Aphex Twin release an EP of more experimental material
With a sprawling discography spanning everything from beat-driven ambient tracks to industrial noise, Richard D. James has been a perennial figure in the world of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) over the past 20 years. On Jan. 23, the artist dropped his latest release under the Aphex Twin moniker with the Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Pt. 2 EP. Coming off of last year’s critically acclaimed Syro album, the EP sees James making music in a decidedly more experimental vein, with a series of off-kilter electro-acoustic tracks.
CCAIPII commences with “Diskhat ALL prepared1mixed 13,” a track where James combines resonant, low piano notes and a haunting metronome to create something akin to dark ambient, with drums entering at the one-minute mark to give the piece a propulsive, rhythmic kick. After a brief interlude, James follows this opening with another standout, “diskhat 1,” a groovy, beat-oriented track made from stuttering programmed drums, caveman-like piano clanging, and cymbal clashes.
After carrying us through a series of sonic experiments under the two-minute mark during the album’s middle patch, James again experiments with longer-form music making with “disk prep calrec2 barn dance [slo].” Clocking in at just over four minutes, the track is among the sparsest and most minimal of the tracks collected, featuring nothing more than a series of low piano notes and an ominous cymbal noise. Subsequently, on “diskrept1,” James, in a typically trollish gesture, isolates a bassline – vaguely reminiscent of Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” – and surrounds it with the sounds of xylophones, cymbals, and damper pedal piano.
With the final suite of tracks, James moves in directions that stray from the album’s sound up to this point. On the penultimate track, “piano un10 it happened,” he switches things up with a beautiful and elegiac piano ballad. Meanwhile, on album closer “hatsc 0001 rec-4,” James gives us a jazzy and experimental track, consisting of shuffling drum beats, resonant timbres, and Eastern-sounding instrumentation.
With its off-kilter and dissonant sound, “accessible” isn’t the first word one would use to describe the music on CCAIP2, and accordingly, it’s probably not the release you’d point new Aphex Twin listeners towards. Still, for seasoned fans, the release offers another glimpse into James’s inspired and crazed genius. Taking unconventional sounds and construing them into interesting beat-oriented compositions, CCAIP2 is – at the very least – another testament to James’s immense musical creativity.