genre: idm, physics class, cheetahs ! not the animal tho :(

Aphex was silent for a long time, but now he’s being relatively prolific. Falling somewhere in between Acoustic Controlled Experiments and Syro, Aphex Twin lays his sights on the Cheetah synthesizer. While I miss the days when he named his tracks things that weren’t just the instrument followed by some letters and numbers, it has the intimate sensation of receiving tracks straight from the draft folder on his hard drive. Nowhere near his best but still a solid electronic release.

Others: Actress, Laurel Halo, Disasterpeace

Favorites: 6, 7, 5, 2

1. (5:53) CHEETAH2 [Ld spectrum] - Muffled, deep bass thump. Relatively simple, trippy lead synth melody. It feels like I’m playing Metroid. Stays pretty cut and dry, flowing into a wobbly middle section. Watch out! Turns silent with like 0:30 left.
2. (6:44) *** CHEETAHT17b - Rising square synth melody. Cool twinkly counterpoint. Gains some momentum 3/4 of the way and then out of nowhere some crazy synth fuckery. Yes! Something unexpected. Finally.
3. (0:27) CHEETA1b ms800 - Spooky trippy synthy time
4. (0:37) CHEETA2 ms800 - Chiming tone. Deep pad. Saturated synth chords
5. (8:14) **** CIRKLON3 [Колхозная mix] - Peppy bip bloops and driving bass line. This track definitely has more swagger than the Cheetah series. Several weaving melodic lines and swapping of voices. Ornate, entrancing track. Top marks. Welcome to the coolest martian disco in the peninsula, folks
6. (7:17) *** CIRKLON 1 - Elusive synth lines criss cross. Mid-tempo, addictive beat. Nice change up of the melody around a third of the way in. Feels like summery, roaming through the neighborhood, music.
7. (4:40) *** 2X202-ST5 - Driving, stark drums. Flanged percussive textures. Nice drum roll into the main refrain. Maybe the closest Aphex Twin has ever come to a traditional “drop”