Customer Reviews

Rushup Edge

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I found this in the Aphex Twin bin at Easy Street in Seattle, and was like "cool, new AFX!" And off I went on my merry way. I listened to it all the way home, and then again, and never considered it wasn't produced by Richard James. Curious about the whole Karen Tregaskin thing on the front cover (or whatever her name was- I don't have it handy) I went to the net only to find the whole thing's a hoax. Any *real* AFX fan will know after a couple measures nobody, I repeat, NOBODY else could have produced this music, period.

The new album by The Tuss (AKA Aphex Twin) has finally hit, and it is a welcome blast of cool air. Preceded by the Confederation Trough EP, this is more of a mini-album containing six tracks, and clocking in at only 32 minutes. Although it's not unheard of for an Aphex Twin album to be unusually short, they always contain more tracks than this. I see this more as a marketing campaign by Rephlex Records, instead of releasing all ten tracks on one album, they split them up between an EP released on two different formats (one track is exclusive to the vinyl-only) and the other six tracks make up Rushup Edge. Taken together this is a fine and varied listening experience both for longtime fans, and newcomers alike. The opener, "Synthacon 9", is a classic electro stormer sounding like a survivor of the Analord sessions. Several of the following numbers trace familiar territory for AFX fans, spanning breakbeats, drill'n'bass, and abstract rhythms. The closer "Goodbye Rute" is a fine ambient bumper, bringing the flow to a gentle, drifting conclusion. Some argue the tracks on Rushup Edge show more DSP and digital processing, while Confederation Trough sticks to its analog roots. I myself, think together the entirety of the songs adds to its strength as a release, and ends up being more rewarding. Another popular theory is that this project features a different guest artist on each track. Given his penchance for long bouts of reclusiveness between full-length releases (following a contract dispute with WARP Records), it's exciting to see Richard James' activity thriving again. If he can keep up with one new album every year or two (and from the vast archives of unreleased material he claims, it shouldn't be a problem), his fans should be happy for decades to come. He's releasing music his way, on his label, and laughing all the way to the bank.

For those of you who havent caught on, this is a new album by Richard D James aka Aphex Twin. It is awesome. Made completely with hardware but even better than the Analords. Synthacon 9 is probably the best song.

In the classic sense, if you truly love electronic music, and I mean ELECTRIC... analog, soulful, challenging, then this release, like the Analord series, might very well be for you. Except this time, the tracks go above the Analord series' geeky insider-to-the-genre-of-acid-vibe and come out with strong production and are just highly captivating overall.

It's like an old-school version of Drukqs and I love it! I have dreamed to Richard's beautiful music (with maybe the exception of the prankster MTV-fame era stuff) all my life and I hope he can continue to enjoy making music all of his.

Aphex Twin is a big influence on this artist, since it IS Aphex Twin as far as I can tell. The Tuss might have origins in a Luke Vibert number entitled "Robotuss" from his 2006 Kerrier District album. Great tracks overall--I tried to review this previously and couldn't name Track 5 probably because its title is profane, but it's the strongest track. Too bad Amazon's filters don't allow it to feature.

A great work by Richard D. James--I'm playing it all the time.

RDJ has done it again. He's created a new persona and done it in spades. A great album.

I slept on and took a break from IDM for like 2 years. I went on Youtube and heard Synthacon 9 live and was transported right back with no complaints. Go Richard! I bought the album for this track and wasn't disappointed. This track is just retarded. It creates visuals in my head like the red sea parting except it is really composed of architectural pillars, or vise versa rather,pillars of water, that have a sea of bodies contorting and swallowing themselves. And then a new wave splashes..and I'm not even trippin'.Ooohh, what does it all mean? Who knows. There is a point though,like on Death F mental beats and maybe towards the end, where I get a little aphexed out. It becomes repetetive(go figure, its electronica),too hard, and hellish masturbatory drills of bleeps and uhh..futhermore makes me want out..NOW. But it balances out with an ambient number at the end. I like R.James the most when he's in ambient mode.

I dunno guys, Im a pretty huge Aphex fan and own most of his cds. At one point I searched every record store looking for anything he had touched, let alone his own work.

In the last few years it just seems like he turns on the recorder every time he does any work or gets a new piece of gear. Ive felt this way for a while but then Analord came out and I liked a few tracks there. Mostly though it fell under the definition I gave earlier. SO, when this came out, I bought this and the single. It just doesn't sound like a lot of effort is going into the work and this release really doesn't do much to change my perception.

RD James is definitely going back into the try before you buy category for me