AFX – orphaned deejay selek 2006-2008 (EP)

★★★☆

Honestly, the breakbeats on “oberheim blacet1b” were enough to convince me.  Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Pt 2 was a rather mediocre collection of the usual abrasive art-noise; orphaned deejay selek is more abrasive art-noise, but it’s abrasive art-noise that you can sort of dance to.  Richard D James has always been at his sharpest when he’s welded himself to a beat, although his bizarrely mutant ideas of what constitutes a “beat” tend to stretch definitions beyond all recognition.  AFX is, of course, the particular artist label that brought the bouncing acid-rave of the Analogue Bubblebath series as well as the searing style of drill n bass on Hangable Auto Bulb, so the fact that it approaches the neighbourhood of club-readiness is probably not all that surprising.

The man promised that he had over a decade of music simmering, waiting to be released, and the third installment in that promise is as good as anything he’s ever released under the AFX moniker.  It’s further proof that he never fell off, but just went away for a while; now he’s back, and the acid flows freer than ever.