Critic Score
Based on 16 reviews
2001 Ratings: #239 / 300
User Score
2001 Ratings: #19
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Critic Reviews

90
NME
What ‘Drukqs’ never is, of course, is boring. It’s also beautifully paced. No track sounds like the one before, even though Aphex rarely strays far from the musical palate that’s served him so well in the past.
90
Sputnikmusic

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.

80
Drowned in Sound
It wouldn’t surprise me if music students are studying this album in 200 years time.
80
Tiny Mix Tapes
While to others, they deem the album sequencing poorly executed, but in my opinion, it makes it all the better. But such minor nitpicks shouldn’t have to be made about this album. Overall, it’s fun to listen to and it recalls the best of Aphex’s career, while also adding some new classics to his catalog.
80
Alternative Press
A dense, diverse, and sometimes dauntingly complex double CD.
80
Mixmag
This is music-box prettiness torn apart by scattershot beats and frantic acid squelches.
60
AllMusic

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.

60
Uncut
The effect is comforting yet eerie.
60
Q Magazine
Faintly tiresome noodling with moments of exquisite beauty.
55
Pitchfork

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.

50
SPIN
The resulting cavalcade of "decent bits" seldom leaves an imprint in your memory, let alone your heart.
40
No Ripcord
Ever the hardworking ambient pioneer, Aphex Twin has gave us two CDs composed of this rather joyless mix.
40
The Guardian

Drukqs - supposedly recorded over a five-year period - is a collection of fragments, abstractions and barely half-baked ideas.

40
NOW Magazine

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.

20
Rolling Stone

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.

RemisReviews
100

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

Jamobo
80

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

LILY69420
100

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

More popular reviews
80

COME ON YOU CUNT LETS HAVE SUM APHEX ACID!!!!!!

infernolover022
90

stupid critics just dont get it smh...

100

Easily my favorite Aphex Twin project I’ve done yet

More recent reviews
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Track List

Disc 1
1Jynweythek
2:23
87
2Vordhosbn
4:51
95
3Kladfvgbung Mischk
2:06
81
4Omgyjya-Switch7
4:52
89
5Strotha Tynhe
2:12
84
6Gwely Mernans
5:08
81
7Bbydhyonchord
2:33
87
8Cock/ver10
5:18
94
9Avril 14th
2:05
96
10Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels Mount
8:10
93
11Gwarek2
6:46
66
12Orban Eq Trx 4
1:35
80
13Aussois
0:13
57
14Hy a Scullyas Lyf Adhagrow
2:14
82
15Kesson Dalek
1:21
84
Disc 2
154 Cymru Beats
6:06
90
2Btoum-Roumada
1:58
84
3Lornaderek
0:31
75
4QKThr
1:27
93
5Meltphace 6
6:24
91
6Bit 4
0:25
64
7Prep Gwarek 36
1:19
75
8Father
0:57
71
9Taking Control
7:14
87
10Petiatil Cx Htdui
2:11
87
11Ruglen Holon
1:49
80
12Afx237 v.7
4:23
88
13Ziggomatic 17
8:35
90
14Beskhu3epnm
2:10
81
15Nanou2
3:25
93
Total Length: 1 hour, 40 minutes

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