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Drukqs | 
| Artist: Aphex Twin
Label: Rhino / Wea
Category: Music
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $16.99
You Save: $2.99 (15%)
Rating:  154 reviews
Sales Rank: 43411
Format: Explicit Lyrics
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 31174
UPC: 643443117425
EAN: 0643443117425
ASIN: B00005QD9N
Release Date: October 23, 2001
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | Jynweythek Ylow | | • | Vordhosbn | | • | Kladfvgbung Micshk | | • | Omgyjya Switch 7 | | • | Strotha Tynhe | | • | Gwely Mernans | | • | Bbydhyonchord | | • | Cock/Ver 10 | | • | Avril 14th | | • | Mt. Saint Michel Mix/St. Michaels Mount | | • | Gwarek 2 | | • | Orban Eq Trx 4 | | • | Hy a Scullyas Lyf a Dhagrow | | • | Kesson Daslef |
Disc 2
| • | 54 Cymru Beats | | • | Btoum-Roumada | | • | Lornaderek | | • | Penty Harmonium | | • | Meltphace 6 | | • | Prep Gwarlek 3B | | • | Father | | • | Taking Control | | • | Petiatil Cx Htdui | | • | Ruglen Holon | | • | Afx237 V7 | | • | Ziggomatic V17 | | • | Beskhu3epnm | | • | Nanou 2 |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Often proclaimed as electronica's one true genius, Richard James, a.k.a. Aphex Twin, returns with a double CD that showcases his cleverness as well as his inevitable inscrutability. Still, amid macabre birthday songs, unsettling screams, and other bizarre touches, Drukqs offers the most technically accomplished and beautiful tracks of Aphex Twin's career. Every aspect of the Aphex brain is on display here, from stark pieces performed on sampled piano and zither to Squarepusher-styled drum & bass implosions, all informed by that peculiar Aphex treatment of bittersweet melody and unparalleled programming. For an artist once engrossed in homages to his dead twin brother and grotesque videos, Drukqs shows James getting by purely on music alone. "Mt. Saint Michel Mix" starts as maddening drum & bass, but is soon transfixed by glowing tones, hand drums, and police sirens. "Vordhosbn" is all acid beats and mad synths matched with fart-bombs and haunted cries. "54 Cymru Beats" sounds more like the tweaked-out, goofball techno of Wagon Christ than Aphex, while "Taking Control" goes metaphysical with cerebral synth-drums and muddled vocals. If Drukqs is the result of medication James has been imbibing during his three-year hiatus, then this is indeed better living through chemistry. Regardless, his music is still as beautiful and frothy as ever. --Ken Micallef
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| Customer Reviews: Read 149 more reviews...
 RDJ continues to impress with his challenging fifth full length October 13, 2008
Alex TB
Having a body of work as diverse as Richard D. James sets up a lot of unreasonable expectations for fans and critics. From his early work in the late eighties through his four albums recorded under the name "Aphex Twin" and countless other recordings under other names, RDJ has blazed trails and created many unique styles that characterize him. Through those four studio albums, RDJ pioneered and arguably perfected the genres of IDM, ambiance, orchestral electro horror, jungle, drill `n bass, synth pop, and more. The expectation for a new Aphex Album, especially one after a long hiatus and one to lead off the new millennium, were surely extravagant and overblown. What will James concoct next, and how will it shake the musical world?
What people seem to forget is that Richard D. James makes whatever the hell kind of music he wants, and has no interest in what the critics think of him whatsoever. Whatever satiates his desire to create is enough. What made the critics unsatisfied with the double album Drukqs was that no one was quite ready to stomach the fact that he can be just as effective working comfortably within his boundaries as he does when pushing them.
I recall the man saying that Drukqs was intended to be an album for the fans. This kind of surprised me. An album for the fans, rather than for himself? Sounds like a plan. He clearly worked hard to touch on many of his previously honed styles within the album. Any fan of Aphex has noticed and possibly ailed over the fact that he never quite does the same thing twice. With the exception of the soft white futuristic pop of Selected Ambient Works 85-92, Aphex re-hashes just about every style he has pioneered. Gwely Mernans is an ambient soundscape comparable in quality to it's brethren from Selected Ambient Works Volume 2. He spends the entire stretch of Gwarek 2 experimenting with disturbing noises, reminiscent of the bizarre psychosis of I Care Because You Do.
The biggest rehash in the album is that of his breakbeats which he pioneered on Richard D. James Album, which he spends about half the album playing with to varying success. On one hand, James is a breakbeat master, and just about everything he puts out will be unique and fun, even upon repeated listens. These breakbeats don't quite sound like the ones that can be heard on Richard D. James album or Hangable Auto Bulb. My music teacher once told me that music can be simplified to three dimensions: the vertical chords and notes (tone), the horizontal rhythm and progression (time), and what comes out and hits our ears (taste, possibly?). If RDJ pushed his limits in the vertical sense on SAW 2 and I Care Because You Do and horizontally on Richard D. James album, then the breakbeat songs here represents a tangent graph of sound on the Cartesian Plane of Aphex's repertoire. These synthesizers on the breakbeat tracks sound darkly, seductive, even sexy, and the breakbeats themselves are of great quality save a few here and there. The likes of Cock/Ver 10, Taking Control, Meltphace 6, and Vordhosbn especially are among the best breakbeat tracks he has ever done, and they accomplish more in single songs than most electronic artists get done on entire albums. No walls are destroyed here, but he has certainly developed his signature sound to relative perfection.
But just because Aphex isn't pushing his own boundaries doesn't mean he can't do something new. A lot of where the personality of the album comes in is through short, simple songs characterized by gentle chords. Six short piano interludes punctuate the bulk of the album in equal intervals spread through the two disks. These songs are among some of Aphex's most simple yet outwardly excellent tracks ever made, and they deserve considerable mention. Strotha Tynhe, Avril 14th, Kesson Daslef, Father, Petiatil Cx Htdui, and Nanou 2 are these songs, and each of them holds a very special, emotional simplicity and fragility. But these are not the only simple ambient songs on the album. The second song on the second disk, Btoum- Roumada, is one of the loveliest most, contemplative, and most gently crafted works in RDJs body of work. Qkthr is also another immediate standout, a minute and a half of what sounds like an accordion being played by a creaking sailboat floating in a dock. Also worth a mention are some other gentle unique pieces Jynweythek, Kladfvgbung Micshk, Hy a Scullyas lyf a Dhagrow, Ruglen Holon, and Beskhu3epnm. They have a unique sound that he has never presented before. Fragile, eastern sounding, and melodic, these are also a series of songs that will be fondly remembered. It is interesting how he works on both ends of the spectrum, crafting harsh jungle music and ambient interludes, and then juxtaposing them next to one another.
That seems to be a large portion of the problem people have with the album. Things are awkwardly placed, but upon further listens, Drukqs opens up both in respect to the songs themselves and their placement. The abrupt change from Jynweythek to Vordhosbn becomes decipherable, and then enjoyable. Drukqs is an album that confuses and confounds before it becomes enjoyable, and it seems like most critics in high places have no patience, or little will to accept something different than they were expecting. Yes, it may recycle some of Aphex's previous styles, but it creates new ones just as much, making it a double-album that honestly couldn't have been nailed down to a single disk without deterring the album's charm. Drukqs is an excellent album worthy of comparison to the other four studio albums under the Aphex Twin surname, and it might even be the best. RDJ doesn't let up, despite the fact that you have been told he does here.
Insanely Complex Rhythms October 9, 2008
Ghost (California)
I've never understood this saying: "I don't like classical music it always puts me to sleep." For me, listening to horrible music has always given me insomnia, and amazingly great music puts me to sleep. Let's just say that by the end of the first cd I was already dozing off in mid-afternoon. It's been a long time since an electronica album has really impressed me, rarely do I find something which can hold it's own next to Deep Breakfast by Ray Lynch, Music Has The Right To Children by Boards of Canada, Dead Cities by Future Sound of London, or Simple Things by Zero 7. But I'm tempted to say I prefer this album over any of those. As a classical composer this album has blown my mind, I get lost in these rhythms. 5 stars way up.
RDJ's genre-transcending masterpiece June 14, 2008
The Pitiful Anonymous (the Acres of Skin)
Although I admit I am largely unfamiliar with 2 of Aphex Twin's most famous pieces of work, "Selected Ambient Works Volume 2" and "The Richard D. James Album", I can confidently say that this is lightyears beyond the early "Selected Ambient Works 85-92" and "I Care Because You Do", as well as the recent "Analord" vinyl EPs. These compositions are beautiful, multi-faceted and detailed on a level almost comparable to Autechre.
"Drukqz" is perfectly thematic and atmospheric, while being incredibly diverse, stylistically, which is no easy feat... Ambient pieces and piano compositions flow seamlessly in and out of the glitchy IDM songs in an ethereal, red gold haze. The more minimal compositions aren't a completely different style as much as deconstructed; the droning ambiences of tracks like "gwely mernans" also exist as backdrops to the rhythms and melodies of the more frenetic tracks like "omgyjya switch7". The whole collection has a pretty consistent sonic presence.
Unlike the light, relaxed, stoned playfulness of most of his early work and "Analord", "Drukqz" is seriously emotionally intense. It occasionally adopts the numb warmth of his acid material, but is just as often disorienting, dark and alienating, full of microtonal / detuned harmony. It feels like for once, RDJ is taking his music seriously, and despite what some say about 'filler', I feel every track on here serves to make the experience more powerful. Even the more traditional, break beat focused tracks like "Mt Saint Michel Mix + St Michael" or "Taking Control", which might've seemed cliche by 2002, are saved before the end by gorgeous, memorable melody and atmosphere. There is always something interesting going on, and there is an equal of number of standout tracks at any point in the entire double album. Like all good IDM, "Drukqz" also seriously rewards repeated listening.
I feel like the reason "Drukqz" doesn't get the rave reviews it should is that music on it goes over the heads of most of his fan base, who can't appreciate the more slow paced ambient material, or the 20th century avant-classical inspired piano pieces. "Father" seriously almost sounds like it could have been written by Olivier Messiaen or Arnold Schoenberg.
Basically, "Drukqz" is a seriously ambitious work that succeeds on all levels, and probably one of the best electronic albums ever made. Highly recommended.
 Another Hard Edged Soft Ball May 29, 2008
dream factory (,usa)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Comparatively quiet and uncrowded this CD proves another insignificant project. Odds and ends picked up here and there then assembled into contradictory resonances. 'Druqs' compositions come across as forced and tacky. Witty short squibs intermingled with blatantly caracatured kinetic never static synth drums. Where do we go from here Aphex Twin? The self appointed revolutionary of noise music has lost his feathers.
 his last good album? April 20, 2008
John Dandell (Underworld)
This seems like Aphex's last good album. I own 26 remixes for cash, and you can basically throw that one in the trash. Druqk's has some really standout, emotional, tracks of all types. The pacing of this album suffers greatly however as frantic IDM beats are interspersed with slow ambient "piano" tracks. Basically, you can't listen to the entire album in one go. Some tracks have me skipping ahead or turning it off. Its not really a classic, and it could have been if he worked on creating a flow. It feels like a singles release with some tracks he worked really hard on, and for that he deserves credit. As a whole it really suffers enough to take down two stars. Musically its pretty good though.
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