"QKThr, an obscure cut from Aphex Twin's 2001 album, Drukqs, sounds like an ambient experiment recorded on a historic pirate ship. Shaky fingers caress the keys of an accordion to create an uncanny tone; clustered chords cry out, subdued but mighty, before scuttling back into dreamy nothingness. This 88-second elegy has always been overshadowed by another song on Drukqs, the Disklavier instrumental Avril 14th, which alongside Windowlicker is the Cornish producer's best-known track."
"It really puts in perspective how popular Aphex Twin's music is in short-form content, he tells me. It's not like there was a cultural shift and everyone's suddenly listening to ambient techno over the grocery store speakers. The actual shift has been way smaller: Aphex Twin's back catalogue is having a renaissance through gen Z. Those QKThr posts are just a sample of gen Z's apparent addiction to Aphex."
QKThr is an 88-second ambient elegy featuring shaky accordion, clustered chords, and an uncanny tone that was long overshadowed by the Disklavier instrumental Avril 14th. The track has featured on nearly 8 million TikTok posts, from cute animal videos to memed presidential debates and a 'subtle foreshadowing' fail-video trend. Aphex Twin has surpassed Taylor Swift in monthly YouTube Music listeners, with 448 million to her 399 million, a rise credited in part to QKThr. Gen Z engagement has fueled a back-catalogue renaissance, with line-dancing, corecore edits, and remixes using Aphex material. Aphex Twin's music now functions as a backdrop for short-form life.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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