Hey, is anyone into Aphex Twin? He has just released his first new album since... 2001?! Too much time has passed, but that doesn't matter anymore.

link to album:
https://bleep.com/release/53848-aphex-twin-syro

This is a very divisive album over on the discogs electronic music forum. What do you think of it so far, and what equipment are you using to listen to it? (I think everyone here on this forum has on average much better audio equipment than the average music lover.)

I have really enjoyed it so far, the guy is a top notch musician/composer in my opinion and I love all the weirdness he has no restraint in adding in. As far as Syro I would say it falls between Richard D. James and Drukqs. The word accessible comes to mind, it's beat-centric, while listening to it I can imagine I am in some dark club with an amazing dj. I love electronic music, and I like the club concept of electronic music like Prodigy or Shinji Hosoe, but djs tend to have little creativity and fall into overused cliche musical expressions and also often use the same tempo for an hour plus. To me Aphex Twin could be what a club dj should be doing: creating moods, incorporating melody and f---ing with your head

Anyway back to Syro, I think it's great, it strikes a great balance with rhythm, melody and atmosphere. Its got tons of great synth sounds with lots of texture and character. Some sections are layered, some spare. It's balanced just right. I Care Because You Do and Drukqs were a little too atmospheric/dark for me, this one is a little brighter while still being dark in places, it has club and pop elements, it's fun and theres lots of replay value.

I'm listening on harmon/kardon computer speakers, koss headphones and iPhone earbuds.

Have you listened? Any thoughts?

I posted on Discogs about the JPN bonus track (youtube listen on crappy speakers) which I was so-so about. I'll give it another go with my Yuin G1A headphones and HeadRoom Total Bithead later on. I've yet to buy it or any other AFX album despite having encountered the artist ('analogue bubblebath', 'ventolin' -- I distinctly remember pissing off my parents with that one) very early on in my music collecting days. I've read that it is for fans of his later work (post- 'windowlicker'), yet you don't fall under that category. You listened to his ambient stuff, right?

I started listening about '98, first thing I heard was Richard D. James. I haven't listened to everything he released, I am starting to catch up now though. I actually haven't listened to the ambient albums all the way through yet, but I'm working on that.

I checked out the discogs forum topic and wow, just so much hate even before it was released and when people rag on the track titles, though maybe its obnoxious, it makes me think the opinion is formed ahead of time.

One thing people mentioned was because it's Aphex people will like it no matter what even if it is noise. And that is certainly true to an extent, but I think Richard totally gets that because he has released so much stuff under pseudonyms and anonymously, and therefore he really hasn't capitalized on it, I mean come on, he hasn't released an album in 13 years.

Anyway, it's Aphex Twin, it's gonna be weird, and it's gonna be his sound, his aesthetic, so I don't get the complaining. Some say: he hasn't changed, others: its not like the other stuff I like. Well that goes with the territory, what are you gonna do? You could always make your own stuff and not be an outright consumer, which is what he did. Which is another thing I like about his artistic philosophy, he has said he's making it for himself and his friends, you like it, cool, you don't, it's somewhat understandable.

Maybe people resent the hype or something, but he did lots of rad stuff back in the day, always stayed true to himself and deserves some respect for that I think.

Also he has a lot of ties to vgm, he remixed the pacman theme, he has lots of game sounds and aesthetics in his tracks, things like goon gumpas from Richard D. James or Flim from Come to Daddy.

So quite frankly I was hoping for a little more response here

The only song I ever really enjoyed by him was Beacephalus Bouncing Ball or something like that. I never really into much else. The music video for Windowlicker was really weird when it first came out but that's about all I can really comment on. Ill check this out when I get some time but it's not high on my priority list of things to listen to at the moment

Interesting, track 11 "s950tx16wasr10 (earth portal mix)" sounds A LOT like some of the stuff in Street Fighter Alpha 2 Underground Mixxes.  You'll even hear the same vocal sample in (Beyond Nature Mix) Ryu.