Aphex Twin’s ‘Drukqs’ returns as 25th anniversary vinyl reissue

Aphex Twin's landmark double album 'Drukqs' will be reissued across multiple formats on 30 October through Warp Records, marking the first vinyl reissue since its original 2001 release. The four-LP version will include a six-panel poster and AFX logo stencil, whilst a two-CD edition contains an eight-page booklet and a double-cassette package is also available.

Released in October 2001, 'Drukqs' was Richard D. James' first Aphex Twin studio album in five years, following 1996's 'Richard D. James Album'. The 30-track record pivots sharply between intricate drill'n'bass compositions such as 'Vordhosbn' and sparse piano pieces, with the delicate two-minute 'Avril 14th' becoming the album's most enduring track. According to NME, the album received a nine out of 10 rating upon release and was later ranked number 10 on the publication's Best Albums of 2001 list.

'Avril 14th' has since appeared in Sofia Coppola's 'Marie Antoinette' and Chris Morris' 'Four Lions', while Kanye West sampled it on 2010's 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'. The 88-second track 'QKThr' has found unexpected renewed life through TikTok's viral "subtle foreshadowing" trend, with the platform credited for helping Aphex Twin reach 448 million monthly listeners on YouTube in January—surpassing Taylor Swift's 399 million at that time, according to NME.

The reissue follows the 2024 expanded 30th anniversary edition of 'Selected Ambient Works Volume II' and a 38-track 'Music From The Merch Desk' compilation released last year. Aphex Twin has not released a full-length studio album as Aphex Twin since the Grammy-winning 'Syro' in 2014, though he shared two previously unreleased tracks via SoundCloud in November.