What Drukqs went into producing this? (Drukqs - Aphex Twin)

Member Name: rabidsquirrel

Product:	Drukqs - Aphex Twin
Date:	30/10/01 (134 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beats, Beats, More beats

Disadvantages: Too much mickey taking

Are you bored of the tripe that clogs up our radio stations? Tired of crappy dance acts like Ian Van Dahl and So Solid Crew? Disillusioned by music altogether?

Then the chances are you are growing up. Which can only be a bad thing. First comes growing up, then comes growing old, and then there you are dying your hair a lovely shade of blue, and sitting on a park bench complaining about the hooligans that hang around on the high street, loitering. It wasn't like that in your day, was it?

But this isn't what you're here for. If you're like me, you have become tired with the type of music you hear on stations like Radio 1, and you're looking for something better to listen to. So you stumble across Aphex Twin. OK, lots of people have heard the single 'Windowlicker' and it was oh so close to being a major hit a couple of years ago. Quite a few people have also heard 'Come to Daddy', one of the most sonically terrifying pieces of music ever created, yet despite its abrasive, chain saw-wielding exterior, it was quite commercial compared to some of his earlier work.

But he hasn't actually released a proper album since 1996's 'Richard D James Album', and there have been numerous rumours over the years that the Twin was never going to release another album. So what are we to make of 'Drukqs'? If we're to believe the Twin, he was never going to release an album this year, but for the fact that he lost one of his MP3 players which contained around 140 unreleased Aphex Twin tracks. Fearing that all of his songs would be made available on the Internet, he decided to release thirty of them on a double album that stretches over the 100 minute mark.

So this is 'Drukqs' - an afterthought, so to speak. But I bought it anyway. Oh yeah, and if you're thinking of buying it, stay away from Virgin or HMV, who will try and charge you 15 squid for it. Woolworths aren't stocki
ng it (not crappy enough to be sold by them, evidently) so you're going to have to go somewhere like WH Smith to get it for a decent price. But then, I wouldn't have bought it at all if it wasn't for the fact that I have neither the time nor the patience to download thirty tracks from KaZaA using my laaaaaame 56k modem. But this album is no ordinary album. This is the mother of all headf^cks - nothing does what it's expected to do. Beats jump around all over the place, bass lines and melodies (and I use that in the loosest possible way) are distorted, cut off, stuck on again in completely inappropriate places, and generally mangled, and sod conventional vocal samples. Let's have samples from people who frankly deserve to be locked away from the outside world instead. And then suddenly you get beautiful, moving piano-led tracks that seem so emotional and heartfelt you simply want to cry. And then you think, what the bloody hell is going on here. Does this really come after a track during which there is the vocal sample, "Come on you c**t, let's have some Aphex acid,"?

No, this is not your conventional music review. But this is not a conventional album. I'm not going to do a track by track rundown for several reasons. One - there are thirty of them, and I'll simply bore myself going through them all. Two - I can't be bothered to try to spell the names of the tracks. Three - describing them would be like trying to describe the colour green to a blind person. Four - see two. Yes, with track titles like 'Kladfvbung Micshk', 'Petiatil Cx Htdui', and 'Orban Eq Trx 4', not even the names of the tracks are conventional, or indeed, sane. Try telling someone the name of your favourite track from this album without coughing up a gallon of flem! Indeed, how exactly do you pronounce the name of this album. Do you simply read it as drugs, or are we supposed to pronounce it drukuks?

But then, we
are talking about a man who offered Madonna the opportunity to snort like a pig on one of his tracks. Madonna, of course, was doing her cool act - look at me, I'm really cool! I'm working with all these great producers even though I'm well into my 40s. And so she phoned Aphex Twin and told him that the simply HAD to work together, y'know, because I'm SU-UCH a fan of your music! Richard thought about it, then got back in touch and told her that the only way he could work with her is if she could squeal like a pig on record. And what makes the story even more funny is that she almost went ahead and did it! I would have paid money to hear the results of that track.

Sorry, I'm going off on a bit of a tangent here. Back to the album. 'Drukqs' is an intensely diverse album, and the chances are that you are not going to like all of the tracks. 'Lornaderek', for example, is his parents singing Happy Birthday on an answering machine. 'Bit 4' is 20 seconds long, and consists of a single techno groan. And 'Gwarek 2' - well, the Twin must have really been pissing himself with laughter putting this on the album. Listen to it, because it defies description.

My favourite tracks, being a dance/electronic music fan, were definitely the drum and bass based tracks. If you thought Roni Size went a bit mental with the beats, then you really need to listen to this album. Beats pop up where, by all rights, they shouldn't, get mangled up in the Aphex machine, and get spat out at you like machine gun fire. But what makes these tracks so special is the fact that the bass line, rather than being a separate entity to the percussion, is completely intertwined with the overall rhythm, to such an extent that it is impossible to distinguish between the two elements. Put simply, this is the greatest, most exciting drum and bass I have ever heard, and it puts Roni Size to shame. I couldn't name a favourite - they area
ll incredible in different ways. A word of warning, though - the tracks have a tendency to sound quite similar at first, making for less than interesting listening after a while. But persevere, the tracks are growers, and if you like drum and bass (or any type of dance music, for that matter) then you will not be disappointed.

Granted, the Twin's music can slip into the unlistenable at times. Some of the synths are very abrasive, and a few sound like they were put in there just to cause you suffering. I'm not joking, it really is napalm for the eardrums. Listen to the end of the first track of the second CD if you want to hear the best example of this. And it's at these points that you see the Twin's horrible distorted image in the window, laughing at your pain. He's a sadist.

And then there are the aforementioned piano tracks, which, for all their beauty and emotion, only add to the insane nature of the album. Some are better than others, but after a while, you do begin expecting them. This is the only element of this album that comes close to predictable, and they are (in my opinion, anyway) not as good as his drum and bass tracks. However, on the whole, they are thankfully short.

Other tracks of interest include:
'Ruglen Holon' - which sounds like one of those tinkly music boxes, and
'Gwely Mernans' - which is one of the eeriest, and best, tracks on the album. A deep, penetrating rumble dominates the track, swirling around the speakers, over which only a faint piano line features.

Despite the rather schizophrenic nature of the album, 'Drukqs' manages to retain, on the whole, a quite dark, sinister feel. Its very limited accessibility may have something to do with this - I still feel that some parts of the album are meant as a cruel joke by the Twin, and are simply not meant to be understood. Yet people will still try to decipher their hidden meanings, and search for hidden mes
sages. Who knows - maybe if you play the CD backwards there is a hidden Satanic message, or a prophecy of the end of the world. Why not, the album seems to have everything else. But apart from that, I cannot see how tracks like 'Bit 4' can convey any meaning whatsoever, and I don't know what the hell 'Gwarek 2' is meant to be. With so many drum and bass tracks though, I couldn't help but yearn for a nice 4/4 beat towards the end, and Richard kindly offers one on 'Ziggomatic 17'. For 15 seconds. Ah well, maybe that's the anal retentiveness in me...

Better known for its sheep shagging than its innovative electronic music, Cornwall has produced one of the cleverest musicians in recent times in Aphex Twin. Some call him a modern-day Mozart - nah. He's far more exciting than that. He will never break through to the mainstream, and that's probably a good thing too. But why only the four stars? Well, too much pisstaking I'm afraid.



P.S. Thank you Dooyoo for finally creating this category. Even if I did have to get Keith on to you fools.

Summary: