Cheetah (EP)

Cheetah
The cover artwork for Cheetah, an extended play by the electronic musician Aphex Twin.
EP by
Released8 July 2016 (2016-07-08)
Genre
Length33:49
LabelWarp
ProducerRichard D James
Aphex Twin chronology
Orphaned Deejay Selek 2006–08
(2015)
Cheetah
(2016)
Collapse EP
(2018)
Singles from Cheetah
  1. "CIRKLON3 [Колхозная mix]"
    Released: 21 June 2016[4]
  2. "CHEETAHT7b"
    Released: 1 July 2016[5]

Cheetah is an extended play record by the electronic music artist and producer Aphex Twin. It was released on 8 July 2016 on Warp.[6] The name is a reference to Cheetah Marketing, a British manufacturer of microcomputer peripherals and electronic musical instruments in the 1980s (such as the MS800 namechecked in two of the EP's track titles).

Release

[edit]

In 2015 Richard D. James uploaded several tracks with names like "Cheetah3 Teac" and "CHEETAHT7" to his SoundCloud 'user18081971' account; these have since been removed.[7]

A flyer teasing the EP release was sent to various record shops in the UK in early June 2016. The flyer parodies the luxurious writing style of 1970s adverts.[8][9] The album was announced on 9 June, with James tweeting a link to a website for the EP.[6][10]

The Cheetah EP was made available on vinyl, CD, cassette and a digital download in various digital formats, including MP3, WAV and FLAC.[11]

A video for "CIRKLON3 [Колхозная mix]" was released on 21 June. The video was James' first since the Chris Cunningham-directed video for "Windowlicker" in 1999 and was directed by 12-year-old Ryan Wyer. James and Warp commissioned Wyer to direct the video after James discovered Wyer's "Ryan Wyer" YouTube channel.[12]

Reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic74/100[13]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Consequence of SoundB[14]
Exclaim!6/10[15]
Louder than War8/10[16]
NME[17]
Pitchfork8.2/10[18]
PopMatters8/10[19]
Release Magazine6/10[20]
Spin7/10[21]
Tom Hull - on the WebB+ ((1-star Honorable Mention))[22]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Cheetah received an average score of 74, based on 11 reviews.[13] Writing for Exclaim!, Daryl Keating gave the album muted praise, calling it "fine but unremarkable, especially when pitted against the behemoths of his back catalogue".[23]

Accolades

[edit]
Accolades for Cheetah
Publication Accolade Year Rank Ref.
Pitchfork The 20 Best Electronic Albums of 2016 2016

Track listing

[edit]

All tracks were written & produced by Richard D. James.[25]

Cheetah track listing
No.TitleLength
1."CHEETAHT2 [Ld spectrum]"5:53
2."CHEETAHT7b"6:43
3."CHEETA1b ms800"0:27
4."CHEETA2 ms800"0:37
5."CIRKLON3 [Колхозная mix]"8:13
6."CIRKLON 1"7:17
7."2X202-ST5"4:39
Total length:33:49
aphextwin.warp.net 2018 bonus track
No.TitleLength
8."CIRKLON3 (concentrate edit)"2:37
Total length:36:26
  • "2X202-ST5" is contained on the CD, cassette and digital download editions and is included as a download available with the vinyl editions.[10]

Personnel

[edit]

Credits adapted from Cheetah liner notes[25]

Charts

[edit]
Chart performance for Cheetah
Chart (2016) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[26] 63
Irish Albums (IRMA)[27] 48
Italian Albums (FIMI)[28] 97
New Zealand Heatseeker Albums (RMNZ)[29] 5
Scottish Albums (OCC)[30] 11
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[31] 63
UK Albums (OCC)[32] 14
US Billboard 200[33] 140
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[34] 1

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Simpson, Paul. "Cheetah - Aphex Twin". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 July 2016. Similar to the Analord EP series, 2016's Cheetah contains some of Richard D. James' most stripped-down techno tracks.
  2. ^ Bridge, Andrew (11 July 2016). "'Cheetah' sees Aphex Twin remain in style". Audioxide. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Aphex Twin: Cheetah EP (12", Warp, July 2016)". dogrando writes about some records. 16 September 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  4. ^ "Aphex Twin: "CIRKLON3 [ Колхозная mix ]"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  5. ^ "Listen to Aphex Twin's New Song "CHEETAHT7b"". Pitchfork. 29 June 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  6. ^ a b "Aphex Twin Announces New EP Cheetah". Pitchfork.com. 9 June 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  7. ^ "Aphex Twin's Cheetah EP Appears Imminent". Stereogum.com. 7 June 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  8. ^ "Aphex Twin teases new EP 'Cheetah'". Nme.com. 11 March 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  9. ^ "Aphex Twin Cheetah EP Teased". Pitchfork.com. 6 June 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  10. ^ a b "New Product information: Cheetah EP". Cheetah-ep.com. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  11. ^ "Aphex Twin - Cheetah EP - Warp - Bleep". Bleep.com. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  12. ^ Twells, John (21 June 2016). "Watch Aphex Twin's new video, directed by a 12-year-old". Factmag.com. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  13. ^ a b "Cheetah [EP]". Metacritic. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  14. ^ Bray, Ryan (8 July 2016). "Aphex Twin - Cheetah EP". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  15. ^ Keating, Daryl (7 July 2016). "Aphex Twin Cheetah". Exclaim!. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  16. ^ Tucker, Simon. "Aphex Twin: Cheetah EP: EP Review". Louder than War. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  17. ^ Pattison, Louis (5 July 2016). "Aphex Twin - 'Cheetah' Review". Nme.com. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  18. ^ Sherburne, Phillip (7 July 2016). "Aphex Twin: Cheetah Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  19. ^ Gu, Marshall (14 July 2016). "Aphex Twin Cheetah". PopMatters. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  20. ^ Whyte, Mike. "Aphex Twin - Cheetah". Release Magazine. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  21. ^ Weiss, Dan (July 2016). "Review: With 'Cheetah,' Aphex Twin Isn't Just Back, He's Prolific Again". Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  22. ^ Hull, Tom. "Grade List: Aphex Twin". Tom Hull - on the Web. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  23. ^ "Aphex Twin Cheetah". Exclaim!. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  24. ^ "The 20 Best Electronic Albums of 2016". Pitchfork. 7 December 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  25. ^ a b Cheetah [sleeve] (Media notes). Aphex Twin. Warp. WAP391.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  26. ^ "CHART WATCH #377". auspOp. 16 July 2016. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  27. ^ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 28, 2016". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  28. ^ "Album – Classifica settimanale WK 28 (dal 2016-07-08 al 2016-07-15)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  29. ^ "NZ Heatseeker Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 18 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  30. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  31. ^ [EP&cat=a "Swisscharts.com – Aphex Twin – Cheetah [EP]"]. Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  32. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  33. ^ "Aphex Twin Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  34. ^ "Aphex Twin Chart History (Top Dance/Electronic Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 19 July 2016.