Drill

Drill

Track Listings

1. Go to Hell

2. Innuendo

3. I Like You

4. Over and Out

5. Wave of Change

6. All He Wanted to Know

7. You Suck

8. Screamer

9. What You Are

10. Butterfly

11. Painted Pictures

12. Could You Care

Tracks:

4
Cornish Acid
Peek 824545201
Fingerbib
Corn Mouth
To Cure A Weakling Child
Goon Gumpos
Yellow Cal X
Girl/Boy Song
Log N Rock Witch
Milkman
Inkey $
Girl/Boy (18 Pound Snore Rush Mix)
Beetles
Girl/Boy (Redruth Mix)

Amazon.com essential recording

If techno ever does become the sound of young America, don't expect Richard James to be its poster boy, deserving though he may be. A native of Cornwall, England, James is obsessed with the mechanics of music making: As a kid, he took apart and reassembled the living room piano. Under the names Aphex Twin, Polygon Window, AFX, and other aliases too numerous to mention, he showed that he could make entire tracks with the sounds produced by tapping on a Coke can. Like the indie rockers of yore, he revels in his marginality because of the creative freedom it gives him. His full-length U.S. debut, Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994), includes some of the most serene sounds this side of the Orb, but his favorite hobby is the not-at-all-blissful pastime of driving a Daimler Ferret Mark 3 tank through his parents' backyard.

None of his recordings have captured the competing impulses to lull you to sleep and blast out your eardrums as well as Richard D. James, his third and best album. As the title indicates, James has turned inward for inspiration, painting aural pictures of real and imagined scenes from his west country childhood. "Goongumpas" is a fanciful, playful tune that wouldn't sound out of place on the soundtrack to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. As his adventures with the family upright indicate, James was a bit of a devil even as a child. "Beetles" is the sound of a boy frying bugs on the sidewalk with a magnifying glass, and "To Cure a Weakling Child" shows flashes of the sort of sadism found only on preschool playgrounds. If you still doubt that young Richard developed early on, the romantic Nino Rota-style strings on "Girl/Boy Song" are just made for passionate seductions, and the tune appears in three mixes, each one hot and hornier than the one before.

The raucous undercurrents of even his calmest tunes and the sources of many of his most common sounds are what link James to the rock tradition. With Richard D. James, the artist solidifies his position as an electronic music mastermind who has earned a spot beside such well-respected innovators--whether or not he's destined for stardom. --Jim Derogatis

Customer Reviews:

Not perfect, just almost perfect.......2007-06-07

Besides the award for one of the worst covers ever, Richard D. James Album is actually really good. Granted, I failed to see what's so ______ good about it, but I still think it's essential. It shows that electronic music actually takes talent to create.

THe music? Like I say, samples always HELP, but they sure don't always means it's bad or good. Fortunatly, I had no trouble picking up the music. It's got good atmosphere, especially on songs like Beetles and Milkman. I still haven't figured out how they relate to himself and his life. That's the main theme, hence the title. The songs are a hit or miss basically, you will either like them or you won't THe beats aren't regular beats (like Fatboy Slim

It's really really cool, but it's still not exactly the best album ever. I like You've Come A Long Way, Baby, a lot better, but this is great electronic music. _____ electronic music haters. It's a great (very great) genre. It's not poppy either. It's the opposite. So don't expect any ____________ songs like We LIke To Party.

9.0/10

insane .......2006-11-05

This guy is insane and awsome. The music is polished, yet insane. Crazy insane!

symphonic noise.......2006-10-02

I first discovered this cd while working in a music store. This cd is not for the weak hearted. One major thing I noticed in titles such as the Boy/Girl song is that he never uses the same loop twice. The background will stay steady but everything around it will move all over the place, like putting bethoven in a cement mixer. I don't want to scare you away from this album because it is a definate worth while buy but to truely do this cd justice you need to strap on a good set of headphones and hang on for a glorius ride.

Great Album.......2006-07-10

Between this one and drukqs, this is one of my favorite albums. I can say that I like every song on this CD. Especially the last half.

If your new to aphex twin, this is an excellent starter album.

And if your already a fan, I dont know why you haven't bought this yet

Well worth having if you like AFX.......2006-06-22

The other reviews say it all really - good, but not as esential as Selected Ambient Works (and not really in the same vein either). I just wanted to answer the reviewer's question about the gravestone: Richard D James's parents had a stillborn child some years before he was born, also called Richard, and the image is that of his brother's gravestone. (This also explains the significance of the middle 'D'.)

Average customer rating:

Little Green Man
Sucked in.
Gotta B on druqks to undestsnde unnerstudit unistoou ......? Never mind
Wacky.
try it, start to finish....

Drukqs
Aphex Twin
Manufacturer: Rhino / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Richard D. James Album
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ASIN: B00005QD9N
Release Date: 2001-10-23

Tracks:

Jynweythek
Vordhosbn
Kladfvgbung Micshk
Omgyjya-Switch 7
Strotha Tynhe
Gwely Mernans
Bbydhyonchord
Cock/Ver 10
Avril 14th
Mt. Saint Michel Mix/St. Michaels Mount
Gwarek 2
Orban Eq Trx 4
Aussois
Hy A Scullyas Lyf A Dhagrow
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Tracks:

54 Cymru Beats
Btoum-Roumada
Lornaderek
Penty Harmomium
Meltphace 6
Bit 4
Prep Gwarlek 3b
Father
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Petiatil Cx Htdui
Ruglen Holon
Afx237 V7
Ziggomatic V17
Beskhu3epnm
Nanou 2

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Often proclaimed as electronica's one true genius, Richard James, a.k.a. Aphex Twin, returns with a double CD that showcases his cleverness as well as his inevitable inscrutability. Still, amid macabre birthday songs, unsettling screams, and other bizarre touches, Drukqs offers the most technically accomplished and beautiful tracks of Aphex Twin's career. Every aspect of the Aphex brain is on display here, from stark pieces performed on sampled piano and zither to Squarepusher-styled drum & bass implosions, all informed by that peculiar Aphex treatment of bittersweet melody and unparalleled programming. For an artist once engrossed in homages to his dead twin brother and grotesque videos, Drukqs shows James getting by purely on music alone.

"Mt. Saint Michel Mix" starts as maddening drum & bass, but is soon transfixed by glowing tones, hand drums, and police sirens. "Vordhosbn" is all acid beats and mad synths matched with fart-bombs and haunted cries. "54 Cymru Beats" sounds more like the tweaked-out, goofball techno of Wagon Christ than Aphex, while "Taking Control" goes metaphysical with cerebral synth-drums and muddled vocals. If Drukqs is the result of medication James has been imbibing during his three-year hiatus, then this is indeed better living through chemistry. Regardless, his music is still as beautiful and frothy as ever. --Ken Micallef

Customer Reviews:

Little Green Man.......2007-06-29

A deeply tragic portrait of the British Isles 50 years after the light went out.

Draw the line.

Sucked in........2007-04-23

Avril 14th was the first song I heard off of this album. That was the reason I bought it. I had owned other Aphex Twin albums such as "Richard D. James Album" and the "Come To Daddy EP." But neither of those are as mysterious and beautiful as "Drukqs."

This album flows together very nicely if played continuously through. There are about ten electronica tracks, 10 piano pieces and a few scattered ambient tracks. Some of the trip-hop tracks really slap you in the face with how involved they are... But the piano pieces are truly beautiful.

Definitely my favorite Aphex Twin album.

Gotta B on druqks to undestsnde unnerstudit unistoou ......? Never mind.......2006-10-31

This Richard James album is another example of why I struggle to understand his intentions. Sometimes, he plays soft pleasant pieces (that no IDM fanatic needs), and then he goes off into some spastic brain hemorrhaging instrumention (which I actually find comforting). But, I guess he has to do this so that the album, as a whole, doesn't just sound like a whole lotta insane noise. Many of his more spastic drum and bass implosions (as it's been refered to) is some of his best work on this album. Richard James has come along way since I first heard of him with his "Selected Ambient Works" album that I bought many years ago. I was slow to accept and understand this album because there was nothing else like it at the time. I played it alot, got bored with it, and then just gave it away to a friend. Little did I know, that Aphex Twin was going to re-introduce himself to me in the near future.

A few years ago, I saw a movie called "Pi". It was a low budget black and white film based on the subject of intelligence and insanity, and the soundtrack that supported this film had a series of artists that I have never heard of before. Watching the film, I just loved all that strange electronic music playing in the background, so I knew I just had to find the CD soundtrack of the film "Pi".

On the soundtrack, I saw that Aphex Twin had a track on it. I don't remember this track in the film ("Bucephalus Bouncing Ball"), but I sure loved this bizarre electronic collage of dissonant noise. Plus, this CD soundtrack introduced me to alot of new artists, all making a new sound in electronic music that I have never heard before. This new music is called IDM, which means "intelligent dance music". But, I think it should be called ADM meaning "addictive music", because that's what this new music has become to me. I have a hard time listening to regular music anymore. This IDM is very motivational music to listen to. This music gives me all sorts of nervous energy which has turned me into a healthier, more physically toned, workaholic. When I'm in an IDM music euphoria, I can't sit still. After buying the soundtrack of "Pi", I ended up looking for more CD's with this new IDM sound.

This could easily be anyone's favorite CD from Aphex Twin. It doesn't really matter which Aphex Twin album you buy first (although, "Selected Ambient Works: Volume Two" would not be a good idea). But, you know, you can't just allow yourself to be satisfied with this one CD. However, if you don't have a lot of music like this, than it can seem to become too repetitious and become tiresome rather quickly if you just let yourself play this CD too much. Even I don't care to sit through the entire playback of just the one CD. But, I have determined that this music from Aphex Twin should be played within a mix of other Ambient Dub and other various glitch and IDM related electronica. To just play these 30 songs over and over, end to end, can get dull rather quickly. But if you listen to these songs mixed in and shuffling with about another hundred IDM instrumentals than you will truly appreciate Aphex Twin's participation in the overall bigger picture of today's electronic instrumentals.

I have these two Aphex Twin CD's shuffling amongst others in my 200 CD carrousel. These tracks by Aphex Twin are being mixed up with tracks by Autechre, Gescom, Phutureprimitive, Squarepusher, Pete Namlook, Biosphere, The Orb, The Higher Intelligence Agency, Sounds From the Ground, Electric Skychurch, Plaid, Boards of Canada, and various other similar artists of which Aphex Twin belongs with.

I also have these songs and other IDM and Ambient Dub tracks burned onto ATRAC CDR's that is made through the SonicStage program made available only by Sony. (Check out some of Sony's ATRAC CD players and find out why burning hours of your favorite tunes onto a single CDR is better than just loading an ipod with mp3s) Burning hard copies is definitely better than just floating your music in a temporary storage unit like an ipod. (You can make 32 hour CDR's, and as many as you want from all your CD's and mp3s. How many songs can your single ipod hold?)

Anyway, Kudos to you for discovering this Aphex Twin CD, but now, explore some of the other artists I've mentioned above. You will love this new world of sound that you've discovered. It is more vast than you could ever imagine.

Wacky........2006-09-04

If this is your first Aphex Twin/"IDM" purchase, this will be the weirdest thing you've ever heard in your whole life. It's probably not accessible to a lot of people. Actually, it's kind of annoying at first, but after a while it might grow on you.

try it, start to finish...........2006-07-21

i've read all the bashing reviews of this album, not up to par, a little shallow, etc... richard james has fooled the sheep. these disks have been designed to play together, try it, start to finish. i read this somewhere else online and was a little sceptical but a few minutes into the first track(s) was completly convinced. i ripped both disks onto the computer under two different formats and used two different media players timed to start at exactly the same time. a lot of work to enjoy an album but remember rdj is a computer geek and a jokester, probably gets off on the the bum reviews. enjoy!

Average customer rating:

An album of extremes
Techno intellectual
awestruck!
Felping Gronad
Superficial and numbing

Come to Daddy EP
Aphex Twin
Manufacturer: Rhino / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ambient | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Drum & Bass | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Techno | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Hardcore Techno | Techno | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Electronica | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

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Rhino Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
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Windowlicker
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I Care Because You Do
Drukqs
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ASIN: B000003MSH
Release Date: 1997-10-21

Tracks:

Come To Daddy (Pappy Mix)
Film
Come To Daddy (Little Lord Faulteroy Mix)
Bucephalus Bouncing Ball
To Cure a Weakling Child (Contour Regard)
Funny Little Man
Come To Daddy (Mummy Mix)
IZ-US

Customer Reviews:

An album of extremes.......2007-05-11

The best way to describe Come to Daddy is that it is an album of extremes. There is no middle ground. One song will be soft and soothing and the next will be intense and menacing. "Funny Little Man" is more offensive than funny and "To Cure a Weakling Child (Contour Regard)" isn't as effective as the version that appears on the Richard D. James album. But those two tracks are offset by a couple of powerful ones that rank with Aphex Twin's best. "Bucephalus Bouncing Ball" is avant-garde electronica at its finest and "IZ-US" is an absolutely riveting closer. These two tracks rank with "Boy/Girl" and "Windowlicker" for sheer hypnotic effect that is given to the listener. You just don't want them to end. The four other songs, especially "Flim", are satisfactory. The production on Come to Daddy is what instantly struck me the most. As great as the production on the Richard D. James album was, it's just not as pristine and crisp-sounding as Come to Daddy. There's a lot going on in the album, but the production lets you catch every bit of it. Yes...the production on Come to Daddy is among the best you'll ever hear in any genre and is just about perfect. The originality and production makes Come to Daddy worthwhile and, along with the Richard D. James album and Selected Ambient Works: 85-92, among Aphex Twin's best albums. B+

Techno intellectual.......2007-03-23

A small EP of the best compositional work in the Techno genre that I've ever heard. If the point of music is to represent spiralling electric currents in your brain, then this album will be much more enjoyable than the mind-numbing MIDI 4-on-the-floor of the majority of work in the Genre.

awestruck!.......2006-02-17

precisely, this was my reaction upon seeing the video. A scintillatingly devilish promenade of bizarre apparitions, a turmoil of postnuclear visions...and i still have not figured out what makes it so appaling. The iconography of come to daddy has ever since made its way around art forums, magazines and had a greater impact on video-culture as none before, that owes less to the aphexian impromptu itself, than to us, masses who devour anything that is scandalous, and revolving. Thus a sound may only sound as it is visualized, and this may be a reason why, an aphexian experiment could be transplanted to M.T.V standards. Phonic violence is not the case of visual violence, and i think this a reason why we should credit RDJ more for his genuine sampling than for the visual inertia we are faced with in this video. This particular brakethrough does not apply to all aphexian sampling, i have seen other videos that did not scandalize the auditive this far...though windowlicker might be an acception. Come to daddy is musically more than just a scandal to the senses, in fact it juxtaposes them to a certain extent. Altough we seem to see all we hear we have to come to terms with deception, a musical ambiental experience should not be mistaken with the images of horror, and loathing we are bombed with day in day out.

Felping Gronad.......2005-12-24

Completely veeblefetzer.
This is your Brain.
This is your Brain after 'Come to Daddy'.

Essential

Superficial and numbing.......2005-12-04

Superficial and numbing...

But that's maybe how you want to feel when you listen to it.

To me it's music that doesn't tell you ANYTHING.

It's like one BIG joke or maybe that's what it's meant to be.

Music that lacks soul or emotion.

Or maybe I just don't get it.

A lot of my friends rave about it so I've given it ago but...

Whats it ALL about anyway??

It just sounds frustrated and stunted. Music that doesn't really go anywhere or say anything..

Average customer rating:

A Splendid Visit
Squarepusher's greatest album
Machinery Gone Wrong!
A REAL JOURNEY
I'd say it's pretty radical.

Ultravisitor
Squarepusher
Manufacturer: Warp Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Drum & Bass | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Electronica | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B0001E70BM
Release Date: 2004-03-09

Tracks:

Ultravisitor
I Fulcrum
Iambic 9 Poetry
Andrei
50 Cycles
Menelec
C-Town Smash
Steinbolt
An Arched Pathway
Telluric Piece
District Line II
Circlewave
Tetra-Sync
Tommib Help Buss
Every Day I Love

Customer Reviews:

A Splendid Visit.......2007-02-05

This is one of Squarepusher's best! Very well balanced. Not a mini-album or an experiment, Ultravisitor showcases Squarepusher's wide aray of sounds, (his technical skill and free flow jams) very well. While tracks like "Menelec" and "An Arched Path" can be pretty harsh, most of the album is relatively mellow. SP mixes concert performances with studio material to create a live vibe. "Andrei" and "Every Day I Love" are both excellent examples of Squarepusher unplugged. The title track "Ultravisitor" is classic electronic SP (sequenced beats, heavy bass) climaxing with an otherworldly electronic pipe organ! "Tetra-Sync" is another equally epic track. "Circlewave" and "Iambic 9 Poetry" are both beautiful, ever-crescendoing pieces of music I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing. This album also has a brilliant follow up to the classic SP track "Tommib" (from his 2001 release, Go Plastic) titled "Tommib Help Buss". Sophia Coppola eat your heart out.

With the exception of a few hard points (it comes with the territory I guess) this is a very accessible album, and is a logical next step for someone just getting into the act of Squarepushing. Those already acquainted, I need not tell you that this one is a must. In the headphone realm, Ultravisitor is a most welcome guest.

Squarepusher's greatest album.......2006-11-25

Ultravisitor has to be the best release by Squarepusher yet. Combining 8-bit computer textures layering throughout the songs and insanely composed bass and synth, Jenkinson has spewed out a work of genius from his brain. The album starts of with "Ultravisitor," post electronic jungle techno with a great synthetic structure. But the best song on this has to be "Tetra-sync" beautifully arranged in a Godspeed sort of style, it displays his best work. Next to Aphex Twin, Autechre and Boards of Canada, Squarepusher has rightfully owned his place with the Lords of Warp.

Machinery Gone Wrong!.......2006-10-30

Squarepusher has alot of titles available, however it does seem that he keeps trying to re-invent himself. I've sampled many of his CD's, but this album called "Ultravisitor" has many tracks that have become the very core of the IDM music that I try to share with my friends and co-workers. (Well actually, let's forget about my co-workers. They think this music makes me crazy and gets them all a little nervous being around me while I'm going spastic getting so much work done so quickly).

A few years ago, I saw a movie called "Pi". It was a low budget black and white film based on the subject of intelligence and insanity, and the soundtrack that supported this film had a series of artists that I have never heard of before. Watching the film, I just loved all that strange electronic music playing in the background, so I knew I just had to find the CD soundtrack of the film "Pi".

On the soundtrack, I saw that it had a track by Aphex Twin called "Bucephalus Bouncing Ball". Aphex Twin is an artist that I have heard of before. I don't remember hearing this track in the film but I sure loved this bizarre electronic collage of dissonant noise. Plus, this CD soundtrack introduced me to alot of new artists, all making a new sound in electronic music that I have never heard before. This new music is called IDM, which means "intelligent dance music". But, I think it should be called ADM meaning "addictive music", because that's what this new music has become to me. I have a hard time listening to regular music anymore. This IDM is very motivational music to listen to. This music gives me all sorts of nervous energy which has turned me into a healthier, more physically toned, workaholic. When I'm in an IDM music euphoria, I can't sit still. After buying the soundtrack of "Pi", I ended up looking for more CD's with this new IDM sound.

This could easily be anyone's favorite CD from Squarepusher. But, you know, you can't just allow yourself to be satisfied with this one CD. However, if you don't have a lot of music like this, than it can seem to become too repetitious and become tiresome rather quickly if you let yourself play this CD too much. Even I don't care to sit through the entire playback of just the one CD. But, I have determined that this music from Squarepusher should be played within a mix of other Ambient Dub and other various glitch and IDM related electronica. To just play these 15 songs over and over, end to end, can get dull quickly. But if you listen to these songs mixed in with about another hundred IDM instrumentals than you will truly appreciate Squarepusher's participation in the overall bigger picture of today's electronic instrumentals. Today's IDM.

I have this Squarepusher CD shuffling amongst others in my 200 CD carrousel. These tracks by Squarepusher are being mixed up with tracks by Autechre, Gescom, Aphex Twin, Phutureprimitive, Pete Namlook, Biosphere, The Orb, The Higher Intelligence Agency, Sounds From the Ground, Electric Skychurch, Plaid, Boards of Canada, and various other similar artists of which Squarepusher belongs with.

I also have these songs and other IDM and Ambient Dub tracks burned onto ATRAC CDR's that is made through the SonicStage program made available only by Sony. (Check out some of Sony's ATRAC CD players and find out why burning hours of your favorite tunes onto a single CDR is better than just loading an ipod with mp3s) Burning hard copies is definitely better than just floating your music in a temporary storage unit like an ipod. (You can make 32 hour CDR's, and as many as you want from all your CD's and mp3s. How many songs can your single ipod hold?)

Anyway, Kudos to you for discovering this Squarepusher CD, but now, explore some of the other artists I've mentioned above. You will love this new world of sound that you've discovered. It is more vast than you could ever imagine.

A REAL JOURNEY.......2006-05-19

Wow. I just finished listening to this for the first time. I've only ever heard a few Squarepusher tunes, and never a full album. What I'd heard I'd found a bit, well, square and er... pushy. But this is the real deal. You don't get a moment's respite as the artist takes you from nice, to blissful, to downright Miltonically evil and scary and back again. I love the interludes, with the skilfully interpolated crowd screaming "COME ON". You scream with them. These creaking gaps are just that bit too long, so when he hits you with the full force of his bleep-screech-drill-splat-8th-layer-of-hell glory, you've really earned it. Throughout I was grinning with happiness one minute, cackling maniacally the next and begging him for more a bit later. Get this. It's like the ghost of Coltrane doing the candy flip whilst trapped inside a synthesiser - the journey is just as rewarding as A Love Supreme, and twice as long to boot!

I'd say it's pretty radical........2006-02-02

I'm not a huge Squarepusher fan. I like Tom. I have a lot of his CDs. I really don't listen to any of them but "Feed Me Weird Things" and "Music Is Rotted One Note" for maybe about once a year. They really just don't keep my five second attention span like those two do.
So when I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy "Ultravisitor", it ended up languishing on the shelf as usual. This is how things go sometimes. I guess I liked it fine, one or two tracks, but I guess I just wasn't in the mood. Picked it up again, etc. etc.
So, "Ultravisitor" works for me because it's the atonal scrape jazz drill blast of "Feed Me Weird Things" with the weirdness and flow of "Music is Rotted One Note".
There's more than that. "Steinbolt" is... I'm sure the cops will show up soon. This stuff makes black metal seem MOR. People like guitars. People usually don't like the sound of things usually associated with explosions. Which is all this track is. Naturally, that makes it one of the better tracks on the CD.
"50 Cycles", that "Iambic 9 Poetry" track everyone loves, "Menelec".
Generally, I enjoy the album a lot. The interludes are a bit much for my taste. There's just entirely too many of them. There's no consistency. You have the insanely spastic mayhem bursts like "Steinbolt" and "50 Cycles", then "Iambic 9 Poetry" and "Circlewave', some of the most docile electronic I've heard in ages. Not that it takes anything away from the songs in general, they're all excellent. It's just maybe Tom should have just stayed near one spot on the map.
That and nothing will ever beat "Feed Me Weird Things".

Average customer rating:

...
the rare stuff
An acceptable EP that brings RDJ's music to a different level
A fine EP, reissued at long last.
AFX: Hangable Auto Bulb (Warp)

Hangable Auto Bulb
AFX
Manufacturer: Warp Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Drum & Bass | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Techno | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Electronica | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

IDM | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Experimental Music | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Chosen Lords
Surfing on Sine Waves
Donkey Rhubarb
The Campfire Headphase
I Care Because You Do

ASIN: B000A3OX32
Release Date: 2005-11-01

Tracks:

Children Talking
Hangable Auto Bulb
Laughable Butane Bob
Bit
Custodian Discount
Wabby Legs
Every Day
Arched Maid

Album Description

Originally released as 2 separate EPs, these sought after tracks are now compiled on one low-priced reissue. All previously issued only on wax, this is the sound of APHEX TWINS's most famous alter-ego, delivering classic rave, schizo jungle and experimentronica galore.

Customer Reviews:

..........2006-03-08

anyone who knows aphex twin knows that he is weird, but hangable auto bulb... is so weird.

the rare stuff.......2006-01-28

This was one of the early Aphex Twin records from ten years ago. It was released as two rare EPs. The second one is hard to find. I know this sort of stuff because I spent a lot of the 1990s listening to techno. Luckily for those who own these records, this is a CD only release. Aphex Twin released many records as Richard D. James, but as AFX, it was reserved for often more experimental works, and more obscure. This record documents the early AFX. It often mixes odd drum breaks with the sound of children talking. It's not too different from the recent "Rubber Johnny" record. This is worthwhile.

An acceptable EP that brings RDJ's music to a different level.......2005-11-17

Hangable Auto Bulb was an interesting new EP that combined some different combinations of RDJ's usual warp music. It starts off with "Children Talking" which has a child saying 'mashed potatoes' and a guy afterwards saying 'why do you hate mashed potatoes?' and it goes on from there. Throughout the CD, AFX works in some different kind of sounds and beats through every song (Laughable Butane Bob, Hangable Auto Bulb, Custodian Discount). A lot of the songs seem to be a little redundant in my own opinion though...After "Custodian Discount" a lot of the background beats AFX uses in his songs seem to render towards sounding the same...I'd still prefer to hear AFX returning some of his older styles (Drukqs, Selected Ambient Works, Classics). I thought the EP had a great ending to it. "Every Day" and "Arched Maid Via RDJ" were very nice and easy to listen to and can be enjoyable even to some of the beginner RDJ listeners. Overall I give Hangable Auto Bulb a 3 - 3.5

A fine EP, reissued at long last........2005-11-10

It's a little hard to believe that Aphex Twin's Hangable Auto Bulb EPs are now ten years old. These two twelve-inch vinyl singles were very obscure when they first came out; only three hundred copies were pressed, and few people got a chance to hear the music. But now, in retrospect it's clear that they were undoubtedly a turning point in AFX's career, for better or for worse. Almost everything he recorded after this, all the way through 2001, is a variation on the style of Hangable Auto Bulb. Now Warp has reissued both EPs on one disc, and it's time to give them another look, ten years since.

For all its obscurity, though, Hangable Auto Bulb started one big trend. This is a jungle album. It might not be the first record to ever use that style, but that doesn't matter, because Richard D. James second-guessed all the hype that would build up around jungle, put his own face on it, and thus placed himself right at the front of all the changing fashions of electronica just as they were about to start moving even more frenetically. With his high profile and critical reputation, AFX legitimized the style and gave it a voice, and thus opened the way for any number of lesser musicians to find success in that brief period of time.

I describe this somewhat grudgingly, because jungle does not appeal to me personally so much, and because the advent of jungle quashed a number of other developments in electronic music that I liked more, like the danceable, melodic style of Aphex Twin's own first album, Selected Ambient Works 85-92. After Hangable Auto Bulb, Aphex Twin's music changed for good. He became so enamoured of the spastic, sped-up, seemingly arrhythmic percussion style of jungle that he recorded almost nothing different in the next six years. Inevitably, he worked this idea into a dead end, and pretended to retire in 2001.

So, for me, the biggest surprise when I listened to this reissue was how good the music was. I didn't really like it when I had first heard it, a long time ago. Now, I see that it's aged very well, and the sound seems much cleaner and less abrasive than the way I remember it. Maybe the passage of time favours Aphex Twin; once the trends have passed and the imitators have disappeared, his originality shines all the brighter.

Or maybe it's just because he knew when to stop, at thirty-three minutes. A longer album in this style would have been difficult to sit through; the style would have become repetitive and grating. This EP, on the other hand, is both concise and focused.

Then there's the matter of those sped-up percussion tracks. Their speed varies wildly; they seem more or less steady one moment, only to break out in violent bursts the next; they crash chaotically during breaks in the music. But they're not arrhythmic. For instance, there's a part on "Wabby Legs" when, even as the drums appear to flail around in a random fashion, another drum track is actually keeping time. It's like a performance by a really proficient drummer, who can add all kinds of impressive fills without breaking the rhythm.

Better yet, AFX didn't forget the melodies, either. In this regard, Hangable Auto Bulb is the best jungle album ever made. The lead in "Laughable Butane Bob" is just beautiful, all nervous and excited, and taking on a dreamier tone in the break. If Aphex Twin were to release a collection of non-album tracks, as I wish he would, this track would be a sure thing to include on it. "Wabby Legs" isn't bad either, and a couple of other tracks from the first single don't have pronounced melodies, but do use some calm bass and keyboards to punctuate the silence during breaks and provide contrast to the drums. And hey, although "Children Talking" is probably the weakest track on the CD, it does provide a bit of that good old Aphex Twin humour by means of a sample of a voice repeatedly intoning, "Mashed potatoes! Why do you hate mashed potatoes?"

The second single is much better than the first, though it contains only two songs. (Unfortunately, the tracklisting on the CD confuses them; "Every Day" is actually last, and "Arched Maid" just before it.) In "Every Day," a very pretty keyboard line provides the background for a story, of sorts: a woman's voice tells of how her husband constantly hectors her and demands that she fetch him things. The voice is obviously distorted, but there's something so disarming about its tone. When, the woman says, "Every day, things keep piling up over me," it doesn't sound like she's complaining, it sounds like she's basically a good-natured person who's doing her best to put up with this self-absorbed husband, but unable to deal with the strain. It's a surprisingly affectionate depiction, coming as it does from a man who isn't known for his compassion.

And "Arched Maid Via RDJ" easily equals any of Aphex Twin's best tracks. He breaks out the electric guitar, for the first and last time ever, and it is awesome. While the drums bang and clatter, he plays a long solo with a faraway, detached sound, like the kind of feeling one gets during solitary daydreams. I always liked this song, but it's even better than how I'd remembered it.

What else is there to say? If you're not familiar with Aphex Twin, his best album is still his first one. This CD, however, is a definitive portrayal of the second half of his career, and the three best tracks are as good as anything he's ever done. Devoted fans won't need my invocation to buy this album, but hopefully it will find a wider audience and inspire a new interest in AFX's accomplishments. But man, ten years...mais ou sont les neiges d'antan?

AFX: Hangable Auto Bulb (Warp).......2005-11-07

It's always the "most accessible" ones rather than the most popular ones that get the resurrections. I never like to review reissues unless there is a reason. My thing is if the music was done before, so be it. It is in the past, but I will buy it no less. It is mighty smart of them to say that the reissue is by none other than AFX (Otherwise known as Aphex Twin, Caustic Window, Polygon Window, Diceman, and better pronounced as you pronounce what it may sound like to say the letters as a word). I wanted to buy this album because it was one of the albums made in the past that everyone was raving about. And I love Aphex Twin. And plus, reissues are supposed to be rediscovery of how the sounds you love got started. So why not get a start on wondering how the music of Richard D. James came up. Shouldn't we?

AFX's Hangable Auto Bulb (Analogue Bubblebath anagram and kickoff on the series) is an album that like the rest has no actual concept to it. It was just made to activate your mind a bit more. And like IDM, the album has a more electronically complex feel on the album that it sounds like a modern take on Classical music most of us wouldn't buy, despite the belief that both make you practice better at homework.

It turns out his stuff is no different. It is just as enjoyable. With "Children Talking", it has a child saying "Mashed Potatoes" and a man saying "Mashed Potatoes? Why do you hate mashed potatoes", over a very accessible though likely to be empty beat. To tell you the truth, the album gets off to a wonderful start for AFX, but the album feels a bit half-full in terms of RDJ's goo. But as long as you work around it the music is an experience you can't refuse. To hear a half conversation being showed off then sliced and diced is the most weird choose for a lead-off than "I want your soul/I will eat your soul". Though, the ride all gets better with Aphex Twin's "Hangable Auto Bulb" where the songs have a rather bit of impact, as synthesizers coat the music leading you to imagination as 6:30 leads by. With "Laughable Butane Bob", you are pretty much welcome to call it Aphex Twin's "Full Rinse" to the last song's "Come On My Selector" (see "Come On My Selector" and "Full Rinse" on Squarepusher's Big Loada). "Laughable Butane Bob" is an album that further adds a melody and a structure those who aren't enjoying may want to hear: dancing to a melody that will draw you into the music rather than expect your mind to bounce out of whim. Now for those who know Aphex Twin's work may know he uses a mini-piece called "Bit" where the music is under 12 seconds long but a good intermission to any other work.

Now it is time to stop lollygagging and get back to make your mind dance with "Custodian Discount" and "Wabby Legs", which both are mind dancing classics for the time you get to challenge yourself during work. "Every Day", unlike the rest, is a little more melody oriented, therefore filling up the cup and adding a grain of salt, at first reminds you of old use in electric piano before returning back to moving everyone in the Mental Discotheque. Most of the people who listen may be able to call "Everyday" and "Laughable Butane Bob" the most accessible, because they have a beat and a melody to follow, but the truth is as an album together, and an MVP of past Analogue Bubblebath series, Hangable Auto Bulb is a piece of work that you have to strive to try not to dismiss for the little flaws, but to just think of it as a sped-up equivalent to any other Dance/Electronica album you have bought in your life.

Rating: 8/10

Average customer rating:

Good buy!
Brilliant.
Thank you, may I have another?
26 Mixes For Cash
Bleeps. Bloops. Kinda blah.

26 Mixes for Cash
Aphex Twin
Manufacturer: Warp Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ambient | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Drum & Bass | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Techno | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

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Drukqs
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ASIN: B000088EGP
Release Date: 2003-03-25

Tracks:

Time To Find Me, AFX Fast Mix - Seefeel
Raising The Titanic, Big Drum Mix - Gavin Bryars
Journey, Aphex Twin Care Mix - Gentle People
Triachus, Mix By Aphex Twin - Kinesthesia
Heroes, Aphex Twin Remix - Philip Glass
In The Glitter Part II, Aphex Twin Mix - Buck Tick
Zeroes And Ones, Aphex Twin Reconstruction #2 - Jesus Jones
Ziggy, Aphex Twin Mix #1 - Nav Katze
Your Head My Voice, Voix Revirement - Saint Etienne
Change, Aphex Twin Mix #2 - Nav Katze
Une Femme N'est Pas Un Homme, Aphex Twin Mix - The Beatniks
The Beauty Of Being Numb Section B, Created By Aphex Twin - Nince Inch Nails
Let My Fish Loose, Aphex Twin Remix - Nobukazu Takemura

Tracks:

Krieger, Aphex Twin Baldhu Mix - Die Fantastischen Vier
Deep In Velvet, Aphex Twin Turnips Mix - Phillip Boa & The Voodoo Club
Falling Free, Aphex Twin Remix - Curve
We Have Arrived, Aphex Twin QQT Mix - Mescalinum United
At The Heart Of It All, Created By Aphex Twin - Nine Inch Nails
Remix - AFX
Windowlicker, Acid Edit - Aphex Twin
Normal, Helston Flora Remix By AFX - Baby Ford
SAW2 CD1 TRK2, Original Mix - Aphex Twin
Mindstream, The Aphex Twin Remix - Meat Beat Manifesto
You Can't Hide Your Love, Hidden Love Mix - DMX Krew
Spotlight, Aphex Twin Mix - Wagon Christ
Debase, Soft Palate - Mike Flowers Pop

Amazon.com

It's hard to imagine Aphex Twin having a more appropriately named label (Warp); fitting also that 26 Mixes for Cash should have such an honest title. Having passed off a random gabba track as a Lemonheads remix and not bothering to hear the Nine Inch Nails originals before handing over his mixes, Aphex Twin has historically proved a little wayward in his methods. Not so much remixing as recycling, Richard D James's method is not unlike flinging tracks into a garbage crusher just long enough so only the bare bones of melody and structure survive. Covering a decade's work, this stunning eclectic mix effortlessly flicks from cinematic ambience (Nine Inch Nails--"At the Heart of It All") and industrial pandemonium (Mescalinum United's "We Have Arrived") to squelching acid trance (his own previously unreleased acid edit of "Windowlicker"). The disparate range of artists remixed is as remarkable as the music, with Mike Flowers Pops and Wagon Christ making unlikely bedfellows. Improbable yet inspired highlights come in the form of his haunting interpretation of David Bowie's "Heroes" symphony conducted by Philip Glass and the breathtakingly ethereal transformation of Curve's "Falling Free." --Christopher Barrett

Album Description

A 26 track compilation on 2 CDs of Aphex Twin's blinding remixes (plus two previously unreleased Aphex tunes). Encompassing 10 years of always evolving, unpredictable Aphex Twin sounds, from acid trax and raved-up bangers to strangely commercial pop and his inimitably delicate, ambient empathies. Gatefold digipak. Warp. 2003.

Customer Reviews:

Good buy!.......2007-02-19

I bought this cd for my guy and he loved it. He doesnt listen to it enough in my opinion though. :/

Brilliant........2006-12-15

A completely worthwhile album; wide variety of stellar remixes. I really, really love this album, despite a couple of really bizarre and unlistenable tracks. And even the unlistenable tracks are really fascinating. RDJ is laughing himself silly right now, if he reads this, because he often pooh-poohs his own genius. He probably helped compose The Beauty of Being Numb Section B in 5 minutes on the crapper, and here I am calling it brilliant. He probably worked really hard on that mix and composed Time to Find Me with the whole crapper/5 minutes thing. Or not.

Either way, it's been, what, a couple of years now, and I still can't get enough of this album. Absolutely essential for Aphex Twin fans, and not a bad starter-kit for newbies either.

Thank you, may I have another?.......2005-12-24

More melodies would have been nice; I may make my own remixes of these songs (I'd just be adding more melodies) in order to make the music more satisfying :) As always, he delivers those tantalizing drum beats and creates a great c.d., but there just weren't any songs that amazed me. Expect an interesting set of songs, just don't expect them to be mind-blowing. Of course, that's my point of view, if you're new to this genre, this could be mind-blowing; when I first heard Karsten Pflum (who led me to check out Richard James) I was totally blown away.

26 Mixes For Cash.......2005-10-02

Ok I give little green papers and get this? What a deal! Depending on how you pay for this whether it be through a few small numbers (credit card), a $20 piece of paper, or 20 one dollar pieces of paper, you are getting a mighty fine deal.

Let me start off by saying Aphex Twin is not a thing of the past, because the music is classic. It has a certain beauty to it that sets it apart. Some of the tracks on "26 Mixes For Cash" have a greater track length than his previous material, which is a pretty darned good thing. This is because the majority of the tracks are quite trance-like, but not in a club-ish, repetitive sense. There is a sense of sameness throughout each track but it has great subtle variety which one would only notice after a few listens. There are interesting parts in each track which sound like they could be organically made through instrumental group but it is somehow all put together using computer electronics.

I would say his first recording, SAW 85-92, was his most important release, the Richard D. James album is his most defined of the crazy persona which is Aphex Twin, and this is his most trance-like, beautiful, polished, and expertly nob twiddled recording.

This recording is different than the other Aphex Twins in the sense that it is more digestible, because of its organic nature. It's sort of like a more recent version of Selected Ambient Works 85-92, except this one covers a greater variety of sounds and is more intricate. If you like electronic music then you will love this CD, no joke. This is a defining moment for electronic music and how far out the genre can reach, which is so diverse, at the same time slightly minimalistic, but not at any point is it uninteresting.

Basically you should own this CD, and I will put my foot down that if you do not love it, you need to try a different genre because you are cray-z. It is a very nice mix of techno, drill & bass, drum & bass, ambience, and electronic in extraordinary chilling beauty whether it be dark, sparse, or haunting bliss. This is a hard album to give highlights, and all the tracks have their own feel, making this one of the most impressive CDs I've heard yet.

Bleeps. Bloops. Kinda blah........2005-03-08

I bought this after hearing the remix of Gavin Bryars' "Sinking of the Titanic," (the original is a beautiful piece of music; the remix is cool, too). The rest of 26 Mixes, well....

Disc 1 is ok, but most of the tracks make their points early and then go on for too long. Disc 2 is, however, pretty lousy. Apparently, taking a tune, dicing it up and making it sound like basically a hard drive crashing is of interest to some folks. It's of interest to me, too .... briefly.

Average customer rating:

One of my top ten electronic albums
This one really grew on me
AMAZING
one of his best
YES

Hard Normal Daddy
Squarepusher
Manufacturer: Warp Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Drum & Bass | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Electronica | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

IDM | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Acid Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

Ultravisitor
Go Plastic
Big Loada
Music Is Rotted One Note
Richard D. James Album

ASIN: B00005T7KC
Release Date: 2001-11-27

Tracks:

Coopers World
Beep Street
Rustic Raver
Anirog D9
Chin Hippy
Papalon
E8 Boogie
Fat Controller
Vic Acid
Male Pill Part 13
Rat/P's And Q's
Rebus

Customer Reviews:

One of my top ten electronic albums.......2007-03-31

This album is superb. For me, it ties Big Loada for Squarepusher's best album, both of which are on my "top ten of all time".

This one really grew on me.......2006-07-10

I used to have a tendancy to give great albums 5 stars. But a 5 star album has to be mind mending. This is a great album. I used to try to look for something specific when listening to this, but this is NOT a regular drum and bass album. If you're like me and expected to hear the kind of music you hear on Squarepusher's remixes, you will not find it here. This is a lot deeper. It's not just bob your head or dance music. It's a complete experience. Squarepusher shows some amazing production techniques especially with the drum samples. His atmospheric work on each track is very good too. If you really want to hear this album for what it is, you have to hear the whole thing at least a few times. Just the 30 second samples won't do it. I am looking forward to hearing more from Squarepusher, for sure.

AMAZING.......2006-05-14

what more can I say? Minus the last track, this is pure, untamed, genius! Check YouTube to see Tom pitch bend E8Boogie while making puky faces in his studio. Amusing. not amazing

one of his best.......2006-05-08

if you dig electronica with some jazzy elements sprinkled on top, this is the album for you. squarepusher never releases a bad album, and this is one of my favorites by him. highly reccommended for anybody who has any appreciation for either electronica or jazz. very well-crafted without any filler or bad tracks. bursting with original ideas.

YES.......2006-03-06

Another superb release by Tom,I think this release is ok it's no Go Plastic or Big Loada but I still like most of all Jenkinson's work so far. If you like decent music pick this up.

Average customer rating:

If you're going to get your feet wet, you may as well swim.
Xen Superstar
Must have
Oustanding, Breathtaking, Spectacular, (adjective please!!!)
Disappointing to be perfectly honest

Xen Cuts
Various Artists - Dance & DJ - Techno
Manufacturer: Ninja Tune
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

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Electronica | Dance & DJ | Box Sets | Stores | Music

Rap & Hip-Hop | Box Sets | Stores | Music

General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
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Ninja Cuts Vol. 3: funkungfusion
Cold Krush Cuts/Back in the Base
Zentertainment 2004
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Blow Your Headphones

ASIN: B00004XSTF
Release Date: 2000-10-03

Tracks:

The Xen To One Ratio - Steinski's Intro
Showtime - Big Dada Sound
2 Tha Left - Dynamic Syncopation
QMS - T Love
8pt Agenda - The Herbaliser
Ug - Mr. Scruff
Memories - Neotropic
Rhythm & Blues Angus Steakhouse - Cabbageboy
Saboteur (Roots Manuva Version) - Amon Tobin
Your Revolution (Version) - DJ Vadim
Nepalese Bliss (Jimpster Mix) - The Irresistible Force
Emperors Main Course - Kid Koala
Give It Up - Coldcut
Hip Hop Barrio - Up, Bustle & Out
Blue Flames - Quannum MC's
Night Night Theme - The Infesticons
I Hear The Drummer - Luke Vibert
Ninjah (We Are Ninja) - Fink

Tracks:

The Joy Of X (Spotters Delight) - Flexus Intro
The 10th Victim - Clifford Gilberto
Soul Pride - Neptune
Los Locos Cubanos (Snowboy Mix) - Up, Bustle & Out
Down & To The Left - Amon Tobin
My Life's In These Bottles - Loka
Original Sins - Chris Bowden
Restless - Clifford Gilberto
Build A Church With Your Fear - Animals On Wheels
The Ageing Young Rebel (Gentle Cruelty) - DJ Food
Quicksilver Loom - Flanger
Big Sea - Funki Porcini
Arcane - Arc
Big Amoeba Sound - Max & Harvey

Tracks:

Twice The First Time - Saul Williams
More Beats & Pieces (John McEntire Tortoise Mix) - Coldcut
Dubble (Organ Swell) - Funki Porcini
No Mind - Happy Campers
Peace Pt.1 - DJ Food
Happy Band - Mr. Scruff
Drunk Trumpet (Live At The Metro, Chicago) - Kid Koala
Non Lateral Hypothesis - DJ Vadim
Ninja Tune (The Process Mix) - Hexstatic
Movements (Live At Inside Tracks) - Roots Manuva
Tried By 12 (Squarepusher Mix) - East Flatbush Project
Feel'n You & Me - Sukia Vs. DJ Food
Channel 1 Suite - The Cinematic Orchestra
Bad Sex - Amon Tobin
Bonus Track - Xen Cuts

Amazon.com

Released as a tribute to the fact that Coldcut's legendary Ninja Tune imprint had been releasing records for a decade, this collection showcases the label's rich array of artists. Though assembled in the same spirit as the seminal Ninja Cuts series, comprising a mixture of back catalog and material exclusive to the compilation, a crafty alteration of the title acts as a nod to the 10 years since Bogus Order's "Zen Brakes" first fought its way onto a turntable. From the Steinski intro, the track listing of the first of two compact discs has a distinct hip-hop leaning. It slinks through lyrical activity from the likes of the Dynamic Syncopation before flipping a skit from Roots Manuva over Amon Tobin's "Saboteur" and dropping down to the sultry vocals of Sarah Jones, which parallel the Gil Scott-Heron standard in their declaration that the "revolution will not be between these thighs." Flip to the second disc for a demonstration of Ninja's recent foray into cinematic funk, whether through the raging percussion of Chris Bowden or breathtaking orchestration of Clifford Gilberto's "Restless," the resultant experience is nothing if not widescreen. Settle down and reset your ears for two hours of cross-dressing, genre-bending bliss from one of the U.K.'s most innovative record labels. --Kingsley Marshall

Customer Reviews:

If you're going to get your feet wet, you may as well swim........2004-02-29

Lets rate the label not the tracks. The label, as it stands, is on the up and up, introducing the best aritsts that jazz-core and hip hop (REAL HIP HOP, NOT LUDACRIS) have to offer. The problem, is that this compilation only lets you get your feet wet in the ocean that this label has to offer. Tracks by Amon Tobin, Saul Williams, Kid Koala KILL the rest of the cd. I would honestly reccommend this compilation to those who are ready to dive into some deeper music, it's the perfect introduction into the world of electrojazz and tru hip hop heads. Heavy and hard, this one carries. Just know that this compilation is mearly a cliff note in the world of the tunes of the ninja. Ninja tune reprazent.

Xen Superstar.......2003-07-12

Xen Cuts is basically a compilation of music from different musicians from the Big Dada and Ninjatune label. It's a great showcase of all the labels have to offer and is almost like like gourmet dish of different foods to sample before you decide to buy them on your own. The tracks range from trip hop to hard acid jazz (I love Clifford Gilberto's tracks) and some lyrically sound hip hop tracks. With as many musicians as they have, a lot of the tracks are well done. Granted, I would be hard pressed to find all the tracks appealing, the ones that are give birth to a sense of style that each of the musicians have thoroughly developed through the years and deserve the recognition that they get for their respective genres.
The hip hop tracks are nicely done, the Big Dada Sound track is a highlight just because it features some big name (well, relatively speaking) that all collaborate on one track. It's the perfect high-bass track for any bloke rolling out on the town one evening. The acid jazz tracks are spectacular, especially the clifford gilberto. The tracks leave you drenched in saturation, and push you towards the epiphany of "This is *real* acid jazz". The drum n bass tracks are alright, besides Amon Tobin, it's not really a genre that the labels are known for producing, but some of the d n b tracks are enjoyable. Overall, there are some tracks that pale, while others that embody their respective genre in full. But for the price, it's all good.

Must have.......2002-08-16

Live kid Koala cuts! Rare 'Revelution won't happen bwt these thighs' track and many others. Dude, get it. You gotta.

Oustanding, Breathtaking, Spectacular, (adjective please!!!).......2002-02-09

Wow, Wow, Wow. My brother brought his copy of this CD when he came to visit us. I rummaged through his things (sorry), found it, and it was love at first hearing. I had never even heard of Ninja Tunes before then. This 3-disc compilation features a variety of artists and their myriad sounds, all coming together for one large party (for clarifications, see the track listing posted on this website).
Disc One: Mostly hip-hop oriented. Funky, deep beats with better than average raps, sassy feminists, and an oriental flavor (Kid Koala).

Disc Two: Mostly for jazz buffs. The weakest of the set. Highlights: Gilberto,Clifford; Arc; Up, Bustle & Out; Amon Tobin

Disc Three: Overlooked tracks. Most tracks are excellent. Pay special attention to the Saul Williams track (and watch "Slam"), Funki Porcini, Kid Koala (" I wonder what kind of bear his wife thinks he is"), Roots Manuva, and the Zen Cuts bonus track. It's awesome.

Looking forward to another such compilation by Ninja Tunes
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Disappointing to be perfectly honest.......2001-12-05

Yeah i know, (the price) for 3 cds (just under 50 songs) is great, the packaging is real nice and the names performing are top notch.

The problem is that i was expecting something really mindblowing and there where some great touches but overall i wasn't that impressed. Maybe its because i had most of the best songs because i had at least 10 of the artists individual albums.

Cd 1 is strictly for the hip-hop headz. Roots Manuva kills it of on track 2 while the Herbaliser and Latryrx show just why i think they are the most gifted writers in the scene on track 5. Roots Manuva strikes again on Tobins brilliant Saboteur (track 9), and Quannum MC (track 15) is real hot. This is probably the best cd in this collection with Mr Scruff and Kid Koala making decent apperances. Track 7 is my least favourite (by Neotropic?).

Cd 2 is probably the worst cd. Clifford Gilberto saves it from the dustbin with the amazing Restless and the 10th victim.
Funki Porcini and Arc are above par with decent tracks as is Amon Tobin. Dj Food has the worst song on this whole album with 'The Ageing Young Rebel' (tRACK 10).

Cd 3 is decent with Eastflatbush project (Track 11) and my main man Roots Manuva on (track 10). Funki Porcini gets it right again with (track 2), Porcini's 'Ultimately empty million dollars lp' was real poor so this shows he is decent. Finally (track 12) by DJ Food is brilliant. CD3 has many decent but uninspiring songs on aswell as the ones mentioned.

In conclusion, the is a must get purchase for any Ninja Tune fans and since i purchased a cd recorder i have made a one disc compilation which is great, i advise you to do the same.

Tracks:

Static On The Radio
Bluebird
Combing My Hair In A Brand New Style
That Girl From Brownsville Texas
Borrowed Wings
If Jesus Drove A Motor Home
Objects In Motion
Buzzards Of Love
Alabama Chrome
Phone Booth In Heaven
Bonus Track 1

Amazon.com

It's no accident that Jim White is on David Byrne's Luaka Bop label. His odd, oblique tales from Pensacola, Fla. and beyond wouldn't be out of place in Byrne's quirky movie of smalltown Texas, True Stories. In fact, White has his own new film, Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus, to capture his chosen milieu of motel rooms, truck stops, and churches, and--as described on "If Jesus Drove a Motor Home"--waffle houses: "Jesus eating eggs with ya'll." Not that the artist needs visuals to project his skewed vision: Drill a Hole in That Substrata and Tell Me What You See is dense with dreamy, wasted scenarios, each spilling into the other. His vocals, which rarely rise above a half-whisper, are those of a loser at love cursed by self-knowledge ("You can't waste the whole damn day loving what you need to cast away") and a winner at ennui who spends his drifting hours "listening to the song behind everything I think I know" and finding only static. The album, his third, is treated to offbeat textural touches that reflect the edgy ambient approach of his co-producer, Joe Henry--electronic washes, horn charts, banjo, bebop trumpet. A colorful character whose real-life exploits include stints as a professional surfer and Milan fashion model--and struggles with drugs and religion--White is supported by an expansive cast including fellow tortured Southerner Mary Gauthier, Aimee Mann, Barenaked Ladies, and guitarist Bill Frisell. --Lloyd Sachs

Customer Reviews:

adventuresome alt-country/pop that should be heard........2007-01-17

more adventuresome than your standard alt-country cd, this great recording has not a weak track on it. weirdly different in a perfectly listenable way, i have been enjoying this thing for a couple of years now, and am in no way ready to call it quits. highly, highly recommended.

a mysterious visitor.......2006-08-04

A true story... one day, I noticed a cd sitting on my computer desk. It was this Jim White album. I'd never heard of Jim White, but I figured someone must have loaned it to me and I forgot about it. So I gave it a listen, and was blown away! Moody, mysterious songs, beautiful production, the sort of postmodern-exotic sound of a Luaka Bop release... it reminded me of many things, from Tom Waits to Chris Isaak to Brian Eno's 1970s pop albums.

So I started asking my friends to find out who loaned it to me. Nobody did. Nobody claims credit, or even knew who Jim White is.

That's it. I'm convinced this album actually has magic voodoo powers, and simply willed itself onto my desk because it knew how much I needed to hear this music.

Holy Sh#$t!!!!.......2005-11-28

Great! Jim takes the cake, the hat, the everything! Go Jim, great CD!!! They're all great!

It's not that great.......2005-07-03

I liked "Static On The Radio", and "If Jesus Drove A Motor Home" when I heard them on David Byrne's internet radio feed. I didn't like anything else on the CD. That's all, over and out.

Future Country?.......2005-03-09

To classify this as country seems like an arbitrary decision but it is too lyrical and traditional for post-rock and too mellow for alt. rock so progressive country it is. Drill has a loungy tone devoid of the hootenanny factor but it does tend to go over the top in the production area from time to time. Smooth and full of effort to expand the boundaries of country in most tracks, I believe White overextends himself in the process sometimes specifically on "Combing My Hair In A Brand New Style" which is styled after the Black Crowes' "Soul Singing" mixed with the Sopranos' theme. Each song is explored to the fullest, five out of ten going well over six minutes long, and the range of musical apparatus used like keyboards, bongos, an Irish flute, all manner of percussions, and pro-tools off-set the usual country line-up completely bending traditional notions and guaranteeing his videos will never be played on CMT. His lyrics pursue an Eels led depression with more of a "Jesus, what went wrong" edge to them. The guest appearance of Aimee Mann perfectly sets the tone of the album with her typically sullen croon on the first track and the Barenaked Ladies don't seem out of place here either although the album is definitely closer to her solo work than theirs. Aside from the combing incident, this is a strong album regardless of whatever genre you think this is. The question now becomes, will Blanche, Iron & Wine, and the like continue to push the barriers of their ancient genre or rest on their profitable achievements?

Cavalcade of Glee and Dadaist Happy Hardcore Pom Poms

Average customer rating:

heavy
pretty amazing, but not quite a 5 star album
Please enter a title for your review
Happy Happy Glee Poms!
glxxzstyrp

Cavalcade of Glee and Dadaist Happy Hardcore Pom Poms
Venetian Snares
Manufacturer: Planet Mu
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Drum & Bass | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

Hospitality
Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett
Meathole
Huge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding
Winter in the Belly of a Snake

ASIN: B000FBFSQ0
Release Date: 2006-06-13

Tracks:

Donut
Swindon
Pwntendo
XIII's Dub
Vache
Plunging Hornets
Twirl
Tache
P
Cancel

Customer Reviews:

heavy.......2007-03-09

Way too technical and a bit assaultive. But I have to give props for the effort and chops. I like many of the compositions and I think this is one of VS' better efforts.
Not something you can listen to all the time. Comes off as a bit of a clinic, and that snotty vibe gets tired. But as always conceptually tight. Killer art and sound design.

pretty amazing, but not quite a 5 star album.......2007-03-03

Venetian Snares is for two kinds of people - 1) Super f'd up rave kids, and 2)People who realize that 4/4 time is a little overdone. (i'm a 2)
You will hear people mistakenly claim that Venetian Snares uses "random beats", or that he is just jumbling rhythms together. This is an oversight. A few tracks change from one time signature to another, but most are in one time and stay that way throughout (though it can be very trying to actually count). 90% of VS' tracks are in some form of 7 with the other 10% in assorted odd times like 5/4, 11/8, and my favorite 23/8 (divided two 4/4's and a 7/8). If you can't feel the groove of a seven beat, you'd better be a 15 year old k-head to fully enjoy this artist, let alone this album.
Let me first state that V-Snares is one of my favorites and I will buy and love everything Aaron Funk ever puts out. This album, in particular, is somewhere between "Winnipeg is a Frozen S***hole" and "Find Candace" on the Hardcore-O-Meter. It's not super gabber hardcore but still some definite head noddin'. The track "Aamelostasis" is brilliant beyond words, and the rest of the album is awesome, but it's not as inventive as the "Rossz Csillag..." album, concept-wise. If you have never listened to Venetian Snares, this is a pretty decent album to get your feet wet. Also check out "Chocolate Wheelchair" or "Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits 1972-2006"
The bottom line is if you like Squarepusher, Autechre, Aphex Twin, etc. and you like odd time signatures, you will like Venetian Snares more than any of those chumps. He puts out like 2 ep's and a full release every year - all of it consistently funktastic.

Please enter a title for your review.......2007-01-15

This Cavalcade album is rilly quite lame. Dude has just lost it. The beats are always rite on, but the ambient stuff is so wack. Pretty much everything since Find Candace has been a waste.

Happy Happy Glee Poms!.......2006-12-31

I was a bit anxious about this one. "Rossz Csillag..." was an absolute masterpiece in my eyes: the glorious mash-up of beats and Bartok that the world had been waiting for (but kinda ignored all the same). But it *was* strangely "accessible". What if Aaron's mellowing out? Getting all musical on us? Maybe he'd want to repeat the trick?

F*** that. This is Aaron Funk we're talking about. He's tossed away the classical styles like they were last year's fashion. Good man.

For me, every Aaron Funk album shows improvement, too: more technically accomplished, more musical, more new. He's on a heck of a run of form.

About the style: back in the 90's techno-gods Autechre released "Anti-ep", including "Flutter". On the cover was a sticker proudly stating that no two bars had the same beats - a pretty stunning track, to boot. However, I'm not sure any two bars of rhythm on this entire fricking *album* have the same beats. Aaron is blessed with the boredom threshold of a mosquito and a rather exquisite way of expressing it.

Take "Swindon" - a roccoco harpsichord over a rhythm section you could almost call danceable, but it's endlessly shifting, reforming: diving off at wild tangents; digressing. It's also totally, utterly thrilling to immerse yourself in it.

There's a few other stand-out tracks: "Plunging Hornets" was my most listened to track this year. It takes the minor harmonics of the kind of music that was in "Rossz" and turns it into something frantic, desparate, unbelievably rapid. Kinda like hornets, plunging. The beats synchopate, align and then break into staccato dashes. Sometimes these kind of tracks get sterile, but there's enough modulation of tempo and mood to give a sense of emotional connection.

There's a lot of variety of tempo and style here, too: For people who like their Funk aural assault, there's Vache - something approximating "Happy Hardcore" like the title says. Aggressive, uncomfortable, invigorating.

The album also winds down elegantly, with some (relatively!) mellow tones (P is beatless and pleasant) and Cancel leaving a quite mournful sense in the air as the CD spins out.

Whew! Well, I like it. On the down side, it is a sum of it's parts as an album - it doesn't have the flow of Rossz, and some of the tracks are a little unremarkable: XIII's Dub, Twirl, for example. I'm stingy with my 5 star reviews, so this is a 4. Certainly one of my albums of the year, tho.

glxxzstyrp.......2006-08-15

snares is fun. but id forgotten just how much fun. thought he'd gone off the deep end after meathole... you know, maybe finally taxed himself just a little too much and released too much material? and when i listened to this off bleep, i was like.... yeah, whatever, time to find someone new.

but i bought this anyway, just to complete my list of snares records (all the way from greg hates car culture, upto meathole... hee hee hee) and this album rocks. should be four and a half stars. not as glitchy as huge chrome... which is good... but far more... dont know... unified than a lot of his old material, in terms of mixing melody and spazz. this record is intricate. its not snares busting out in yet another [!!] direction... more a refinement of terms. and damn its good. sometimes slow, sometimes spastic, always involved. not quite breakcore, not quite uber-processed "idm" but a really sweet balance between the two. and just recommending another planet mu record (cause they're cranking) - phthalocyanine's 25 tracks fer one.

oh. and yes. buy. its worth it. spesh if you like snares.

Music Info:

Music Info

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