Cheetah

After the vibrant frenzy of *Syro*, Richard D. James slows down. The *Cheetah* EP is a brief but luminescent set of velvety acid and warped sound experiments—made with the notoriously difficult, early ‘90s synth of the same name. As heard on highlights “CHEETAHT7b” and “2X202-ST5,” James makes the most of the challenge.

The newest Aphex Twin since Richard D. James returned from his extended hiatus shows a simpler side of his music, with slower tempos and spine-tinglingly rich tunes and timbres.

Similar to the Analord EP series, 2016's Cheetah contains some of Richard D. James' most stripped-down techno tracks.

On a lot of Aphex Twin's previous EPs, the material besides the lead-off track has been fairly forgettable: "73-yips" from the On EP isn't g...