Aphex Twin - POIII (Pick Only Three)

Ageispolis is lovely.

My Three:

Alberto Balsalm
Bouncing Bucephalus Ball
Flim

Really really obvious choices and I really didn't want to put more than one song from the same release, but for some reason I struggled today to think of a third option. Not that I don't love me a bit of Aphex, and yeah I used to be one of "those" fanboys; but these days I seem to like his material through-and-through. Only the top two there sit above the rest for me.

which satie piece specifically does "Avril 14th" rip off? I hear the satie comparisons all the time but I think the melody of Avril 14th sounds very RDJ and very not Erik Satie...

Hee...

Actually, the one bit of interview I remember was about Av14, apparently it's all programmed (yeah, whoa!) and it's actually impossible to play on a piano really.

Windowlicker
Girl/Boy
The Waxen Pith

It's one of the Gymnopedies - or rather, just a kind of mash-up of 1 and 3, or just "RDJ doing a gymnopedy." I'll be nice and say it's homage rather than direct plagiarism. I'm just not particularly fond of that song. (Even if it is my brother's birthday, too.)

Rhubarb
Alberto Balsalm
Fingerbib

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE-g0mWbxlE <--this person does a pretty good job of playing it on piano, although towards the end some of the octaves are impossible to play along with the ornamental high notes

xposts nah this sounds nothing like the gymnopedies -- all of the gymnopedies have the same rhythmic theme (and they're all waltzes!) and it's not the same as avril 14th's:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBiPQKK1upk

Tha
Nannou
Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels Mount

It's the harmonic structure rather than the rhythm that is reminiscent.

And now I am having doubt OH NOES can I swap out On for Girl/Boy Song?

ok, fair nuff. I'll buy that.

I have no idea what my all time favourites are but currently:

Ptolemy
Metapharstic
Logon Rock Witch

Logon Rock Witch

kudos

I do not like Avril 14, I do not like it, Crut I am, I will not listen to it on a boat, I will not listen to it with a stoat. I do not like it, Crut I am, I will not hear Avril 14 and ham.

(Of course, if he'd named it Avril 10 it would be the best song in the history of the world.)

do you think his french canadian girlfriend was avril lavigne

He'd had girlfriends 13 times before
and every one was an Avril
He never had a jusy or a Kate (sorry kate)
It's her 14th girlfriend Avverilll...

No, it was named after 14th April which is his mother's birthday but unfortunately also my brother's birthday and I have such a love/hate thing about my brother that anything named with that date is going to be problematic.

(I shut up now)

Thanking you.

(Mind you, that didn't stop me from visiting Lanner and walking up to Carn Marth on Avril 14 this year OMG I am such a terrible comic book guy phanboy it's not funny*.)

ANYWAY CAN WE STOP TALKING ABOUT THAT SUCKY SONG NOW. APHEX HAS 7 MILLION OTHER SONGS THAT ARE BETTER THAN IT, CAN SOMEONE PICK THREE OF THEM PLEASE?!?!?

*trufax tho: I didn't actually realise the date until I looked at my bus ticket

I only know about 2 others, so Windowl and CDaddy it'll have to be.

Bucephalus Bouncing Ball
Flow Coma remix
The Waxen Pith

this display name is increasingly feeling like a millstone

Actually, no, as much as I love On, Girl/Boy Song is just too amazing. The drums on that song are like a living creature they're so intense.

I think it shall be:

-Polynomial C
-Girl/Boy Song
-Ageispolis

- xtal
- girl/boy song
- tha

-rhubarb
-flim
-xtal

hate to leave out alberto balsalm, though

"On"
"Phloam"
"Ventolin"

xtal
acrid avid jam
4

I'm going to cheat:
...I Care Because You Do
Windowlciker
On + On Remixes
Analogue Bubblebath I
Surfing On Sine Waves

now i wanna change my 3 to:

Bucephalus BB
Flow Coma rmx
On

and remind everyone to check the mu-ziq remix of On if you've never heard it

come on Stevie! you just picked like 30 tracks!

XTAL
COME TO DADDY
GREEN CALX

Hey I don't mind so much that Stevie picked like 30 songs as that he picked a Polygon Window album when we excluded the pseudonyms!

No Polygon Window no Caustic Window no Bradley Strider no Power Pill no Tuss no Madame Curies Cabinet nothing but Aphex releases.

Wait when did we exclude pseudonyms??? So no Analogue Bubblebath either?

i haven't revisited most of the albums so here's the list for now:
vordhosbn
4
come to daddy

Wait when did we exclude pseudonyms??? So no Analogue Bubblebath either?

― limp bizkotti (Stevie D), Wednesday, May 26, 2010 7:02 PM (21 minutes ago

In the fifth post!

But the first Analogue Bubblebath is on Classics so you're OK with that.

Xtal
Inkey$
Phloam

Xtal
Girl Boy Song
Rhubarb

"Cliffs"
Logan Rock Witch
Ventolin

dude needs to drop one big "calx" album. the blue, yellow, and green varieties are all so nice

Fingerbib
Acrid Avid Jam Shred
Rhubarb

those were actually the first three i came up with! rhubarb will stay but weighing fingerbib and acrid

Girl/Boy Song
Alberto Balsam
Analogue Bubblebath

Starting to reaquaint myself with loads of Aphex at the moment, he seems to make so much more sense now, in the context of the current music scene, than he did five years ago.

The whole IDM bubble burst, it became nauseating, but what with Four Tet, Zomby, Caribou and a few other biggish players revisiting some of the ideas he had, it's def time for a comeback. I'm hoping for something good, if not great - let's just hope he hasn't lost it nor become stuck in a creative rut.

not sure how that works xp, how do you see afx in the context of current music? i guess ~2005 was at the tail end of the idm backlash

I have discovered that, with nearly 10 years perspective, I actually freaking love the Drill N Bass stuff. It manages to be aggressive and yet so fluid. I've been listening to Cock/Ver 10 on the tube and it's just perfect for that morning rush hour on the Victoria line adrenaline rush.

It's funny, though, the way that this music an be at the same time, very fast, very aggressive, very over the top - and yet still retain a delicacy that only really shines through upon long-term exposure. There's this moment, right at the beginning of the track where it should be a pause, but he's left the long decay of the hi-hat just spinning with this really extreme reverb so it just kind of shudders and buzzes and it's the most beautiful sound, but to have that for a split second in the midst of the howling buzz before diving back into the cacophony of the song. It's just spine-tingling.

It does make more sense to me now than it did a decade ago. I think that yeah, artists are starting to catch up with the idea that this technology can be used for great beauty and delicacy as well as just showing off how hard and fast that nosebleed techno can go.

I've said before that Aphex got caught up in this demand to "show us a new trick" - not that I think RDJ specifically pandered to this but it became near impossible for him to release stuff or to work within a genre because a lot of the media and the fans were demanding that each new record was THE MOST INNOVATIVE RECORD EVER and it's a dumb way to approach music. I think RDJ has managed his career pretty well tbh, when that expectation got too much he just stepped away from it and carried on making the music that he wanted to.

Agree that it's easier and more fun to listen to him away from this clamour of expectation too, and I feel the way about some of the other notable IDM big dogs from that era.

not sure how that works xp, how do you see afx in the context of current music?

He seems to sit well with people like Flying Lotus, Subeena, Darkstar, maybe even Ikonika at a stretch. They all seem to have his sense of shimmering synth melodies that are bashed about a bit, and that end of post-dubstep has a ton of Warp/IDM in it.

(Should probably revive a different thread and ask what of the IDM big dogs is still worth listening to. I have such limited exposure... well it's not so much limited exposure as just ignorance of what I was hearing because I wasn't interested in its origin so much as its function. My experience of that music was dancing in Hoxton basements during my "lost year" 02-03 completely blitzed out of my mind and very very angry, and it was *perfect* for that state of mind, but I've no idea what any of it was. Just vague memories of going to Warp parties with Ed and coming home with my army jacket remixed from green to purple. It's probably better I don't remember that period of my life actually.)

But, erm yeah. Agreed. So much of Aphex's work is music that is better accepted on its own terms than being crushed under the weight of expectation. It must be so hard on the cute little pointy nosed ginger being a genius and all and having to reinvent music every 2 or 3 years. ;-)

He seems to sit well with people like Flying Lotus, Subeena, Darkstar, maybe even Ikonika at a stretch. They all seem to have his sense of shimmering synth melodies that are bashed about a bit, and that end of post-dubstep has a ton of Warp/IDM in it.

Yeah, agreed.

The thing people always overlook about Aphex is that at his peak he was fucking incredible at crafting melodies, for all the "ZOMG innovator pioneer ambient Windowlicker drill and bass" I don't think anyone would have been quite as excited about him without his ability to write a gorgeous tune. It's what lifted him above everyone else in his scene.

Yeah but I think Squarepusher and mu-Ziq had some pretty great tunage going on amongst their madder stuff.

stone in focus
54 cymru beats
fenix funk 5

Polynomial-C
Heliosphan
Windowlicker

Stevie - which track number is that? ABIII is a highly underrated album. I wish Kate hadn't made it Aphex-only.

OK, then. Come on, you slags, pick your top 3 non-Aphex Richard D. James tracks (yes, you can include the Tuss)

I'm thinking...

AFX - Where's Your Girlfriend
Caustic Window - Humanoid Must Not Escape
The Tuss - rushup i bank 12

ARGH but I might substitute Bradley's Beat (Part 2 I think?) for one of those ARGH too difficult this is kind of even harder than just doing Aphex because there's so much variety.

hmmmm..

quoth
laughable butane bob
analogue bubblebath 5 track 1

Starting to reaquaint myself with loads of Aphex at the moment, he seems to make so much more sense now, in the context of the current music scene, than he did five years ago.

This exactly.

Been playing loads of Aphex recently and in a particularly geeky moment did start to compile a best of Aphex/AFX but got overwhelmed. Have a sense that a new release would feel right (and apparently there is going to be an onslaught).

oh yeah, onslaught? can you elaborate?

dog latin, it's tracks 8 and 9. I still can't tell the difference between them yet.

Lichen
Rhubarb
Fingerbib

Heliosphan
Heliosphan
Heliosphan

Didgeridoo
Donkey Rhubarb
Cunt

Ptolemy
Acrid Avid Jam Shred
Stone In Focus

B&W Stripes II
Cock/Ver10
Yellow Calx

flim tha windowlicker

That also makes a fairly logically coherent sentence.

(well, it does if you're me)

I saw him live at LED festival at the weekend - my first time! Very different to what I expected. Kinda four-to-the-floor for the most part. Still great!

I feel kinda like poo for not going, but TBH the whole Die Antwoord thing scared me off at the last minute. I was of two minds until that was confirmed and then it was like, NOOOOOOOOOOOO. So I stayed home and listened to the albums and felt smug every time it rained.

Cliff

Ageispolis

and...

...not sure. Definitely those two, but there's loads I could choose for the third one. Tonight I am torn between
White Blur 2
and
Next Heap With

albetto balsom tha windowlicker

It was actually totally fun turning this into a poll!

Rhubarb 6
Xtal 6
Girl/Boy Song 5
Windowlicker 5
Alberto Balsalm 4
Tha 4
Fingerbib 3
Flim 3
On 3
Ptolemy 3
4 2
Acrid Avid Jam Shred 2
Ageispolis 2
Analogue Bubblebath 2
Bucephalus Bouncing Ball 2
Cliffs 2
come to daddy 2
Flow Coma remix 2
Heliosphan 2
Logan Rock Witch 2
Phloam 2
Polynomial-C 2
stone in focus 2
The Waxen Pith 2
Ventolin 2
Yellow Calx 2
54 cymru beats 1
acrid avid jam 1
B&W Stripes II 1
Bouncing Bucephalus Ball 1
Cock/Ver10 1
Cunt 1
Didgeridoo 1
Donkey Rhubarb 1
GREEN CALX 1
Inkey$ 1
Lichen 1
Metapharstic 1
Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels Mount 1
Nannou 1
Next Heap With 1
vordhosbn 1
White Blur 2 1

Ptolemy wuz robbed!

What is it about Xtal that's won two polls now? I guess it's his high girly singing that's so appealing.

Come to Daddy (Little Lord Faulteroy Mix)
Vordhosbn
Windowlicker

Xtal
Blue Calx
Fingerbib

What is it about Xtal that's won two polls now? I guess it's his high girly singing that's so appealing.

― Karen D. Tregaskin, Thursday, June 16, 2011 8:37 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Beautiful chords, the impossible atmosphere (warm and enveloping but still cold and alien).. and the mournful synth horns towards the end, that's really affecting stuff.

also fabulous: the way the vocal sample rubs up harmonically against the synth chords

by chords i'm referring to the "main" synth part that's there basically from the beginning. oh w/e i'm hi.

I always felt the highlights on SAWI were Ageispolis and Heliosphan.

Btw the high girly singing on Xtal is a library music sample, not RDJ's voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB_ClJ9nikY

How impossible would this POIII have been in the nowadays, after the big tracks chuckout?

the same

the soundcloud rollout was all a bunch of demos & experiments; with a few exceptions none of it came close to the quality of his "official" releases

RONG

Yeah, there were a few I would have chosen..