Grade: 95/100
Aphex Twin’s new album, “Syro,” is a monument in the history of electronic music. “Syro” is Aphex Twin’s first release in 13 years, following 2001’ “Drukqs.”
Often hailed as “the Godfather of electronic music,” Aphex Twin is the pseudonym of Richard D. James. James’s first release as Aphex Twin was 1991’s “Selected Ambient Works 85-92.”
Since then, countless musicians from Radiohead to Daft Punk to The Red Hot Chili Peppers have cited Aphex Twin as a major influence on their music.
“Syro” is sure to draw the same praise and influence from just as many people. The album shows that James has clearly mastered his style while also growing his sound to include new tropes of the electronic music catalogue.
“Syro” consists of twelve tracks, and it features heavy electronic processing, a signature of Aphex Twin’s composing style.
All of the tracks on the album have titles that contain a technical aspect of the song and the beats per minute of that track. The album starts with a track titled
“minipops 67[120.2][source field mix].”
The track features Aphex Twin’s signature synthesized percussion and keyboard sounds. Vocal samples that are rumored to have come entirely from James and his family’s voices are present on this and most other songs on the album.
The second track, “XMAS_EVET10[thanaton3 mix],” is the longest on the album at 10 minutes and 31 seconds. The song starts with a somewhat ambient sound though with a steady beat, and it progressively becomes more in the vain of what’s called “jungle” style electronic music.
The seventh track, “CIRCLONT6A [141.98] (syrobonkus mix)” is clearly syrobonkus, like some earlier Aphex Twin tracks such as “Come to Daddy.” This one features rather aggressive, abrasive sound that encompasses too much of the frequency spectrum to be said as having a pitch.
The track is not without melody though. Toward the end, the melody becomes very, infectiously intertwining with the growing beat.
Perhaps the most danceable is the tenth track, “PAPAT4 [155][Pineal Mix].” It has a high rate of beats per minute (155 bpm), and has constantly evolving drums and spacy synth lines. This is common throughout the album, but possibly best exemplified here.
The final song is “aisatsana [102],” a beautiful stream of real piano sounds with pleasant samples of birds and running water in the background. This is a perfect resolution to this album.
Overall, “Syro” is more creative, expressive and danceable than an any previous Aphex Twin album, and quite possibly any other electronic album to date.