Cheetah is an extended play by British electronic musician Richard D. James, released under the pseudonym Aphex Twin on 8 July 2016 on Warp.[2] 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).
Cheetah | ||||
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EP by Aphex Twin | ||||
Released | 8 July 2016 (2016-07-08) | |||
Genre | Techno[1] | |||
Length | 33:49 | |||
Label | Warp | |||
Producer | Richard D James | |||
Aphex Twin chronology | ||||
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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.[3]
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. June, with James tweeting a link to a website for the EP.[2][6]
The album was announced on 9The Cheetah EP was made available on vinyl, CD, cassette and a digital download in various digital formats, including MP3, WAV and FLAC.[7]
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 "epic1:40d Gaming" YouTube channel.[8]
Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 74/100[9] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Consequence of Sound | B[10] |
Exclaim! | 6/10[11] |
NME | 3/5[12] |
Pitchfork | 8.2/10[13] |
PopMatters | 8/10[14] |
Pretty Much Amazing | B+[15] |
Spin | 7/10[16] |
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.[9] 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."[17]
Publication | Accolade | Year | Rank | Ref. |
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Pitchfork | The 20 Best Electronic Albums of 2016 | 2016 | N/A |
All tracks were written & produced by Richard D. James.[19]
No. | Title | Length |
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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 |
No. | Title | Length |
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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.[6]
Credits adapted from Cheetah liner notes[19]
Chart (2016) | Peak position |
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Australian Albums (ARIA)[20] | 63 |
Irish Albums (IRMA)[21] | 48 |
Italian Albums (FIMI)[22] | 97 |
New Zealand Heatseeker Albums (RMNZ)[23] | 5 |
Scottish Albums (OCC)[24] | 11 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[25] | 63 |
UK Albums (OCC)[26] | 14 |
US Billboard 200[27] | 140 |
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[28] | 1 |
Similar to the Analord EP series, 2016's Cheetah contains some of Richard D. James' most stripped-down techno tracks.
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Aphex Twin | |
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Discography · Songs | |
Studio albums | |
EPs | |
Singles |
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Compilations | |
As AFX | |
As the Tuss | |
As Polygon Window | |
As Power-Pill |
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As Bradley Strider | |
As Caustic Window | |
As GAK | |
As Mike & Rich | |
Universal Indicator |
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Unreleased | |
Related articles |
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