Review Summary: A broken snowglobe
I’ve always found Aphex Twin to be a hit or miss artist, I love his 90s work but I’ve found everything
Syro and onwards to lack any kind of soul within its (admittedly immaculate) sound design. And on
drukqs, his only full-length I’ve yet to listen to, that inconsistency is summarised in a single, very imposing album.
“Vordhosbn” is classic Aphex Twin, with its skittering drums and sharp, ominous synths reminiscent of his earlier hits “Polynomial-C” and “4”, or like Autechre after chugging a Monster Energy. “Meltphace 6” is another standout, with hyperactive percussion and phased vocal samples that feel like human life being breathed into computer music (an ethos of electronica if there ever was one). And to prove Aphex Twin’s genius at not only sound collage, but also melody at its most pure,
drukqs features a beautiful pair of piano ballads in “Avril 14th” and “Petiatil Cx Htdui” (a whole album of these would be a dream).
The problem is that the frequent experimental ambient interludes don’t always work for me (with key examples being “Strotha Tynhe” “Gwarek2”, and “Father”). The choices of sparse instrumentation are inconsistent, and the melodies (when there are any…) lack a through-line. It makes
drukqs feel like a compilation rather than an album, with a stop-start sequencing that is incredibly jarring. I recently reviewed
Donuts by J Dilla (also 30-odd varied tracks), but in same the way that album was a beautiful mosaic,
drukqs is shattered glass. It’s iridescent when it catches the light, but not without the chance of discordance and pain underneath your step.
