Reviews by markjazz

This EP gets an easy 5/5 from me. The title track has got to be the loudest tracks this group has ever done and I'm guessing it took a while to create too because of all the shit that goes on in just four minutes. I personally would put Grantz Graf in my Top 5 AE tracks of all time too. The other two that follow are great as well. I love the beats on Dial. and the progression on Cap.IV is a mind melt.

As for the videos, well, the Grantz Graf video is simply crazy and it's one of my favorite music videos of all time, from any genre. When I first watched it I was stunned and I had to show everyone. The Basscadet video is crap, imo. Just odd too and the graphics suck, but it was done around 1994 or 1995 so maybe that was ambitious then but it looks very dated now. The Second Bad Vilbel is pretty cool and I remember reading that the group didn't like it at all, which I thought was odd because I personally think it fits the song perfectly. I love robot insects! So yeah, great music and some good videos to boot. If you don't have this and your an AE fan then I suggest you get off you butt and seek this out, or get the new boxset it's on: EPS 1991 - 2002.

This album would be the last AE album I would love. It was at this point it just started to sound like machines were doing all the work and the group was getting less musical. I don't dislike much on here and the one track I love the most is Lentic Catachresis, but I only like the first 3 minutes. If I had to pick an overall track it would be Bine. The track is crazy fast and and has some creepy drone in it too. Fucks with my head. The track Uviol is very beautiful I find but like some of the ones on here they're to long. I guess that's what keeps me from rating this any higher. Overall it's a great album and a large change in sound over their previous works.

This was the very first AE "album" ever I bought by this group and I still think it was their strongest. I even like the artwork the most out of all their albums. There's some really beautiful tracks on here, melodic wise. The track Rpeg has this moving cascading kind of sound that blends so well and it's such an outstanding opening track. Truely sets the mood right for the rest of the tracks. I also love Dropp and Pir just as much, as far as the music goes. The only thing that keeps me from giving this a 5/5 is the very boring track Outpt. It would have been good at say 2 minutes but it doesn't change much and it's too long for its own good. This is the album that got me hooked on this band and I don't remember why I picked it up in the first place but I'm hell has glad I did!

The beginning of the change for Autechre...and it shows. All the tracks are great in their own right, but the only problem is that the longer tracks, like Recury, Hub, and Cichli just seem to go on and on and on with little variation. Track Rettic Ac is probably their nosiest track they've done to date. I love this album a lot as more of a turning point album for AE and I think Booth/Brown did an excellent job in that respect.

What was going on in 1993? We had the grunge craze, rap music was starting to get very big and no one gave to shits about IDM or even heard of it. Hell, I didn't hear of it until 1998 myself, 5 years after this album was out already. In any case, I wouldn't really call this album IDM but more like ambient techno. You sure can't dance to this music so I think it fits better.

This album does sound a bit dated and if it came out now I'd probably give it a 3/5 instead of a 4/5, which I rate now. Most of the tracks on this album carry with it a long ambient tone mixed with some soft core drum n' bassy IDMish sounding drums. The harshest track on here I'd say would have to be Doctrine, but other than that it's a pretty soft and relaxing album. My favourite track would have to be Windwind. It's 11 minutes of ambient bliss and I still think it's one of thier best tracks to this day even. Overall, if your a true fan of AE you pretty much need this album in you collection as it was a great debut and I would say it was even ahead of it's time as well. For myself I think this was the 4th AE album I bought and I still remember it blowing me away the first time I heard it. This was after hearing their more complex stuff too so it's a testament at how good this group has been right from the start.

I just found out by listening to The Andrews Sisters that The Art of Noise sampled the part of the track on Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy where the sisters sing "In the Army Now". The track they sampled it on is not surprisingly titled "The Army Now"...just a neat find I'd thought I'd share.

This compilation is pretty good and it was my first time hearing this group. I remember buying this album because I wanted something different so I picked this up thinking it had something to do with noise, seriously. I soon found out it was damn chill and damn good. The "Love" versions are my favourites on here for sure and I've put them on repeat many a times! There's some other good tracks on here, like Beat Box and Who's Afraid (Of the Art of Noise), but there's also a few fillers, which I don't care for. A good mix of tracks if your looking to explore this band.

This is kind of a hit and miss album for me. I have to be in the right mood to listen to it. It's normally far to 'pop' sounding for my tastes but there are some good tracks on here, like Kathy's Song (which is pretty different from the single version), and Soultaker. I noticed that the start of the track, Moment of Tranquility, sounds very much like the opening title track for Twin Peaks. I don't know if it's a rip off or just a tribute but it sounds way to similar. Again, overall it's an ok album but I pretty much lost interest in this group after this release came out.

A very good buy for any fan of early AFX or Aphex Twin. There's some weak mixes on here but for the most part I enjoy both discs from start to finish. RDJ is a pretty funny dude with some justified ego and having the title of this compilation refer to the fact that he got paid to make these mixes is a good example. I also think it's funny how he calls the track, Time to Find Me, a fast mix. It's so chill and hardly fast at all. I'll admit that I don't think I've heard any of these original versions of these tracks, outside of Windowlicker, so I can't really comment on how well of a good remixer he is but I do know that he does do wonders with the samples and track kits he's given. Here are my top three mixes for each disc:

Disc One:
Heroes
Une femme n'est pas un homme
Let My Fish Loose

Disc Two:
Krieger
At the Heart of It All
Flow Coma

I enjoy disc two a lot more simply because it seems to contain more mixes of less ambient sounding tracks and more of the drill'n bass style that I like more. Out of all the tracks on this double disc I play Krieger (Aphex Twin Baldhu mix) a ton. I love what he does with the vocals and the drums at the ending are soooooo RDJ. To me, it's the perfect Aphex Twin remix and I wish he did more like that on here.

This is one kick ass EP and it starts off with the very powerful Come to Daddy track, which also had one of the best videos ever made for it. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough but how many drum n' bass tracks have such a good use of a guitar in it, such as this one? It's brilliant and very original! I find that the two remixes sound nothing like the original, which is a good thing for me. When listening to Flim one might ask themselves; "Was this track done by the same man? It's so beautiful..." and it is. It's one of the most beautiful IDM tracks I've heard.

Along with beauty and hard core Drum n' Bass we have the very messed up track Bucephalus Bouncing Ball, which is a very appropriate title as it truely sounds as if a ball is being bounced around. I still don't know how he does this music....and this is 12 years after the fact. I also thought the remix of To Cure a Weakling Child (Contour Regard) is equally as good as the original. Very good keys and bass in this one. All in all this EP is a must for the AFX fan!

This is one of those albums were it's proof that downloading doesn't mean I won't buy it. I want this album. I will pay $20 for it's so damn awesome. It's fast as hell. The vocals are wicked, and to me, pretty original sounding at times. There's different effects used on them and absolutely love track #5, Waiting for the Barbarians. This album will hit you in the face and knock your head off. There's even a few guitar solos in here, which is pretty hard to find for this style of death metal. I can't give this a perfect rating because there's a couple tracks with some nu-metal sounding vocals that I don't really care for, but it doesn't make me want to skip the track none-the-less.