Crucial Track for January 13, 2026

"Vordhosbn" by Aphex Twin

#365songs (13 / 365)

I bought Drukqs at a used CD store knowing almost nothing about Aphex Twin aside from the name coming up in almost every discussion of electronic music. Apparently it got mixed reviews when it was released, for being too reminiscent of some of Aphex Twin's earlier releases, but let me tell you that after the relatively sedate intro of "Jynweythek Wlow," the meticulous and overwhelming onslaught of programmed beats in "Vordhosbn" was quite astonishing to someone who'd never heard any of those earlier releases. I'd never encountered anything like this and (as not particularly an electronic music aficionado) still haven't, aside of course from some of the other Aphex Twin albums that I've now listened to. I thought, and still think, that tracks like this kind of invert the typical arrangement in pop music, where melody is at the forefront and drums just keep the beat. Here the drums are the centerpiece: they draw your attention by being intricate and near-relentless, and the melody is just there to fill out the mix and give you something steady to hold on to. It's not a perfect explanation for what's going on here but when I first heard this it sounded so alien that I had to kind of wedge it into an existing framework to make sense of why it was still so compelling. There are probably other Aphex Twin tracks I've heard since this one that are "better," but this is still the one that sticks in my mind as having been something totally new to me.