What's up with the apathy toward Drukqs back in 2001?

It's funny trying to remember how I reacted to Drukqs when it came out. It was almost 15 years ago.. I can't remember actively disliking it. More like it never fully clicked with me.

Some things I remember:

I had known Aphex Twin already I think about 7 years at that point already. On was the first track I heard around 1994 or something.

I remember there was a questionnaire in high school music class and I put Polynomial-C as my favorite song (seems kind of weird choice now, but anyway)

I remember blasting Come to Daddy EP from start to finish on every holiday from military service in 1998

I remember playing Ventolin at full blast in some drunken house party around 1999-2000 and somebody cutting it off, lol

I remember all the stuff about the tank, bank vault, etc from way back then

So, I think I was an Aphex fanboy before 2001. But I can't remember playing Drukqs from start to finish since 2001, which is kind odd. I've played almost the whole Autechre discography back to back since 2001 multiple times, so it's not just that it's too long. Also I've listened to SAW2, ICBYD and RDJ dozens of times since then. I may have to listen to the whole album someday soon and see how I feel about it.

I first listened to drukqs 5 years ago (age 16) and my first listen was remarkably underwhelming... the CD arrived the morning I was supposed to leave to England for an student exchange thing. I tried to play it in the car on the way to the airport but my dad wanted to listen to this right wing radio show bullshit... by the time it ended and I chucked the CD in the car's stereo we had already picked up the teacher that was coming with us to england cause he didnt have a car or something, so my dad turned the volume down so low and I couldn't listen to it... then we got on the airplane and I thought "holy shit finally", I carried an ancient discman (who the hell uses a discman in 2010) just to listen to the damn CD but my girlfriend at the time sure as hell wasn't having any of that, no way I'm ignoring her ass for 2 hours (already getting pussywhipped at age 16, sorry tonetta I've failed you), plus planes are really loud and we were sitting right next to the wing... no drukqs for me that day

it's easy...drukqs was ahead of its time (still is imo) and syro is not (or not as much)

I think, among fans, the reception of Drukqs is better simply because everyone has had time to live with it. I recall critics hating it when it came out, and I still don't see that opinion as changed. Very recently, I read something about Syro or some other well-received Afx record where they said something along the lines of "much better than his 2001 mishmash, 'Drukqs.'"

I have personally always considered it a masterpiece, and it has only gotten better with age. I am actually hoping he releases a record that sounds similar or expands on that sound (although he kind of did with Rushup Edge, which outdoes a lot of Drukqs tracks, in my opinion).

  On 4/2/2016 at 11:00 PM, xox said:

it's easy...drukqs was ahead of its time (still is imo) and syro is not (or not as much)

Yes it is

What the hell compares to Syro. It's not the same as drukqs but for what it is, it is unmatched

unique != ahead of its time... it's too soon to say if it was or wasn't ahead of its time anyway (syro)

Month After 9/11, no one was ready to enjoy things yet

(i love drukqs )

  On 4/2/2016 at 11:22 PM, flim said:

I think, among fans, the reception of Drukqs is better simply because everyone has had time to live with it. I recall critics hating it when it came out, and I still don't see that opinion as changed. Very recently, I read something about Syro or some other well-received Afx record where they said something along the lines of "much better than his 2001 mishmash, 'Drukqs.'"

this. i dont think its much of a masterpiece for people outside the afx fandom. its a very long, very chopped album with inconsisten moods that has many great tracks but is just very tiresome. sure, if you listen to it enough times you get used to it, but people who have nothing to gain by listening to drukqs until its easy to digest just won't have the time nor patience. it's overwhelming.

i like drukqs just fine, but find it not properly organized as an album (dickish thing to say, i know, who am i to judge and etc). it feels more like a predecessor to the soundcloud dump - just throwing stuff out there for people to figure out and organize. and i guess it kinda works that way. but i prefer my lps tight.

  On 4/3/2016 at 1:49 AM, Deer said:

Month After 9/11, no one was ready to enjoy things yet

 

This. 9/11 really distorted enjoyment for a while.

b-b-but The Blueprint came out on 9/11

  On 4/3/2016 at 1:20 AM, Zeffolia said:

 

  On 4/2/2016 at 11:00 PM, xox said:

it's easy...drukqs was ahead of its time (still is imo) and syro is not (or not as much)

 

Yes it is

 

What the hell compares to Syro. It's not the same as drukqs but for what it is, it is unmatched

 

I must agree, the textures in syro, the bigness and dryness, I rarely/never hear in other stuff. The way things are mixing (generally) feels original. Now, the BASIC idea behind them though has been done plenty, but if you are nuanced about it, and people who regularly listen to the stuff are, it feels fresh

  On 4/3/2016 at 6:20 AM, Anthro said:

 

  On 4/3/2016 at 1:49 AM, Deer said:

Month After 9/11, no one was ready to enjoy things yet

 

 

This. 9/11 really distorted enjoyment for a while.

 

Yeah this was too bad, because brothomStates's album came out around the same time, too. I wonder if it would have been more widely recognized if it wasn't for the poor timing.

  On 4/3/2016 at 2:32 AM, kinski said:

 

i dont think its much of a masterpiece for people outside the afx fandom. its a very long, very chopped album with inconsisten moods that has many great tracks but is just very tiresome. sure, if you listen to it enough times you get used to it, but people who have nothing to gain by listening to drukqs until its easy to digest just won't have the time nor patience. it's overwhelming.

 

*nods in agreement*

Yeah it's a weird hodgepodge/scrapbook of an album to be sure, requires lots of patience.

I was a fan from around 96 or 97 and I bought it on the day of release. I remember mentioning I had it in my bag at a halloween squat party and someone was like "fuck yeah throw that shit on" and everyone went mental at Vordhosbn. Then it promptly got changed for something else about haflway through Gwarek2 lol.

I also remember The Wire saying something about 'ill advised Cage/Satie pastiches'. I guess if you were already in that world then the acoustic tracks came across as derivative (though I'm pretty sure this was the reason I checked out Cage's prepared piano stuff)

Same as Mokz, I'm not sure I ever listened to it in full in the years after its release. It was only very recently I appreciated the structure (or lack thereof) of the thing as a whole. Kinda reminds me of Swans' Soundtracks for the Blind (which is also something that clicked very recently) in how varied and scrapbook it is.

the piano tracks make drukqs the sprawling epic it is. wtf

  On 4/3/2016 at 2:13 PM, jules said:

the piano tracks make drukqs the sprawling epic it is. wtf

*nods in agreement*

I think many reviews were pretty spot on : Drukqs lacks strong aphex melodies (unlike SAW85-92 or RDJ album) & the record is not really innovative (he has done insane breakbeats since 1995). i know many friends who loves Aphex but dont really dig Drukqs, i guess Drukqs is really a record for WATMM people (like Deadheads or fans of Rush, you see the pictures), indeed i dont really like that Yngwie Masteen feel of a few overproduced tracks & i'm glad Aphex went into something really different with the Analords. Overall, i think its a great record but it sounds a bit pale compared to masterpieces like SAWII, i care because you do or RDJ album. I mean Bucephallus bouncing ball is a catchy, insane & trully wicked track, i dont hear that same genius feel in most Drukqs pieces. My favorite tunes on it are the piano tracks, he did great on those.

  On 4/3/2016 at 2:55 PM, k h o v said:

I mean Bucephallus bouncing ball is a catchy, insane & trully wicked track, i dont hear that same genius feel in most Drukqs pieces. My favorite tunes on it are the piano tracks, he did great on those.

Just wanted to say that the whole Come to Daddy EP/minialbum is way underrated. Bucephalus may be my favorite Aphex track.

  On 4/3/2016 at 3:09 PM, mokz said:

Just wanted to say that the whole Come to Daddy EP/minialbum is way underrated. Bucephalus may be my favorite Aphex track.

+1

best afx album, best album ever

  On 4/3/2016 at 2:55 PM, k h o v said:

Drukqs lacks strong aphex melodies (unlike SAW85-92 or RDJ album) & the record is not really innovative (he has done insane breakbeats since 1995).

I disagree, there a a lot of tracks on there with great pieces of melodies, the only difference with the earlier albums is that the melodies are not repeated for 4-5 minutes.

He just gives you a little taste of them and then moves on to something else (think about the melody in Ziggomatic, it's just awesome but very short). I actually have the same feeling with Syro, where there a masterful melodies but used very shortly, making you want more. It feels like the new jazz, where everything changes constantly.

I actually love both kinds of music, and I believe he'll never go back to making tracks like in the early 90's where one melody gets repeated over and over, I just think you can't get away with that nowadays and he probably finds it too boring to make those kind of tracks now...

So, I had some time to spare and listened to the whole shebang. It's a bit tiring to listen to me because I have to change the listening mode like every other track. The hardest part was Gwarek2 just after Mt Saint Michel. If I picked my favorite tracks from the album and created my own playlist I think I could listen to it a lot. Maybe I need to do that.

Anyway, strangely soundwise reminded me of Björk's Vespertine from the same year (for example Pagan Poetry) and also Do You Know Squarepusher? from the next year, which also goes from full on drill'n'bass to weird alien soundscapes like Mutilation Colony.

So my conclusion: Yeah, I like it but for me it's too varied and long to listen to very often because I just feel pretty exhausted now.

Cock/ver10 into Avril 14th and then into mt saint michel has to be the best album sequence ever! That alone makes this one of the best albums. Only 1 problem is that I think ziggomatic should have been the ender. Apart from that 10/10

That "new jazz" thing, yeah, that's what i like in Syro (& in some Drukqs tunes, like ziggomatic) but i always regarded AFX as one of the best melody maker of the 90s & i kinda miss that ultra catchy feeling while going truly weirdo (his strenght i think). but i truly like the remixes done in that drill&bass style, like the Baby Ford or the 808 states ones, but as a double cd, i think its pretty exhausting.