Aphex Twin: Come To Daddy EP

If the glut of hyped electronic-music acts yields one long-term breakaway star, it should be Aphex Twin (aka Richard D. James): Of all the sound-manipulating nerds out there twiddling knobs, no one makes music that sounds as otherworldly and downright different. Instead of rehashing thick dance beats and manipulating the same tired samples to please a bunch of vacuous raver kids, James painstakingly pieces together rattling, usually arrhythmic sound sculptures that don't sound like any music that's ever been made. Put simply, James is a genius, though the new eight-song Come To Daddy mini-album does beg the question: This guy has written thousands of songs, but he can only spare eight (The disc is a bit more generous than some might think, however: Three of those eight tracks may technically be alternate mixes of "Come To Daddy," but they sound nothing even remotely alike.) Unfortunately, James' biggest flaw as a songwriter—that he occasionally burdens his work with shrill, repetitive, juvenile lyrics—irreparably mars two of the three mixes of "Come To Daddy," as well as "Funny Little Man." But there's some wildly inventive stuff here, enough to amply fill the gap between James' more consistent, fleshed-out albums.