press release for new aphex twin album 'chosen lords'

G

gumdrops

Well-known member
Artist AFX

Title Chosen Lords album

Release Date 10 April 2006

Label Rephlex

Format CD

Catalogue # CAT173CD

Distribution SRD

Website www.rephlex.com <http://www.rephlex.com>



„Analord is Aphex Twin doing what he does best: refreshing electronic music in such an exquisite, effortlessly inventive fashion that you pity his peers. Once again, James dissolves the boundaries between disco, electro, techno and pop? and stimulates the parts other musicians don‚t even know exist. Pure synthesized heaven‰ Uncut



Throughout 2005, and with little fanfare, Richard D. James released the Analord series of twelve inches under the AFX moniker on his label Rephlex. In total, 41 tracks were released over a series of singles ˆ Analord Volumes 1-11 ˆ all neatly contained in a custom binder, sold direct to fans via the Rephlex website.



Each record went on to sell into five-figure quantities ˆ on vinyl format ONLY! The tracks were not available for download or on CD, making this a considerable sales achievement. For fans of Aphex Twin, it was an almost unprecedented bounty of new material in the gap since the 2001 double album, Drukqs, but many people who have abandoned their turntables will have remained unaware of this hive of activity.



In April 2006, Rephlex will release Chosen Lords. Rather than release a triple CD featuring all 41 tracks, AFX himself has distilled the tunes into a cohesive album, as it was intended to be heard. Chosen Lords is, in fact, the first full album of new material from Richard D. James since Drukqs, and the word of mouth is that the tracks are among his very best classics.



The style? As with most Richard D. James releases, it's hard to pin down to any genre. Largely recorded on Richard's private collection of unique collection of analogue synthesizers ˆ vintage, modern and home-made, the rhythms, melodies, harmonies, even some subliminal lyrics have all evolved directly from the machines. One could say Chosen Lords is partly-inspired by NY electro, Chicago house and Detroit techno classics, but the album also stimulates the kind of Œlucid dreaming‚ atmosphere found on Selected Ambient Works 85-92.



Many people try to imitate Richard's sound, but he remains an unrivalled innovator when it comes to the emotional and musical depth and complexity of his tracks. As this composer and producer's skills and life experiences are constantly evolving, so too does the music gain ever greater resonance. If you are interested in looking back to past memories, through your current mood or forward to future emotions, you're going to find something of interest on Chosen Lords. The only limits are self-imposed.



Since 2001, the only Aphex Twin/AFX related releases have largely been reissues: the 26 Mixes For Cash double CD (Warp, 2003), Hangable Autobulb CD (Warp, 2005) bringing together two EPs on CD for the first time, two 12‰s on the Men imprint (remixes of 808 State, DJ Pierre and The Bug), 'Mangle' on the last Rephlexions compilation (Rephlex, 2004), and a limited edition split 12‰ with LFO (Warp, 2005).



Chosen Lords is Richard D. James at the peak of his powers, in the prime of life. Unmissable.


Chosen Lords


1. Fenix Funk5

2. Reunion 2

3. Pitcard

4. Crying In Your Face

5. Klopjob

6. Boxing Day

7. Batine Acid

8. Cilonen

9. PWSteal.Ldpinch.D
10. XMD5A
 
D

droid

Guest
ARGH! Give us something new for fucks sake!

This is the best Aphex/non-Aphex release in ages. Brilliant stuff...
 
Grievous Angel

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
I've never been into aphex twin but I like the old skool jungle sets he plays.

Is any of this stuff, you know, good?

Or just more piss-take noise?
 
S

simon silverdollar

Guest
2stepfan said:
I've never been into aphex twin but I like the old skool jungle sets he plays.

Is any of this stuff, you know, good?

Or just more piss-take noise?
Click to expand...

some of it's really good. some of it is a bit too darkly 'atmospheric' for my liking.
 
B

bassnation

the abyss
2stepfan said:
I've never been into aphex twin but I like the old skool jungle sets he plays.

Is any of this stuff, you know, good?

Or just more piss-take noise?
Click to expand...

the quality varies over the series, but some of it equals his best work imo. its not on the drill n bass tip at all - more a classic house and techno sound, but filtered through his twisted imagination. some of the tracks remind me of larry heard. i reckon you'd like it.

his older pre-drill n bass material is wicked too - probably a stupid question but have you checked out selected ambient works I & II, analogue bubblebath and digeridoo?
 
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D

DJ PIMP

Well-known member
2stepfan said:
Is any of this stuff, you know, good?
Click to expand...
Album wise...

SAW 1 - brilliant old skool melodic techno, poignant vibes for africa.
SAW 2 - minimal enoesque loopy ambient textures.
I care because you do - the IDM blueprint(?).

everything since then has been a mixed bag imo. he follows the same trajectory as Autechre - starting out all vibezy, analog and pleasingly melodic etc, and becoming more difficult, digital and textural as time goes on.

lots of good stuff on the analords tho :)
 
M

mms

sometimes
bleep said:
Album wise...

SAW 1 - brilliant old skool melodic techno, poignant vibes for africa.
SAW 2 - minimal enoesque loopy ambient textures.
I care because you do - the IDM blueprint(?).

everything since then has been a mixed bag imo. he follows the same trajectory as Autechre - starting out all vibezy, analog and pleasingly melodic etc, and becoming more difficult, digital and textural as time goes on.

lots of good stuff on the analords tho :)
Click to expand...

it's a bit of a myth i think that his music is noisy or very difficult,
most of his stuff is pretty strong melodically and almost all 4/4 whether drummy or not, except for the ambient bits. Overall think his most complete album is richard d james which mixes strong evocative melodies and dense programming. He's really very different from autechre, who are pretty abstract at times, or someone like oval etc .
he's only ever done 2 pure noise tracks and they were pretty savage imo, tho ventolin is a bit of a strain :) .
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
mms said:
Overall think his most complete album is richard d james...
Click to expand...

totally agree- that and the boy/girl ep


his name seems to come before his output in these times.

paul- i reckon you'd like (at least) bits an' bobs- some of his stuff is truly stunning- depends on the mood you're in more than anything.
 
M

mms

sometimes
Nick Gutterbreakz said:
Thanks for the link droid, that looks really interesting... :)
Click to expand...

yeah thats really good that - been stocking it since mid last year and it's a damn site better than the symphonietta attempts which were more conserservative and came across as more like those orchestra does pops records . this one gets into the rhythms and timbres more.
 
D

droid

Guest
2stepfan said:
I've never been into aphex twin but I like the old skool jungle sets he plays.

Is any of this stuff, you know, good?

Or just more piss-take noise?
Click to expand...

SAW 1 and 2 are probably my favourite electronic records ever, followed closely by 'I care because you do' and 'Surfing on Sine Waves'. Early EP's from his industrial period like Xylem Tube, Digeridoo, and the Joyrex stuff are (mostly) brilliant, as is the Analogue Bubblebath series, and later 12s like 'Donkey Rhubarb', 'Ventolin' and 'On' are also utterly essential. His 'piss-take noise' period probably started with 'Hangable Autobulb' in 96 and encompasses stuff like 'Come to daddy', 'Drukqs' and 'Richard D James' (all of which are also great IMO).

Album wise...

SAW 1 - brilliant old skool melodic techno, poignant vibes for africa.
SAW 2 - minimal enoesque loopy ambient textures.
I care because you do - the IDM blueprint(?).

everything since then has been a mixed bag imo. he follows the same trajectory as Autechre - starting out all vibezy, analog and pleasingly melodic etc, and becoming more difficult, digital and textural as time goes on.

lots of good stuff on the analords tho
Click to expand...

Thats a pretty good summary, though id say 'Richard D James' is the 'IDM blueprint', as that was his first full length experiment in using faster cut up breakbeats instead of the more synth and drum machine based stuff of earlier years... also afaik, it was around this time (98) that the term 'IDM' really caught on (much to my horror!)...
 
H

hamarplazt

100% No Soul Guaranteed
droid said:
Early EP's from his industrial period like Xylem Tube, Digeridoo, and the Joyrex stuff are (mostly) brilliant, as is the Analogue Bubblebath series...
Click to expand...
The obvious choice here is, I think, the Classics-album. Including not just the best of those EPs, but also his two remixes of Mescalinum Uniteds "We Have Arrived", I'd say it's simply his best album, even though it's pretty single-minded.

I think the reason Richard D James so often is said to be his best is just that its one of the very few electronica-albums of appropiate lenght. The endless praise for SAW2 is a bit of a mystery to me. It's great ambient for sure, but hardly revolutionary considering that Eno had done something allmost similar - and much better - ten years before.
 
Grievous Angel

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
Yeah, I like didgeridoo, but then it's a choooooooooon.

Never heard any of the other stuff, never listened to SAW or anything.

Oh yeah -- his mix of Jesus Jones' zeroes and ones is ace (as is the prodge mix).

Me, I like Orbital :)
 
J

joeschmo

Well-known member
<i>The endless praise for SAW2 is a bit of a mystery to me. It's great ambient for sure, but hardly revolutionary considering that Eno had done something allmost similar - and much better - ten years before</i>

It's just a beautiful record. It sounds like dreaming.

I don't think it really is that similar to Eno, other than the fact that it's mostly beatless, atmospheric music. I couldn't name one Eno album that actually sounds like SAW II. I always remember David Toop citing Another Green World when SAW II came out, and at the time I hadn't heard Another Green World. When I finally got around to it, I was surprised to find it was barely even "ambient"--AGW is so much louder and more rhythm-based, there are only one or two floaty tracks on it really.

RDJ has a stronger sense of hooks and melody than Eno. Most of SAW II doesn't really function as background music in the way that Eno's stuff can. I've never been able to sleep to it, for instance; even if I drift off, some insistent little riff will come on that I can't ignore. And there's an eerieness about it that Eno has never really captured either. I think it's up there with the best of Eno.
 
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C

Constance Labounty

Down since 1999
I think the reason Richard D James so often is said to be his best is just that its one of the very few electronica-albums of appropiate lenght.
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LOL

The reason it is considered his best (or at least as good as SAW 1) is because it was the first to dabble in drill n bass, thus resulting in the most complex (in rhythm and timbre) groove oriented music ever made. And thus it excelled in all three aspects of music- being pleasing to the mind (complexity), the body (groove), and the soul (emotion)- to an extent never before seen.* Other music excels in various areas but never all three (classical music has complexity and emotion but no groove, traditional electronic dance music has groove and emotion but little complexity).

The best track examples are Girl/Boy song and Yellow Calx. Can you think of anything else with that much complexity, groove, AND emotion? If so, I'd love to hear it! Other such tracks are: 4, cornish acid, peek 824, corn mouth, to cure a weakling child.

(It should be noted that there are two eras of IDM- the ambient era heralded by the artificial intelligence releases on Warp and the drill n bass era. The first period uses intelligent to mean sophisticated while the latter uses it to mean, more appropriately, complex.)

*Granted, that this is a good thing is somewhat subjective. Some people couldn't care less about particular aspects. People into classical music couldn't care less about funky grooves. And it takes a certain dorkiness ("abstractness of character") to fully appreciate the complex rhythms of idm.
 
D

DJ PIMP

Well-known member
Constance Labounty said:
*Granted, that this is a good thing is somewhat subjective. Some people couldn't care less about particular aspects. People into classical music couldn't care less about funky grooves. And it takes a certain dorkiness ("abstractness of character") to fully appreciate the complex rhythms of idm.
Click to expand...
Just say "its nerdmusic" - we understand :)
 
H

hamarplazt

100% No Soul Guaranteed
joeschmo said:
It's just a beautiful record. It sounds like dreaming.
Click to expand...
Indeed, no disagreement here.

joeschmo said:
I don't think it really is that similar to Eno, other than the fact that it's mostly beatless, atmospheric music. I couldn't name one Eno album that actually sounds like SAW II.
Click to expand...
Eno have made so many different things - many different kinds of ambient even. I can name at least two Eno albums sounding a lot like SAW2: On Land and Music For Films. OK, Eno uses synths and treatments where Aphex is based on loops and samples, but the strange, dislocated mood is very much the same. If anything, it's the eerieness that you say Eno never captured, that's the exact reason why I think SAW2 is so Eno-esque, that eerieness is all over a lot of Enos records, and no more than On Land. Not background music at all. The Pearl and the Cluster collaborations had a lot of proto-Aphex on them too.
 
H

hamarplazt

100% No Soul Guaranteed
Constance Labounty said:
The best track examples are Girl/Boy song and Yellow Calx. Can you think of anything else with that much complexity, groove, AND emotion? If so, I'd love to hear it!
Click to expand...
Well, groove, complexity and emotion can work in many different ways. I'd say a lot of jungle music have just as much of each - maybe a bit less complexity, but certainly much more groove. Actually, I don't hear much groove on RDJ-album at all. The problem is that the complexity - the drill'n'bass beats - seem very superflous, very tacked on, unnecessary. Like all the other proto-IDM producers (Mike Paradenas, Luke Vibert, Mixmaster Morris, Sun Electric etc.), Aphex suddenly realized that jungles shredded breakbeats was the new fronteer, and started using them even though they had never interested him before. No wonder they sound so forced, that the complexity is so strained. Not that they manage to destroy the album, but I think it would have been so much better had they not been there.
 
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