair. Of course discussion, healthy debate and even heated debate is totally fine, but seriously some folk just need to calm down, chill out, relax and take it easy.

  On 1/27/2015 at 12:23 AM, fenton said:

i think, but i'm not going to check right now, that he went on about both of those things in more than one interview.

 

 

or else i wouldn't have remembered it.

 

p.s. i hate loosely looped breaks and i loved squarepusher's robot music so fuck you afx gimme your tank

I guess part of the point is that he and Warp have been very specific about communicating that this EP was made exclusively by computer controlled robots. When you listen closely to some of the tracks (and it's not just the loops), that doesn't seem factual. Doing otherwise just kinda cheapens it for me but it's possibly because I just wasn't in on the joke (didn't recall reading what you cited), and maybe this one's not just for him, but for the superfans. That's really my only point here. I like my shit WYSIWYG. There's enough fuckery and lying in this world as it is...given his 9/11 rant he knows that just as well. /preference

  On 1/27/2015 at 12:33 AM, skytree said:

 

  On 1/27/2015 at 12:23 AM, fenton said:

i think, but i'm not going to check right now, that he went on about both of those things in more than one interview.

 

 

or else i wouldn't have remembered it.

 

p.s. i hate loosely looped breaks and i loved squarepusher's robot music so fuck you afx gimme your tank

I guess part of the point is that he and Warp have been very specific about communicating that this EP was made exclusively by computer controlled robots. When you listen closely to some of the tracks (and it's not just the loops), that just doesn't seem factually correct. Doing otherwise just kinda cheapens it for me. That's really my only point here. I like my shit WYSIWYG. /preference

 

some people say all analords are done on computer, and its all a big joke. kinda richard style.

honestly never noticed loops untill i read about it here)). (but i havent listened it properly actually). maybe breaks/piano are just gated in the end as someone suggested? or it is 100% just loops?

  On 1/27/2015 at 12:38 AM, Mag said:

 

honestly never noticed loops untill i read about it here)). (but i havent listened it properly actually). maybe breaks/piano are just gated in the end as someone suggested? or it is 100% just loops?some people say all analords are done on computer, and its all a big joke. kinda richard style.

That would actually have been a pretty great experiment to see if anyone can genuinely tell the difference anymore.

Given how precise he said he needed to be when placing the beaters and various objects, maybe it just wasn't technically possible with his custom rig to run sequences for extended periods.

That doesn't really explain the reversing or hot levels but that's really just nitpicking comparatively.

So after not really digging Syro, Boomkat likes Aphex again.

*140g LP in spined sleeve with download code card* Ok, this is more like it - a crackshot slab from the crackpot producer putting his computer controlled acoustic orchestra thru its paces. As promised or alluded to in various interviews around last year's 'Syro' LP, he's done a proper Pierre (Bastien, Henry, Schaeffer) and manufactured a whole mechanical band of things that hit other things - mainly pianos, drums and gongs - to make a very pleasing sound indeed. It's the sound of an artist exerting optimal control over his instruments but allowing for, or even cultivating the natural infidelities of syncopation and harmonic dissonance in a way that's rarely, if ever, been achieved quite to these standards. Breaking down to thirteen tracks, each between 20 seconds and 5 mins long, he explores that stripped-down palette to its fullest, funkiest, whether accelerating the aesthetics of Gruppo di Improvvisazione and Portishead in the brooding opener, 'diskhat ALL prepared1mixed 13', putting solo pianists out of work with the likes of 'piano un1 arpej' and 'piano un10 it happened', or communing a radiance of gamelan-like keys and metallic tones in its most curious highlight, 'disk prep calrec2 barn dance (slo)'. The closest comparison we could make is with the breaksploits of his 'i Care Because You Do' album mixed with some kind of abstracted Italian Library Record funk aesthetic, which is pretty mad, and pretty damn good if you ask us...

I listened to this record all day yesterday and it finally clicked with me. I really like it. I hope we can hear more of this type of stuff from him, although I do want something a little longer next time around.

hat5c is pretty great.