About this item

The first AFX release since the mighty "Analord" series sees Richard D James and Warp Records go back to the old skool in a big way. From the fly-poster campaign and retro rave Designers Republic sleeve to the fearsome acid breaks held within, this release is a celebration of the days when Tangled was still at the Phoenix, City were still at Maine Road and Me and Piccadilly's Matt Ward were locked in our bedrooms playing Dungeons and Dragons (the early 90s). Going in hard from the get go, AFX fires up the 303, 808 and whatever else he's got lying around to deliver the bleeping, squeaking acid assault of "Serge Fenix Rendered 2". A simple beat holds things together nicely while the raucous acid lines, head spinning sequences and trippy out chords threaten to throw the whole thing off kilter. Next up, "DMX Acid Test" sees the producer weaving fluid 303 lines around an ever changing collage of breakbeats and tough snares, before "Oberheim Blacet1b" mashes your brain, blows the speakers and scares children as RDJ adds gloomy pads and hollow wood blocks to the rapid fire sequences and thundering drums. Speaking of thundering drums, if you were looking for a room wrecking percussion track for your next sally into a rave bunker, "Bonus EMT Beats" will suit you to a t. Opening the B-side in textbook Ronseal fashion, "Simple Slamming B 2" does exactly what it says on the tin, ramping up the LFO and LPF for truly murky bass while a drum track bangs out at breakneck pace. "Midi Pipe1c Sds3time Cube/klonedrm" sees RDJ in piss-take mood, utilising his synth set up to deliver some deranged pygmy polyphony perfectly suited to patchouli-scented after parties the nation over. From that strangeness we skip into the mid tempo headnod of "NEOTEKT72" a dense, bass heavy breakbeat cut in line with RDJ's hip hop inspired moments, before closing on the organic percussion of drum track "R8m Neotek Beat".