Customer Reviews

Come to Daddy

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Video for "Come To Daddy (pappy mix)" was my first exposure to Aphex Twin, and boy did it leave a scar. How the hell can this sort of music exist in the pop-culture vacuum that is the "backstreet boys era?" Upon picking up the CD, I was plesantly surprised about the variation of styles represented. Nay,I was stunned.

I have, since then, been able to come up with a genre name for RDJ's music: "smart-as." Yes, that is the only way to describe what he does. Come to Daddy let him out-Prodigy Prodigy, Windowlicker let him out-blaxploit the rap community.. I shudder to think of what he'll do next.

Flim and IZ-US are wonderfull... it harkens back to his Selected Ambient Work days, and "BBB" and "Funny Little Man" have that "RDJ Album" experimental-to-the-edge-of-sanity feel to them.

My girlfriend is mortified of the way he uses his/children's voices. I'm inclined to agree, but it's so tongue in cheek, it's silly. "CTD (pappy)" is like nothing he's ever done, and nothing he will ever do again. RDJ never has and never will take himself seriously. kudos for him.

If you've never heard aphex, start here, it's a good introduction (and pretty cheap, too).

Many of these reviews have made me angry. This is one of RDJ's best compiliations to date, despite it's status as an EP. I will go through each track and tell you why.

"Come to Daddy Pappy Mix" may come off as just a harsh rip-off of Prodigy at first listen, but the beats are great and the energy level is through the roof. The ending is the best part.

"Flim" is indeed an excellent song. When I first heard it, I was inspired by its melodic simplicty and its modified drumset beats. However, most of the reviews say this song is the highlight and it's not. After about 6 or 7 listenings, "Flim" gets a bit boring.

"Lord Fauntleroy Remix" is very cool. The beats are sort of like two-step hip-hop and the voices are infectious. I especially like the ending when you hear the low, man's voice get all waivery and choked up. It makes me laugh out loud when I hear it with my friends.

The best song on this album is "Bucephalus Bouncing Ball." It is simply an electronic/percussive marvel. The song is structured so it has distinct sections, not unlike a classical composition. All the rhythms are created by RDJ bouncing different sized balls into a modulator. For those of you who like the beginning of this song and dont like the "noisy" 2nd half, screw you all. The 2nd half is sublime. If you people had any sort of internal beat, you would notice that the time never stops. Try tapping your foot to the tempo throughout the whole song and you'll see what I mean. I am a drummer and to me, this is pure genius.

"To Cure a Weakling Child" is sorta cool but I've heard it before on Richard D. James. Many people like this tune but the melody just doesn't do it for me, although I still listen to it in it's entirety.

"Funny Little Man" is very interesting at first listen. The harpsicord and weird bass line is harmonically complex and the child's voice is disturbing but very melodic, almost like a horn. It does get very tiresome after a while. I admit that i skip over the track when I hear it.

"Mummy Mix" is really cool. I know I'm one of the only ones who thinks so but hear me out. Depite the absence of melody, the rhythms are just awesome. The high pitched sine waves that can be heard towards the beginning create this soundscape that makes me close my eyes and rock my head to the beat. Also, like "Bouncing Ball" you can't appreciate these rhythms without keeping an internal beat or tapping your foot to the song. The only drawback to this song are those loud 4 in a row pulses that appear halfway through until the end. Other than that, good tune.

"IZ-US" is a great way to end the album. It is a big change of pace and is very mellow for RDJ. It sorta reminds me of something off of Moby's "Play."
This EP is an important aspect of RDJ's work. It is just as innovative as his self-titled effort but he tones down the harsh chirps and squeeks so that the music can be appreciated without lowering the volume. Go out and buy this now!

In comparing Aphex Twin with Underworld, both transmit flashes of genius. But Aphex Twin goes off into territory that has never even been imagined; mostly techno, though some borders on (believe it or not) contemporary classical. Hey, the guy collaborated with Philip Glass ... how far off could I be? In any case, the real prize in Come To Daddy is the companion video of the title track, produced by Chris Cunningham (Madonna's "Frozen", Squarepusher's "Come On My Selector", and Aphex Twin's "Windowlicker"). If you have not yet seen it, go check it out. No other director has interpreted a nightmare onto film in such a short time span quite like Cunningham (RDJ's roommate). The rest of the CD delivers, and leaves you craving more new material ... stay tuned ...

If any of you cats got the vinyl of Come To Daddy, put song 02- Flim on slower speed (which on a normally 45 speed LP would be 33rpm), I swear it sounds so much better. It's almost as if RDJ intended it to be that way but released it faster to trick his fans. The rest of the (cd) album is great, the cd has more songs, some of the best songs. Mummy remix is terrific, Contour Regard fantastic, Iz-Us compelling.

With all of the material that elevates Richard D. James into the realm of "musical genious", this album only further supports that claim. Whereas in most of James' albums, he pushes towards either artistic perfection or tries to relate to people on a personal level, on Come To Daddy, he merely seems to be letting off some steam and having fun. The first track seems to be a comedic onslaught on the various agro-techno groups that were being formed and pushed into the mainstream whenever this album was released. The rest of the tracks each have their own appeal. The main thing that makes this more of a comedy peice than any of the other albums in James' catalogue are the voice samples he uses throughout the album. Who can't laugh or at least chuckle at the vocal samples in the song Funny Little Man??

This is a nice change of pace for James. It wouldn't be a good thing if he stayed with this style of music for an extended period of time, but after the deep and intense emotional struggles of I Care... and Selected Ambient Works Vol 2, and the classical methodology placed into the Richard D. James Album, it is nice to have an album that you can just cruise around in your car and bob your head to (or perhaps put the first track on loop while wearing make-up to frighten small children that are playing on the street).

As with all of James' work, many will find this album frightening and hard to listen to. Others will most certainly find charm in the playful melodies and rythms that occur after the first track. Perhaps those of us who have a smile on their face while listening to this album are sick and twisted individuals, but at least we have fun. Sometimes, even with all of the artsy and emotional music in the world, it is good to have a little fun every now and then. Too bad that the majority of the "fun" music that is played on the radio can't be arranged and produced this well and will long be forgotten while this album remains, willing to entice the cold-hearted to wear a smile every now and then.

Richard D. James is one of the premier electronica artists, no doubt. To be a pioneer in this genre, you really have to take it to an extreme just as James does on this Come To Daddy EP. The first song, "Come To Daddy (Pappy Mix)" is what most people know about Aphex Twin. We all remember that video with the skinny pale guy with sharp teeth screaming at that old lady. The song has an absolutely dismembered drum beat, typical for an Aphex Twin song. Over this is what I guess is a guitar screeching through the same three chords over and over again. It's fast and it's not the type of thing you can listen to standing still, neither is it the type of thing you should be listening to in the car. It can only result in a 100 mile per hour car wreck. Richard himself screams over all of this chaos, "I want your soul! I will eat your soul! Come to daddy!!" In the Pitchforkmedia review of this EP, Ryan Schreiber said that Richard James needs to recognize the difference between "good touch" and "bad touch." After listening to the record, i knew exactly what he meant.

The second song is "Flim," a much more down tempo song. It's downright soothing. It speeds along quietly at it's constant pace. Immediately you get an idea of how multi-talented Richard James is. "Come To Daddy (Little Lord Faulteroy Mix)" however touches you in an even worse place than the first version did. While the first version of the song is just a noise fest with nearly terrifying lyrics, the second is quietly distrubing. The music is sweet enough, but Richard James' voice, altered to sound like a child, sings "Oh you naughty little boy / naughty little boy" over and over again. The problem is that it's catchy, so stop yourself before you start singing this in the company of, well, anyone.

Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields called "Bucephalus Bouncing Ball" the most beautiful song he's ever heard. I guess it makes sense since Merritt is into machines. The song experiments with the sound of a bouncing ball. It's all with machines and sounds metallic and bouncy throughout. Eventually it just becomes the mathematic sound of a ball bouncing faster and faster as it comes to a stop. "To Cure A Weakling Child" has random electronic sounds that reminded me of "Mitternacht" by Kraftwerk a little, but with a beat. The song keeps changing and it's very intriguing.

More bad touch is demonstrated on "Little Funny Man" with the kid's voice again going "Come on you little funny man! Come on you little funny man!" over a quirky and corny Casio beat with synthesized harpsicords. "IZ-US" is another one of the little miracles on this disc. It's a smooth hip-hop beat that just skates along on cymbal hits and a simple melody. The cd isn't for everyone, for sure, even the biggest electronica fans might find it too disjointed, loud, or just scary to get into. Fortunately, Richard James is already influencing all types of different bands, and maybe even more fortunately, they're taking it down a notch.

The Come to Daddy EP is proof that Mr. James has finally initiated himself as a member of the lunatic fringe. The title track opens the disc with a chaotic, roaring voice chanting the mantra "I want your soul/I will eat your soul," and believe me, things get a lot more disturbing after that. The graceful and delicate melody of "Flim" is pleasant yet subtly uncomfortable, but any notions of sanity disappear with "Funny Little Man," which has to be heard to be believed. The inconsistency of the songs is the EP's only setback, but overall, it contains enough material to easily show the brilliance of the Aphex Twin.

This stunning, varied recording has excited me more than any CD I have brought in 5 years. From the all out aggresion of the first track, with it's blindingly quick changes of rythym, stereo, phase, pitch and key effects, to the sublime chilled out beats and subtle polyphony of the last, Richard D James exhibits a mastery of both technology and modern musical form that others can only hope to match. His sense of humour may escape you however. Inspirational.

i know it sounds strange, and i am a bit reluctant to say it, as this will be the first time, but: this artist's best album is an EP. it's true though. tracks like "Come To Daddy, Pappy Mix," "To Cure A Weakling Child, Countour Regard," "IZ-US," "Buchepalus Bouncing Ball," and "Flim" are excellent. Tracks like "Come To Daddy, Little Lord Faulteroy Mix" and "Funny Little Man" have strange warped voices that sound like kids and are a bit disturbing at times ("Funny Little Man"- "i... would... like... to... suck... you... up... the... bunghole...")... but it is an excellent album and although it is an EP, you can't find any track on any other albums. it is not quite as annoying as "Richard D. James Album" and not as boring as "Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2". Go and buy this album today!!

Although "Come to Daddy" is technically an EP, as opposed to a full album, I consider it to be Aphex Twin's ultimate artistic statement. Every track is perfect and every track shows a different side of Aphex Twin. We've got the menacing, rocking "Come to Daddy (Pappy Mix), the mellow "Flim", the silly "Funny Little Man", the glitchy IDM freakout "Bucephalus Bouncing Ball", and the sentimental "IZ-US."

We all know Richard D. James can at times be self indulgent, but not here. The fact that this is an EP means the statement he makes is going to be brief. It's concise, focused, and solid from start to finish. When I say focused, I mean that everything fits together without overwhelming the listener, as is usually the case with albums like "Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2." There is a lot of variety here, but it's not a random assemblage of loose tracks.

RDJ works under many aliases - AFX, Polygon Window, Caustic Window, Powerpill, GAK, Smojphace, Bradley Strider, and more - but the material he releases as Aphex Twin is unquestionably his absolute finest. The aliases allow him to explore specific directions in greater detail, while his work as Aphex Twin combines it all into RDJ's unique musical language. That is most definitely the case here. "Come to Daddy (Pappy Mix)" has a connection to Caustic Window, while "Flim" seems related to Polygon Window material. You'll hear many more like that.

Finally, a word on the three versions of "Come to Daddy": Usually when you're dealing with electronic music and you see three versions of a song, you can count on the original being the most interesting, while the other mixes are either more repetitive, or geared for the dance floor with more emphasis on the bass drum - essentially, they're variations on the same song without changing a lot. In this case, however, they're three totally different songs. I've listened closely to try to find a connection - anything - to relate them together, but they're just completely different. They don't use the same types of sounds, they're different tempos, they mood is completely different, they don't share any samples - they're just different. Since RDJ is such a witty composer, I'm assuming that the idea of taking three different songs and presenting them as 'remixes' of the same song is to be taken as irony.

This isn't the only Aphex Twin album that everyone should own, but it's a good candidate for the *first* Aphex Twin album everyone should own. It's a wonderful introduction not only to RDJ, but to electronic music in general. I frequently use it to initiate friends who are unfamiliar with electronic music and the response is always favorable. "Come to Daddy" is a masterpiece and an awesome example of the artistic potential in electronic music.