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Expert Knob Twiddlers is a 1996 studio album by Mike Paradinas and Richard D. James. It was released in 1996 on Rephlex Records and is the only release credited to the two as Mike & Rich.[3]

Expert Knob Twiddlers
Studio album by Mike & Rich
Released	June 24, 1996 (1996-06-24)
Recorded	1994[1]
Genre	IDM[2]
Length	57:51
Label	Rephlex
Richard D. James chronology
Hangable Auto Bulb (1995) Expert Knob Twiddlers (1996) Girl/Boy EP (1996)

On 14 July 2016, Planet Mu announced that a reissued version would be released with seven bonus tracks in September 2016.[4]

Production

Mike Paradinas described the sound of the album as "an updated version of easy listening and funk".[5] James had heard the music Paradinas had made under the name of Jake Slazenger and invited him to create tracks.[1] Paradinas noted James had invited other artists to collaborate with him, including Luke Vibert, Squarepusher and Cylob and was honoured that his collaborative tracks were chosen for the release.[1] Both artists were getting drunk while developing tracks, something that Paradinas stated that neither artist regularly did.[1]

The track "Giant Deflating Football" was written during the 1994 FIFA World Cup.[1] Paradinas noted that the two "were able to quite quickly write a large amount of material. 'Giant Deflating Football' is named because it had some quite weird percussion sounds made by scraping and blowing in a microphone. It sounded like a big wheezing football. We took a bit of acid afterwards to listen to it, and we were coming out with some imagery like 'Beady Eyes,' which is mentioned in one of the tracks."[1]

Release

Expert Knob Twiddlers was released by Rephlex Records on June 24, 1996 on audio cassette, compact disc and vinyl.[7] Paradinas felt the album should have been released as early as 1994, stating that "At that time, that style was something that no one else had done [...] It wasn't like anything anyone heard before really. By the time it did come out, a lot of things came out like Lisa Carbon Trio aka Lisa Carbon aka Lisa Carbon & Friends (band has albums on different listings) and there was a lot of revived interest in easy listening. Neither of us was prepared for it."[5]

On July 19, 2016, the song "Vodka (Mix 2)" was released with the announcement of the album's 2016 reissue.[8]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
Pitchfork	6.6/10[10]

The Guardian gave the album three stars, calling it "a lovingly kitsch collaboration" and that the album "might easily have been a loathsomely ironic exercise." stating that the track "Mr. Frosty" made the album "worth owning".[11] The review concluded that "much of the rest is indulgent piffle."[11] AllMusic gave the album four stars, while noting that the mixed styles of James and Paradinas "cancels out the particular attractions of both artists, and the listener is left with a somewhat bland album. Fans of Aphex and μ-Ziq will be excited, but newcomers should go elsewhere before they dig this deep."[9] In retrospective reviews, Pitchfork described it as "just a playful, occasionally inspired time capsule of the 1990s."[10]

Track listing

2016 CD reissue[13]

Personnel

Adapted from the Expert Knob Twiddlers liner notes:[12]

• Performers [Everything By] – Micheal Paradinas, Richard James
• Cover – Johnny Clayton, Richard James

Footnotes

References

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