Speedy J - A Shocking Hobby

NovaMute: 2000/2021

The final Speedy J album I've yet to review, and possibly the most significant one for Mr. Paap in terms of where his career was going. Loudboxer put a permanent stamp on his turn towards techno bangers, but the notion of releasing a singular, uncompromising audio assault for a full LP starts with A Shocking Hobby. Prior albums typically offered a variety of tempo, tunes, and tones, and while the same can be said for most of this one too, there's no denying this record is best enjoyed – and perhaps properly only enjoyed – as a single sit-down experience. From front to back, A Shocking Hobby hardly deviates from its future-shock, broken-beat aggro-techno vibe.

You might sense familiar territory with opener Terre Zippy, starting an album similarly to Public Energy No. 1. Yet whereas Tuning In instilled a bit of uneasy calm before Jochem unleashed Patterns on you, Terre Zippy is all abrasive industrial drone, increasing the tension to fever pitch before unleashing an even nastier piece of big beat business in Borax. I wouldn't go so far as to call this track drill n' bass though, as there's a certain level of measured structure going on here compared to the frenetic pace the IDM camps generally enjoy. As for melody, forget it. Whereas Patterns had those big, rousing orchestral strings at its climax, Borax settles for some layered strings at its peak, finding whatever seams of boshing beats they can squeeze through.

And while you can tell when there's a shift into another track on A Shocking Hobby, everything's so aurally consistent that it almost sounds like a live session getting rinsed out rather than individual tracks. Interstitial piece Ferber Mudd may as well be a brief continuation of ideas already explored in Borax, while Balk Acid carries on with the booming, distorted rhythms just the same, with it's own nice little melody in support that will get all your Aphex Twin comparisons triggering.

Even more than the last album, those links to the IDM wonks of the '90s have been made with A Shocking Hobby, and I can't deny, the drill n' bass vibes of tracks like Vopak, Actor Nine and Drill are clear as any day. I dunno' though, this album still feels more rooted in techno's domain than IDM, using sonic experimentation as a tool for an LP narrative rather than for its own sake track to track. Even the downbeat pieces towards the end serve as a comedown coda to the audio assault that came before in this apocalyptic war of industrial breaks.

Still, though I'd consider A Shocking Hobby a far more successful outing of such sounds compared to the transitional Public Energy No. 1, it's still a noisy session from Speedy J, one I can see only a handful of folks would be down for. Plus, while critically solid, I doubt making such music was all that financially lucrative for Jochem. Now, that warehouse-ready, club friendly 4am techno, there's an untapped market...

Speedy J - Patterns (Remix) / Pannik

Plus 8 Records: 1997/2021

Fair warning, we're gonna' be dealing with a lot of Speedy J within this upcoming block of 'P' titled releases. Mr. Paap really likes him some 'P', it seems. You'd think it would be 'G', what with his first two albums titled Ginger, and G Spot, but when it comes to singles (and one album), 'P' reigns supreme. Why are you all sniggering? You'll see what I mean by this love of 'P'!

Patters was one of the few – okay, only – singles to emerge from Speedy's third album, Public Energy No. 1 (see!?). There also was a promo record with some tracks, including Pure Energy, but as for official spin-offs, this was about it. Not that it's a surprising thing, Jochem seemingly hesitant to tie singles to albums most of the time. Ginger only got one, as did G Spot. And though Loudboxer had a couple, it made sense there since that album's nothing but techno tools in need of vinyl options.

Speaking of Loudboxer-era Speedy J, does this record ever foretell that turn of style for Jochem. Yes, even more than the other ones I've probably said. Patterns itself is a remix, seemingly a bridge between the more melodic IDM he was doing before, and the abrasive stuff he'd indulge more frequently as the '90s wore on. Calm, tranquil, sometimes distorting drone pads give us a lengthy lead-in before Mr. J' starts unleashing all manner of crunchy, boshing, frantic drill-n-bass rhythms, letting you know this ain't no Fill session. There's a storm a' brewing, folks, and as if to sell that notion just a little harder, here's some climatic orchestral string sections building the tension to a damn near fever-pitch. The final release of sonic noise is worth the wait, but doesn't last as long as you'd hope, over almost as soon as it began. Dammit, I wanted to really get my flail on there.

Ask, and you shall receive. Except I didn't ask, but that Speedy, he knows what we need, don't he. Pannik is a pure Detroit mininalist techno bosh cut, and lasts ten minutes! Okay, maybe not the longest track of such nature, but certainly an epic in Jochem's discography to that point, much of his early techno was straight-forward and of unfussy lengths. Not this one, taking you for a head-pounding, foot stomping ride with all the crashing snares and cymbals you can handle from the dude who did The Oil Zone. He'd already been dashing some expectations after the Ni Go Snix EP, but I doubt anyone would have expected him to go this dumb with techno again. Yeah, it's a 'smart dumb' kind of dance music compared to some of his actual early 'dumb' hits, but still.

Punnik, meanwhile, goes longer, cranking the feral energy up even further. Rhythms are broken, with distorted sounds and reverb making this sound like it was produced in an oppressive Detroit factory. The primal techno beatings will continue until morale improves.

Gridlock - Formless

Hymen Records: 2003

Man, talk about a coincidence, two straight album requests featuring breaks cribbed from the IDM camps! Though as this isn't a Patreon request, I can't give a specific shout-out to the requester. Sorry, Philoi. (wait...)

More to the point, this was requested as a bit of book-keeping from the TranceCritic days, an item covered by one of the website's other writers that could use a dusting off for our current clime's. Thing is, I don't recall this crossing our path, nor do I have a back-up of said supposed review. Granted, I don't have every item we published, and this one could have possibly slipped through the cracks, but I'm fairly certain if something this obscure had made it into the TC archives (and my back-ups), I'd have remembered it.

Back to the coincidence, Gridlock wasn't an actual breaks act like Tipper. Rather, they hail from the industrial camps, early adopters of the aggrotech scene (aka: when industrial discovered big-beat ...kinda'). Basically, a lot of noisy beats, angry shouting, with occasional moments of respite in dark ambient dirges. As time went on though, to two Mikes behind the project (Cadoo and Wells) drifted away from the industrial abrasiveness, their music becoming something more common among the IDM camps. They still kept the glitchy, harsh rhythms, but you could find that among breakcore or drill n' bass anyway. What pulled their music into a completely different scene, however, was just how nicely melodic it had all come, none of the menace and macabre of industrial remaining.

Formless was their final album, and serves as a nice capper of their transition from their bleak, early work. The beats are still all crunchy and glitchy and noisy, but so often coupled with charming melodies and pleasing ambient timbre that you almost forget there's a mechanical racket going on in support. What's nice about these beats is they never overwhelm the songcraft, over-indulging with fancy effects to the detriment of whatever musical ideas Gridlock performs. While this is hardly a new idea in the realms of IDM, I haven't heard it done quite the way Gridlock does here. Mind, it's not like I've gone super deep-diving into the realms of IDM, and there are still plenty of moments that have me thinking mid-'90s Aphex Twin (because it always comes back to him in this scene, doesn't it?). For the most part though, Gridlock have found a lane for themselves, and ride it with skill and finesse.

In fact, they stick to that lane so diligently, it kinda' hampers the overall album. Formless is fifteen tracks long, some short interstitial doodles, others breaching the nine-minute mark. Most, however, hover around four-to-six minutes, and while they all sound fine, there's also a noticeable lack of sonic variety too. Industrial beats, ambient techno melodies, and that's about it for the duration. I'm never bored by what I hear, but I cannot deny the mind drifting a little towards album end too. Annoying when the grey matter does that.

Aphex Twin - Drukqs

Warp Records: 2001

Why, I remember a time when we took new Aphex Twin music for granted, by g'ar. You bet we received Drukqs with barely passing attention. “Yeah, yeah, it's fine,” we shrugged, “but when will you release Selected Ambient Works 3, Mr. James? Or redefine IDM again like with so many other prior albums and EPs?” How were we to know our lackadaisical interest in a double-LP opus would all but force the Aphex'd One into permanent production privacy, pulling a near KLF disappearance from the world of music. Yeah, there were all those acid singles as AFX, but not as Aphex Twin, the pseudonym everyone cared about (re: primarily knew). All these meticulously crafted drill’n’bass electro dancing in your brain, the attempts at ‘real’ music with pianos, harpsichords, and other assorted chamber instruments, all wasted on a selfish audience, wondering why Radiohead was going on about this guy so much.

Or, y’know, ol’ Richie had a pile of unused demo music and discarded braindance B-sides lying about and shoved Drukqs out for some quick dosh. Either scenario wouldn’t surprise me.

For all the music on these two CDs, this album honestly does sound like two different ones mashed together. Half of it is made up of the aforementioned drillin’ breaks, the sort that still sounds indebted to Squarepusher but with enough of Aphex Twin’s quirky fills, changes in tone, melancholic ambient, and irreverent sense of humor making it distinctly his own. If this just sounds like retreads of Richard D. James Album, I counter these tunes off Drukqs are far better polished, even the most extreme glitched-out moments having a logical sense of musical flow to them. Plus, the production is incredibly slick, sounds never mashed into senseless noise even as any number of digital bits and pieces are flying about. Of course, by 2001 much of the IDM world had caught up to such tricks, so that folks wouldn’t be as impressed by Aphex’s efforts isn’t surprising. That doesn’t make them any less mint though.

The other half comprises all the classically minded compositions, most running a couple minutes of noodling about on keyboards of various types. The only unique thing about these is how Mr. James recorded a fair amount of the mechanical process involved in these instruments: the shuffling of pedals, the light plonks of ivory within wooden casings, and even his occasional faulty human flubs. For all I know though, this is a technique many pianists employ – I’m simply not well-versed in that field of music for any comparison. All I can tell is Aphex does craft some lovely little ditties, and a few utterly ART-wanky percussion pieces too (that said, Gwarek 2’s fun with headphones!).

Many came around to Drukqs when it seemed no new Aphex Twin material would ever materialize, so the album has gotten it’s just due now. It’s still better served for folks with some prior knowledge of his music before going in though. Not a beginner’s LP, this.

Aphex Twin - On

Warp Records/Sire: 1993/1994

Did you know there’s a new Aphex Twin album? Of course you do, because no one will shut up about the new Aphex Twin album. It’s such a novelty, a new Aphex Twin album being available, one that a new generation of electronic music lovers finally understanding the thrill of. Okay, new Aphex Twin albums weren’t as big a deal back in the day, because they weren’t so infrequent, you see. Anyhow, let’s forget about Syro for now, because I won’t get to talk about it until, oh, spring (I’ve a lot of albums with ‘S’ in the title). Let’s instead jump into Aphex Twin’s debut on Warp Records, the single On.

Truthfully, this wasn’t Richard D. James’ first appearance on the seminal label, having put out an album with them as Polygon Window the year before. The Aphex Twin moniker had bigger clout though, and I’m sure Warp believed they’d scored a winner in signing Mr. D. James to a long-term multi-album deal (that he’s still yet to complete, apparently). Maybe as a means of distancing the Aphex sound from its Apollo origins, On features quite a radical change of sound compared to prior works, many pointing to this EP as where ‘drill-n-bass’ got its beginnings.

Fun fact: On was one of the first Aphex Twin songs I ever heard. The other was Donkey Rhubarb, both appearing on ‘ambient’ compilations. I couldn’t understand why. Sure, Aphex Twin was some ambient-God at the time, his name always coming up in mid-‘90s Best Of lists, but if these tunes were indicative of Aphex ambient, then I clearly had a totally off idea of what ambient was. Right, On starts with a charming bell melody, soon joined by the crackling of thunder and rainfall. It’s brisk, but still in line with ambient’s calming tend- oh my God, what’s with that …kick? Bass? What even is that sound? And why are the hi-hats so sharp and piercing? This song makes no sense being on a CD titled Ambient Auras, no sense at all.

Of course, senselessness is part of Aphex Twin’s charm, and despite the bizarre rhythm, On remains a lovely little tune in his discography. In stark contrast, the drilling acid beats of 73-yips is great for pissing your neighbors off (and inspired a zillion copycat wonks in the process). Meanwhile, Xepha hints at the creepy-weird discordant-dream ambience that would encompass Selected Ambient Works 2, except with drill-kicks bouncing about like rubber demonites - it makes sense when you hear it, trust me. The American copy of On jettisoned D-scape in favor of the Reload Mix, a chipper ambient techno rub by the Global Communication chaps that ends the EP on a light note, but isn’t as interesting as Aphex’s material.

It’s academic whether you should get on, erm, On, if you haven’t already. Since it’s a career-transitional EP, it’s one of Aphex Twin’s more unique items. That’s saying something, considering the various musically obtuse paths he’s taken over the years.

Aphex Twin - ...I Care Because You Do

Sire Records Company: 1995

Whauh! Don’t look at me like that. We all know you’re operating on some other wavelength compared to your musical peers (pft, as if Aphex Twin has a comparable variable), but there’s no need to be smug about it. Plus, are we to believe you have teeth that pearly white? Come on, you’re from the British Isles – we all know what’s up. It cannot be denied, though, that …I Care Because You Do has one of the most unique album covers out there in Electronic Music Land, such that ol’ Richard’s grinning visage became a running theme for his ‘90s output. It seems, no matter what he does, Mr. D. James’ will always leave a lasting impression.

Speaking of music, how about dictating the change of a whole scene? As Aphex Twin, he’d already helped define ambient techno, leading to the intelligent dance music (IDM) branch at large. Yet as everyone jumped on that bandwagon, he was already moving on. There were still melodic and calm musics found in his releases, but hardcore beats, abrasive acid, and sonic noise crept further and further into his sound. The On EP properly introduced his new 'drill'n'bass' style, and this here album explored it further, even as folks pondered whether such ventures were wise in the first place. It definitely caught those only familiar with Selected Ambient Works off guard.

…I Care Because You Do tends to go forgotten when it comes to Aphex Twin albums, probably due to the slipshod way the packaging comes off. The vinyl barely looked better than a white label, and the CD cheekily uses the original 'compact disc' logo with pen scratchings for labeling; Richard D. James sure does care about this, doesn't he. Plus, few classic tracks were culled from it, most of the Aphex glory going to former or latter offerings. Who could even enjoy tracks with weird titles like Mookid, Cow Cud Is A Twin, or Wet Top Hen Ax anyway? Farmers?

No, that’s not right. This is a great collection of off-kilter music, skillfully flirting through lovely melancholy, aggressive freak-outs, and funky experimentation. It’s almost impossible to get bored playing this, each track sounding totally odd and unique from what came before, urging the listening to keep going and discover what delightful devilishness Mr. D. James creates next. Lovely orchestral passages like in Next Heap With and The Waxen Pith rub shoulders with glorious beat freakouts like Start As You Mean To Go On and Wax The Nip. Childlike whimsy as found in Alberto Balsalm has a wicked counterpart in Ventolin (ooh, my ears …yet I can’t turn it off!). Other assorted styles are tinkered and toyed with, almost bizarre parodies as played through ol’ Richard’s mangled and abused analog gear.

Despite a lack of any unifying concept, this is easily Aphex Twin’s most complete album in terms of diversity. I wouldn’t want to start an exploration of his discography here, but I’ve definitely returned to it more often than his other works.