Inter-Dimensional Music returns with the Big Bend’s Number One broadcast of white magic and black metal tonight, February 1, 2015. If you’re out here in Far West Texas tune in from 9-11p (CST) on the first Sunday of each month at KRTS 93.5 FM in Marfa, KRTP 91.7 FM in Alpine and KDKY 91.5 FM in Marathon. You can also stream the show live at marfapublicradio.org, and find archived sets on Soundcloud.
In the first hour we’re going to relive our late ’90s turn as a Los Angeles rave reporter for techno/hip-hop magazineURB by sifting through the trove of tracks that Aphex Twin released earlier this week. The deluge of new music triggered a massive serotonin rush in listeners of a certain age, for whom AFX represents a kind of ideal synthesis of hip-hop’s low-end thump, slinky earworms, Eno-esque ambient glide, and Throbbing Gristle-worthy transgression.
A quick summary of why some people are very excited: Richard D. James hadn’t released any new music since 2001’sDrukqs. He emerged with three new things in the past year: A single copy of a mostly unheard 1994 album of spastic breakbeat, Caustic Window, sold at auction for $46,300 to the guy who created Minecraft; an immediately beloved new album called Syro; and then a trickier EP, Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2. Arrival of said music was heralded, in part, by the appearance of an Aphex Twin blimp in the skies over London.
Last week the ever-vigilant AFX superfans who scour the internet for any sign of the wily musician discovered aSoundcloud user who was uploading songs that sounded a lot like classic Aphex Twin. Word spread, obsessive fans debated their authenticity on message boards, and as the user48736353001 account posted more and more music aconsensus emerged that these were the real deal. Those listeners of a certain age began to rejoice as the catalog of new-old music grew to 110 songs. For some perspective, imagine if D’Angelo followed up on Black Messiah by giving away eight albums of top-shelf unheard material from his decade of silence.
The prankish nature of the release made it seem even more intimate, as the user now assumed to be the man himself cracked wise and offered inebriated philosophy in the comments … (more…)
