Aphex Twin

Aphex Twin
Richard D. James Album
(1996)

Rating: 8.0

In the past, the experience of absorbing an Aphex Twin album has caused unspecified disruption to some of my normal brain functions. The problem with Selected Ambient Works for example, was that it was difficult to suppress the idea that I was being lulled into a false sense of security so that Richard James could plant disgustingly unhealthy sounds in my brain. I remember Neil wearily recommending the album to me: Be careful, I think it fucks with your head.

For this reason, I spent the first couple of run throughs of this album bracing myself for an extremely inhumane burst of wiry electrodes. It took until the third listen before I was confident I wouldn't be assaulted with anything indecent.

But there was never any real need to worry. This album is about as close as Aphex Twin will ever get to easy listening electronica. Songs like Corn Mouth, Goon Gumpas and Logan Rock Witch trip along with a childlike innocence and despite some of the synapse tearing divilment at the lower levels of the songs, you should actually get through this without any significant brain-offense. In fact, the lovely Fingerbib actually makes my head feel cleaner after each listen.

There are a couple of definite standouts. On Girl/Boy Song and opener 4, the meshing of drum'n'bass and classical orchestration comes to full fruition . It might seem like a bit of a gamble to mix these two, but the genius of these songs is that the orchestration only serves as a backdrop to the evil inventiveness of the drum and bass. He actually manages to make unhinged and scrambled drumming sound more beautiful than violins. That sounds rediculous, but its true. This is a great album. And its lovely. I think. I hope.