Aphex Twin - Drukqs

Five years after the Richard D. James Album, the world expected a statement from Aphex Twin. In October 2001 he answered with Drukqs, a sprawling 30-track, 100-minute double album that refused to be any one thing. It was his fifth studio album, and it split listeners right down the middle on arrival, which is exactly why it has aged so well.

The record lives in two worlds at once. On one side sit delicate prepared-piano miniatures like “Jynweythek” and “Avril 14th,” pieces as hushed and melodic as anything Richard D. James has written. On the other, tracks like “Vordhosbn” unleash drill’n’bass at its most frantic, with breakbeats chopped, bent and accelerated past the point of reason. Between them drift ambient sketches, musique concrète fragments and moments of pure studio play, all stitched into a sequence that rewards repeat listens.

Its reputation has only grown. “Avril 14th” became one of the most beloved pieces in his catalog and was sampled by Kanye West on “Blame Game” in 2010, while “QKThr” has found a whole new audience online a generation later. Today Drukqs is widely regarded as the grand finale of his remarkable 1990s run, pulling together the ambient, the abrasive and the classical into one uncompromising document.

This 25th anniversary edition from Warp Records presents the original 30-track album across four black vinyl LPs in polylined inner sleeves, housed in a gatefold jacket. It marks the album’s first vinyl reissue since 2001 and returns every Aphex Twin album to print on vinyl.