Search - Aphex Twin :: Ventolin - The Remixes

Worst album of the best artist

Matvei Stefarov | Los Angeles, CA, USA | 01/21/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have heared negative reviews of the Ventolin EPs but, being an Aphex phreak, decided to purchase them anyway. And I am disappointed! It appears that Richard was running low on money and needed to make some quickly. The quality and diversity of the songs is significantly lower then his other works; the backside of the cover has a straightforward Aphex merchandise; for some reason Richard split the remixes in 2 CDs, even though they would easily fit on one; etc.



The remixes (WARP60CDR) are overall a bit better then the first CD. I'll review it by track:

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1. VENTOLIN (wheeze mix) - even more harsh on the unprepared ears then the original, 'Caustic Window' style techno track. Smooth multi-layered melody flows over the squeaky chaos of breaking beats.



2. ventolin CARHARRAK mix - repetitive lo-fi sounding techno. Well, at least it's short. My least favourite on the EP.



3. ventolin PROBUS mix - calm, melodic track, somehow reminds me of medieval music. Music in the shades of tan.



4. ventolin (CYLOB mix) - starts up as fractured, relatively harsh techno, but it soon develops into a pretty good synth tune.



5. VENTOLIN (deep gong mix) - slow melody filled with low frequencies is enjoyable, until you hear those annoying clipping twitches here and there, like someone forgot to blend the samples smoothly or remove DC offset...



6. VENTOLIN (asthma beats mix) - an interesting trippy track, with a bit of 'Drukqs' style. I wish this one was a bit longer, it had plenty of potential to create a full-length track.



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Overall, I would not recommend getting WARP60 (original ventolin) to anyone, and this second one (WARP60R) to anyone but hardcore Aphex fans. This is probably the worst album Richard has done so far. Though it has some good tracks too..."