Review: Aphex Twin - Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2 EP
By Joel Nadler, Contributor
[Warp; 2015]
Rating: 6.5/10
Key Tracks: “diskhat ALL prepared1mixed 13, diskhat2”
If there was a way to generally summarize Aphex Twin’s new album, it would be that AFX's latest focus seems to be not only the space between notes, but how notes play off one another.
Stepping away from AFX's tendency toward somewhat dissonant but full-attack-mode soundscapes, Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2 EP (henceforth referred to as CCAI) makes use of mild reverb--which seems to result from the pitch differences of notes rather than technological intervention--but also focuses on the starkness of each note.
Because CCAI is chiefly gruff piano and tuned percussion sounds, there is a (presumably intended) focus on the impact of every single note. This means that not only are there incredibly percussive tracks (i.e. “diskhat ALL prepared1mixed 13,” “diskhat1,” and essentially every track with “disk” in the title), but also melodic piano features, as in “piano un10 it happened.”
There are certainly faster songs on this album that nod to AFX’s breakbeat tendencies, but CCAI is on average much slower than his current discography, save for pieces in his Selected Ambient Works set.
With these themes in mind, “piano un1 arpej” in particular does not entirely fit the mold of the album. There is definitely some coherence between it and the other songs, as they come from the same brain, but it is stark in its contrast with the more percussive tracks. It brings to mind atonal qualities in avant-garde music, as well as Frederic Chopin’s piano works; this sense of familiarity could loosely be applied to the rest of the album as well. If Chopin and Karlheinz Stockhausen had a child who grew up with internet access, AFX may well have been that child.
In the first track,“diskhat ALL prepared1mixed 13,” you can hear waves between dissonant pitches of deep, dark piano sounds, adding a layer to AFX's already rhythmically and tonally complex music. Some of his earlier works (druKqs, ...I Care Because You Do, Come to Daddy and more recently Syro) exhibit qualities of jungle and breakbeat, harsh distortion and searing sustained glitch, and Selected Ambient Works has a tendency toward constant but mellower noise. CCAI seems a step on a new path while drawing from both sides.
Although not entirely moving on from the rasping sounds that often typify his music, it seems AFX is moving in a more melodic, even classical direction with this new album. Of course, it’s difficult to say when Aphex Twin is moving in a stylistic direction based on his erratic discography, but perhaps the omission of his typical electronic elements hints at interesting tastes to come.
