Rephlex, the 12-year-old label founded by Grant Wilson Claridge and Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin), release their second instalment of Braindance activity. Like 2001s Braindance Coincidence, this one summons almost all previously-released material from a variety of artists on the UK labels roster. The only new track on the album is from AFX himself, who concocts as much mental frenzy as he possibly can within his three-minute electronic experiment titled "Mangle 11. From electro to Squarepusher-esque drum & bass antics to melodic avant-gardism, the scope on this 19-track compilation is broad but cohesive, all presented in a timeless fashion. Cylobs "Smack Em Up Sharp sees a wealth of robotic staccato that turns into something loose and wiggly after a good grease down, whilst tracks like PP Roys "In At The Beep exposes a soulful godfathers penchant to toy with video game bleeps and other tweaking. This is food to keep the electrons, neurons, and synapses in check.
(Rephlex)Various
A Compilation of Braindance
BY Heidi ChapsonPublished Nov 1, 2003