Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by DriftingOrpheus
Subject to change (often). These are my personal favorite records...not necessarily a reflection of an objective musical hierarchy. (Wow. These write-ups have grown like weeds, particularly as you descend through the list. Only the slightest bit proud. 😌)
- Chart updated: 04/09/2024 04:15
- (Created: 04/25/2020 20:18).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
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This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from Aphex Twin. (Remove this filter)
RDJ has adopted a slew of sobriquets throughout the years, names like AFX, Polygon Window, The Tuss, GAK, Power-Pill, Caustic Window and Bradley Strider just to name a few. However, for 2014's Syro, he stuck to the namesake by which we know him best. The sixth LP under the Aphex Twin umbrella is notably warm in timbre which comes as a stark deviation from his previous effort, 2001's Drukqs, which brandished prepared piano and dissonant drill 'n' bass passages. 13 years is an extensive amount of time to go between albums but RDJ's highly discernible refocusing is evident throughout Syro's hour-long runtime. Still, it's not like the beatsmith was entirely dormant during that time. Some of the bubbly, enveloping artifacts for Syro could be found in his 2007 release Rushup Edge, flying under the The Tuss flag. It's also important to grasp that James is an artist that is constantly curating his back catalogue for release at any given time, making his creative process impossible to timestamp and endlessly fascinating. RDJ solidified Syro's arrival by commissioning a zeppelin to fill the airways over London adorned with his logo. He always had a flair for the dramatic, or should that be the surreal?
The album commences with Minipops 67 (Source Field Mix), affectionately known by supporters as the "Manchester Track" due to its inclusion in a Manchester setlist in 2007. The official title certainly is fitting, as it's named after a line of drum machines produced by Korg in 1967. The music itself is bouncy, with careful weight applied behind each beat. This is no longer the face-melting acid and tribal drill 'n' bass more akin to a previous iteration of Richard. This is RDJ poking around with a scalpel producing surgical, sonic whimsy with a "kick-your-feet-up" sense of ease. The second track is the 10 minute Xmas_Evet10 (Thanaton3 Mix). It appears like a hissing fog and then combusts with soaked, waterlogged beats that lead into a gliding groove that shapes the track. This "Xmas" is comprised of several distinct sections, à la a Paranoid Android perhaps. What results is a cavernous journey and a surefire album highlight. Sixth track and album centerpiece Circlont6A (Syrobonkus Mix) is the most frenzied outing on Syro, announcing itself with a distorted, jarring vocal sample and traveling at a breakneck pace throughout its duration. It's a skittering, anxious soundscape while never losing the ability to be infinitely danceable across its six and half minute lifespan. As a culminating, tranquil reminder of RDJ's versatility, he bestows Aisatsana on his audience as the final track of the LP. A moving, minimalist piano piece that acts as a ray of sunlight that cuts through cloudy skies after a destructive storm of IDM and techno hysteria. Many have speculated that this is a dedication to his wife as the track is her name "Anastasia" in reverse. The piano is minutely reverbed and subdued as birds chirp in the distance and one can visualize the morning dew formed on the grass at your feet. A wholeheartedly beautiful way to end a record and a concrete monument to the talent of this wonderful artisan.
No matter what nom de plume, AFX or Aphex Twin, Polygon Window or Bradley Strider, there have been but a sparse few who have ever been more cutting edge and strikingly original than Richard David James. Between reinventing himself numerous times, going reclusive and plastering his grinning face throughout Chris Cunningham's nightmare fuel music videos, I'm quite secure in saying that RDJ has done it all. He's even had "Shakespeare" Kanye West try to steal his work and pass it as Yeezy's own. This is in fact the same artist who's had a single peak at number 16 on the UK Singles chart (Windowlicker) and also birthed an LP entitled Expert Knob Twiddlers. Save for maybe 1992's Selected Ambient Works 85-92, no album is more representative of the work of electronic music's most enigmatic personality than Syro. It's labyrinthian, inviting, warm, frightening and a scorching "fuck you" to those who questioned if RDJ still had it. It stands as nothing less than a modern masterpiece and a remnant of yesteryear in the exciting scope of current electronic music. "Let the old man show you how it's done," the record screams defiantly through wordless beats. It's a sound I'll never get tired of.
Richard has often shied away from interviews and recently even claimed that he will no longer partake in them at all, fueling the belief that we will never fully unravel and understand the phenom that he has been and continues to be. This addendum stands as one of my more personal verses. Richard's music has contorted my own personal definition of music and what sonic shapes it could embody. His melodic forays remain consistently alien to my ears and that's an indicator of a true innovator and pioneer. He wasn't the first to do it. He would surely credit the work of avant-garde legends like Brian Eno and John Cage as inspiration without hesitation. Still, despite subsequent imitators and spiritual legacy bearers, there's still no one who sounds quite like Aphex Twin. The man with the power to move you to tears with ambience or melt your speakers with his patented "Aphex Acid" will always be inherently special to me and my endless journey of musical exploration. Syro will forever be a key piece of that puzzle and Richard's work is an ever-evolving tapestry begging to be traversed. RDJ himself has never commanded praise of any kind. He's often self-deprecating, claiming to be "an irritating, lying ginger kid from Cornwall who should've been locked up in a juvenile detention center". A more appropriate description of the man would be a shimmering genius, musical mad-scientist the likes of which we may never see again. However, if it were up to Richard himself, he'd likely prefer an existence as a whisper that evolves into a subliminal wall of sound; An idea, in lieu of being human at all.
Standout Tracks:
1. Circlont6A (Syrobonkus Mix)
2. Xmas_Evet10 (Thanaton3 Mix)
3. Syro U473T8+E (Piezoluminescence Mix)
91.7 [First added to this chart: 04/27/2020]
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
Decade | Albums | % | |
---|---|---|---|
1930s | 0 | 0% | |
1940s | 0 | 0% | |
1950s | 3 | 3% | |
1960s | 16 | 16% | |
1970s | 12 | 12% | |
1980s | 7 | 7% | |
1990s | 20 | 20% | |
2000s | 20 | 20% | |
2010s | 20 | 20% | |
2020s | 2 | 2% |
Artist | Albums | % | |
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フィッシュマンズ [Fishmans] | 10 | 10% | |
Radiohead | 7 | 7% | |
Bob Dylan | 5 | 5% | |
Swans | 5 | 5% | |
Vampire Weekend | 4 | 4% | |
Charles Mingus | 4 | 4% | |
The Beach Boys | 3 | 3% | |
Show all |
Country | Albums | % | |
---|---|---|---|
|
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56 | 56% | ||
22 | 22% | ||
10 | 10% | ||
4 | 4% | ||
3 | 3% | ||
2 | 2% | ||
1 | 1% | ||
Show all |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
Biggest climbers |
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Up 2 from 94th to 92nd Only God Was Above Us by Vampire Weekend |
Biggest fallers |
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Down 1 from 92nd to 93rd Strawberry Jam by Animal Collective |
Down 1 from 93rd to 94th Currents by Tame Impala |
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Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
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06/23/2023 05:13 | Applerill | 976 | 75/100 | |
03/27/2023 17:55 | Johnnyo | 2,012 | 80/100 | |
03/27/2023 00:15 | Moondance | 453 | 84/100 | |
03/26/2023 12:00 | Tamthebam | 550 | 85/100 | |
09/17/2022 23:03 | Rm12398 | 99 | 89/100 |
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This chart is rated in the top 9% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 88.2/100, a mean average of 88.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 88.9/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 11.6.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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Exceeding chart and a great read.
We are 2 generations apart, so no surprise that our musical tastes/album preferences are not going to align. Totally respect your selections and appreciate your commentary - this chart is a definite labour of love. BTW - our one common album ~ Dark Side Of The Moon. BTW2 - thank you for introducing me to Night Beds' Country Sleep album - a future inclusion in my 2013 year chart.
I guess youre a fan of radiohead.
Hard work on the descriptions good stuff.
@StreakyNuno: Your statement is demeaning to every individual who's ever experienced an inkling of an original thought...
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*shocked emoji* this is ridiculously great.
Like your taste
Saw your comments on Syro which intrigued me enough to wander over here and read a bit more. I’ve always rated charts that offer explanations for each choice. So far you have gone above and beyond, plus I tend to agree with your love for many of these albums (Smiths aside). Look forward to seeing the finished version!
Even with very many “stereotypical” choices, this is not that bad a list.
Although I have never heard their music, Acid Bath is a wonderful surprise, as is the Misfits. I heard of both bands in the middle 2000s from one writer on Amazon.com called “janitor-x”, whose musical taste I cannot relate to but whose virulent criticism of ‘Rolling Stone’ I have never doubted nor seen refuted.
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