Can Richard still make good music?

This is a question I've been asking myself for a little while. Syro dates as far back as what, 2007 or so right? The Soundcloud dump is obviously a decade or two old. The CW LP is 1996 or something, I forget. Selek EP is from 2006-08, and (from the looks of things, could be wrong) Cheetah might consist of some tracks from the Soundcloud dump. And even Melodies From Mars might get an official release. Why all the looking back? Where are the new tracks?

My question is, when was the last time we've all heard truly mindblowing material from Mr. Twin that wasn't nearly a decade old? I haven't heard a release featuring fairly recent tracks from him that was super impressive since Rushup Edge, I think. CCAI, contrary to some users' opinions, is just okay to me for the most part. Syro is great, but again, it's fairly old archival material.

I have the opinion that he might not be able to prepare really BANGING MENTAL tracks anymore. The dumping of stuff from his "prime period" is really something, and I'm grateful for it, but it does leave me wondering about his current skills. Can 2016 Richard make a dope album? I really don't know.

What do you guys think?

MARCHROMT and umil were from 2014, no? Not really face melting but i liked both of them a lot. I still think he's got a lot of stuff up his sleevesss

Yeah. CIRCLON trax were like "six months old" or something, he said?

lol the answer is absolutely a yes :^P

  On 6/9/2016 at 3:20 PM, colunga said:

MARCHROMT and umil were from 2014, no? Not really face melting but i liked both of them a lot. I still think he's got a lot of stuff up his sleevesss

Beats me, but I believe you. Those were nice loosies for sure. Just curious about a full album I guess, it's really interesting noticing the large lack of time in between full releases consisting of (mostly) recent material.

Euhhmmm what kind of question is this?

First of all there is the Quad Rave and Quadraverb tracks which are newer then 2007.

Secondly, the music he made in the period you are talking about is better then 90% of the garbage out there.

Maybe he won't ever have such an impact as he had in de 90's, but that is normal as the expectations with every new release are absurd.

Pretty sure he covered the whole only releasing old stuff in one of the syro period interviews, basically doesn't want people to rip off his sound until he's completely done with it. As far as some of his recent releases yeah I feel you on the sort of lack luster vibes but I'd attribute that more to our expectations we place on the music than anything else, cause really at the end of the day it's music he wants to hear. And it seems of late that what he wants to hear is more acidy vibe type stuff than super hardcore mental tracks. Do I think he can't make them anymore? hell no, dudes got so much damn skill he could through us all for a whirl so damn hard it'd take us years to appreciate, but does he want to? I don't think so.

  On 6/9/2016 at 3:22 PM, Time Tourist said:

First of all there is the Quad Rave and Quadraverb tracks which are newer then 2007.

 

not shure about quad rave there ...

T13 Quadraverb, T08+4, T17 Phase Out ... on the other hand :^) !!!

  On 6/9/2016 at 3:22 PM, Time Tourist said:

Euhhmmm what kind of question is this?

 

First of all there is the Quad Rave and Quadraverb tracks which are newer then 2007.

 

Secondly, the music he made in the period you are talking about is better then 90% of the garbage out there.

 

Maybe he won't ever have such an impact as he had in de 90's, but that is normal as the expectations with every new release are absurd.

I'm not talking about meaningful tracks, and I'm not talking about a few loosies from a couple of years ago. There has not been an album released by Rich Boy, to my knowledge, where the majority of tracks aren't nearly a decade old, since 2007. Why is this? The re-releasing/dumping of stuff is great, but why is this the main focus? I'd rather hear something recent than a revamped MFM or CW LP. I think most here would, too.

Not even talking about lackluster recent tracks either. There haven't been any releases of recent material in ages, so I couldn't call them lackluster if I wanted to!

Syro has a few very recent tracks, and to me, one of his best. Marchrom and Earth Portal were the most recent (2014) and they were great. I still wonder if umil was 06-08 or a new track (I assume the former though), but that one is still high on top of the list for me. The soundcloud dump had some even more recent tracks I think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cCp1UFslwY

The question would also be, how long can someone stay truly innovating after already bringing so much to the table? And could he even be bothered?

Imo, he is in a comfortable position making stuff that he likes the sound of, and shares it because he realized people really want to hear it (maybe thanks to the CWLP Kickstarter too). There were a few older tracks in CCAI too but overall it's him going into a new(ish) direction, coupled with those gigs of pendulum / piano swinging and remote orchestra experiments. Lots of potential there for me, really hope he does more interesting experiments like that.

Also, don't forget most of his older albums were basically compilations with very old tracks in there too (ICBYD for example).

Very true Jan0, that's a good point. I'm not expecting Rich Boy to blow my mind in 2016, but I sure would love to hear something from him that was (mostly) recent material. He's done enough innovating, I'm cool with him being comfy. SAW is obviously archival stuff, but ICBYD was mostly stuff from 1993-94, just a year or two prior to the release. I think that's how most artists handle their releases. Rich Boy used to as well.

sitting on music is a great way to wrap head around it and hear it with clear set of ears.

the topic/question of why mr richard released so sporadically ~2001 thru to ~2014 is one point ...

but ... given that the rate of release was pretty low during that period, and there would now be a nice little wealth of music to sort through and put into place ... would be very ideal !!! it's smart.. if anything, cos you would have better context of everything and there's potential to just really sort thru the shit and pick out the best tracks. contextualize them in interesting ways. etcetectc

it makes perfect sense to to start earlier and work way through. its not as if the earlier stuff is shittier than the newer stuff. or other way around. the new stuff probably just sounds rougher and jammier* cos he's again holding onto the good shit to be processed and contextualized and released properly later down the line.

* referring to like .. T08+4 and T quadraverb, T PHase out, for eg. ... assuming that's example of newer material

I'd like to think that all this 'looking back' is just the result of so many years of near-silence

I just hope Aphex keeps experimenting and doesn't settle with a certain sound. Quality has dwindled with CCAI2 and ODS, but at least there's still variety. I doubt there'll be more analogue-to-laptop level evolutions, but who knows

  On 6/9/2016 at 3:34 PM, bitroast said:

sitting on music is a great way to wrap head around it and hear it with clear set of ears.

the topic/question of why mr richard released so sporadically ~2001 thru to ~2014 is one point ...

 

but ... given that the rate of release was pretty low during that period, and there would now be a nice little wealth of music to sort through and put into place ... would be very ideal !!! it's smart.. if anything, cos you would have better context of everything and there's potential to just really sort thru the shit and pick out the best tracks. contextualize them in interesting ways. etcetectc

 

it makes perfect sense to to start earlier and work way through. its not as if the earlier stuff is shittier than the newer stuff. or other way around. the new stuff probably just sounds rougher and jammier cos he's again holding onto the good shit to be processed and contextualized and released properly later down the line.

Also another good point. But where does it end? It's going to be maybe two years since his return soon, and he shows no signs of stopping his current archival dumping method. Totally cool, and the tracks are dope, but again, I hope he's able to come up with something that isn't mostly old material soon. I'm interested to hear what his newer sound is, and I'm also interested to hear if his stuff post-Syro is just as good. i'm sure it will be, but I just wanted to discuss stuff!

  On 6/9/2016 at 3:42 PM, bubbhasdance said:

 

  On 6/9/2016 at 3:34 PM, bitroast said:

sitting on music is a great way to wrap head around it and hear it with clear set of ears.

the topic/question of why mr richard released so sporadically ~2001 thru to ~2014 is one point ...

 

but ... given that the rate of release was pretty low during that period, and there would now be a nice little wealth of music to sort through and put into place ... would be very ideal !!! it's smart.. if anything, cos you would have better context of everything and there's potential to just really sort thru the shit and pick out the best tracks. contextualize them in interesting ways. etcetectc

 

it makes perfect sense to to start earlier and work way through. its not as if the earlier stuff is shittier than the newer stuff. or other way around. the new stuff probably just sounds rougher and jammier cos he's again holding onto the good shit to be processed and contextualized and released properly later down the line.

 

Also another good point. But where does it end? It's going to be maybe two years since his return soon, and he shows no signs of stopping his current archival dumping method. Totally cool, and the tracks are dope, but again, I hope he's able to come up with something that isn't mostly old material soon. I'm interested to hear what his newer sound is, and I'm also interested to hear if his stuff post-Syro is just as good. i'm sure it will be, but I just wanted to discuss stuff!

 

he shows no signs of stopping his current archival dumping method =

inevitably results to releasing new music

i wouldn't sweat it. i agree with TSG's line -> "I'd like to think that all this 'looking back' is just the result of so many years of near-silence"

Good question. I think it's fair to say that he *can* still make brilliant, unique music but is choosing to release other stuff first. He might have a shit load of tracks that you would deem as 'good music' but not ever release them because it goes down the same path as previous work.

  On 6/9/2016 at 3:44 PM, bitroast said:

 

  On 6/9/2016 at 3:42 PM, bubbhasdance said:

 

  On 6/9/2016 at 3:34 PM, bitroast said:

sitting on music is a great way to wrap head around it and hear it with clear set of ears.

the topic/question of why mr richard released so sporadically ~2001 thru to ~2014 is one point ...

 

but ... given that the rate of release was pretty low during that period, and there would now be a nice little wealth of music to sort through and put into place ... would be very ideal !!! it's smart.. if anything, cos you would have better context of everything and there's potential to just really sort thru the shit and pick out the best tracks. contextualize them in interesting ways. etcetectc

 

it makes perfect sense to to start earlier and work way through. its not as if the earlier stuff is shittier than the newer stuff. or other way around. the new stuff probably just sounds rougher and jammier cos he's again holding onto the good shit to be processed and contextualized and released properly later down the line.

 

Also another good point. But where does it end? It's going to be maybe two years since his return soon, and he shows no signs of stopping his current archival dumping method. Totally cool, and the tracks are dope, but again, I hope he's able to come up with something that isn't mostly old material soon. I'm interested to hear what his newer sound is, and I'm also interested to hear if his stuff post-Syro is just as good. i'm sure it will be, but I just wanted to discuss stuff!

 

 

he shows no signs of stopping his current archival dumping method =

inevitably results to releasing new music

i wouldn't sweat it. i agree with TSG's line -> "I'd like to think that all this 'looking back' is just the result of so many years of near-silence"

 

Yeah, it makes perfect sense. When you don't really release anything for a decade, you'd have a lot to pump out. But I don't think it's so bad to wonder what his 2016, or even 2010, style consists of in terms of a full album. Maybe it's just the MIDI piano CCAI stuff, maybe it's more of the same. I'm curious!

yes, he can.

mmm agreed absolutely on that point as well. honestly though, as long as the artist is in a releasing mood i am happy and not complaining.

it did does contrast a bit with autechre atm. who are utilizing the digital storefront to shower listeners with a 4 hour / 5 part "Album"/collection of music that is seemingly very fresh. would be very nice if all artists (especially artists that record alot during their off time and record at home, etc) were able to release new material as it comes out.

but again, that point of sitting on music has its own benefits. i honestly really love syro and am sure sitting on the tracks for so long and being able to construct a rock solid album of best tracks over the years helped make the album what it is.

All very good and valid points, keep up the discussion! Glad to see posts that aren't too flaming or fanboyish

edit: And this thread was a good omen, more Cheetah info has been released! From the looks of titles, it might be some stuff around the Syro era maybe?

https://bleep.com/release/74048-aphex-twin-cheetah-ep

He's on record as saying he wanted to get some old stuff out of the way so he could get back to working on and putting out new music, one of the soundcloud comments I think.

There's MfM, maybe a properly mastered 'soundclog selek', SA3? could be a year or two before he gets all of that out of his system.

marchromt is one of the best tracks in his entire catalogue imho

sorry but your question is very dumb because you forget 3 major things.

1. he was quite for a very long time (except for some tuss) that means a lot of old tracks

2. some tracks may be old but he reworked them for sure, that means they are actually new
3. he is Aphex Twin

also pls someone lock this thread for ever cause its pure blasphemy towards our God

  On 6/9/2016 at 4:26 PM, Kavinsky said:

sorry but your question is very dumb because you forget 3 major things.

 

1. he was quite for a very long time (except for some tuss) that means a lot of old tracks

2. some tracks may be old but he reworked them for sure, that means they are actually new

3. he is Aphex Twin

 

also pls someone lock this thread for ever cause its pure blasphemy towards our God

Thanks for the input!

  On 6/9/2016 at 4:02 PM, bubbhasdance said:

Glad to see posts that aren't too flaming or fanboyish

  On 6/9/2016 at 4:26 PM, Kavinsky said:

sorry but your question is very dumb because

 

...

 

he is Aphex Twin

 

:3