Aphex Twin: "Diskhat ALL Prepared1mixed [snr2mix]"
Aphex Twin is a wizard, not just a producer. We’ll never really know the secrets behind his tricks, and even on the rare occasion someone gets to ask the man himself, it seems more mysteries are discovered than solved. Like the Curious Case of the Electro-Mechanical Robots, for instance: What can these awkward and unwieldy in-studio HAT machines do, and how exactly does Richard D. James use them? Maybe some answers, such as they are, will arrive tomorrow on Aphex Twin’s aptly titled Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Pt2 EP, but for now, this alternate mix of its mindboggling opening song is more than enough supernatural sound to gorge on.
The mystery at play in RDJ’s disquieting “Diskhat ALL Prepared1mixed [snr2mix]” is one of mistaken identities, mental misdirection, and a disembodied puppetmaster. Was that a detuned piano I just heard in the right channel, or maybe the ring of a muted bell? How many drum kits are actually used in this noirish jazz shuffle, and are all of them acoustic or no? Is this densely layered music all pre-programed robots performing live at once? Did Richard step down from the control tower to take a couple thwacks at his prepared instruments and handcrafted machines? Whose voices are at the beginning and coughing at the end? There will be no lack of questions racing through your mind at any given point during Aphex Twin’s puzzling new track. But at some point (it’s around the three-minute mark for me), the need to know exactly what’s going on gives way to that feeling of awe he so regularly produces. It’s another reminder that sometimes the best music is the stuff that leaves you asking, “How?”
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