Customer Reviews

26 Mixes for Cash

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Like house demigod (and fellow curmudgeon) Armand Van Helden, no examination of Aphex Twin's body of work is complete without considering his extensive remix work. This double CD compiles not all, but most of the best of that work. Obsessive Aphex completists like myself will lament the absence of this elusive jewel or that (or perhaps sigh with relief that the extravagant price they paid for it wasn't for naught), but I give this compilation a perfect 5 stars anyway because the album itself makes up such a stunning single piece.

You simply won't find a better testimonial to Richard James' musical genius, or the dizzying pace of its evolution, wrapped up in one package. It flows with inner logic and authority, taking the listener on a voyage of imagination from ambient to acid-tech to industrial to drill 'n' bass and back again. Not since Selected Ambient Works Volume II has Richard realized such a musical journey so completely, which is an even greater feat since it's a compilation of material dating back to 1990.

If you're not an Aphex fan, this album could well make one out of you. If you are an Aphex fan, meet your next desert island album.

I'm one who always thought that some of the most moving and memorable moments in the venerable history of Aphex Twin were the more mellower tracks or albums. After hearing this album I feel it should've been titled "Selected Ambient Works Vol.3". There's alot of beautiful songs that seem to just take you away for a while from the everyday life. Drukqs was good but I wanted to hear some more songs like "Petiatl Cx Htdui" and "Avril 10th" on it. There was perhaps a bit too much drum n bass or bleep n blip on it. It seemed like it wasn't coherent, like Syd Barrett doing electronic music on acid. Don't get me wrong alot of it was exciting and eccentric but you long to hear some of his old beautiful songs again. "26 Mixes For Cash" has tracks that sound like actual songs. I can honestly call this an album of new material all his own because none of these songs sound in ANY way like the songs they were supposed to be originally from. I don't think that Trent Reznor himself could distinguish which two of his songs are on this album, maybe a couple of sound effects could give it away if you're a NIN fan. Anyway it's easy listening and it won't drill your ears like his previous album did, not that its a bad thing. =)

Pretty great collection of remixes- and this shows that he is indeed a master remixer. I wouldn't recommend this record to someone brand new to Aphex Twin- I'd probably suggest starting out w/ 'I Care Because You Do', 'Selected Ambient Works 85-92', or 'Richard D. James Album'- but for the experienced fan, this is a must-purchase.

Worth the price of entry alone for his 'Big Drum' mix of Gavin Bryars' 'Raising the Titanic'. Absolutely beautiful, perhaps the best thing he's ever done in my opinion.

The Heroes mix is especially good too.

Doesn't sound remotely like Drukqs, so don't be put off if you weren't a fan.

Well lush.

I wish Aphex would surrender to crass commerciality more often. I find it so much more listenable than much of his other madness, except when in the mood for a mental flossing. Retains all the spasmodic trills and spills that are trademark of his more than distinctive sound, but adds a compositional, dare I say pop sensibility that ends up complimenting and reigning in the usual excesses (that can be just as grating as illuminating). The result is sublime, sublime. At the same time he manages a savage irony as he mutilates wankers like Trent Reznor in his sonic blender. I do not think it would be gushing to call this artist a musical genius of our age.

I wonder what kept me from buying this album earlier (I probably thought that I wanted to enlarge my musical tastes a bit before buying this CD of remixes, seeing that almost all my CD collection was made of Aphex Twin albums) but one day I just succumbed and bought the album. Like with most Aphex Twin releases, I really wasn't dissapointed at all.

This double-CD has been split into two distinct sections: the first CD shows Aphex Twin into his more listenable and ambient form whilst the second CD feature mores of the crazy synth lines and psyched drum tracks that can be heard on the Richard D. James album or to some extent, Drukqs.

The first CD really was the real meat of the album for me, as the tracks on it are mind-blowing and beautiful, it's highlights being the mixes of Raising the Titanic, Heroes, Ziggy (which really reminded me of the band Enigma) and The Beauty of being Numb. The second CD seems a bit more disjointed and there's some weak tracks in it such as We Have Arrived (I must admit that I've never been fond of the Twin's hardcore side though. For those of you who like his Caustic Window releases, you probably will enjoy that song) and Aphex Twin's remixes of Radiator and Windowlicker which doesn't hold up to the originals and tend to get tedious. However, tracks like Krieger, Falling Free, At The Heart of It All, and even a remix of a DMX Krew song (it always seem weird to me to see Aphex Twin doing pop music ;)) stand out and are remarkable.

Overall, this is a really solid release and it definitely shows Richard D. James under his many different musical forms. If you're new to Aphex Twin, you definitely should take a look at his earlier major releases such as Selected Ambient Works II, I Care Because you Do and the Richard D. James album firstly. If you like what you hear or already own these albums, you can go buy 26 Mixes for Cash. You're gonna like what you'll hear. :)

Aphex Twin's remixes were often original works in disguise. Occasionally he claimed outright that he hadn't even bothered to listen to the originals that he was supposed to be remixing. That may have been hot air, but 26 Mixes For Cash sounds like an original Aphex Twin album, not a collection of remixes. More accurately, it sounds like an alternate history of Aphex's career, like a summary of his albums with a different set of tracks.

The first disc mostly contains tracks released in the early nineties -- softer, more melodic material in the vein of his first album Selected Ambient Works 85-92. The drum tracks and melodies do tend to be a bit less memorable on the whole, there's nothing like the bass line of "Tha" or the keyboard hook in "Ageispolis." For instance, "Time To Find Me" is very similar to "Xtal," right down to the unintelligible sample of female vocals, but the beat isn't quite as concise and catchy. "Raising The Titanic" has a good rolling drum track, but the strings just keep time, and don't really play anything interesting.

But still, when a musician is at his peak, even his lesser works can be excellent -- and the early nineties were absolutely AFX's peak, his first album is far and away his best. So, just about everything in the first half of 26 Mixes For Cash is enjoyable. And there are a few tracks that would fit in well on Selected Ambient Works 85-92, the highest praise I can give. The best of these is "Journey," a very long, slowly evolving piece with intricate percussion and lovely, wistful synth lines and vocal samples. Also very enjoyable is the bouncy melody in "In The Glitter Part 2," the hazy, drifting modified French-film style pop song "Une Femme N'est Pas Un Homme," and the funky hip-hop beat in "Change," which Gorillaz should sample for their next album.

The "reconstruction" of Jesus Jones's "Zeros And Ones" is a sparse, dark mood piece with lots of echoing feedback. In just six minutes, this one track covers everything that Godspeed You Black Emperor take ninety minutes to express. And AFX does it much better, too. He's even got the train noises approaching and receding.

Also notable is "The Beauty Of Being Numb," nominally a remix of Nine Inch Nails. Aphex famously said, "I never heard the originals...I don't want to, either." But I'm not inclined to believe him, because this track actually sounds a lot like NIN's soft instrumental side, somewhere between "A Warm Place" and "The Downward Spiral." It ends with Aphex blowing into a straw over and over -- a hilarious, on-target parody of Trent Reznor's tendency to put these kinds of aimlessly dissonant noises into otherwise quiet songs, granted that AFX also did that a lot. The majority of the song is quite pretty, though, and there's a keyboard melody that's more sophisticated than a lot of NIN's music at the time.

Then there's "Let My Fish Loose," which follows the classic Aphex style of alternating two simple melodic segments, and even features eerie children's voices, another common AFX touch. But the use of outside source material lends a little variety to the track. The acoustic bass and the flute set it apart from Aphex's usual sound. And the acoustic guitar in the middle of the song is beautiful.

The only track on the first disc that I didn't like is the remix of David Bowie's "Heroes," which has too much Bowie and not enough Aphex. The strings play very simple loops over and over, while Bowie yelps over them. It's not a good fit in my opinion. I kind of wish Aphex had done more "reconstruction" here.

Unfortunately, the second disc is much patchier, like the second half of AFX's career. Though it does have its moments, like "You Can't Hide Your Love," possibly the best track on the entire collection. It's an unabashed synth-pop song, unlike anything else in the Aphex catalog. The electro-bass rhythm is extremely generic, but it's produced with that unmistakable gentleness that characterizes Aphex's best music. Then there's "Deep In Velvet," in which a spastic jungle beat is combined with melodic keyboards, much like in "Flim" from the Come To Daddy EP. The real distinction, though, is the anthemic vocal sample "then one day, she will walk..." that wafts in and out of the background. The percussion style in "At The Heart Of It All," the other NIN remix, actually sounds a lot like what Trent Reznor himself did later on Year Zero. "Debase, Soft Palate" is also pretty decent, with some jazz elements for variety.

There's also one very odd track, a remix of 1:2 from Aphex's minimalist ambient album Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2. The synth is left unchanged, but now it serves as a backdrop for hissing acid-style percussion. The rhythm is a straightforward acid-house sort of thing, quite unlike the jungle percussion of Aphex's late-nineties output. Surprisingly, it sounds a lot like what Aphex did later on Chosen Lords in 2006. But it's more of a curiosity, since the redress can't hide what was originally drab music to begin with.

The rest is rough going: goofy industrial banging ("Krieger"), ear-splitting hardcore techno ("We Have Arrived"); boring glitchy drum workouts ("Remix By AFX," "Windowlicker Acid Edit," "Normal"), and those unlistenable jackhammer drill-and-bass beats that AFX beat into the ground during the late nineties ("Spotlight"). Other tracks, like "Mindstream," are all right, but don't really add anything to the first disc.

This is one of those albums where the final score doesn't mean a lot. The first disc, by itself, would get four stars easily, but I think the second disc is very uneven. There is a lot of really good music here though, and if you like latter-day Aphex Twin, you might enjoy the whole thing more than me.

This dual-disk CD is like most of Aphex Twin's work; its a very mixed bag but as usual there are 1 or 2 tracks that have a long-lasting effect. "26 mixes" has more than 2, the first 2 tracks on disk one are simply incredible. The construction and overall effect of "Time to Find Me" and "Raising the Titanic" is very hypnotic.

"Journey" is by far one the best pieces of music that I have heard in a long while and the "Heroes" remix had me searching for my old Philip Glass albums. Sure, tracks like "Ziggy" and "Change" tend to break the mood but there are more gems than rocks in this CD set.

Well worth one's $$.

I like Richards music and this one covers alot of the cool from the years past. There're songs on here I always wondered about that I heard from other compilations and remix's. It's worth a good listen if you like Richie. The first CD is slower and calming and the second picks up da pace. Check it!

I'm really enjoying this cd. The artists Aphex has remixed spans a wide variety, and these remixes show how he has approach each artist in a different way. The well-arranged compilation of these remixes create a progressive, two-cd piece that never gets dull, boring, or formulaic.