Perhaps inspired by the experimental drum'n'bass being created by
Squarepusher (a recent signee to his
Rephlex label),
Richard D. James' third major-label album as
Aphex Twin was his first to work with jungle -- though, to his credit, he had released the breakbeat EP
Hangable Auto Bulb almost a year earlier. Contemporaries
Orbital and
Underworld were beginning to incorporate moderate use of drum'n'bass in their work as well, but this album was more extreme than virtually all jungle being made at the time. The beats are jackhammer quick and even more jarring considering what is -- for the most part -- laid over the top: the same fragile, slow-moving melodies that characterized
Aphex Twin's earlier ambient works. Most overtly disturbing is
"Milkman," the first straight-ahead vocal track from
Aphex Twin; the song is a child-like ode that gradually deteriorates into a bizarre fantasy concerning the milkman's wife. With all
the Aphex Twin's curious idiosyncracies, though,
Richard D. James Album is a very listenable record and a worthy follow-up to
I Care Because You Do. [The American issue features the English EP "Girl/Boy."] ~ John Bush
