Track Listing

1. Cock/Ver 10
2. Logon Rock Witch
3. Meltphace 6
4. Blue Calx
5. Fingerbib
6. Gwely Mernans
7. 4
8. Prep Gwarlek 38
9. Omgyjya Switch 7
10. Cliffs
11. Jynweythek Ylow
12. Mt. Saint Michel
13. Avril 14th
14. Prep Gwarlek 38 Remix
15. Cliffs Remix

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29743 in Music
• Released on: 2005-07-12
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Customer Reviews

Imaginative re-working of Richard D James
I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical when I first saw this release by Alarm Will Sound. There have been tons of crossover releases (going both ways) in terms of classical artists remaking popular artists and vice-versa. William Orbit tackled the masters with his Pieces In A Modern Style while the work of Radiohead has been transcribed to both classical and solo piano pieces and The Balanescu Quartet got Possessed by Kraftwerk. It's been going on for decades, with everyone from the New York Philharmonic playing the Bee Gees to Apolyptica doing string quartet versions of Metallica songs.

On Acoustica, Alarm Will Sound obviously tackles the work of Mr. Richard D. James, and even for a big fan like myself (who can often be rather cynical), I have to admit that the young 22-piece group has pulled things off pretty darn well. In terms of arrangements and compositions, the group could have easily chosen another electronic artist that wasn't quite as challenging, but they've adapted thirteen tracks of Aphex Twin on this release and amazingly play them all acoustically (with the only exception being electric bass). The songs themselves are turned into pieces that breath with strings, brass, woodwinds and live percussionists, along with some vocals.

In addition to all of the above instrumentation, the group also raided toy stores and created homemade instruments in order to recreate some of the more unique sounds that Aphex Twin uses in his music. The result is something that is entirely true to the original, played with an almost astounding precision, yet is just human and different enough to sound original. Truth be told, I don't listen to Aphex Twin as much as I used to, but hearing these interpretations of his work made me start fishing out his releases again and hearing them in a slightly different light.

If you need proof that the group didn't stray from difficult pieces, they tackled both "Cock/Ver 10, "Omgyjya Switch 7," and "Mt. Saint Michel" from Drukqs (each have their own insane rhythm section, which the group tackles with 4 percussionists), as well as the hilariously playful "Logon Rock Witch" and the beautiful "4" (which might be one of my favorite Aphex Twin songs ever) from The Richard D. James. On the slower sides of things, the group recreates both "Blue Calx" and "Cliffs" (the title generally given to the track due to the liner notes picture) from Selected Ambient Works Volume 2.

There's a lot of other stuff to digest on the release, but the pedigree of Alarm Will Sound is high (their first release was an acclaimed performance of two Steve Reich pieces) and their reworkings of Aphex Twin will likely appeal to fans of Mr. James himself or classical music fans who are looking for something quite a bit different from the ordinary. The release concludes with two "remixes" of their interpretations, and unfortunately they sound by-the-numbers given the music that came before them (both opting for a fairly straightforward house feel). Even with the somewhat lackluster ending and silly title, Acoustica is still a pretty fun little listen.

(from almost cool music reviews)

ok, a good attempt but still off
Nothing can truly recreate Richard D. James' music except for a computer or a God. It is an adequet emulation of some of his best works but a lot of the tracks are totally unrecognizable, especially blue calx which uses absolutely no reverberence on the percussive layers! If your a die hard Aphex Twin fan or simply like classical music over electronic, I reccomend it; otherwise, don't bother with it.

One of my favorite discs lately
I love this cd, and it's definitely worth the more than standard price. Those expecting to hear more stuff like the Philip Glass orchestration of "Icct Hedral" that came out a couple years ago will be pleasantly surprised - this is a much more enthusiastic endeavor. Firstly, there's a much wider range of instruments used, including bassoons, english horns and trumpets in addition to the strings and wide array of percussion. There really needs to be more bassoons in the world in general. Many of the songs chosen are on the more complex side of Aphex Twin's repetoire, and the acoustic versions match every skip and hiccup of the originals. Most of the tracks here are from "Druqks", which was one of my least favorite Aphex releases. (I thought it was a case of Richard James following trends rather than creating them.) However, listening to this let me go back to it and appreciate it from a compositional perspective. The other tracks seem to be split between the Richard D. James album and Selected Ambient Works 2.

This ensemble worked very hard to try to match the sounds used in the original songs, at times using found objects to replace the sounds of heavily-processed drum machines. There are some most beautiful/ingenious examples too: in "Meltphace 6", a blaring piccolo fills the role of what was originally squealing feedback, and in "4", an english horn occasionally tugs the lead line away from the strings.

I only have 1 small complaint: 2 electronic "remix" tracks are included as a bonus, which disrupt the mood presented by the rest of the tracks.