Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Severian
Yeah, I felt that way about everything that wasn't either SAW/II or the RDJ album for a while. Then I stopped. Then I poo-poo'd everything that didn't have the immediately iconic feel of Windowlicker and Come to Daddy. Then I stopped. Then I thought Drukqs was a mess, and wished it had never been made. Then I thought Drukqs was the only thing that mattered. Once each respective era of material was digested, it felt like a crucial part of the Aphex Twin narrative. And I love it all, even though I know each project will probably be my least favorite for a bit.
Long story short, being adaptable and trusting, and letting new shit grow on you is a prerequisite for listening to brilliant musicians.
How can you say CCAI2 lacks originality? Have you encountered so many recordings of hit-anything-robots smacking the holy percussive hell out of god knows what that the whole concept just feels tired and pointless to you?
Come aaaaaahn!
And SYRO most certainly did need to happen. Thank god it did.
Now I'm interested in what you have to say about StrepSipster. I keep hearing that the Bandcamp mateial is "obviously" fake and that the Soundcloud shit is "obviously" real, but I can't say any of it actually seems that "obvious" to me. I will withhold judgment until official confirmation from RDJ himself gives me reason to decide. But I'll keep listening regardless.
|
I don't mean this as a criticism or anything, more so just an observation, and again I don't think it's directly aimed at you at all but with a larger scope I think, I see it as a thing among fans regardless of age of most genres etc. but here goes...
TOO SUSCEPTIBLE TO MYTHOLOGIES
as admirable as it is that richard has been able to manoeuvre his gear by way of machinery to create these sounds, the fact remains that the process by which he abided to make this music has trumped its ultimate goal, that is to say innovation in process does in no way equate to musical innovation. there are definite precedents for this kind of thing in terms of process and sound not only on rephlex (pierre bastien and victor gama respectively) but indeed in the wider field as a whole (russolo's intonarumori, some of xenakis' percussive/rhythmic works). richard's music was previously governed by his means in a really positive way, considering the clear divisions before and subsequent to 1995, when he switched from his (predominantly analog) hardware setup into laptop composition and then back into a hybrid set-up with the modded disklaviers and drill & bass elements, but now it seems as if, when his setup is at its most complex he seems so deeply enamoured by it as to use his music as a showcase for gear more so than his own inarguable skill as a musician which was established by his status as one of the foremost innovators in popular electronic music. as superficially intriguing as the notion of instruments controlled by robots may subjectively be, the fact remains that almost everything he's done could be achieved by other means, whether physical modelling synthesis or hey, playing the fucking instrument himself. timbrally speaking yes, it's again somewhat alluring in its apparent exoticism but it's pure gamelan, with no injection of fresh ideas whatsoever.
frankly, as proficient as richard's new music may be, it's totally redundant. the inspiration seems to have run out after drukqs, which was ostensibly a dying gasp from the man. and in saying that, as much as I loved that record once, perhaps not so much now, it was starved of ideas, the same approaches to rhythm, to melody, to structure drawn out across two records. and it's the same thing I've said on this forum with regard to kanye west, the notional artist, here richard d james as the unimpeachable vanguard because of reclusion, because of past glory, because of a multiplicity of other interrelated reasons which is simply put up as a means with which to deflect the totally warranted accusations that he's, umm, done. this is of course on current evidence, but he's been sleepwalking for a good decade now.
and I mean you compare it to a group like ae, who have unfailingly obliterated every single boundary which befalls them over the course of two decades and, to be completely honest accomplished far more than richard ever has with greater breadth and compositional dexterity, but deprived of that cultural ubiquity they're near ignored at this point. of course people see them as part of the established canon, but due to their distinct lack of pretension in terms of image projection there's nothing for people to latch on to other than the music, hence no mythologies. exai was really unfairly ignored by all but a few publications and fanboys, which is so fucking perplexing when you consider how cohesive a statement it was, how far it pushed them out in every single direction while maintaining a distinct sonic/aesthetic identity.
even shorter: richard's fine but he's another victim of media, who venerate or deride art in terms of its cultural viability as opposed to on the basis of its musical validity, of which afx is a benefactor (or victim or whatever this is all total bullshit)
soundcloud stuff's cool though, yeah. no doubt it's him.