Pitchfork

A quick introductory note for those with only a passing interest in home-listening electronic music: The Tuss is a new project on Rephlex that, due to a string of associations in the CD notes and various related MySpace pages, appears to have been authored at least in part (and probably completely) by Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin. If it turns out that someone other than James created the Tuss tracks, it was a brilliant hoax, complete with clues-- such as James hailing from Cornwall and "The Tuss" being Cornish slang for an erection-- scattered in all the right places.

We don't know for sure if Rushup Edge is James' work, but it certainly sounds like a continuation of and expansion upon the ground covered two years ago with dogged thoroughness on the 11-volume Analord series. But where that project maintained clear aesthetic boundaries, in which tracks were generally grounded in early techno and electro and timbres were derived from analog synths, the tracks on Rushup Edge feel more open and less tied to orthodoxy. While the quality of the sounds still loosely refers to the late 1980s up through the mid-90s, there's a brisker, more breakbeat-driven approach to rhythm and less focus on repetition compared to the Analord project.

The first two tracks in particular are packed with nimble but deceptively complex variation, and seem especially suggestive of James' programming and compositional virtuosity. "Synthacon 9" is almost six-and-a-half minutes of propulsive techno, but it dashes by in as instant, so full of ideas the track can't contain them. Every bar or two another element is introduced-- a grinding acid bass riff, bright synths neatly inverting the pattern, a brief rainfall of electronic handclaps, some indecipherable vocodered vocals-- and each is perfectly balanced, eminently logical but still surprising. "Last Rushup 10" also zips along at a good clip, churning through loads of compelling bass and drum interplay. Then, all of a sudden, a self-conscious but undeniably catchy "Far East" melody played on a lone synth appears, an escapee from a Yellow Magic Orchestra track, and from then on everything else plays out in relation to this new tune. A pretty nifty trick.

The first two tracks are near-masterpieces in James' (or anyone else's) oeuvre, so it's not surprising that the rest of the EP doesn't quite conform to the same standard. But everything else is listenable and interesting in its own way. "Shiz Ko E" is comparatively straight electro with unusual use of a warped and queasy vocal, while "Rushup I Bank 12" seamlessly melds acid bass, rough breakbeats, and piano in a disorienting but beautiful tapestry. The abrasive percussion workout "Death Fuck" is a bit more trying-- its solo piano interlude sounds tacked-on-- while the closing "Goodbye Rute" is spare, ghostly, and pleasingly alien. The latter is closer in spirit to a couple of the excerpted tracks currently found on the Tuss MySpace page, none of which are included here. They suggest another side to whoever is behind this thing: one closer-- whadayah know?-- to the more melodic side of a certain Richard D. James. Stay tuned.