Cheetah

aphex twin with retro synths!!!!!

top notch ep would grime again A+++++

Joys galore from the old boy of UK electronica.

Some very catchy tracks. Suitable for cooking, cleaning, thinking and dancing. A few little gripes aside like the first track sounding better at a faster RPM or a few very short tracks sounding more like sound effects, I like this EP.NEVER PLAY MUSIC IN CARS. THE FULL MUSIC MUST BE EMBRACED AT VERY QUIET PLACESAnd for those who complain about the cheap packaging, remember that it's the main product that counts, in this case the tracks.

There is some horrible hiss on most of the tracks. It sounds like a copy of a copy of a tape recording. This isn't what I've come to expect from Aphex Twin. His production is normally excellent. The hiss spoils the music, which is actually OK (but not great).

2 decent tracks and the packaging is horrible..

I love apex twin however was this something that was found in a skip and the record company decided to make a few Bob?.

At 33 minutes long this "EP" actually has a slightly longer running time than Aphex Twin's masterpiece (one of them, anyway) LP  Richard D. James Album ."Cheetah" sees James in beatdown mode. The overall sound of this record is similar to, though less layered than,  Syro  (his last proper LP). In fact according to the sticker on the sleeve, Cheetah was recorded before Syro - but who knows whether or not that's actually true. Whereas much of Syro's influence came from Detroit, by (subtle) contrast, Cheetah is more of a Chicago affair - in particular it reminds me of the work of Larry Heard. Although this EP is technical perfection, I can't help notice that a lot of Aphex's releases nowadays lack that one killer track (the "Flim", the "Mookid", the "Avril 14th" etc). I wouldn't say that he's lost his touch exactly, but compared to his earlier output the melodies aren't quite what they once were. On the other hand, I would say that his production skills have improved. Anyway Cheetah is excellent - and in particular benefits from a headphone listen, but it's maybe not up there with his very best work (- the highest of benchmarks, which would always be difficult to reach).The CD is packaged in a glossed gatefold. The aforementioned sticker has the credits and the tracklisting on it (which aren't printed anywhere else) and is stuck on the outside of the shrink wrap - so discard that at your peril - probably a bit if a joke on the part of RDJ and/or the sleeve designers, Designers Republic.And so Cheetah does more than enough to tide us over until the next, hopefully earth-shattering Aphex Twin release.