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Aphex Twin, “Come to Daddy”

Artist: Aphex Twin
Title: Come to Daddy
Release Date: 1997

Aphex Twin, Come to Daddy, released 1997 by Rhino

1) Come To Daddy [Pappy Mix]
2) Film
3) Come To Daddy [Little Lord Faulteroy Mix]
4) Bucephalus Bouncing Ball
5) To Cure a Weakling Child (Contour Regard)
6) Funny Little Man
7) Come To Daddy [Mummy Mix]
8) IZ-US

While Aphex Twin is one of the pioneers of electronica, the musicians he’s inspired have refined and developed his ideas with more sophistication since. In the light of his successors’ work from the same time period, Come to Daddy seems somewhat dated, even empty…music that’s more interesting than good.

That’s not to say there aren’t some tracks I enjoy on this EP — the first mix of “Come to Daddy” is a hectic, propulsive track laden with awesome skittering beats and some really badass distortion. “Film” is a surprisingly graceful piece of techno, and “Bucephalus Bouncing Ball”[1] samples the arcade version of Defender, and uses an algorithm to duplicate the rhythm of…well…a bouncing ball.

But all of it nevertheless seems a bit hollow. Some of the tracks feature demonically distorted human speech to create a creepiness that feels more pointless than disturbing. The bouncing ball algorithm is fun, but seems more like a fun game than a real compositional tool.

Ultimately, while the music on this EP is certainly listenable and often pleasant or energetic, in the end it’s not very satisfying and a little frustrating, like watching somebody else play with their toys instead of doing something truly creative. In a word, it strikes me as complacent.
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(1)Which I discovered on the π soundtrack, and was part of my introduction to electronica.

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