4 out of 5

Label: Rephlex

Producer: Richard D. James (probable)

While ‘Confederation Trough’ has a little trouble figuring out what it wants to be – IDM, groove, dance, or even the more stream-lined headbob of Squarepusher – The Tuss’ first EP is some of the most exciting work James (we’re assuming) had done up to this point, fusing the more cracked out sensibilities of his IDM extremes (post-Windowlicker stuff) with the forthcoming Analord throwbacks.  Opener ‘Fredugolon 6’ sort of spans the world of recognizable Aphex tricks, bringing in beats and tone and tricks that reach back to Analogue Bubblebath days, taking its time to finally settle into a friendly beat for its last half.  ‘Alspacka’ is more immediately grabbing, using quick fade-effects to structure the song into something almost resembling a traditional pop track (not in terms of how it sounds, just in the accessibility of how it breaks down).  It is, perhaps, one of the most welcoming things RDJ has done, but doesn’t sacrifice his in-track experimentation to keep it exciting.  The gold is in the last track, though.  ‘GX1 Solo’ (at least on the CD, LP 3rd track is different), brings in that Squarepusher vibe, just sorta’ going for broke with the beats but with its head down and all forward momentum.  It’s still a pretty welcoming track – nothing here has that slight cold edge to it that RDJ seems to prefer in most of his songs – but the vibe has a more notable sneer to it than tracks 1 and 2.  Because that makes sense.

So it takes a track to warm up and then manages to jump around a bit within its short runtime, and of course ends before you can form a full opinion, but RDJ or not, The Tuss is a pretty awesome EP whose composer is working from a history of IDM with which they’re apparently very familiar and comfortable…  Resulting in an original batch of tracks which make you look forward to more.