Drukqs

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title: "Drukqs" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["aphex-twin-albums", "warp-records-albums", "sire-records-albums", "2001-albums", "compositions-for-prepared-piano"] topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drukqs" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox album"]

Field	Value
name	Drukqs
type	studio
artist	Aphex Twin
cover	Drukqs (Front Cover).png
released
length	100:41
label	Warp
producer	Aphex Twin
chronology	Richard D. James
prev_title	2 Remixes by AFX
prev_year	2001
next_title	26 Mixes for Cash
next_year	2003
misc	{{Extra chronology
artist	Aphex Twin album
type	studio
prev_title	Richard D. James Album
prev_year	1996
title	Drukqs
year	2001
next_title	26 Mixes for Cash
next_year	2003}}
::

| name = Drukqs | type = studio | artist = Aphex Twin | cover = Drukqs (Front Cover).png | alt = | released = | recorded = | studio = | genre =

• Drill 'n' bass
• classical
• IDM
• impressionism
• jungle
• acid
• electroacoustic
• ambient | length = 100:41 | label = Warp | producer = Aphex Twin | chronology = Richard D. James | prev_title = 2 Remixes by AFX | prev_year = 2001 | next_title = 26 Mixes for Cash | next_year = 2003 | misc = {{Extra chronology | artist = Aphex Twin album | type = studio | prev_title = Richard D. James Album | prev_year = 1996 | title = Drukqs | year = 2001 | next_title = 26 Mixes for Cash | next_year = 2003}} Drukqs (sometimes styled as drukQs), is a studio album by the British electronic music artist and producer Aphex Twin. It is a double album that includes a variety of contrasting styles, from meticulously programmed beats inspired by jungle and drum and bass, to classical-style, prepared piano, ambient, and electroacoustic pieces. It features the piano composition "Avril 14th", one of James's best known recordings.

James released Drukqs to pre-empt a potential leak after he accidentally left an MP3 player containing his music on a plane. It was intended to be his final release with Warp, in accordance with his label contract. The record entered the Dance Albums Chart at No.1, remaining in the top 10 for five weeks, and entered at No.22 on the Albums Chart. It received polarised reviews from critics: many dismissed it, focusing on its perceived lack of innovation and similarity to James's previous works, while others praised it as an accomplished work.

Background and release

James released Drukqs to circumvent a potential leak after he accidentally left an MP3 player containing 180 unreleased tracks on a plane while travelling to Scotland. According to James: "I thought, 'They're gonna fucking come on the internet sooner or later so I may as well get an album out of it first. James had no intent to release any of the record's tracks to the public prior to the incident. He intended it to be his final release as part of his contractual obligation to Warp. The album was mastered in early July 2001. It was released as a double CD album on 22 October 2001.

The record entered the Dance Albums Chart at No.1, remaining in the top 10 for five weeks, and entered at No.22 on the Albums Chart.

Many track names are written in Cornish — for example, "Jynweythek" ("Machine")—or are coded titles. James has stated that the title is not related to drugs, and is "just a word [he] made up." About the album's two-disc length, James said "the way I listen to music now is that I buy a CD, put it on the computer and just take the tracks I want anyway. I'd hope that people would do the same with this CD."

Music

The LP is a double album featuring a variety of styles: rapid, meticulously programmed tracks utilising exaggerated drum 'n' bass breakbeats, ambient, electroacoustic, and piano and prepared piano pieces inspired by classical music made using computer-controlled instruments such as a modified Yamaha Disklavier and several MIDI-controlled, solenoid-based drum mechanisms made by James. Drukqs includes music in the genres of drill 'n' bass, jungle, classical, electroacoustic, acid, drum and bass, It contains tracks dating back "seven or eight years", according to James, though most of the album was relatively new. Keymag described it as "switching restlessly from his most acidic drill 'n' bass yet to incredibly lavish prepared piano pieces inspired by John Cage." NME noted that the album moves through techno, drum 'n' bass, and early-90s rave, while the piano interludes were compared to the work of Erik Satie. Pitchfork also noted "several purely electro-acoustic excursions".

James said that "A lot of [the tracks] are quite old-style sounding, I reckon. I’ve done loads of tracks which are really new in style and which don’t sound like anything else but I didn’t want to release those tracks." While acknowledging similarities with his records, James said that "I haven’t done something in so much detail before." Of the album's complex drum programming, he said "it's quite similar to guitar solos, only with programming you have to use your brain. The most important thing is that it should have some emotional effect on me, rather than just, 'Oh, that's really clever.'"

In 2015 James released the EP Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2, featuring further computer-controlled instrumental tracks, as a sequel to Drukqs.

Reception

| MC = 66/100 | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1score = | rev2 = Alternative Press | rev2score = 8/10 | rev3 = Dotmusic | rev3score = 10/10 | rev4 = The Guardian | rev4score = | rev5 = Los Angeles Times | rev5score = | rev6 = NME | rev6score = 9/10 | rev7 = Pitchfork | rev7score = 5.5/10 | rev8 = Playlouder | rev8score = | rev9 = Q | rev9score = | rev10 = Rolling Stone | rev10score = | rev11 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide | rev11Score = | rev12 = Spin | rev12score = 5/10

Drukqs is among James's most divisive releases, with Oli Warwick of Crack noting that it provoked "widespread indignation amongst music critics, whose primary criticism seemed to be that James had delivered something reminiscent of previous releases, rather than some bold new mode of electronic expression." At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 66 based on 21 reviews.

On its 2001 release, Alex Needham of NME called it "beautiful" and "bulging with goodies". The review for Playlouder called it "probably his best album to date". For Spin, Simon Reynolds criticised the album as "unimpressive" and "trapped by the potential for infinitesimal tweakage," stating that it "sounds merely like a slight extension of the Aphex sound circa 1996's Richard D. James Album and 1997's Come to Daddy." Pitchfork described the album's "drill'n'bass" tracks as "throwbacks to the past rather than prospects on the future; and for all of their compositional strength, there's an element of the Aphex Twin mystique missing." Dave Simpson of The Guardian stated that "much of Drukqs sounds like weaker echoes of things Aphex Twin has done before, which no manner of hyperactive drum machines or daft titles can disguise." Pat Blashill of Rolling Stone called Drukqs Aphex's "most irrelevant album to date", and added "rumor has it that James merely loaded this record with outtakes that have been eating up space on his hard drive for years, then released the album as a deal-breaker with his label, Warp." In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), critic Sasha Frere-Jones wrote "weirdly dismissed by many, Drukqs is often spectacular".

The piano composition "Avril 14th" became one of James's most popular tracks, later being used in a Saturday Night Live skit and the Kanye West song "Blame Game". As of April 2017 the track was James's most streamed track on Spotify, with approximately 124 million streams. By this metric, it is his best-known composition. It has also been used in films such as Marie Antoinette (2006). "QKThr" has also seen widespread use as a TikTok sound, primarily in relation to the 'subtle foreshadowing' trend, where a video's unfortunate ending is slowed down and spliced throughout the video itself.

Track listing

All songs composed by Richard D. James. | headline = Drukqs track listing | title1 = Jynweythek | note1 = also known as "Jynweythek Ylow" | length1 = 2:23 | title2 = Vordhosbn | length2 = 4:51 | title3 = Kladfvgbung Micshk | length3 = 2:06 | title4 = Omgyjya-Switch7 | length4 = 4:52 | title5 = Strotha Tynhe | length5 = 2:12 | title6 = Gwely Mernans | length6 = 5:08 | title7 = Bbydhyonchord | length7 = 2:33 | title8 = Cock/Ver10 | length8 = 5:18 | title9 = Avril 14th | length9 = 2:05 | title10 = Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels Mount | length10 = 8:10 | title11 = Gwarek2 | length11 = 6:46 | title12 = Orban Eq Trx 4 | length12 = 1:35 | title13 = Aussois | length13 = 0:13 | title14 = Hy a Scullyas Lyf Adhagrow | length14 = 2:14 | title15 = Kesson Dalef | length15 = 1:21 | title16 = 54 Cymru Beats | length16 = 6:06 | title17 = Btoum-Roumada | length17 = 1:58 | title18 = Lornaderek | length18 = 0:31 | title19 = QKThr | note19 = also known as "Penty Harmonium" | length19 = 1:27 | title20 = Meltphace 6 | length20 = 6:24 | title21 = Bit 4 | length21 = 0:25 | title22 = Prep Gwarlek 3b | length22 = 1:19 | title23 = Father | length23 = 0:57 | title24 = Taking Control | length24 = 7:14 | title25 = Petiatil Cx Htdui | length25 = 2:11 | title26 = Ruglen Holon | length26 = 1:49 | title27 = Afx237 v.7 | length27 = 4:23 | title28 = Ziggomatic 17 | length28 = 8:35 | title29 = Beskhu3epnm | length29 = 2:10 | title30 = Nanou2 | length30 = 3:25 | total_length = 100:41 | headline = aphextwin.warp.net tracks | title31 = dRuQks Prepared uN 1 | length31 = 3:01 | title32 = avril 14th half speed alternative version [re-recorded 2009 Nagra] | length32 = 5:07 | title33 = avril 14th reversed music not audio [re-recorded 2009 Nagra] | note33 = | length33 = 2:12 | title34 = Mangle 11 | length34 = 5:55 | total_length = 116:55

Personnel

• Aphex Twin – music, photographs

Charts

::data[format=table title="Chart performance for ''Drukqs''"] | Chart (2001) | Peak position | Australian Albums (ARIA) | UK Dance Albums (OCC) | US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) | |---|---|---|---|---| | 87 | | | | | | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | ::

Certifications

Notes

References

References

1. "Interview". [[The Face (magazine).
2. (2017-04-14). "How Aphex Twin's piano lullaby 'Avril 14th' became a runaway pop culture hit".
3. "Drukqs by Aphex Twin". [[Official Charts Company]].
4. (14 July 2001). "New Aphex Twin Album Slated for October". United Business Media Int'l.
5. (November 2001). "Aphex Twin: Drukqs (Warp)". [[Uncut (magazine).
6. (22 October 2021). "'Drukqs' Turns 20". [[Stereogum]].
7. (23 October 2011). "A decade of Drukqs: Aphex Twin's opus, ten years on". DrownedInSound.
8. (3 November 2001). "The Official UK Charts: Dance Albums". United Business Media.
9. (24 November 2001). "The Official UK Charts: Dance Albums". United Business Media.
10. (8 December 2001). "The Official UK Charts: Dance Albums". United Business Media.
11. Lester, Paul. (5 October 2001). "Tank boy". The Guardian.
12. (February 2015). "Diskhat ALL Prepared1mixed [snr2mix]".
13. "The Soft Side of Aphex Twin".
14. "Aphex Twin – Drukqs".
15. "Aphex Twin Interview".
16. "Reviews for Drukqs by Aphex Twin".
17. Bush, John. "Drukqs – Aphex Twin".
18. (December 2001). "Aphex Twin: Drukqs". [[Alternative Press (magazine).
19. (October 2001). "Aphex Twin: Drukqs". [[BT Group]].
20. Simpson, Dave. (19 October 2001). "Aphex Twin: Drukqs (Warp)". [[The Guardian]].
21. Baltin, Steve. (16 December 2001). "Aphex Twin 'Drukqs' Warp/Sire". [[Los Angeles Times]].
22. Needham, Alex. (20 October 2001). "Aphex Twin : Drukqs". [[NME]].
23. Seymour, Malcolm III. (25 October 2001). "Aphex Twin: Drukqs". [[Pitchfork (website).
24. (26 October 2001). "Drukqs – Aphex Twin". Playlouder Ltd.
25. Lynskey, Dorian. (November 2001). "Aphex Twin: Drukqs". [[Q (magazine).
26. Blashill, Pat. (8 November 2001). "Aphex Twin: Drukgs".
27. Frere-Jones, Sasha. (2004). "[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide". [[Simon & Schuster]].
28. Reynolds, Simon. (November 2001). "Aphex Twin: Drukqs". [[Spin (magazine).
29. "In celebration of Drukqs, Aphex Twin's most divisive and misunderstood statement".
30. (24 October 2024). "Yeah Yeah Yeahs Top TikTok Billboard Top 50 Again, While Akon & Aphex Twin Make Moves".
31. (22 October 2001). "Drukqs". [[Warp (record label).
32. (22 October 2001). "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 22 October 2001". [[Australian Recording Industry Association]]. [[Australian Web Archive]].
33. "Aphex Twin Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)".

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