Aphex Twin- Cheetah (2016)

Aphex Twin- Cheetah (2016)

By: Ghost Writer

Richard D. James aka Apex Twin, has done pretty amazing things in the world of electronic music, issuing a string of amazing and groundbreaking records along with living a pretty recluse life and  becoming one of the best producers in the genre, capable of creating a wide diversity of music, visiting categories like ambient, noise, techno, experimental, etc., after a good number of years retired, making his myth grow, Richard decided to return a couple of years ago, releasing a prolific number of albums, as if the man was really anxious to get back the time he went out of business.

Now Cheetah is a compact and concise recording, it wastes no time and goes right to the point, heavy kick bass drum, the higher and louder the better, and this sound anchored mightily to the floor could be one of the main assets in this record, as Richard shows his mastery at building powerful rhythms along truly sticky beats that dig holes in the mind, that and the equivalent of a David Lynch or David Cronenberg sick and oppressive ambience made music and you get the idea of what AT could be about.

Cheetah might not replicate the speedy nature of the animal it is named after, but it certainly recalls the gracefully movements of the feline, intersected with flexible bass lines, Cheetah2 is a perfect way to start such a record, enigmatic, elegant, while next song Cheetah7b follows in a similar fashion but with more relentless elements, as later on big synths appear and tend to dominate bathe mix, delivering gorgeous static moments of sheer electronic beauty.

Cirklon3 reminds me immediately of the most radiant moments of German electronic legends Kraftwerk, but also puts on display a reverence for shiny 70s bass, and old school hip hop beats and ambience, is a really playful song that puts in display a little known side of AT, in fact Cheetah shows Richard evolving, perhaps it has lost a bit of its experimental nature, Richard gets a little bit close to mainstream and some 80s glimmering sounds, Cheetah is an enormously amazing record, not as legendary as his early recordings, but this shows Richard D. James is moving forwards and still surprising us.