So that explains the name, I found it humorous all the sister threads were “appreciation” threads while this one was “discussion” lol
i’d he was hyped (minus the “over”) at one or a few points, however these days i don’t think he’s necessarily “hyped” at all. he’s surpassed that. like radiohead has surpassed just being a popular rock band, or how tipper has ascended beyond his peers as dj/producer. i feel like anything aphex makes is received (these day) in a very “iykyk” sort of mentality, and more than anything it gets investigated even by those who don’t like his music, because most of everything he has made, whether any contrarians like it or not, has expanded the musical consciousness. i am mostly dissecting the terminology here, but i know what you mean. not everything he makes is amazing, but you can bet if he releases something, im going to have it on rotation for awhile. other artists are like that. Tool. Four Tet. Caribou. shit, even Kanye West. if you read that last one and it made you wince, you’re only proving my point. i’m strictly talkin about the music here, not their twitter account. 
this adds to a larger conversation about musicians who make something groundbreaking at some point but the majority of people only know their MTV/Billboard hit, and then we inevitably question our interest in them because they went from only a handful of cool people liking them to being discussed by the cringe. those who stick with the artist after they “pushed the envelope” will have a deeper familiarity with said artist’s work (ie in this case every other track besides “windowlicker”) but sneer when people we think don’t deserve to like them bring them up in conversation. i’ve seen it time and again, even me, project judgment of the fanbase on to the artist, and sometimes have a complete fall out with because they used to be OURS and now they’re accepting a grammy and making money. forgetting that aphex twin is just a guy named richard.
idk. what’s up guys it’s been awhile, i haven’t typed out a poorly worded rant here in awhile and @protogutou this was not directed at you or anything you said, i’m just @bfk -ing because i’ve been off grid sound designing a movie for like the last 6 months
dont’ read any of that just listen to this banger
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Lol Ive become an internet term FML…
Happy to hear news about you working on that project fid…keep it up…keep pushing keep hustling…keep surviving keep working towards your goals…
Good luck with sound designing a movie hope you find a lot of work in that field and wish you the best.
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By overhyped I’m really getting at the people who will have a near breakdown if someone dare to say they don’t like Aphex Twin, or like think they’re some 180 IQ 5 brain genius because they like drukqs.
That’s an interesting statement, as personally I’d argue anyone creating music and sharing what they’ve created with the world (whether it be a souncloud upload, instagram reel, professional studio release, or taping CD’s of their work to bus stop shelters), with exceptions for the most generic commercial milquetoast stuff and AI slop, is expanding musical consciousness. ‘Outsider music’ is an entire genre of music defined by people without a formal arts background or lacking a typical musical pedigree, mostly self taught, who independently just throw their creation at the world anyways, it’s kinda interesting to think of how the line defining outsider music is drawn… the idea of “expanding musical consciousness” sorta reminds me of that.
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honestly now that the movie’s wrapped up, i kinda just wanna do absolutely fuckin nothin, at least for awhile. thanks for the words of encouragement though. i appreciate ya, broski <3
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hipster - noun
hip·ster - definition:
that’s a good point. is each contribution to the musical consciousness expansion equal? if not, is this something that is quantifiable? i doubt it. it’s worth considering that since “generic commercial milquetoast*” benefits from mass distribution and widespread broadcast – how does that fit in with the expansion aspect? just making an assumption here but humans 300 years from now are far more likely to be familiar with (at the very least) the name and possibly the music of Taylor Swift than that of Aphex Twin. then again I have no clue.. I’m just basing my understanding on musicological trends. Elvis is far more famous than Chuck Berry and BB King for example. There’s centuries of repertoire written by female composers whose work will, sadly, barely be remembered except by a small handful of people dedicated to maintaining a minutiae of the public’s attention to it. Aphex Twin will be remembered for a long while sure, but i predict the Backstreet Boys legacy will outlast him.
i understand all what you’re saying and i agree with you, with all my heart actually, and i wish we didn’t have to scale the intellectual depth of humans by our lowest common denominator but unfortunately, we ain’t the majority. and on top of that, the older i get, i’m realizing that my tendency to seek out “outsider music” in lieu of the stuff everyone else likes sometime feels like it’s a bug just as much as its a feature. goddamn, i mean doesn’t being a cookie cutter normy muggle sheeple kinda seem like a peaceful existence sometimes? i’ve made peace with the fact that i’m not them but shit, must be nice. maybe. i don’t know. the fuck am i even talkin bout now. have a great day, @protogutou nice to talk to ya. feel free to deconstruct my paradoxical bullshit anytime you want, it’s nice to question the things i thought i knew and be reminded that i don’t really know shit about shit 
*
(great word – haven’t seen that one pop up in a long time, forgot it exists)
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