"Blackbox Life Recorder 21f" is a track by the British

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

artist and producer

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ active in electronic music since 1988. His idiosyncratic work has drawn on many styles, including techno, ambient music, ambi ...

. It was first released as the lead single in promotion of the EP '' Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / In a Room7 F760'', his first new music under the Aphex Twin alias in five years since 2018's '' Collapse EP''. The EP also contains an alternate "Parallax mix" as the final track on the record.

Background

The track was initially teased on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

on the day of its release, before being officially released on streaming services before quickly being removed, only for it to gain popularity on major

demand-side platform A demand-side platform (DSP) is a concept that combines various software for advertisers (or advertising agencies) to automate the process of buying and selling ad impressions in real time. This platform provides digital advertising inventory wi ...

s; a YouTuber's upload was quickly taken down. Around the same time, streaming service

Deezer Deezer is a List of companies of France, French music streaming service and media service provider founded in 2007 that provides users with access to a vast library of music tracks, podcasts, and radio stations. It offers streaming services in ...

posted details for the EP the track will be on, which was also deleted; the EP and track was officially announced through

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

through

Warp Records Warp Records is a British independent record label that specialises in Electronic music, electronic, indie rock and experimental music. It was founded in Sheffield in 1989 by Steve Beckett, Robert Mitchell and Robert Gordon. It has released recor ...

Reception

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' described the track as having some of the most gentle synth-work Aphex Twin has made in "ages", with "analog-sounding drum machines", "snares and rimshots so dry they're practically vacuum-sealed", and noting that "nagging

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat ...

s poke and prod" with crash symbols and soft, ruminative synths being found throughout the track, with the ending of the track being described as "somber ambience". Overall it was called similar to the track "T69 Collapse" from the ''Collapse EP''. According to ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

'', the track is a "heady, lovely, blur of a song" with

drum programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These mu ...

that encourages dancing. ''

BrooklynVegan ''BrooklynVegan'' is an American online music magazine founded in 2004 by David Levine. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, and originally focused on vegan food and the music community in and around New York City, before broadeni ...

'' noted the track featured many of the "glitchy" trademarks of Richard D. James music but "is almost poppy, with an infectious, danceable beat that never flies off the rails."

Music video

The official music video was released on 31 July 2023 on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, directed by visual artist Weirdcore. There is a dedication at the end of the video to James' late parents, Derek and Lorna.

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2023 songs 2023 singles Compositions by Aphex Twin Warp (record label) singles