Reviews
"...Richard James creates sounds that are simultaneously comforting and scary--a fitting metaphor for the contemporary clash of technology and the humans befuddled by it..." - Rating: A-, 4 Stars - Excellent - "...as a truly singular artist working by his own self-generated rules, Aphex Twin is making some of the most engaging and important music of our time...", "Here it all came together in an astonishing rush, from 'Icct Hedral''s cinematic orchestration and thumping beats to 'Ventolin''s industrial squeal...", "...Much of the album places impossibly complex, spastic beats in your face while morose synth figures of menacing, otherworldly beauty swell in the distance....It's totally alien but infectious all the same--much like the perverse Mr. James himself.", 4 Stars - Excellent - "...quite fabulous....points to a future of some distinction for British techno's potential equivalent of an Eno, Nyman or Glass.", "...his difficult third album....I became enthralled by the tiny house piano during `Mookid', the Venusian reggae of `Cud', the wondrous juggling of metal-bashing with jazz-funk in `Alberto Balsam' and the sublime Philip Glassian symphony of `Next Heap With'...", 8 - Very Good - "...cutting the middle out of techno's kitchen-sink aesthetic without sacrificing melody, coherence or rhythm....The idea of keeping all sounds distinct from each other persists throughout, while the sounds themselves summon wholly different climates...", "...Aphex's music is...accessible because of its adherence to conventional ideas of groove and melody. While he spins eerie clouds with minimalist, single-note melodies, it's the grooves that do the work here. The beats shatter-shake..."
