MIDI Memories

Real Life(™) strikes again. It's the longest gap I can remember, which isn't too bad all things considered. But I noticed so I thought I'd swing by with a lil somethin' somethin' for ya. Should be no surprise that I'm a huge fan of both retro tech and AFX. Well thanks to soundcloud I get to meet both those interests in one compact packge. Observe:







It's like if Richard D. James made Doom .wads as well as music. And to be frank I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't knocked out a couple custom maps in his time given the kinda guy he is. I'm surprised the Bass came through so well on the Ageispolis cover, but then again when MIDIs were a thing I only had tinny PC speakers. Until next time!

-Claude Van Foxbat

Gorra Cold

Woke up feeling utterly vile, easily remedied by an extra hour in bed after some sneaky tabs to dull it a bit. And then I remembered I was due to do another post today which is no problem because while I am more prepared than I was for the last one I did. Hold onto yer butts.



A little something from my man Celadon City to kick off, as a pressie for hitting 2k followers he ever so nicely gave out this one as a free download. It's as expected of him by now, featuring more dreamy vibes as per usual, and once again I adore that intro. This is the first I've heard of his output that doesn't strike me as summery, whether that's to do with it being autumn now or if it's just the vocal focus in this remix I can't say, but I'm still liking it a bunch.



Another shoutout to Evan again here, this time with another slightly reworked track of his. I've heard plenty of the original, dubbed Tsukuyomi 2, and even more of it when he gave me a redone version of half speed for the A/V EP we collaborated on. You think I'd be sick of it by now but if there's one thing I like it's callbacks to earlier works. Hell, that's practically most of what Alive 2007 was. Anyway, enjoy this latest beat flavored version from the man.



I'd be lying if I said I've kept up with AFX since Syro dropped, I tend to steer clear of the man's soundcloud simply because I don't want to get too attached to a demo that will never get released. This time I decided to peek in and have potentially a new favourite track of the month. That opening synth was gorgeous enough as is but then the vocoder came in and I was completely in love. Almost seems like AFX has taken some cues from former Rephlex labelmate DMX Krew and I couldn't be more happy with the result.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Another Techy Tuesday

Upgraded my stuff again, now with a shiny new case, PSU and GPU combo I am ready to waste time at a glorious 60FPS+ so that's petty nice. And the subtle blue glow from my LEDs has me in the mood again for that special breed of sound that tickles my techy buttons. So let's see what I can serve you today.

Atelier Olschinsky - A.D. 2099 - 2311 (04)

Ghost In The Shell continues to be a mainstay, though this time not featuring Yoko Kanno. Nope, this one here comes from the soundtrack to the PS1 game that came out around the same time as the film. And while the film OST was practically all a mixture of ambient and dark ambient, the soundtrack to the PS1 game is all mid-90's techno stuff. Not all of it's a winner, but there's more than a few solid tracks in there, bob this one on next time you go piloting a walking tank.



Of course you can't have me mentioning things like that without an honourary shoutout to Aphex under one of his many aliases. The entire Analord series is a fantastic return to form which saw AFX pick up the analogue gear once again after a ten year hiatus using only digital. It's pretty much a more refined and expanded version of Classics, the compilation of his early acid stuff. Oh and of course because AFX likes to take the piss, a good number of the tracks are named after viruses and malware, have fun with that!



And recently I was made aware of a game called Grip on kickstarter, which is basically a modern reboot of the Rollcage games of way back to the point where they've even reuinted some of the Moving Shadow crew to do soundtrack duties once again. Rollcage, Ape Escape and GTA III were my intro to Drum & Bass back when, but sadly I didn't see Omni Trio on the list, which is a shame because he has always been a constant favourite of mine,especially the album Even Angels Cast Shadows. Have a taste of it here:



-Claude Van Foxbat

Let's Cyber (Punk)

As you might have guessed based on my outpouring of love of the genre not too long ago, I dig me some cyberpunk. And one of my frequent digital haunts is explicitly devoted to sharing tunes that fit into it nicely. And It's been fun as owt, even got some of my experimental stuff in there to boot, so let's have a rundown shall we?

Syd Mead - City On A Megabeam

Honestly Yoko Kanno could be queen of this post, between her contributions to Ghost In The Shell and Cowboy Bebop there is more than enough future tune to go around. I love the more techy sounds than the jazzy vibes of the Bebop OST though, so lets have more of that.



Aphex has his cyberpunk moments for sure, but nothing comes close to this bit from the Analord series where RDJ lets loose with his own DIY synth, hence the track title. Imagine the cliche Hollywood hacker setup circa '87 and you can almost imagine this one there too. It helps that the tune is real nice too though.



And of course I can't not mention one of the chief players in the ambient field. OPN's blown up in recent years but he still has quality tunes in him. This album was a massive inspiration for me when I started doing video stuff in year 2, and the closing track bears posting again.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Updater

Seems weird for me to have to only go in one day a week but have more work to do but hey ho, thats how things is. I'll still drop by now and then to give out tunes. Like right now for example!

Takashi Murakami - Jellyfish Eyes

Not been too long since I posted this one but it's been repeating on me hard. I've told the tale of Autechre's protest EP before, both in a post and a full 3 page essay I did like 2 years ago. Long story short, in the early 90s the UK government tries to ban outdoor raves with 'repetitive beats', Autechre respond by writing a tune in which no two bars have the same beats. Classic, and the tune's not too bad neither.



On a vocoder kick again as usual and one of my favourtie underrated bits from Monkeytown is helping me scratch that itch. Deliciously smooth, 'Selektor have a penchant for the chiller side of things, here's hopign for more with this vibe on the follow up!



Also decided to go all out and put all the Analords on my phone for commute listenin'. AFX remains a wizard with analogue gear, even when it isn't in the extreme style of say Drukqus or any of the later Aphex Twin LPs. This one will always be a favourite.



-Claude Van Foxbat

AFX Appreciation Station

Never thought AFX would scoop himself a Grammy (especially over Röyksopp). Who'da thought a lad from Cornwall twiddling knobs and making acid would go on to such great things? Now as you all saw in the Warped history posts, me and AFX are longtime listening bros, but I'd like to take this post to reflect on and be thankful for Richard D. James. Here would be a good place to start if you are new!

Never one to discount his origins, I honestly love Digeridoo in all it's rough sounding glory. A far cry from his later productions, and certainly nothing like the 'IDM' tag thrown around him and other Warp artists. Bump this one loud and simulate your own warehouse rave circa 1992.



If you're jut looking for a crash course in AFX, the Richard D. James Album is a good place to start. Case in point is track 1, I've had this one in my library close to a decade at this point, and it never stops sounding fresh every time. As soon as I hear that opening beats 'n strings combo I can't help but smile.



Mandatory mention of Selected Ambient Works Vol. II now. There's not much I can say that hasn't been said either by me or elsewhere about this album, it's reputation is well deserved and it's been long enough now that I think it has earned it's place among the all time classics of the genre. Absolutely essential ownership for anyone with an interest in ambient, get it!



It would be a long time before Rich returned to his acid stylings, but when he did in 2005 with the Analord series it was pretty special. Here's one of my favourites from it, demonstrating Rich's mean synthesizer skills, as well as his specialist brand of taking the piss as shown here in the track's title.



So ends our brief tour of AFX, if you like what you've heard go digging on here for more, I've covered more than my fair share of it over the years!

-Claude Van Foxbat

Automated

As you may know work is stepping up, that is why I am writing this to you around three days in advance (but don't tell nobody). Here to provide you with some tunes from the past, it's me again.

Dabs Myla - Tokyo Delux

Vaporwave may be long buried but hey I still got love for the vibe. As much as stuff like this gets hated on for being the trendy thing to reblog on tumblr I can't help but dig it just a little bit. Maybe it's because I'm such an Oneohtrix Point Never fanboy.



Speaking of dead genres, have some proper Old School dubstep from Stenchman circa 2010. Nothing to shake your house foundations, but not the same 2-step garage evolution that started it all, probably the best area of Dubsep to be in in all honesty.

Stenchman - Everything [No stream available as of 2020]

Dare I say Acid falls on that list too, but at least it's still being made it's just not blasting out of the Hacienda anymore. Here's a tune from AFX's Analord series, proving that acid doesn't have to be TB-303s screeching their circuits off.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Technolg (ae)

I got around to sorting out June's monthly playlist yesterday and I think it's gonna be pretty neat. Anyways, while perusing for tunes to fill it with I got a real hankering for techy stuff and returned to some old favorites I have kicking around.

Auteche first with their unique brand of Industrial meets IDM that sounds more like a machine made it than a couple of blokes from Manchester. The Anvil Vapre EP is a good jumping in point if you're new to them, it blends the melodic and experimental sides of their sound quite well, and still sounds pretty fresh nearly 20 years later.



I wish they'd stuck to this model for a while longer, I mean their style consistently changed for each of their first three albums but after that it begins to move away from the melodic. Which is a shame because I always loved that about Autechre, it was machine music with a touch of soul. Anyway have another track from the EP which harks a little bit back to the roots of Amber and Incunabula.



On the opposite end we have AFX with the Analord series. Richard's triumphant return to the world of analogue is full of highlights but playing these two back to back has made me realise that unlike Autechre's very deliberate and sterile sound, all the Analords sound much more warm and human, with a bit of a DIY edge to them. Especially on this one as the title probably clued you in on.



The same applies here, even the name itself sounds like it was something that AFX whacked together in about an hour or so, which given Rich's methodology on the Richard D James Album woudln't be too surprising. Still the track is pretty gorgeous, a real testament to the man and his skills with the gear for sure. Check the Analord series out for more acid tinged meddling, Rephlex put out an expanded digital release of the entire series a while back with some bonus goodies.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Surfing On Sine Waves

Been meaning to get myself round to pickin up audiosurf for a while now, its a game right up my alley and luck would just have it that I scooped it for peanuts thanks to the Humble Bundle crew. It's been a real treat for the eyes and ears, here's what I used for my first few sessions.

Purely from an alphabetic standpoint AFX went first (and also is the namesake of this post). This suitably acidic number is pretty easy going for the most part until it drops those sequenced claps every now and then which properly ups the intensity.



Keeping it alphabetical, another relic of my early 2000s listening history with a remix of A:xus' When I Fall In Love. Like AFX it was pretty easy going for the most part thanks to it being Deep House and all, but it was an excellent showcase of the visuals, and I gave the tune it's first proper listen in about 3 years (which I'm in love with all over again).



Another appearance from the Salt City Orchestra folk. Might not be as much of an instant classic as their remix of Marshall Jefferson's Mushrooms I posted a while back, but it sure is a funky spin on the moody musings of the Sneaker Pimps. There's some good basslines in here, the mix certainly lives up to its name.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Down Slow

My usual MO for tunes has gone out the window recently, since I bought more trip hop stuff for my collection and now I find myself walking the rain station with much more laidback stuff going on, here's a cross section of some I think you'll dig.

Atelier Olschinsky - Structures III (08)

Kicking off with an unreleased number from anti-artists The KLF. This was meant to be included on an EP in 1994 but they intentionally ended their music career, literally burned a million quid in cash and then deleted all the original masters of all their releases which is a bold move. Anyway, as the name suggests, this is a slightly more upbeat version of Madrugada Eterna from the Chill Out LP.



Another solid piece of history from AFX's debut on R&S Records, the timeless Selected Ambient Works 85-92. I always take the album out of my playlists just so I get nicely surpised when it comes back in again, take it in with a track so nice that it has an entire forum named after it.



A strange addition from Miss Kittin here, what starts as a experimental spoken word type piece completely changes around 2:40 where the track really comes into its own and shows off what Kittin can do with just her own voice, I love that aspect of the production on this one.



- Claude Van Foxbat

Back At It

Indie184 - Have Fun (2013)

I'm back from the old holidays, hope you all had a nice one! I updated the lil' grooveshark widget on the sidebar and completley forgot about posting, so here's some stuff to make up for that! I originally planned these two to go up on their respective day but then life happened and I forgot. Better late than never anyways, so here we go with another acidic bit of audio from AFX with probably one of the best tracks from the entire Analord series, the way Richard commands that variety of synths is nothing short of beautiful.



Something not electronic now, but I honestly can't get David Firth's (of Salad Fingers fame) indie side project the Grape Digging Sharon Fruits out of my playlist and now seemed an ideal time to slip them in here. Like Locust Toybox and all his other stuff, it's all free and legal over on Last.fm or the band's blog so go and snag yourself some if you're diggin' it (no pun intended).



And finally something different again, Stenchman gave out one of his Philestine tracks for free through his FB not too long ago. Its not the sublime Feel The Same unfortunately, but it definitely scratched my itch, the old dubstep styling shines through a little more on this one than the others which actually works quite well with it. Can't wait to hear more from this project, it has a lot of promise! (No stream available as of 2020)

Philestine - Turn It Around Baby (Mix 2)

-Claude Van Foxbat

Spaced Out

Vladimir Bonačić - IRB 8-9

Sorry about the lateness on this one, been having some funny connection issues (luckily after the end of semester!). Anyways you all know I have a real fondness for lush synths, hell even the noises they make in general still excite me, and that's what this post will be all about. Here's the opener for F.U.S.E's Dimension Intrusion, which pretty much sums up that Artificial Intelligence era sound of Warp Records for me.



Moving back into familiar territory with some Acid courtesy of AFX. The Analord series is a love letter to the world of analogue from the Aphex Twin himself, and while they might not all be essential tracks, the collection as a whole is noting short of brilliant. Check out the lovely intro on this one.



And finally, Juno-60 junkie Oneohtrix Point Never throws his hat in with the soundtrack to a art installation piece he collaborated on last year. It's chock full of lovely arpeggios and the usual OPN affair, looking back you can definitely see where parts of this have come through on his latest LP R Plus Seven, and while the deliberately dated sound isn't for everyone I just love what OPN does with it.



-Claude Van Foxbat

AT / AA 97

Wassily Kandinky - Merry Structure (1926)

Aphex Twin's decision to go back to pure analog after making swapping to digital was a good move for sure, spawning the now rare 11 volume vinyl series Analord. Unlike the usual breed of Aphex Twin though, the Analord series take a much more structured approach to go along the pure analog vibe, they still have that undeniable Aphex edge though. Take the opnener for Analord 01 (strangely not the first to be released, 10 was), from the get go it's a lot more subdued but that's not to say there's not a lot going on in terms of sounds.

AT / AA 33

Claude Van Foxbat - Piracy Harms Consumers As Well As Legitimate Developers (2013)

It finally happened, I've pretty much run out of art to post, instead enjoy this shameless plug of my own work with some quality analogue work from AFX. On the last three vinyls of the Analord series (9 - 11) AFX cheekily started to name his tunes after viruses, trojans and various other computer nasties to mess with the pirates out there. The tunes pretty tidy too, have a gander.

A Very Warped Epilogue: Part Four

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The end isn't too far away now, but I couldn't just let these last couple of AFX releases go unmentioned. Join me now as we take a slight step back to 1995 in this penultimate edition of Warped, and look at the work of the Aphex Twin towards the end of his first analogue period, before going fully digital for 1996's Richard D. James Album.

Heading the attack have an EP released under RDJ's often used AFX moniker; originally released as a two part vinyl release in 1995, it was given a lovely CD re-issue by the folks at Warp. It sounds entirely unlike the stuff he was making under Aphex Twin at the time, and in fact I think it's closer to Richard D. James Album than ...I Care Because You Do in terms of sounds.



This next one I loved for a long time, it has a lot of sweet melodies in it alongside the now expected beat butchery we know the Twin for. It caps off this EP in impressive fashion with another anagram-ed title no less; my absolute favourite moments being the peak in sound round about halfway through where it sounds like the synths are being pushed to their limits and might just explode at any minute.

Unfortunately I didn't pick up Donkey Rhubarb in time for the first round of Warped, my reasoning being that it was a short EP. In hindsight though, I do recommended you check it out, the Phillip Glass remix/orchestration of Icct Hedral is something a bit out of leftfield but is most definitely worth your time. Amway, onto the stark raving mental title track: the opening is like condensed happiness, and then the acid style beats and bass roll in and it's a whole 'nother track.



Of course, it wouldn't be an Aphex Twin EP without the token downtempo number. This is Donkey Rhubarb's (which is also another animal + food combo), and it's among my favourites. It has a real lo-fi sound to it that I don't think is present on any other AFX tracks from around this time, normally I'd hate that kind of thing being all about quality an all, but it really does work in this tracks favour.




Finally, we end with the Ventolin Remixes EP. And true to AFX's signature way of taking the piss, all but one of the tracks sound absolutely nothing like the original, abrasive monster that is Ventolin. These practically original tracks are actually quite good, an early favourite of mine being the 'remix' by Cylob: a nice number with a lot of contrast between the rolling beat and the light sounding synth that is introduced later.



Playing us out is the Probus mix, which isn't actually the name of the remixer (there's no credit for it, I'd assume it was RDJ himself), a slice similar to the more downtempo bits on ...I Care Because You Do. It plays out similar to Cylob's mix, albeit with a more distinct AFX touch to it throughout.



Right, bloody hell that was a fairly long one wasn't it? Only fitting considering there's only one or two more posts to go before I'm done with Warped forever. It's been a long time coming, but join me next time where we may close the book!

Armadillo Risotto,
-Claude Van Foxbat

A Very Warped Epilogue: Part Three

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I don't even know how I managed to miss this one out of the main coverage, but at least I'm giving it the go-over now. Along with Richard D. James Album, this EP ranks high in my list of all time favourites by the Twin, once again, like with WIndowlicker with a lot of credit going to Chis Cunningham for his legendary video for the title track.


So what is there to be had here? well quite a lot actually, to the point where it's officially labelled as a 'mini-album' to fit within UK chart criteria for EPs (30 mins and under). It wastes no time in kicking things off with the spectacular bombardment that is the title track, which I'm sure needs no introduction, but I'll give it a go anyway. Like Windowlicker, there's not really a lot of insane beat tampering going on as you'd expect, but at the same time it's the complete opposite of Windowlicker in terms of sound. That was morelaidback and smooth, this is straight up in your face abraision.



The EP turns things 180 for the second track (frequently mislabeled as Film), introducing us to probably one of the lightest tracks outside of the Selected Ambient Works volumes that AFX has ever done. There's no introduction it just dives right in with all the elements already there, but each is just fantastically executed, that drum work and the light 'n airy keys just sound so right together.



I have an interesting story with this one, whenever I heard it I always thought "that's a neat idea" and then skipped it, thinking the entire track was based around the titular bouncing ball-esque sounds. It wasn't until I listened to a live bootleg that I heard the track in full, and that break at around 1:30 just absolutely blindsided me. On the strength of that I gave it a full listen and the rest of it is just quality, I'm still not a huge fan of that intro though.




Something unusual for an AFX EP next, it's a reworking of To Cure A Weakling Child from Richard D. James Album by RDJ himself. I have a similar taste for it as Bucephalus Bouncing Ball, the intro is OK, but the break and everything after 1:20 is downright spectacular, thanks to that updated rendition of the original's melody.



And finally, playing us out is another chilled number in the vein of Flim. Unlike its earlier counterpart, most of IZ-US is based around one melody rather than the back and forth exploration on Flim, but it's short enough and structured nicely so that it works. The ending of it, and with it the EP is a bit abrupt, but like a lot of AFX material released around this time, it's not about flashy endings.



Of course, I couldn't just have all that build up and then leave you hanging without the video could I? no, unlike the EP itself, we're going out with a bang with the infamous visual compliment to the main mix of Come To Daddy. Enjoy.


Stop Making That Big Face!,
-Claude Van Foxbat

Stop. Listen. Think.

My last post on Locust Toybox got me listening to similar sounding stuff. the kind of tracks that get labelled "IDM" (And as much as I hate calling that I'm going to have to for now) Anyway, as I was browsing through my collection I queued up some of my favourites I had an idea: "I could make a post out of this!" I thought. And I did. So sit back and enjoy a few of my favourite tunes from that ever enigmatic genre known as IDM.




I know I said way back when that I only really liked Autechre's first and second albums. Turns out I lied, I picked up Tri Repetae a few weeks ago, and I was completely taken with the second track. to quote a friend of mine "It sounds like space condensed into music form"



A track from Squarepusher's debut on Richard D. James' Rephlex label. It's more like conventional Drum 'N Bass, well as conventional as you get from Squarepusher at least what with it being nearly 8 minutes long and all. Excellently titled, nice breaks, great sounds. And that's all you need to know.



Another record I picked up recently from Clark. Body Riddle flows from track to track amazingly well and is basically a good album all round. The final track is what sealed the deal for me, not only does it drop TWICE but it eventually descends into a wave of full on abrasive noise. And like the rest of the album, it flows into it so smoothly that I didn't even notice the first time.



μ-Ziq (or Mike Paradinas to use his actual easier to type name) has always been a friend of RDJ, exchanging tracks and creating the collaboration album Mike & Rich: Expert Knob Twiddlers with him. μ-Ziq always seems to be overshadowed by Aphex, which is a shame really because he has some amazing tracks of his own. take this one for example, if the synths at about 2 minutes in don't grab you I don't know what will.



And of course what post would be complete without a dab of Aphex Twin eh? or better yet, AFX. Taken from his Hangable Auto Bulb EP (the EP title and this track's name are also anagrams of Analogue Bubblebath, AFX's first EP) HAB is pretty much the precursor to the compositions and sounds we'd hear a few years later on Richard D. James Album And seeing as that is one of my favourite albums of all time, this track goes down a treat.



And to top it off, one of Boards Of Canada's earlier releases on Skam Records, the Hi Scores EP. The release is a lot more Techno based than the stuff BoC are known for, but is still quite similar to their later works most obviously during the intro, which could pass for one of their shorter interludes. When the intro fades however, this track becomes a different beast, unleashing some thundering beats and menacing sounding synths. The little riff introduced at 3:43 gets me every time.



So there you have it, a few of my favourite slices from this unique niche in the world of electronic music. I Just adore some of the production in these tracks - especially the longer ones, they're the kind of tracks you just get lost in.

And I Still Miss You,
- Claude Van Foxbat

AFX

Hey Everyone.

So, as Joe noted in this post, Richard D. James is a man with many, many

names. I hope I don't show myself up as a person who is particularly drawn

to artists with like, a 100 pseudonyms, but hey.

Aphex Twin.

Okay, if there is still a person on earth who listens to electronic music

and isn't - at least in passing - familiar with that name, I'd be pretty

surprised.

AFX.

Aha! A lesser known pseudonym! Now we're talking. Under this he

recorded a series of eleven (!) records titled 'Analord', averaging two to

four tracks a piece. They're pretty great. Warp eventually convinced him

to put together a 'best of' CD, entitled 'Chosen Lords'.

Some of these tracks were on the cd, and some were vinyl only. These are a few

of my favorites.

Phil.