Cheetah (EP)

Cheetah
The cover artwork for Cheetah, an extended play by the electronic musician Aphex Twin.
EP by
Aphex Twin
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

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

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

Accolades for Cheetah
Publication Accolade Year Rank Ref.
Pitchfork The 20 Best Electronic Albums of 2016 2016 —
[24]

Track listing

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

Credits adapted from Cheetah liner notes[25]

Charts

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

  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.