Aphex Twin
Come To Daddy
(Warp/Sire)
Is it the work of an insane man? Quite possibly, but I at least hope Richard D. James keeps himself out of a straightjacket long enough to make some more albums. Whereas his last album was an exercise in quirkiness, Come To Daddy is an excursion in freakiness. Although it's just an EP of eight songs, it once again crosses the board of musical extremes and goes right for the mindflip.
On the title track, James (or someone else) chants out the vocal line, "I Want Your Soul / I Will Eat Your Soul" then goes into the distorted chorus of "Come To Daddy / Come To Daddy." All the while, a hardcore guitar sound and crazy drums skitter all over the place. The following track "Flim" is probably one of the nicer ambient pieces out there and offers a nice resistance to the theory that machines can only produce cold sounds. The track "Bucephalus Bouncing Ball" is more of an experiment in sound as it tracks the path of an imaginary ball. In addition to these songs, there are 2 more mixes of the title track (replete with more psycho sounding vocals), a remix of "To Cure A Weakling Child" off his last album, and two other songs. "Funny Little Man" is another track with impaired vocals and again goes for wackiness. If you've heard his other stuff and liked it, you're probably not going to go wrong here. It's even more strange, but that's what makes it so enjoyable.
Rating: 8
