Aphex Twin Plots ‘Syro’ Listening Parties
A select few Aphex Twin fans who are eager to hear Syro – electronic-music icon Richard D. James’ first LP under the Aphex moniker in 13 years – will be able to check out the record in its entirety weeks before its September 23rd release. The IDM artist and his label, Warp, will be holding listening parties in eight cities around the world. The catch is, fans will have to enter a lottery on the Warp website, held between August 31st and September 2nd, for a chance to obtain tickets to the events.
The first two listening parties will take place in London and Paris on September 5th before Syro (incidentally pronounced sigh-ro,” according to a Pitchfork interview) heads stateside. New York City and Los Angeles will premiere the album on September 6th and Chicago and Toronto getting it September 7th. After that, Syro heads to Belgium and the Netherlands.
As Rolling Stone previously reported, Syro and its self-reflexive album cover is available to pre-order now. Aphex Twin has also produced 200 limited-edition box set versions of the album for $400 apiece. Like the listening parties, fans must enter a lottery for a chance to take home the special Syro.
That edition of the album reportedly contains a special track that was printed in ink on heavyweight card stock, and it is playable. “I tried it a few times, and it sounds like noise, but you can hear music in there, somehow,” James recently told Pitchfork.
All that said, James claims Syro will be his “most accessible” record.