Overall impression: I really enjoy these tunes, but it’s clear that whatever rabbit holes Aphex Twin has been down in the last 30 years, he’s still fixated on the sounds and vibes he constructed in the early 90s.
Fixated on the sounds and vibes he constructed in the early 90s
It’s so weird to still be buying new Aphex Twin music, but I can’t help it. It’s important to realize that if he’s working in the studio, he’s not being a toxic sexist conspiracy theory crank. The more music he releases, and the less he speaks in public, the better.
Oh, you want to know what I think of the music? It’s more of his obsessive drum programming and melancholy chord sequences. “Blackbox Life Recorder 21f,” at the beginning, has a weird scraping sound that if I’m not mistaken is a filtered version of the chair squeak from “Alberto Balsalm” (…I Care Because You Do, Warp 1995). It isn’t as elaborate a harmonic composition as “Alberto Balsalm,” but it is a catchy beat with that vaguely sad harmonic lushness.
“zin2 test5” sounds like a continuation of “Blackbox Life Recorder 21f” with a similar chord progression, but the beat is more persistent, really a 140bpm breakbeat, but hand made (as opposed to sampled and chopped), sounding like he might be back programming his 30 year old Roland R8.
“in a room7 F760” is more weepy chords and subtle acid bass with beats. It’s odd that he’s essentially made a 160bpm breakbeat track, with the shape of a drum’n bass tune, but with a vibe that’s miles away. There’s a whole aesthetic world in the choice of swing strength. He’s gone past the customary 5% swing of house music, into something that actually recalls the swinginess of 1960s cocktail jazz. His touch is light, in contrast with the bombast and drama that drive the top drum and bass tracks.
“Blackbox Life Recorder 22 [Parallax Mix]” really only shares drum sounds and swing quantization strength with the first version. Imagine an ambient piece from SAW II being disrupted by a deeply swung TR606 beat.
Overall impression: I really enjoy these tunes, but it’s clear that whatever rabbit holes Aphex Twin has been down in the last 30 years, he’s still fixated on the sounds and vibes he constructed in the early 90s. This isn’t a bad thing, but you can no longer expect anything shockingly new from him. Instead, he’s focused on refining and extending that legacy.
If you want the new new you can look elsewhere, but if you want to be both lulled and disturbed by familiar things made strange again, this is a great release.
Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760 is available on Warp. [Bandcamp | Bleep]
