Ektopia

I really love Aphex Twin; his DIY ethic and the way that he continually surprises and inspires. I had never really thought that anyone would, or would be able to, do justice to Aphex Twin’s tunes with their own versions. I was really shocked to hear The Bad Plus playing a truly incredible take on Flim last year. I immediately believed that it was as good as it gets when it comes to Aphex Twin covers and it was - for a while.

A while back I stumbled across Canteloupe Music and noticed that there’s a band called Alarm Will Sound that have a album called Acoustica: Alarm Will Sound performs Aphex Twin. As if a band playing Aphex Twin tunes that wasn’t intriguing enough there’s the little Acoustica tagged on the beginning. Could it be true? Well it is. Alarm Will Sound are a 20 strong outfit of musicians that only play acoustic instruments apart from electric guitars, electric bass, and a Fender Rhodes. What’s most unusual though is that they’ve managed to pull it off. The CD contains 13 of Aphex Twin’s tunes skillfully performed with some incredible detailed moments…actually, it’s a completely detailed performance and it’s difficult to believe that the sounds have been created acoustically. Sweeping violins, low percussive thumps and clicks along with some stunning, and wonderfully stuttering drum performances (played by four drummers!) all contribute to the performance being so complete. Highlight for me include Blue Calx, 4 and my all time favourite Aphex Twin tune, Cliffs…complete with acoustically performed delay effects. No CD is complete nowadays without the obligatory bonus tracks and Acoustica includes a couple of remixed tracks, which are are great. A great project that’s been brilliantly executed by the band. Check out Alarm Will Sound’s site and have a listen to some of the sound clips from this and other CDs that they’ve created. You can get a copy of the CD via Canteloupe Music, Alarm Will Sound or from all the normal places including Amazon UK.