AFX

Richard D. James has always been a shit disturber and a prankster, and his attempts to shake up conventions and defy expectations continues with Chosen Lords, a CD-only collection that brings together the most successful and memorable tracks from the 11-volume Analord series of twelve-inch EPs released under James’s AFX moniker last year. As an album, Chosen Lords is surprisingly cohesive, moving through the more catchy and accessible Analord tracks in a progression that makes sense. The tone of this project is esoteric electro, and for Aphex heads in the know, it’s most comparable to his old Analogue Bubblebath and Caustic Window jams from the mid-’90s. For the most part, James sounds like he’s having fun building tracks out of his old sound library, but he’s tweaked things enough with his exacting prowess to make his material sound still as fresh and exciting as it did over a dozen years ago. Richard D. James might live in a world that’s all his own, but whatever he’s doing there he’s doing right, because his skills haven’t lost an ounce of vitality over the years.