Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2 EP

After an extended absence, electronica pioneer Aphex Twin re-emerged with the dense rhythms and intricate melodies of 2014’s justly celebrated Syro. As the follow-up to a long-awaited comeback album, the rigorously conceptual Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2 seems at first like a typically perverse move, with Aphex mastermind Richard D. James stripping away the musical richness of Syro for a series of stark miniatures built around clattering drumkits and clanking pianos. While this might sound like a recipe for egghead electronic music at its most austere, the results occasionally have the gorgeous but haunted quality of his celebrated ambient releases. And the best tracks are often strangely funky, faintly recalling grimy vintage hip-hop, polyrhythmic postpunk, and old-school Chicago house.