4 out of 5

Produced by: Richard D. James

Label: Warp

Collecting two long out of print singles, Warp’s 2005 Hangable Auto Bulb compilation offers up a blip of RDJ material that somewhat crosses the divide between the harsh beats of …I Care and the floaty, playful RDJ album.  Everything on this disc is required listening, simply for the way it casually steps between these two Aphex-unique branches of IDM, but also as a refresher course in James’ mastery of restraint.  X years and a Soundcloud dump later, when we’re apt to scrabble over any new material and compare and contrast to the entire universe’s catalogue… sometimes it pays to remember how spoiled we are.  How influential James was, and how his legacy has lasted not because of ‘right time right place,’ but because almost everything he releases bears a hallmark of quality, or purpose, or thought.  Other acts might wow us with bells and whistles, but James often wows us, while simultaneously distracting us from the multitude of bells of whistles he’s not using.  And some of Hangable’s best moments highlight this to a T: Wambly Legs’ casual trip through eighteen thousand different approaches on a theme, or opener Children Talking’s refusal to break out into a beat, until the midway point when James’ drops an almost giddily simplistic one…

Though the album lacks a wealth of standouts – perhaps only Laughable Butane Bob arrives as a complete thought, making a full, devastatingly dark and dancey journey from beginning to end, with other tracks simply lacking that clear hook or a concise conclusion – that by no means diminishes the must-own quality of this material, which holds up ridiculously well years after the fact, cutting edge as anything else out there, and further testament to the timelessness of Aphex’s output.