Covers corner: Acrid Avid Jam Shred (Guitar version by ZOiD) – Aphex Twin

I was going to post something pumping. But I’m coming down with a cold and can’t bear anything too loud. So a last minute swerve sees you getting a rather lovely acoustic guitar cover of Aphex Twin.

ZOiD (Daniel Jacobson) is a Dublin-based electronic music producer. He was into techno but has branched out. And I guess the cover version (part of an album’s worth) is part of that. As for the how, ZOiD explains “These tracks were recorded at my studio with an AKG 414 and my trusty nylon string Salvadore Cortez CS600-CE and that is it my friends. I used my brain and ears to work out the notes and then arranged them for multiple easy guitar parts instead of difficult solo guitar pieces. I think it sounds better this way and it’s easier to play.”

Here’s the tasteful version of Acrid Avid Jam Shred by ZOiD (originally from Apex Twin’s I Care Because You Do album – posted below).

This is a beautiful Balearic piece full of slightly Spanish guitar phrases. In many ways this is less a cover than a companion piece. It’s not easy to recognise it from the original. But that does matter as it’s lovely all by itself.

Where this scores over the usual guitar pieces is the slightly stop start feel to it. An almost imperceptible element of glitch that takes it out of anything too standard. The knitting of the different guitar parts gives this a real depth and richness of sound.

Utterly dreamy.

~ by acidted on January 20, 2024.