Aphex Twin – Richard D. James Album

I think my copy of the RDJ album might be an oddity. The disc mother/stamper seems to indicate M4S2, but I looked at the listings of variants, and no M4S2 was found. (It could be M452, but that wasn't found either.) Does anyone perhaps know about this and could relay some info as to why?

Overall a satisfying release. most tracks sound in a happy way while other sound more dark and melancholic. My top track here is " Peek 824545201", i also like alot "Cornish Acid" and "Yellow Calx".

although not the first drum 'n' bass record, this has in many ways become the defining drum 'n' bass record, quite possibly the apex of the genre.

the first thing to understand is that "drum 'n' bass" is a terrible way to describe the music; while there are drums and basses, there are also synthesizers, samplers and even some guitars. the best tracks on this record are actually firmly within the realm of symphonic pop; these are not songs so much as they are compositions, every part carefully mapped and scored out, including the amazing drum machine work. whereas most contemporaries were splitting up drum samples of old 70's funk tracks, rdj just programmed them and then cut them up, which makes the record more fluid and organic than most drum 'n' bass of the period, indeed, of ever. while it's clear that the drums are electronic, the only thing that separates them as being programmed and not played is the fact that there is no drummer on earth that could actually play these parts.

another ground breaking thing that rdj has done here is in his sampling work. by using high quality samples of real instruments and plugging them into software synths [and i may also point out that this was one of the first records to use software synths, in fact this record virtually saved the software synth industry, which was going nowhere at the time as there was an anti-digital analog revival happening in electronic music], he is able to slowly build entire symphonies out of his midi controller setup that sound remarkably convincing.

this may not come off as groundbreaking to the average kid fucking around with ableton nowadays, but the truth is that this record made the drum 'n' bass genre respectable, it let it shed it's image of being full of musical illiterates pushing buttons and stealing samples and presented it as the obvious way for creative geniouses with a combined musical and technical background to express themselves. it is highly recommended to everybody on the planet; it may even be argued that this record is essential for anybody that likes music at all!

it's only major drawback is it's short length. at 33 minutes, it's just not long enough. while the whole record is amazing from start to finish, high points are in tracks 4 (which sounds like a string quartet playing at the bottom of the ocean, enjoying the prancing fish and dolphins as they float by (never mind the fact that dolphins eat fish. while this song is playing, they don't.)) and the masterpiece that is girl/boy song, which somehow channels the mind of mozart. if the man was alive in this age, girl/boy is precisely what he would be writing...

One of the best ever Richard D. James releases just got better! Well, it got better about 6 years ago now, but with the additional Girl/Boy remixes, this album is now long enough and even better than the excellence it previously displayed.