Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 10/04/06
Label: Warp

Back when the likes of "Selected Ambient Works 85-92" were bringing Richard D. James and his Aphex namesake a whole heap of hyperbole (remember those 'Electronic Mozart' headlines?) nobody could have envisaged a return to guitar-based luddite rock'n'roll. In the early '90s, and until the end of that decade, the future looked electronic: God was a DJ, happiness came in small white pills and fuelled marathon sessions at night clubs.

James, of course, always represented the more extreme side of dance music. Not that you'd describe most of his prodigious output as 'dance'. As evil twin brother to visual doppelganger Chris Cunningham, Aphex was on a mission to mess with your head - sweetening you one minute with a gorgeous "Goon Gumpas", terrifying you the next with a "Come To Daddy" or DJing on sandpaper. While disciples hailed hosannas, James enjoyed nothing more than laying an unholy racket of red herrings.

Witness his infamous remix jobs for Curve or Mike Flowers Pops (collated on the dismissively titled "26 Remixes For Cash") which, like Damien Hurst's factory-line technique, involved nothing more than the last minute rehashing of some old studio tapes and placing the golden glow of his signature at the bottom. Since 2001 and the well-received 100-minute set "Drukqs", his output has been less than prolific - encompassing little more than a collection of 12-inchers under the AFX moniker as "Analord Volumes 1-11".

With everyone else going new media mad, this no downloads / no CD policy made perfect sense: a blend of technological excellence with bloodyminded perversity. Now cherrypicked for this compilation - hence the pun-ridden title - "Chosen Lords" indicates James is now set upon a more sophisticated journey. With hardly a nosebleed moment intact (only second track "Reunion 2" and track eight "Cilonen" ramp up the BPMs) the majority of this collection is represented by a carefully layered, dare it be said, thoughtful approach. It's mostly classy mid-paced electronica. Not that Aphex's talent for scrambling your senses has been lost. He just got more sophisticated.

Witness opening track "Fenix Funk 5", which sways drunkenly around your brain with gleaming Oriental chimes and blurbbering vocoders, or "Crying In Your Face", the futuristic approximation of a long-forgotten Issac Hayes Blaxploitation soundtrack. This electro-driven slightly retro sound leaves the biggest overall impression - indenting "Boxing Day" with gorgeous minor key notes over a "Voodoo Ray"-style backing track, leaving dirty squelches over "Batine Acid" and huge washing chords across "PWSteal.Ldpinch.D". The latter track, named after a Trojan Horse computer virus, could even pass for New Order.

So, in some respects a typical Aphex Twin album, in other ways not. The dark malevolent genius of "Windowlicker" may be lacking, but Richard D. James still walks that line between the accessible and the downright filthy. Relatively speaking, this could be his most commercial and emotionally-affecting release, but he still spacewalks out there in a place all of his own.

    by Adam Webb