Make K8's Head Explode: Madonna vs. Aphex Twin

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Because I'm bored on a Friday afternoon, a poll created solely for the purpose of making mine own head explode with the inability to make this choice. To me, this is far more of a critical deathmatch than Beatles v Stones and far less answerable.

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Madonna Louise Ciccone 69
Richard David James 50


Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:11 (fifteen years ago)

aphex twin, obv

Anti-Suggest Ban Order (acoleuthic), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:12 (fifteen years ago)

No, not obviously at all.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:13 (fifteen years ago)

Madonna

Trip Maker, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:13 (fifteen years ago)

madonna!

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:14 (fifteen years ago)

Madonna, definitely.

tylerw, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:15 (fifteen years ago)

this is pitting two different phases of my life against each other.

elephant rob, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:15 (fifteen years ago)

This is pitting two halves phases of my brain against each other.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:16 (fifteen years ago)

D'OH!

This is pitting two different halves of my brain against each other.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:16 (fifteen years ago)

the quality of RDJ's work didn't depend on whom he was working with

Anti-Suggest Ban Order (acoleuthic), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:17 (fifteen years ago)

Madonna.

EZ Snappin, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:17 (fifteen years ago)

also he was far more innovative, challenging and interesting a musician - this is a no-brainer for me

plz slay my arguments, ILX

Anti-Suggest Ban Order (acoleuthic), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:18 (fifteen years ago)

RDJ

village idiot (dog latin), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:18 (fifteen years ago)

I honestly can't decide. I mean, I can't even let my libido make this choice because although obv I lust after Mr. D.James, seriously, Madonna is one of those people that I would switch teams for.

CANNOT MAKE CHOICE. Beyond Daddy or Chips.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:19 (fifteen years ago)

plz slay my arguments, ILX

I just roll me eyes at this point tbh.

Er, they are your reasons for preferring one artist to another, they are not the only reasons. Even if I accepted them as factually accurate which I don't. That's my shot at refutation.

flashing drill + penis fan (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:19 (fifteen years ago)

I think Aphex probably has more good tracks overall but Madonna's highs are unfuckable with. Voting Madonna.

Matt DC, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:19 (fifteen years ago)

Twin

Grisly Addams (WmC), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:20 (fifteen years ago)

the quality of RDJ's work didn't depend on whom he was working with

neither does madonna's. the style changes according to who she works with, but not the quality - she's produced some of her best work with people not noted for their work with others, and some of her worst with her most respected collaborators

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:20 (fifteen years ago)

But NV, they might be wrong! I might have erred in my expression! And that's where you come in. AHA, and there's The Lex with a solid opener.

I'll concede that Madonna has a number of absolutely banging pop songs that could unite a room in a manner RDJ can only dream of

Anti-Suggest Ban Order (acoleuthic), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:20 (fifteen years ago)

Not a reason but maybe a reason I will use to justify voting with my heart: RDJ has perhaps gotten better as he's retreated from the limelight, and Madge just doesn't stir my interest any more.

flashing drill + penis fan (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:21 (fifteen years ago)

i think we'd all agree that they probably should have collaborated with each other at some point, right? (but not now.)

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:21 (fifteen years ago)

They would have brought out the worst in one another I fear.

Matt DC, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:22 (fifteen years ago)

this is pitting two different phases of my life against each other

This. I have a strong sense as to just how they shaped respective decades for my own listening -- one for the eighties, one for the nineties. For a project I just finished working on I picked ten songs as signposts to my listening history -- one was "Rhubarb" from Selected Ambient Works Volume II and the other was, almost, one of any number of Madonna tracks between 1985 to 1989 or so (ended up picking a Prince song from the same period). There is also the sense of how one is more public listening and the other more private, though as Lex and I agreed on a recent thread, the idea of the radio as public medium doesn't apply for me, it did always feel personal and so the two are more equal on that front for me, but much different in the larger realm of fame and attention. I don't think I could select between the two.

Ned Raggett, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:23 (fifteen years ago)

banging pop songs that could unite a room in a manner RDJ can only dream of

this is the root of my indecision, though I'll probably end up voting for RDJ. I just have a great memory of one day in college waiting outside the area of the cafeteria where everyone had to return their trays after eating. The kitchen staff had the radio on and "Like a Prayer" was playing. Literally every single person who exited the tray area was singing the words on the way out and most everyone at that school was an arch-hipster or an arch-hippie. It was kind of a profound moment.

elephant rob, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:24 (fifteen years ago)

Time Magazine Classic Pop Crit Canon vs. XLR8R Classic Bloop Crit Canon.

doobieborther, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:24 (fifteen years ago)

I think Madonna has more staying power. Every time I write Madonna off as "that's it, no more good stuff from her" then she puts out another album that would be career defining for anyone else.

I don't think Richard will release another grade A+++ album. He'll sit around farting out "interesting" music but I think his days of certified bangers are over. (yes, I hope he reads this and proves me wrong but I've give up hope.)

I can't even say "my head says Twin but my heart says Madonna" because both my head and heart have different reasons for loving both.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:24 (fifteen years ago)

madonna

even just 90's madonna, tbh

goole, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:24 (fifteen years ago)

[i]There is also the sense of how one is more public listening and the other more private,/i>

also OTM

good choices, Kate!

elephant rob, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:25 (fifteen years ago)

Can't deny the cultural event of Madonna.

Trip Maker, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:25 (fifteen years ago)

Madonna

Grand amiral de la marine des licornes (Michael White), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:26 (fifteen years ago)

yeah, screw it, voted Madonna. While I have deep emotional connections to certain Aphex songs (like that one about the milkman's wife), Madonna videos were a key part of my adolescence.

elephant rob, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:27 (fifteen years ago)

i think we'd all agree that they probably should have collaborated with each other at some point, right? (but not now.)

It's one of my fan fiction fantasies that Chris Cunningham had brought them together when Madonna was in her Ray of Light exhuberance and RDJ was on his post-Windowlicker pre-Drukqs peak.

And it SO NEARLY HAPPENED but although the legend says it was her that nixed it, reading Mr Twin interviews this morning brought up the fact that it was actually him that nixed it, because he thought it would overshadow everything else he did for the rest of his life. (I think he was actually influenced by Cunningham's experiences - except for the fact, that 10 years later, everyone still asks Cunningham about workikng with APHEX, not Madonna.)

Which I don't think is the case. I think he would have survived it with his head rearranged but his cred entact. But it will never happen now. Which is a shame.

But perhaps my imagining is better than the dull truth of what it would have been, given Mr. Twin's poor record of collaborating with people bigger than himself. His ego is too big to allow it.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:29 (fifteen years ago)

Looking inside my heart and asking myself who I would miss the most if I could never hear them again, I voted Aphex.

flashing drill + penis fan (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:29 (fifteen years ago)

squinting from a slightly different angle - take a madonna hater and an aphex hater; i think aphex's strongest tracks would probably reinforce what the aphex hater already dislikes about him, whereas madonna has a number of songs that would probably make the madonna hater forget what they dislike about her.

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:30 (fifteen years ago)

That collaboration would have been dreadful, Madonna would have been all "I am working with the Aphex Twin these are my SERIOUS ART SONGS" and Aphex would have mangled her to within an inch of being unrecognisable just for a laugh.

i think aphex's strongest tracks would probably reinforce what the aphex hater already dislikes about him

Disputed, he's got a pretty broad range.

Matt DC, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:31 (fifteen years ago)

I don't think it's possible to make SERIOUS ART SONGS when you're making animal noises, yeah?

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:32 (fifteen years ago)

Wait, no, scratch that, I have an ex boyfriend who could dispute that in an instant. :-(

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:32 (fifteen years ago)

And also - that broad range is in both of their favours. Both of them have such hugely diverse bodies of work, and yet at the same time, you cannot mistake them for anyone else, they have such a personal stamp.

With Madonna, it's that her voice - though copied by so many - is still so instantly dinstinguishable. With RDJ it's less definable, but it's still his own personal stamp.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:34 (fifteen years ago)

I have a sense of a shift-of-moment as well around 1992 involving the two of them, in terms of what I wanted and was looking for in music. It tied in with something beyond my control as well -- when I moved to UCI and lived on campus the first few years in grad housing, the buildings were for whatever reason not cable ready, and for the next few years a lot of what was then formalized as mainstream pop culture like MTV was something I only caught up with in bursts and starts here and there. So Madonna's cultural omnipresence became much less so for me. Meanwhile, my attention towards subcultural production grew as a counterbalance, via my work at KUCI and more besides, furthered by the fact that I had grown pretty impatient with pop's limitations as I was sensing them. The evident irony is of course that Aphex is so hook-friendly, but they were hooks that felt newer to me and offered more as a result. This oversimplifies my listening stances and what I was hearing, it was hardly JUST them of course. But I'm not surprised at all that Erotica became this fairly distant thing for me whereas for others it was as crucial as much she had done before.

Ned Raggett, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:35 (fifteen years ago)

this is a very difficult choice

the new hot dawg stand in compton (Pillbox), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:35 (fifteen years ago)

i think aphex's strongest tracks would probably reinforce what the aphex hater already dislikes about him

Disputed, he's got a pretty broad range.

yeah, compare Windowlicker to something like Xtal

elephant rob, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:36 (fifteen years ago)

Mashed potatoes.

grab you by the boo-boo and don't let go (kkvgz), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:36 (fifteen years ago)

excuse my constantly bad formatting argh

elephant rob, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:36 (fifteen years ago)

squinting from a slightly different angle - take a madonna hater and an aphex hater; i think aphex's strongest tracks would probably reinforce what the aphex hater already dislikes about him, whereas madonna has a number of songs that would probably make the madonna hater forget what they dislike about her.

There is almost ALWAYS a song that I can play an Aphex Hater that will change their mind about "what Aphex Sounds Like" - be that Polynomial-C or Kesson Dalef or Goon Gumpas.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:37 (fifteen years ago)

There are definitely electronic acts where you hear a track and think "that sounds Aphex-y", which is as good an indicator of being a phenomenon as any. Madonna makes a virtue of the Great Pop Idea that is constant reinvention, but I've no doubt she's been making her Serious Art statements since at least Like a Prayer. I think I'd've liked her to Björk out a bit at some point in the last 10 years, but then it might've been fun if RDJ had tried to land a few secret bangers in the upper end of the charts.

flashing drill + penis fan (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:38 (fifteen years ago)

but then it might've been fun if RDJ had tried to land a few secret bangers in the upper end of the charts.

He claims he did, under psuedonyms, but that smacks of more lying irritating kid from Cornwall than secret truth.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "Bjork out" mind you?

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:41 (fifteen years ago)

Love both, but Madonna's been slipping since 2000, Aphex's stuff just keeps getting better (e.g. The Tuss album/ep).

Aphex.

fidel castro clone (corey), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:43 (fifteen years ago)

If Confessions On A Dance Floor is slipping, well, my god, I've fallen and I can't get up. Stuff and nonsense!

Aphex hasn't put out an A+++ album since Drukqs. And as much of a stan as I am, I sincerely doubt he will again.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:46 (fifteen years ago)

madonna

ming mang mongrel (electricsound), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:49 (fifteen years ago)

Has Aphex actually put out an album since Drukqs? Apart from that "Remix/Money" thing..

Mark G, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:49 (fifteen years ago)

I like the Analord set more than Drukqs right now, and the Tuss album is plenty fun. I think he's avoiding doing Big Statement Records maybe. For the moment.

I didn't believe him about the pseudonyms either.

"Bjork Out" means make baroque insular self-conscious non-disco album and employ Mr Neotropic of this parish if poss I think.

flashing drill + penis fan (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:50 (fifteen years ago)

the beatles

symsymsym, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:52 (fifteen years ago)

See, my problem with Analords is the lack of filtering / editing on it. There might be an album's worth of really good stuff on it, but it's in amongst an awful lot of filler. Either Mr D.James is too lazy to make the cut any more (or more likely he doesn't have a record company or mates with good taste applying an editorial ear to make him cut).

So basically Bjork out = make Madonna into something that isn't Madonna. It's not like she hasn't made her share of introspective music in the past, it's just not that that makes the charts.

personally, I think Madonna making an OOH LOOK AT ME, ISN'T THIS QUIRRRRRRRRRKY ART ART ART style Bjork statement record would be kinda uninteresting to me. Or at least just not engage with what it is that I love about Madonna.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 15:54 (fifteen years ago)

I dunno. I really love how "process" is so apparent in his music more now than ever. Like I can appreciate it even more because the mechanics of it are so transparent and can admire his virtuosity. I tend to see him as someone who will just keep continuing to do essentially the same thing, and continue to hone that one thing down to a razor edge.

fidel castro clone (corey), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:56 (fifteen years ago)

i'd call hard candy slipping, very much so, but it's only one album since her last good one and writing off madonna is probably unwise.

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, 23 July 2010 15:58 (fifteen years ago)

Love pretty much all of Analord without reservation. I guess it's AFX rather than Aphex so that clues you it will be a different thing, but I'm really into the unflashiness and nerd austerity of the whole thing.

flashing drill + penis fan (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:02 (fifteen years ago)

"Unflashiness and nerd austerity" = "oops, I forgot to write a tune for half of these" :-P

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:03 (fifteen years ago)

It's very Detroit!

flashing drill + penis fan (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:04 (fifteen years ago)

Carn Detroith, that's just south of Camborne, isn't it?

wait no - Borderline just came on and I've got to flail wildly around the office.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:05 (fifteen years ago)

RDJ always wins

chuck entertainment cheese (crüt), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:06 (fifteen years ago)

just upholding the white male idm canon over here

chuck entertainment cheese (crüt), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:06 (fifteen years ago)

Sometimes he's a girl though...

Matt DC, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:08 (fifteen years ago)

Also, the odd thing about my fandom of both these artists is that I have probably spent just as much time HATING them as I have loving them - and in fact, if anything, the depths of the passionate hatred of them (at the time) flips around and becomes exactly what it is I have ended up devotionally loving them over.

OK, I shouldn't have accepted that second bottle of Peroni from my boss, these psots are gonna get less and less cogent.

I guess I think all real, true, passionate devotion type love has a little bit of hate in it, as well. Or, erm, something. Except both of those hatreds turned out to have been based on false understanding of the artists involved.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:08 (fifteen years ago)

Yeah, RDJ is all up in yr canon subverting yr gender stereotypes.

He's got better tits than me, FFS!

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:08 (fifteen years ago)

I haven't actually heard Confessions other than (like everyone I guess) "Hung Up" which I thought was pretty good, so maybe I'll have to reassess her recent stuff!

Still I think I don't have the personal relationship with her music the same way I do with pretty much everything RDJ has put out, but I can definitely see how they could have equal importance w/in the context of someone's personal canon. A similar dilemma for me would be choosing between Prince and Mr. Jams.

fidel castro clone (corey), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:09 (fifteen years ago)

I think even at the height of my Aphex fandom circa 1994 - 1998, I still would pick Madonna.

FUCK YOU I'M BLACK (HI DERE), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:10 (fifteen years ago)

It's weird, I probably identify more with Mr D.James in terms of ... well, I am a computer nerd, not some fabulous diva goddess. But Madonna's lyrics move me on a personal level of "yes! I would like this carved on my grave!" in a way that I don't see myself getting "I would like some milk from the milkman's wife's tits" on my headstone.

But perhaps Mr Jams music, when it's instrumental, moves me in a place that Madonna can't really touch because it's so much of her personality in it. Which I don't always identify with.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:13 (fifteen years ago)

it's mainly that I've been listening to Madonna since I was 10 and Aphex Twin since I was 18

FUCK YOU I'M BLACK (HI DERE), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:14 (fifteen years ago)

It took working in a record store to make me love Madonna. It took living with a Warp employee to make me hate Aphex.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:15 (fifteen years ago)

JUST KIDDING JUST KIDDING ON THAT LAST ONE HONEST ;-)

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:15 (fifteen years ago)

I don't see myself getting "I would like some milk from the milkman's wife's tits" on my headstone

Okay so you're cool if I use it then?

flashing drill + penis fan (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:18 (fifteen years ago)

(If this had been Madonna vs Squarepusher or Madonna vs The Prodigy, I would have had to think about it more.)

FUCK YOU I'M BLACK (HI DERE), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:19 (fifteen years ago)

Madonna vs Squarepusher or Madonna vs The Prodigy

Both of those would be Madonna in a heartbeat for me.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:19 (fifteen years ago)

First of all I saw thread and thought "Of fuck off, of course it's Aphex Twin!"...and then I had 30 seconds' pause and voted Madonna, which is the right answer. It's important to remember how even when they are both terrible, they're never boring. Well, maybe a little actually.

European Bob (admrl), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:20 (fifteen years ago)

That milkman's wife thing still cracks me up

European Bob (admrl), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:21 (fifteen years ago)

It cracks me up, as well.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:22 (fifteen years ago)

I don't know what Madonna's "milkman's wife's tits" lyrical clanger moment is, I've got to think about that for a moment, really.

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:22 (fifteen years ago)

Since I first heard it I've pondered that line more than it probably deserves. But probably not as much as "Live to Tell".

It's not a clanger, it's poetry.

flashing drill + penis fan (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:23 (fifteen years ago)

Probably some kaballah nonsensen. Or maybe Justify My Love.

x-post

Masonic Boom, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:23 (fifteen years ago)

That thing about the latte! I like that too tho.

flashing drill + penis fan (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:24 (fifteen years ago)

"American Life" is such a great song

FUCK YOU I'M BLACK (HI DERE), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:24 (fifteen years ago)

Oh god I've just remembered "American Pie". I suppose it's okay for fucking off Don Maclean fans.

flashing drill + penis fan (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:24 (fifteen years ago)

The opening couplet to I Love New York is about as big a lyrical clanger as you can get. The lyrics to Milkman are a masterpiece.

Matt DC, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:25 (fifteen years ago)

As if to prove me wrong, "Revolver" just came on the headphones.

\/ \/ \/ it had to be done

Milk From The Milkman's Wife's Tits (Masonic Boom), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:25 (fifteen years ago)

madonna, but only cuz i've never listened to the aphex twin. only thing i've ever heard is the thing with the creepy kids video. maybe i would love him more than i love madonna, who knows?

scott seward, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:25 (fifteen years ago)

My love's a revolver
My sex is a killer
Do you wanna die happy?
Do you wanna die happy?

vs

I would like some milk from the milkman's wife's tits

Milk From The Milkman's Wife's Tits (Masonic Boom), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:26 (fifteen years ago)

FWIW I don't think there's been a major pop single as mysterious as "Live to Tell".

xps see, there you go

fidel castro clone (corey), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:27 (fifteen years ago)

milkman is so puerile that it comes off as terrifying moreso than dumb

ciderpress, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:27 (fifteen years ago)

FWIW if this were restricted to 1980s madonna vs. aphex twin's entire discography I would probably vote madonna

chuck entertainment cheese (crüt), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:28 (fifteen years ago)

Oh god I've just remembered "American Pie". I suppose it's okay for fucking off Don Maclean fans.

i like her cover of it! she made a dreary song listenable, there. cutting it in a quarter or whatever certainly helped.

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:29 (fifteen years ago)

See, that's the genius of Mr Twin - that it's somehow when he's being the most puerile that he manages to be most sinister and terrifying (see also Come To Daddy)

And conversely, it's when he's being most childlike, that he manages to come up with his moments of most stunning beauty.

I think both Madonna and Mr D.James have somehow cracked the thing of becoming pure id on some artistic level, in completely different ways.

Milk From The Milkman's Wife's Tits (Masonic Boom), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:30 (fifteen years ago)

i don't have a strong enough opinion either way here to make a judgment call so instead i'm trying to think of some dave-q-esque ways to link the two

ciderpress, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:33 (fifteen years ago)

There's a Killdozer (I think) cover of "American Pie" that I remember liking but really I just think it's a sucky song and Madonna didn't make it unsuck.

flashing drill + penis fan (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:39 (fifteen years ago)

In the midst of trying to find a link that wasn't the obvious one, erm, well, I know this *is* the obvious one, but JAYSUS KERIST, LOOKIT THAT SWEATER!!! WANT!!!

http://www.jsaintil.com/typo3temp/pics/8aa01a5d98.jpg

maybe that second bottle of peroni wasn't such a good ideae after all

Milk From The Milkman's Wife's Tits (Masonic Boom), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:43 (fifteen years ago)

I want that sweater too!!

chuck entertainment cheese (crüt), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:45 (fifteen years ago)

Better image of it...

http://www.jsaintil.com/uploads/tx_skpdfviewer/03_sound_vision.pdf

I have got to find 1) a pattern and 2) someone who can knit.

I NEEEEEED taht sweater. Where are the Crafty Beats DJing & Knitting Crew when I need them>?

Milk From The Milkman's Wife's Tits (Masonic Boom), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:47 (fifteen years ago)

It's an Icelandic style Lopapeysa, imho.

StanM, Friday, 23 July 2010 16:53 (fifteen years ago)

Hrmmmm...

http://ormurormur.blog.is/users/3e/ormurormur/img/lopapeysa-010.jpg

Milk From The Milkman's Wife's Tits (Masonic Boom), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:56 (fifteen years ago)

That would be a really fetching beard-style for Mr D.James, come to think of it.

Milk From The Milkman's Wife's Tits (Masonic Boom), Friday, 23 July 2010 16:57 (fifteen years ago)

Oh god now I'm becoming obsessed with figuring out the difference between a Lopapeysa and a Fair Isle Jumper. Is it that a Lopapeysa is just the yoke, and a Fair Island carries the pattern down across the whole body of the jumper?

And being reminded of that abandonned project that Lisa and I had to transpose Shimura Curves drum programs into patterns for her knitting machine. That never did come to anything, did it? I need to finish my beers and go home before I start lusting after knitware...

Anyway. Yes. I still can't decide. SOmeone try to convince me or else I'll end up as a write in vote for a jumper.

Milk From The Milkman's Wife's Tits (Masonic Boom), Friday, 23 July 2010 17:10 (fifteen years ago)

I think both Madonna and Mr D.James have somehow cracked the thing of becoming pure id on some artistic level

i can see were youre coming from as regards Aphex but explain who this works regarding Madonna

Michael B, Friday, 23 July 2010 17:19 (fifteen years ago)

Because so much of Madonna's work is about sex, eroticism, hedonism, etc?

Milk From The Milkman's Wife's Tits (Masonic Boom), Friday, 23 July 2010 17:21 (fifteen years ago)

never gave a shit about Aphex Twin, Madonna has a few songs I enjoy listening to plus the Truth or Dare movie is hilarious so MADONNA

Major Lolzer (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 23 July 2010 17:24 (fifteen years ago)

Booking you in for the Richard James obituary thread right now, Shakes.

flashing drill + penis fan (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 July 2010 17:26 (fifteen years ago)

haha

well I bear him no ill will, I just never got into him

Major Lolzer (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 23 July 2010 17:28 (fifteen years ago)

Man, tough. A couple dozen great songs that I will always be happy to hear on the radio vs. several dozen great songs that I will never hear on the radio and which make me never want to listen to the radio every again (and thus never hear Madonna again). It's a vicious cycle!

I do, however, strongly dislike the Madonna persona, but love to death the Aphex Twin persona. Does Madonna have a tank? Probably.

Josh in Chicago, Friday, 23 July 2010 17:33 (fifteen years ago)

it becomes holiday v. xtal which is a more difficult q. imo

plax (ico), Friday, 23 July 2010 18:13 (fifteen years ago)

its kindof rjds quantity over madonnas quantity, i wouldn't rate half as much of her career as most, i think she started to slip from after her s/t but I dont think aphex twin has put out anything as good as that album.

plax (ico), Friday, 23 July 2010 18:14 (fifteen years ago)

rdjs qantity over madonnas quality

plax (ico), Friday, 23 July 2010 18:15 (fifteen years ago)

Madonna.

ithappens, Friday, 23 July 2010 18:16 (fifteen years ago)

Weird to me seeing someone writing "The" Madonna Personna, as she's been such a chameleon over the years.

That's, to me, one of her great strengths and one of the really intriguing things about her - the way she's played that to her advantage, the whole "women appear, men act" thing is that she really capitalises on that, and announces seismic shifts in her work with shifts in her appearance. She's one of the few pop stars in the world who could, at a certain point in the 80s, get on the evening news just by changing her hair colour.

RDJ's persona ("He lives in a bank, he drives a tank") really hasn't changed that much over the years at all. So he loses points on that regard, for me.

Milk From The Milkman's Wife's Tits (Masonic Boom), Friday, 23 July 2010 18:58 (fifteen years ago)

I feel like I'm almost cheating because this is easy for me: Madonna. I'm not a huge fan of hers, but I've never taken to Aphex Twin (or most of that 90s electronic stuff in general). And even though I am not a huge Madonna fan, I still really like at least a handful of songs, though the main ones tend to be from early on.

_Rudipherous_, Saturday, 24 July 2010 01:25 (fifteen years ago)

(Also, I suspect that if I made even a small effort to hear Madonna albums I haven't heard all the way through, and to listen again to things I have heard, I would probably end up rating her more highly than I currently due.)

_Rudipherous_, Saturday, 24 July 2010 01:33 (fifteen years ago)

Aphex Twin. Madonna has a couple great songs, but nothing approaching (for me) Selected Ambient Works 85-92. It might be better to wait until Richard D James publishes a children's book to get a fair comparison of the two.

the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Saturday, 24 July 2010 01:48 (fifteen years ago)

madonna. and i don't particularly care for madonna.

a CRASBO is a "criminally related" ASBO (contenderizer), Saturday, 24 July 2010 01:55 (fifteen years ago)

can Sex really be called a "children's book"

chuck entertainment cheese (crüt), Saturday, 24 July 2010 01:56 (fifteen years ago)

was def a child first time i saw it

underwater, please (bear, bear, bear), Saturday, 24 July 2010 02:25 (fifteen years ago)

But you were punished by being turned into a bear.

_Rudipherous_, Saturday, 24 July 2010 02:26 (fifteen years ago)

hard livin, fr sure

underwater, please (bear, bear, bear), Saturday, 24 July 2010 02:27 (fifteen years ago)

While trying to find that Icelandic sweater Mr. C is wearing I found this other awesome item : http://www.birkiland.com/en/categories/fashion/clothing/the-sealpelt

StanM, Saturday, 24 July 2010 10:49 (fifteen years ago)

WTF? Some weird Scando-Slanket?

Put Cunningham inside one of those... Hrrrrmmm.... maybe Bjork gave it him amidst all the porn.

The Milkman's Wife (Masonic Boom), Saturday, 24 July 2010 10:53 (fifteen years ago)

Madonna. But if it were Orbital rather than Aphex representing "90s electronic stuff" as Rudipherous puts it, I'd vote for them.

Haunted Clocks For Sale (Dorianlynskey), Saturday, 24 July 2010 11:14 (fifteen years ago)

no longer available, but: http://store.delias.com/item.do?itemID=50538

StanM, Saturday, 24 July 2010 11:37 (fifteen years ago)

Damn. But if only it were a Bass clef instead of a G clef.

The Milkman's Wife (Masonic Boom), Saturday, 24 July 2010 11:53 (fifteen years ago)

Madonna made pretty good 90s electronic stuff too iirc

born to darraghmac (The Reverend), Saturday, 24 July 2010 18:02 (fifteen years ago)

dancing to "cheerio girl" (as i called it then) while my mom cleaned the house is a fond memory from childhood

booby girl trap (latebloomer), Saturday, 24 July 2010 18:29 (fifteen years ago)

kind of impossible for me... in the end though, i can imagine living without madonna if absolutely forced to - find other music to push the same buttons - but aphex is singular across a wide range of material that's v important to me. have also prob spent loads more hours listening to him.

selected ambient worker (another al3x), Saturday, 24 July 2010 19:57 (fifteen years ago)

I mean I love Aphex, but c'mon...

ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor), Sunday, 25 July 2010 20:35 (fifteen years ago)

there's no greater battle than that between two Leos (literally their birthdays are two days apart, though RDJ is 13 years younger than MLC...)

destroy a. monsters (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, 25 July 2010 22:37 (fifteen years ago)

afx

nakhchivan, Sunday, 25 July 2010 23:01 (fifteen years ago)

Madonna - me at 13 yo trying to come to terms with the Like a Prayer video / TV ads. Shit hot. She did mad,, crazy things to my adolescent mind. About the same time I put my hornyness to one side a little to study the video of Material Girl in class. Shit hot. (that dress! wow) At university I constantly listened to The Immaculate Collection as well as lots of dodgy indie rock that I've since forgotten about. I'd always loved the 80's singles, I'd kind of kept up with what she did but got bored 98 - 03 - it was only really Hung Up that made me understand she still fucking ruled.

Aphex Twin - yeah, the Selected Ambient Works 85-92 meant a lot to me, especially after a couple of crazy early teen nights/weekends out. Come to Daddy is a GREAT vid. Most of the Ricahrd D. James album is very close to my heart. The Analord & Truss stuff is really cool.

But. Yeah it's Madonna. I didn't grow up wanting to fuck AFX. And he didn;t ever do anything as wonderful as Material Girl, or Borderline.

kraudive, Monday, 26 July 2010 01:00 (fifteen years ago)

I would sleep with Madonna, but only if she let me play Selected Ambient Works 85-92 during.

the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 26 July 2010 15:44 (fifteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Wednesday, 4 August 2010 23:01 (fifteen years ago)

voted madonna bc i am a man who has sex w/ other men

plax (ico), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 23:02 (fifteen years ago)

voted madonna bc i am a man who has sex w/ other men

Tuomas, Wednesday, 4 August 2010 23:05 (fifteen years ago)

riiight

plax (ico), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 23:06 (fifteen years ago)

hahahaha

CHEESECAKE VOTING FRUIT HATING SCUM (jjjusten), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 23:07 (fifteen years ago)

I still haven't voted, but to follow the above pattern, I would have to vote for Aphex because, well, I am a straight woman who would like to have sex with girlsong Aphex and, you know, not be a lesbian for it. ;-)

I think. Ha.

post-graduate education in Ladyology (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 5 August 2010 09:29 (fifteen years ago)

I am still working on my 90s rave version of "Cherish" FWIW.

village idiot (dog latin), Thursday, 5 August 2010 09:48 (fifteen years ago)

Actually, seriously, I'm not gonna vote. Because I can't choose.

post-graduate education in Ladyology (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 5 August 2010 09:49 (fifteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Thursday, 5 August 2010 23:01 (fifteen years ago)

lol

plax (ico), Thursday, 5 August 2010 23:02 (fifteen years ago)

Nice results.

Tuomas, Thursday, 5 August 2010 23:02 (fifteen years ago)

i have plenty sex w/ men and voted aphex cos madonna, well, i truly loathe the woman.

jed_, Thursday, 5 August 2010 23:50 (fifteen years ago)

Why?

Tuomas, Thursday, 5 August 2010 23:54 (fifteen years ago)

Gay, voted Aphex.

Janet Privacy Control (corey), Friday, 6 August 2010 01:48 (fifteen years ago)

Yes, convinced that everyone who voted aphex actually wants to sleep with RDJ.

Yeah nice results actually.

post-graduate education in Ladyology (Masonic Boom), Friday, 6 August 2010 06:54 (fifteen years ago)

I like to fall asleep listening to him sometimes.

the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 6 August 2010 08:27 (fifteen years ago)

(me too, TBH)

post-graduate education in Ladyology (Masonic Boom), Friday, 6 August 2010 09:02 (fifteen years ago)

his gentle snoring, I meant.

the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 6 August 2010 09:27 (fifteen years ago)

((me too, TBH))

post-graduate education in Ladyology (Masonic Boom), Friday, 6 August 2010 09:31 (fifteen years ago)

Sorry, now you have put the idea of the soft susurration of Richard as he sleeps into my head and it will not leave.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4280427584_ce465c16f0_m.jpg

post-graduate education in Ladyology (Masonic Boom), Friday, 6 August 2010 09:46 (fifteen years ago)

i don't want to sleep with either of these ppl (maybe madonna if i had a time machine handy) but i voted madonna

ballerrr (The Reverend), Friday, 6 August 2010 09:50 (fifteen years ago)

Well, yeah, puppy fat and eyebrows era Madonna I would... Aside from all that though, I voted for her as I would rather listen to her songs rather than whatever it is Aphex Twin does.

Born too beguiled (DavidM), Friday, 6 August 2010 10:35 (fifteen years ago)

a while back i tried to figure out the exact year madonna ceased to be hot and the answer i came up with was 1995

ballerrr (The Reverend), Friday, 6 August 2010 12:14 (fifteen years ago)

"take a bow" vid versus "human nature" vid really hammered it home

ballerrr (The Reverend), Friday, 6 August 2010 12:15 (fifteen years ago)

Wow, there's kind of a line between cute, fun, flirty discussion of the attractiveness of pop stars, and just icky gross objectifying talk, and I think the last few posts have crossed over it. Thanks for making my thread really uncomfortable now.

post-graduate education in Ladyology (Masonic Boom), Friday, 6 August 2010 12:26 (fifteen years ago)

I dunno. Maybe that's harsh because Madonna has made aggressive use of sex appeal as part of her art for so long. But, if you really ever want reinforcement of how the objectification playing field is still, really very not even, it's the way that female vs male pop stars are treated as they age.

I mean, maybe it would be better to put Madonna up against some other aging Welsh sex bomb like, oh Tom Jones to see how perceived sexiness in the pop star works as a function of age.

But those kinds of comments along the lines of "she was smashable until age XX and then not" really do just squick me out on two levels.

post-graduate education in Ladyology (Masonic Boom), Friday, 6 August 2010 12:37 (fifteen years ago)

but you always go on about how smashable guys are!

pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 6 August 2010 12:38 (fifteen years ago)

i voted aphex btw, and funnily enough, i dont fancy him.

pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 6 August 2010 12:39 (fifteen years ago)

and yes, madonna has made a big thing of her sex appeal, probably more than anyone else.

pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 6 August 2010 12:40 (fifteen years ago)

yr being ridiculous, i think, as well as putting words in peoples mouths.

xpost @ kate

jed_, Friday, 6 August 2010 12:41 (fifteen years ago)

im gonna regret posting here now.

pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 6 August 2010 12:42 (fifteen years ago)

Well, 1) I rarely use the term "smashable" except in response because, as I've talked about before, I really dislike it.

2) the age drop off when used talking about women's attractiveness is FAR more extreme (and the punnishments more severe) when talking about women than men.

The playing field is simply NOT level for all the reasons and more we talked about on the other thread, and it continues to squick me out and I refuse to apologise for saying so.

post-graduate education in Ladyology (Masonic Boom), Friday, 6 August 2010 12:42 (fifteen years ago)

ok fair enough, ive never seen you use "smashable", sorry.

pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 6 August 2010 12:47 (fifteen years ago)

the exact year madonna ceased to be hot and the answer i came up with was 1995

Nah, she looked great again around her 'Earth Mother' Ray of Light period, circa '98.

Born too beguiled (DavidM), Friday, 6 August 2010 12:48 (fifteen years ago)

there's kind of a line between cute, fun, flirty discussion of the attractiveness of pop stars, and just icky gross objectifying talk,

i just honestly don't see it. it's no worse than what you say about lindstrom or aphex or the guy from that band that pete docherty was in and you say those things pretty often.

people can fancy cute early-years madonna while finding stick-insect english accent madonna horrifying, it's not really to do with aging, it seems more like those two madonnas seeming like completely different people and you can fancy one and find the other creepy.

jed_, Friday, 6 August 2010 12:51 (fifteen years ago)

Do you really want to have the clusterfuck about how the objectification playing field is really NOT level, or do you just want to go and read that thread, so we don't have to go through this all again?

Because I really do not want to.

This has been a nice thread up until now, and I just have this horrid feeling it's gonna go all icky and gross now so I'm just gonna remove my bookmark now. Thanks.

post-graduate education in Ladyology (Masonic Boom), Friday, 6 August 2010 12:53 (fifteen years ago)

by all means don't go through it. it's not level, i'm aware of that, there's just nothing offensive in the posts you are referring to.

jed_, Friday, 6 August 2010 12:56 (fifteen years ago)

this is pitting two different phases of my life against each other.

For me this is not strictly true. At the peak of my, let's say, immersion in musical subcultures I never felt as if I was turning my back against pop, which is what Madonna incarnates. Up through 1999 or 2000 I could dive into the catalogues of, say, Aphex Twin and John Zorn with the reassurance that Madonna would be "there," releasing a banger of a single. Even when releasing dull albums she was such a part of the fabric that I had the choice of taking her for granted. American Life and its attendant singles marked the first time I thought that the old biddie had lost it, but there was again with "Hung Up" and "Sorry" and all was right with the world.

However, I'm older now, and resigned without regret to the suspicion that I may have lost interest in her new product.

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 6 August 2010 13:00 (fifteen years ago)

*there she was again

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 6 August 2010 13:01 (fifteen years ago)

I loved madonna in the 80s when I was at school, and she never stopped making great singles in the 90s really.

pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 6 August 2010 13:02 (fifteen years ago)

But I still get more enjoyment out of listening to aphex twin

pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 6 August 2010 13:02 (fifteen years ago)

My thought last summer when I heard MJ had died: Madonna might be the only artist whose sudden death might make me moist-eyed.

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 6 August 2010 13:07 (fifteen years ago)

Would have voted AFX had I seen this in time, not because I'm gay or straight or sexless or a Madonna h8r but because Flim is one of my most favourite things ever and RDJ made it.

Captain Ostensible (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 6 August 2010 13:08 (fifteen years ago)

This thread has inspired me to hunt down the rest of those Artificial Intelligence releases Warp did... particularly B12's Electro-soma.

the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 6 August 2010 20:09 (fifteen years ago)

Yep. Been listening to lots of SAW II tonight.

kraudive, Saturday, 7 August 2010 00:02 (fifteen years ago)


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