|
|
List Price: $19.98 Amazon.com's Price: $14.99 You Save: $4.99 (25%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.
Binding: Audio CDEAN: 0643443117425 Format: Explicit Lyrics Label: Rhino / Wea Manufacturer: Rhino / Wea MPN: 31174 Number Of Discs: 2 Publisher: Rhino / Wea Release Date: October 23, 2001 Studio: Rhino / Wea Editorial Review: Amazon.com's Best of 2001: Often proclaimed as electronica's one true genius, Richard James, a.k.a. Aphex Twin, returns with a double CD that showcases his cleverness as well as his inevitable inscrutability. Still, amid macabre birthday songs, unsettling screams, and other bizarre touches, Drukqs offers the most technically accomplished and beautiful tracks of Aphex Twin's career. Every aspect of the Aphex brain is on display here, from stark pieces performed on sampled piano and zither to Squarepusher-styled drum & bass implosions, all informed by that peculiar Aphex treatment of bittersweet melody and unparalleled programming. For an artist once engrossed in homages to his dead twin brother and grotesque videos, Drukqs shows James getting by purely on music alone. "Mt. Saint Michel Mix" starts as maddening drum & bass, but is soon transfixed by glowing tones, hand drums, and police sirens. "Vordhosbn" is all acid beats and mad synths matched with fart-bombs and haunted cries. "54 Cymru Beats" sounds more like the tweaked-out, goofball techno of Wagon Christ than Aphex, while "Taking Control" goes metaphysical with cerebral synth-drums and muddled vocals. If Drukqs is the result of medication James has been imbibing during his three-year hiatus, then this is indeed better living through chemistry. Regardless, his music is still as beautiful and frothy as ever. --Ken Micallef Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Insanely Complex RhythmsI've never understood this saying: "I don't like classical music it always puts me to sleep." For me, listening to horrible music has always given me insomnia, and amazingly great music puts me to sleep. Let's just say that by the end of the first cd I was already dozing off in mid-afternoon. It's been a long time since an electronica album has really impressed me, rarely do I find something which can hold it's own next to Deep Breakfast by Ray Lynch, Music Has The Right To Children by Boards of ... Read More Rating: - RDJ's genre-transcending masterpieceAlthough I admit I am largely unfamiliar with 2 of Aphex Twin's most famous pieces of work, "Selected Ambient Works Volume 2" and "The Richard D. James Album", I can confidently say that this is lightyears beyond the early "Selected Ambient Works 85-92" and "I Care Because You Do", as well as the recent "Analord" vinyl EPs. These compositions are beautiful, multi-faceted and detailed on a level almost comparable to Autechre. "Drukqz" is perfectly thematic and atmospheric, while being ... Read More Rating:  - Another Hard Edged Soft BallComparatively quiet and uncrowded this CD proves another insignificant project. Odds and ends picked up here and there then assembled into contradictory resonances. 'Druqs' compositions come across as forced and tacky. Witty short squibs intermingled with blatantly caracatured kinetic never static synth drums. Where do we go from here Aphex Twin? The self appointed revolutionary of noise music has lost his feathers. Rating:  - his last good album?This seems like Aphex's last good album. I own 26 remixes for cash, and you can basically throw that one in the trash. Druqk's has some really standout, emotional, tracks of all types. The pacing of this album suffers greatly however as frantic IDM beats are interspersed with slow ambient "piano" tracks. Basically, you can't listen to the entire album in one go. Some tracks have me skipping ahead or turning it off. Its not really a classic, and it could have been if he worked on creating a flow. It ... Read More Rating: - Sucked in.Avril 14th was the first song I heard off of this album. That was the reason I bought it. I had owned other Aphex Twin albums such as "Richard D. James Album" and the "Come To Daddy EP." But neither of those are as mysterious and beautiful as "Drukqs." This album flows together very nicely if played continuously through. There are about ten electronica tracks, 10 piano pieces and a few scattered ambient tracks. Some of the trip-hop tracks really slap you in the face with how involved ... Read More |
