Occasionally I will do a deep dive on a favourite artist's discography and collect my thoughts on a hashtag. I think this is all of them so far? 😁
#FSOLTime - The Future Sound of London
#SloanTime - Sloan
#BjörkTime - Björk
#EnoTime - Brian Eno
#AFXTime - Aphex Twin
#TMBGTime - They Might Be Giants
#HevyDevyTime - Devin Townsend
Good morning my little biggest ones! Last time on Evilchili Listens to A Large Discography and Toots About It, I had a look at the mighty Future Sound of London on #FSOLTime. We've also had some good #SloanTime, #BjörkTime, #EnoTime, and #AFXTime and maybe more I'm forgetting? Time is an illusion and toots doubly so.
Today I'm going to listen to some of my favourite records by They Might Be Giants. Why? Because I like fun. The book is long, friends: 34 albums and 15 EPs across nearly 40 years of recording, and if you're the casual listener who thinks the two Johns stopped being interesting when they put the band together, no! Get ready for a long tall weekend of great music: if you use your phone power to follow me you will surely glean how wonderful these records are. So if you've got the spine, join us on the flood of #TMBGTime!
(Or if you're already tired of me, join the eacape team and bury my murdered remains under a muted hashtag.)
To round out the #AFXTime session, I am closing with 2018's Collapse EP, my favourite record since Aphex Twin returned to a more conventional release schedule in 2014 (he has dumped hundreds of tracks to soundcloud, distributed cassette-only releases at festivals, etc over the intervening years).
It's weird to talk about "that Aphex Twin sound" for someone so varied and interested in sonic exploration, but if there is a sound this EP has it: glitchy techno breakbeats, gorgeous melodies, wobbly acid lines, ear-bleeding screeches, and absolutely flawless sound design, production, and mixing. That said, there is a consistency to the sonic palette that creates a through-line in these tracks, so while T69 Collapse traffics in lopsided bass and glitched bass drums, and 1st 44 regurgitates 90s jungle lines that sound ike a Roland 909 bleeding out, there is an electro warmth in both that unifies instead of contrasts.
I've said before that listening to Aphex Twin is like listening to jazz, in that the music reveals itself to the listener most willing to engage with what came before, to understand the book. But where jazz literacy requires familiarity with the standards, a close listen of Aphex Twin demands knowledge of the sounds, rhythms, and technology of electronic music. This EP is a good example of what I mean: it has a kind of looking-forward-by-looking-back feeling -- familiar but strange, a new dialect built on an existing vocabulary. Enjoyable on its own, but remarkable and rewarding when placed in context.
You could certainly start here and go backwards through the catalogue however; in fact that might be a fascinating way to explore! Collapse is certainly more accessible than a lot of his stuff and it might hook you like Acrid Avid Jam did me 30 years ago.
Next up on #AFXTime, Aphex Twin - 26 Mixes For Cash, a compilation of remixes of other artists done by Richard D James.
You know how I said rdj isn't above fucking with you just because he can? As his stature grew throughout the 90s, and particularly after the release of bona fide chart smash Windowlicker, he became a very in-demand remixer. He would generally take the gig, but the bigger the artist, the less interested he was, and sometimes submitted entirely original work for a "remix" of someone he didn't like that had nothing to do with the originals. Of NiN he said, "I never heard the originals...I don't want to, either." 😃 Those tracks are here, as is the Jesus Jones "remix" that I'm pretty sure contains no Jesus Jones whatsoever. It's a fuckin great ambient tune tho.
This 2xCD is so goddamn good. Whatever the source material, however much originates with the original artist and how much is created whole cloth by James, these tracks are stunning. When rdj turns his critical eye to your tune, you can be sure you're going to get something special. I especially love the mix of Philip Glass's arrangement of David Bowie's Heroes, which is one of those bizarre confluences that have to be heard to be believed, though I recognize it is not to some (most?) people's taste. His takes on Gavin Bryars, Seefeel, Saint Etienne, and 808 State are inventive and surprising, and full of genuine affection for his friends. Let My Fish Loose by Nobukazu Takemura is a lurching, off-kilter fever dream that pits distorted vocal loops against fluttering wind instruments and ends in an extended and temder acoustic guitar.
Disc 1 is sequenced as predominantly slower, ambient excursions, while the beats are mostly found on Disc 2, from industrial crunch to drill n bass to noisecore to acid house. We even get a couple freals afx tunes, including an acid remix of Windowlicker and a restored Saw2 CD1 Trk 2. Weirdly, if you are unfamiliar with Aphex Twin, 26 Mixes For Cash, for all its piss takes and randomness, is a great entry point.
Mike Flowers Pops - Freebase
https://youtu.be/Ni_zmmq-XyY
Mike Flowers Pops - Debase (Aphex Twin remix)
https://youtu.be/L0JNfql4oCA
When Napster was a thing I resolved to accumulate the entire rdj discography; this was folly. A thing you should know about Richard D James is that he is so prolific, has so many pseudonyms, side projects, limited releases, rereleases, and bootlegs (many of which he releases himself, and then occasionally deletes) that it can be hard to know where to focus your attention or even be sure you're listening to the same thing someone else is.
Next for #AFXTime I'm listening now to afx - Analogue Bubblebath 3, but the 13-track 1993 bubblewrapped CD version, not the 1992 release 😎
Coming as I did from ICBYD, this record puts Ventolin in context: tinnitus-juxtaposed-against-warm-harmonies is not just IDM shitposting but a deliberate aesthetic; tracks like .942937 explore it as well, creating a dissonant, perplexing listening experience. The record has been called "Messy and unlistenable" and there is some legitimacy to that criticism. But .000890569 and .5527803773258, with their repeated acid lines and consistent dancefloor stomps are more representative of the vibe, I think. And (CAT 00897-AA1) [Fluted] comes closest to ICBYD, a beautiful, ethereal wash with a very Orby melody line.
The Analogue Bubblebath records are loosely united by that acid aesthetic. I would say overall they are an uneven listening experience but there are moments of beauty, wonder, and a few WTFs to be had if you're willing to dig in.
The final track on this version of the record, (CAT 00897-A2), is the most obvious example of the 808 State influence on James; it almost-but-not-quite quotes Cübik and follows a very Graham Massey compositional style of sequences of repetitive 8 bar phrases introducing new rhythmic ideas, leading to a breakdown and coda. If you redid the production with the 303 sound bank instead of... whatever that is he's using... the track would be right at home on Ex:El.
Starting off #AFXTime where I started, with 1995's Aphex Twin - ...I Care Because You Do. I don't remember where I heard it first but since it was the 90s I am assuming it was @akajtg, from whom so many of my musical discoveries of the time originated. The first track, Acrid Avid Jam, hooked me immediately with its deep groove, analogue production and tender melodies; there was no going back. Still one of my very favourite rdj tunes in a body of work filled with stonking great tunes.
Without context either for rdj's music or really the musical landscape in which it was occurring, ...ICBYD seemed to me like it was from *another planet*. It didn't fit with the electronica I was listening to at the time -- it wasn't house, it wasn't ambient, it wasn't downtempo, it wasn't trip hop -- it was all of it and none of it. Not until much later would I understand the threads of influence and inspiration that would connect Aphex Twin to what was happening, that an Aphex Twin record was the *end* of something he'd been doing for years and by the time folks caught up to it James had already moved on. ...ICBYD was his most successful and most acclaimed record to date. It was also a collection of tracks written and recorded over the previous four years and the end of his analogue production.
Anyway the record displays the eclecticism typical of his work from this period: the grooviness of Acrid Avid Jam and Cow Cud is a Twin, the driving, distorted breakbeat of Come On You Slags and Start As You Mean To Go On, the ambience of Wax The Nip and Icct Hedral... there are so many interesting musical ideas here, some old and some new. The beautiful Alberto Balsam displays his gift for more traditional melodic composition. And then there's Ventolin. What the fuck is happening here? Who experiences tinnitus and thinks "oh yeh, I could build 4:29 around this?"
There's a restlessness, a playfulness to this record that I really respond to. James is not above fucking with you just because he can, but there are serious melodic, rhythmic ideas here, and sound design and production that remains unmatched. It is expressive, emotional, provocative; ...I Care Because You Do was my first Aphex Twin record, and it remains my favourite.
https://aphextwin.bandcamp.com/album/i-care-because-you-do?t=1
12 track album
evilchili