'John Doran On AFX's Orphaned Dejay Selek 2006-08'

Well, things will go a bit ‘meta’ here I think.  This isn’t really a review of the new AFX EP, ‘Orphaned Deejay Selek 2006-08’ [1.]; it’s a review of a review of the new AFX EP, ‘Orphaned Deejay Selek 2006-08’. The review, posted on thequietus.com a few days ago is by John Doran, and simply titled, ‘John Doran On AFX’s Orphaned Deejay Selek 2006-08’.  Is going a bit meta still a fashionable 21st century thing to do? – I really don’t know and I’m usually behind most curves, in all honesty.  Never mind, it’s not going to be a really long post, I suspect, so we can all move on in a minute, - however (in)valid it may be.

John Doran (With Kafka's Grave).  Photo: The Quietus

In fact, it’s not even really a proper review of a review, mostly just a recognition of the fact that the opening and closing passages put an enormous smile on my face and made me realise that, we inhabit an era when just about everything gets reviewed and dissected, to the exclusion of just being appreciated (or otherwise) on its own terms.  Regardless of how pretentious others may find it, - this is the kind of opinionated, yet enlightening criticism I’d really rather read.  In fact, its pretentiousness is one of the things I rather like.  It's writing that is also appreciable and entertaining in its own right, - just like its subject.  I’ll quote those passages verbatim in a minute, - I hope John Doran and The Quietus can forgive that.

Richard D James/AFX

For what it’s worth, The rest of John Doran’s fairly substantial review seeks to short-circuit the whole tedious debate over whether an artist as once supposedly ground-breaking as Richard D James is now letting us all down by treading water and just serving up endless rehashes of old ideas/material.  He explains why that’s not a particularly useful question to ask, suggesting misplaced priorities, whilst also managing to discuss the actual music in some of its specifics.  In the process, of reading it, I feel like I learned rather more actual information about Richard D James’ music, (be it as AFX, Aphex Twin, or whatever else), than most other commentators have generally communicated.

Photo: Twitter/@WarpRecords

It’s also worth noting that I bought this shortish collection of material the other day, and that when not playing, it sits on my shelf along with much (but not all) of Richard D James’ other recorded output.  Personally, I have little or no real opinion about whether he’s treading water, and I don’t know enough about the technicalities of electronic music production to judge whether he is a ‘genius’ or not.  I doubt that's very high on his own agenda.  Like most of his records, I find it to be a mixture of the entertaining, the intriguing, the perplexing and the occasionally hypnotic.  It doesn’t move me too much, emotionally, but it definitely interests me, and I could probably shuffle around the room to it, should I feel so inclined.  I’m nearly always glad he bothered.  That’s enough for any artist, isn’t it?  At the risk of making Richard D James too complacent, I’ll probably buy the next one too, - out of interest, at the very least. 

Right, here are the passages that really made me write this in the first place…

(Opening Passage):

Diagram:  BBC GCSE Bitesize

“England's iron core rings out to the pulse of AFX. The music Richard D. James makes is as old as the hills. Actually, scratch that, it's much, much older. When England's hills have slid into the sea; when England's mountains have been reduced to mounds of igneous flakes and sand and are blown away to the corners of the Earth; when England is revealed to be nothing more than 81,000 square miles of bare iron, glowing obscenely hot under the raging summer sun. The pulse of Throbbing Gristle, the Ragga Twins, William Blake, The Fall, Godflesh, CTV, Cabaret Voltaire, Napalm Death, Philip Larkin, Earl Brutus, PJ Harvey, Dizzee Rascal, Daphne Oram, Black Sabbath and the Aphex Twin will sound as clear and loud as a fog horn across still waters on a calm day.

“This music has always been with us. We should be celebrating its existence, not wishing it away due to attention deficit disorder.” [2.]

(Closing Passage):

George Stubbs, 'White Horse In A Paddock', Oil On Canvas, 1800

“But in the meantime I'm happy. I've been holding on for a horse. AFX partisans have been waiting on tenterhooks for a horse. WARP wanted AFX to deliver a horse. AFX has now completely absolved his responsibilities to everyone by giving us a horse. And lo… it's a particularly fine horse. A muscular horse. A noble horse. A nimble horse. It may well be regarded in years to come as one of the finest horses to come out of his stables. So why are all of us having to endure some partially engaged mithering dick priest on the internet complaining because AFX hasn't given us a fucking glideboard?

“I didn't want a glideboard.

I didn't want a robot horse.

I didn't want a horse in a tuxedo.

I didn't want a horse in deely boppers and jeggings on two glideboards.

I was looking for a horse and I found a horse, so heaven knows I'm happy now.

“But this happiness is impermanence. England's iron core will slough us all off sooner rather than later and when all of us are gone and not even our modest gravestones remain, the sound of AFX will echo on as part of an unshakable body of work.” [3.]

Photo: Matt H/51allout.co.uk

I didn’t say that John Doran wasn’t partisan, - did I?, (Or that it's even necessary to take his hyperbole entirely seriously).  Anyway, you know what to read, and listen to now, - don’t you?

[1.]:  AFX, 'Orphaned Deejay Selek 2006-08, Warp Records, 2015

[2.] & [3.]:  John Doran, ‘The Lead Review: John Doran On AFX’s Orphaned Dejay Selek 2006-08’, The Quietus, 21 August 2015