Cheetah (EP)
2016 EP by Aphex Twin
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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).
| Cheetah | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP by | ||||
| Released | 8 July 2016 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 33:49 | |||
| Label | Warp | |||
| Producer | Richard D James | |||
| Aphex Twin chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Cheetah | ||||
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
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 74/100[13] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Consequence of Sound | B[14] |
| Exclaim! | 6/10[15] |
| Louder than War | 8/10[16] |
| NME | |
| Pitchfork | 8.2/10[18] |
| PopMatters | 8/10[19] |
| Release Magazine | 6/10[20] |
| Spin | 7/10[21] |
| Tom Hull - on the Web | B+ ( |
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
Track listing
All tracks were written & produced by Richard D. James.[25]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 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]
- Richard D. James – producer, writer
- Beau Thomas – mastering
- The Designers Republic – artwork
Charts
| 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 Albums (Billboard)[34] | 1 |