Chosen lords

Cornwall is not just distinguished by being my home county (although I wasn't born there, I grew up there and it's where I feel at home), but also by being that of a group of top-rate experimental musicians (Redruth is the Detroit of IDM, you know). The daddy of them is Richard D James, better known as Aphex Twin.

He has a reputation for difficult music that is not always warranted, and isn't at all borne out by this set, which is a compilation of some of the standouts from his Analord series, which appeared only on 12" (but is available for, erm, unsanctioned download). While Aphex has been known to indulge in ferocious drill'n'bass, he also specialises in analogue-driven techno and acid homage. The Analord stuff is in the same vein as the Caustic Window stuff from the early 1990s, although rather more inventive and I think you could say mature.

Aphex's album that preceded this, Drukqs, was not universally well received. Some thought that it lacked the experimentalism he had previously been known for, as though he had pushed all the envelopes that he could, and had fallen back on the tried and trusted. It was a curious mixture of drill'n'bass, spiteful techno and delicate quasiclassical figures. Maybe it didn't break new ground, but that isn't actually a prerequisite of good music. You can do more and more of a good thing (and Aphex has done exactly that, because the Tuss material is basically supergood bouncy techno of the kind exemplified in Chosen lords by Batine acid or Fenix funk 5). I suppose you could say that it isn't all that coherent.

Chosen lords is, and even though it was culled from a much larger set of songs, it really works as an album. It is retro -- not surprisingly, given Aphex's love of old analogue synths -- but it would have been the best techno record of its day in 1992, and we'd be hailing it as a classic (as connoisseurs do the Caustic Window material, which is nothing like as good, although still far ahead of most techno).

What sets Aphex apart is his incredible knack for melody. They don't call him the Mozart of techno for nothing. It has been from time to time obscured by playfulness (and sometimes wilfulness: an urge to fuck things up that he doesn't always rein in) but here he lets the tunes flow. I particularly recommend the closing sequence: the menacing Cilonen, which pits burbling synths against a growling bassline, the upbeat recidivist techno of PWsteal.Ldpinch.D, and the fine, lowslung funk of XMD 5a are as good as IDM gets.

Of course, if you were into IDM, you'd already have this, but even those who are new to experimental music might enjoy it. You'll need to give it a chance. It's not ferocious, lightning fast or mean tempered, but it's not Leftfield either (although Leftfield would murder for some of the basslines on this record). This is a master at work: yeah, there are no boundaries getting smashed, but there is a guy who's totally comfortable within the limits he has set, making great acidy techno, sometimes threatening, sometimes plaintive, always wonderful.

posted by Dr Zen @ 6:41 pm