Richard D. James - Aphex Twin

'Richard D. James' was the first Aphex Twin album I heard and (without being too melodramatic) it changed my life. This was the first mainstream release of his 'drill n' bass' sound, after his ultra-rare 'Hangable Auto Bulb' EPs. The album uses a blend of beautiful, almost poppy, melodies, with incredibly complex rhythms, which somehow harmonise perfectly. For the sake of a soundbyte, like Mozart being electrocuted. It's probably his least 'difficult' ...
...for first-timers. Hyper-melodic tracks like 'Fingerbib' could easily be the theme music for a children's TV show, whilst tracks like 'PEEK 2475736252' could accompany a Cronenberg nightmare. At times it lives up to the stereotypes of "like listening to a car-alarm/modem/pneumatic-drill etc...", but without landing on the unlistenable side of 'experimental'. I think it's flawless. I've listened to it regularly since 1996 in many different places ...

eraserhead 23.12.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Richard D. James - Aphex Twin

...signee to his Rephlex label), Richard D. James' third major-label album as Aphex Twin was his first to work with jungle -- though, to his credit, he had released the breakbeat EP Hangable Auto Bulb almost a year earlier. Contemporaries Orbital and Underworld were beginning to incorporate moderate use of drum'n'bass in their work as well, but this album was more extreme than virtually all jungle being made at the time. The beats are jackhammer quick ...
...is a child-like ode that gradually deteriorates into a bizarre fantasy concerning the milkman's wife. With all the Aphex Twin's curious idiosyncracies, though, Richard D. James Album is a very listenable record and a worthy follow-up to I Care Because You Do. [The American issue features the English EP "Girl/Boy."] ...

philnewall 11.08.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Richard D. James - Aphex Twin