What's left to be said about Richard James? One of the most spectacular and critically lauded producers in the world, a divisive musician and Delphic artist, nearing his thirtieth year in 'the biz' and his sound continues to innovate, experiment and enthrall. The David Bowie of electronic music - for some there is simply no parallel and every last artifact is to be feverishly collected and treasured.

A new EP that somehow extended and builds on his idiosyncratic and highly flamboyant style, the first duo of tracks, "T69 Collapse" and "1st 44" are at once playful and majestic. The first exploring the typically smiley-Cornish-acid-tekno genre with aplomb while the second implores deep subs and his galloping drum sequences to create a wobbly and cerebral track that plunges effortlessly into modern 'half-time' business, merging the best bits of techno, glitch, footwork and IDM in a truly Aphex flavoured broth.

Flip the disc and "MT1 T29r2" explores the darker and deranged sides of his persona - utilizing the Kork's MS-20 filter to maximum devastation while more peppery, skitting drum flurries explode out of the recesses of the mix. Finally, "Abundance10edit[2 R8's, FZ20m & A 909]" (phew!) sees James showing off with his world beating drum programming. Can anyone sequence beats better than AFX? No way hosay - as this final tracks sends us tumbling, flailing and spiraling into the speaker stacks like no-one else can. Still the king of electronic music? Youbetcha! Another essential addition from this acid overlord. 

STAFF COMMENTS

says: Every time there's a new Aphex release I'm convinced I've grown out of him and won't like it. Time and time again I've proved wrong as this producer par excellence continues to be ten steps ahead of the pack.

FORMAT INFORMATION

12" Info: 12” in printed inner in printed outer sleeve. DL card insert (includes bonus track pthex).

CD Info: CD in 4 panel wallet.

The Aphex Twin 'Cheetah EP' uses digital sound generation techniques combined with wave sequencing technology to bring you sounds with movement and depth rarely found on records today.

To assure you that your 'Cheetah EP' will give you many years of enjoyment, please be sure to read the owners manual carefully before attempting to operate the 'Cheetah EP'.

If you wish to experiment and create some sounds of your own, first try editing some sounds we’ve already made for you, before attempting to create a patch from scratch.

We sincerely hope that having battled through the programming of the 'Cheetah EP', you have not become familiar with the exceptional potential of this record.

Have fun programming, and if you create any superb patches and tones which you feel deserve to be appreciated by other 'Cheetah EP' buyers, send a MIDI System Exclusive Dump of them, on a disc to us at Warp and if we also think they are superb, you could be rewarded for your efforts. Try us!

After bursting back onto the scene last year with the suitably brilliant "Syro", Cornwall's favourite son is back with his second release in as many years, upping his release schedule by about 9000%. "Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Pt 2 EP" situates RDJ right at the centre of the mad scientist's lab, cooking up a baker's dozen of rhythmic breaks out of tuned percussion, detuned piano and unhinged doors. Situated somewhere between the faux hip hop of "I Care Because You Do", the disorienting moments of "Drukqs" and Pierre Schaeffer's "Musique concrète" this latest Aphex release matches the cryptic and accessible perfectly.

After announcing his return with a suitably outlandish PR blitzkreig involving a cryptic Deep Web post, a giant blimp over London and a clandestine listening event at Warp HQ, Richard David James returns with his first Aphex Twin album since 2001's "Drukqs". As is befitting of Cornwall's most willfully perverse musical genius, though expectations are sky high, no one has any idea what to expect from "Syro". Blissful ambience? Demented drum & bass? Uncompromising acid? Glitch-fuelled IDM? Funky mollusc? Well, this LP is a complex blend of all those things (except funky mollusc) held in perfect balance by the outrageous musicality and production wizardry of Aphex Twin. Album opener "Minipops 67" offers us a gentle reacquaintance as Aphex balances beefy breakbeats with glistening melodies, sensual sine waves and the skewed and vocodered vocals which return throughout the LP. "XMAS_EVET10" and "Produk 29" follow on in a similar vein, balancing melodic fragility with the slouching funk percussion and wriggling basslines. This tranquility doesn't last for long though, with James ratcheting up the tempo and the pressure through "4 Bit 9d Api+e+6", "CIRCLONT6A" and "Syro U473t8+e" delivering the kind of skitterish and acidic machine funk he unleashed on the best of the 'Analord' series. Lurking mischievously amongst thatt mid-album bunch is the deranged breaks of "180db_", a straight up floor mover indebted to "Funky Drummer" and "Energy Flash" equally. After a brief moment of calm via the restrained beauty of "Fz Pseudotimestretch+e+3" we get thrown right back in the deep end as Aphex drops more batshit breaks on "CIRCLONT14" before indulging in some brain scrambling junglism on "PAPAT4" and "S950tx16wasr10". So far so diverse, but what about the bliss and beauty of "SAW" I hear you ask? Well, RDJ saves the best for last, closing the LP out in sublime fashion with soothing piano of the Eno-meets-Satie "Asiatsana".

All things considered Aphex has delivered an album overflowing with an abundance of melody, tone and texture which combines the finest moments of "SAW", "Surfing On Sine Waves", "Analords" and "I Care Because You Do". It's been a long time, but the master is back.

FORMAT INFORMATION

3xLP Info: Triple vinyl pressing in triptych gatefold sleeve.

Ye olde Afx calendar from 1999 (WAP05CAL). The dates may not work for 2007, but the pictures are lovely (in a kind of scary way...)

With recordings made between 1990 and 1995, "I Care Because You Do" brings together another fine collection of Cornish electronic experiments, including the single "Ventolin", and features a scary Richard D James distorted 'devil face' sleeve.

As the title sugests, this album is a collection of those early 90s Aphex Twin classics from his R&S days. Released at the height of rave, the set includes such gems as the massive single "Digeridoo", "Flaphead", "Phloem" and "Analogue Bubblebath 1". If you're expecting the lushness of "Selected Ambient Works", think again. Instead imagine a barn-full of Cornish folk jumping around listening to the hardest hardcore techno and rave they could get their hands on, and that gives you an idea of the sound here!

Originally released in 1992 on R&S Records offshoot Apollo, 'Selected Ambient Works 85-92' marks the first full length studio album by Richard D. James under his Aphex Twin name. Considered a landmark release in ambient techno, it's easy to see why it has endured. Feathery keys, dreamy production and trickling rhythms are drenched over distant samples from sources as diverse as Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory ('We Are The Music Makers'), Robocop ('Green Calx') and ethereal female vocals on opener 'Xtal'. Arguably some the most beautifully realised and majestic sounds of the revered musician's career.  The album provided the blueprint for every electronica, downbeat and chill-out record for years after. This is just one of those classic electronica releases that every home should have; melodic, semi-ambient and musical, this is AFX at his most accessible. Essential.

STAFF COMMENTS

says: Richard James was a pioneer, making human, wasted and warped electronica at a time it had not even occurred to anybody else. Of course it is very much of it's time, as any technology based entity will be, but it transcends such considerations by being unspeakably brilliant. 'Xtal', with it's rave inspired, dreamy female vocals drifting over it's soft staccato propulsion just might be one of the exquisite pieces of electronic music ever committed to anything. Every home should have one.