Aphex Twin Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760 12" Vinyl EP

Anticipation has been building for this 2023 EP from British electronic musician Richard D. James, better known as Aphex Twin. In June 2023, he made a rare appearance in social media photos with Arca. He has put up posters in the L.A. area with a QR code linking to an augmented reality app called YXBoZXh0d2lu. The four-track EP is his first official release since 2018's Collapse EP.

'Blackbox Life Recorder 21f,' the brief EP's first and longest track, starts out with twitchy beats, mellow synth chords, and soft melodies that sound like a sampled human voice; eventually, chunky breakbeats ricochet across the soundscape. Several different breaks pile up, and just as it feels like it's on the verge of overload, the beats pause for a moment in order to refresh, then smoothly return. Second track 'zin2 test5' sets an elastic bassline and intricate beat patterns against soft streams of synth pads. If any element of the track was subtracted, it would sound too simple or underdeveloped, but it all fits together perfectly. Racing drums lead the charge on 'in a room7 F760,' which has a slight '80s action vibe in the beginning, until the synths become more fragmented and the drums are briefly whittled down to sharp, clanging edges, momentarily recalling the abrasive drill'n'bass style of late-'90s Aphex.