DrukQs is an exercise in beauty. It's not the kind of beauty that washes over you and soothes you, it's the beauty that offers relief after being bombarded by a blistering attack of extremely heavy acid music.
Spreading 30 tracks (most with unpronounceable titles) across two discs, Drukqs sounds less like a major new statement from electronica's best producer than the results of a Sunday afternoon's trawl through his hard drive for files he hasn't released before.
From a man who has made a career staying a step ahead of his fans, an album as conventional as Drukqs comes as a sad surprise.
Drukqs - supposedly recorded over a five-year period - is a collection of fragments, abstractions and barely half-baked ideas.
AFX fans will no doubt take the two-disc drukQs download of James's bedroom dabbling as a godsend, but it's not the sort of "next level shit" that you count on from a new Aphex Twin release.
With Drukqs, James delivers his most irrelevant album to date: a double CD, thirty-track compendium of indecipherable song titles, gratuitously weird sounds and occasional wisps of ersatz classical piano that are aimlessly pretty.
I love Drugs. I meaaan DrukQs by Aphex Twin. ehmm, maybe both? At the same time?
Every moment of this album feels essential. The way this album flows for an hour and 40 minutes makes it seem like not even an hour. I could literally listen to this for five hours straight and not get bored. The instrumentals range from absolutely beautiful piano ballads, to drill and bass BANGERS to extremely entertaining acid techno and IDM tracks combined with a lot of ambient plucks and synths.
REVIEW REPOST ... read more
drukQs is a lesson on how to listen to music
Something that I, presumably many others as well, have learned over years of listening to music is that while music can affect the listener's mood, their mood can also affect the music. Pent up aggression can make a heavier song sound even more cathartic, but it can also make fun and catchy Pop songs feel boring and tasteless. While a moment of joy could have you dancing around a room to a track you didn't previously care for, it could also make ... read more
I don't normally write reviews because I don't think i'm great at writing them. Sometimes I'll go track by track and give my detailed thoughts on each one, but i think that's genuinely impossible to do for an album like drukqs. this album is a lengthy, incredibly complex masterpiece where each track has it's own emotions tied to them. even the less remarkable tracks have some layer of depth to make sure they aren't boring and justify their inclusion. this album usually goes between prepared ... read more
| 1 | Jynweythek 2:23 | 87 |
| 2 | Vordhosbn 4:51 | 95 |
| 3 | Kladfvgbung Mischk 2:06 | 81 |
| 4 | Omgyjya-Switch7 4:52 | 89 |
| 5 | Strotha Tynhe 2:12 | 84 |
| 6 | Gwely Mernans 5:08 | 81 |
| 7 | Bbydhyonchord 2:33 | 87 |
| 8 | Cock/ver10 5:18 | 94 |
| 9 | Avril 14th 2:05 | 96 |
| 10 | Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels Mount 8:10 | 93 |
| 11 | Gwarek2 6:46 | 66 |
| 12 | Orban Eq Trx 4 1:35 | 80 |
| 13 | Aussois 0:13 | 57 |
| 14 | Hy a Scullyas Lyf Adhagrow 2:14 | 82 |
| 15 | Kesson Dalek 1:21 | 84 |
| 1 | 54 Cymru Beats 6:06 | 90 |
| 2 | Btoum-Roumada 1:58 | 84 |
| 3 | Lornaderek 0:31 | 75 |
| 4 | QKThr 1:27 | 93 |
| 5 | Meltphace 6 6:24 | 91 |
| 6 | Bit 4 0:25 | 64 |
| 7 | Prep Gwarek 36 1:19 | 75 |
| 8 | Father 0:57 | 71 |
| 9 | Taking Control 7:14 | 87 |
| 10 | Petiatil Cx Htdui 2:11 | 87 |
| 11 | Ruglen Holon 1:49 | 80 |
| 12 | Afx237 v.7 4:23 | 88 |
| 13 | Ziggomatic 17 8:35 | 90 |
| 14 | Beskhu3epnm 2:10 | 81 |
| 15 | Nanou2 3:25 | 93 |