I feel the same way about Richie Hawtin (genius!), and I'm fairly
enthusiastic about the Aphex Twin (with some reservations). I think
Alan is probably right when he says it's a matter of taste. For example,
quite a bit of Richie Hawtin's stuff (on Dimension
Intrusion, for example) has a fairly simple structure. But I tend
to enjoy the kind of elegant simplicity which I associate with much of
+8's work.
So I can certainly understand that someone who prefers something a bit
more "robust" wouldn't like a lot of Richie Hawtin's stuff. No big deal,
just a matter of different tastes...
As another example of different tastes in action, take Pete Ashdown's
reviews. I generally like what he has to say, and I find his reviews
really useful. But there's one area which I've found I've consistently
disagreed, and that's when it comes to harder techno. For example, he
disliked OverDrive's Inner Works Vol. 1 and 2, while this is one of my
favourite compilations of hard stuff (except for a few truly
terrible tracks, one of which involves a power saw). On the other hand,
he liked Wakin' Up a Dead Planet, whereas I found it much too noisy and
lacked a lot of "space" that I prefer hard techno to have.
Perhaps it's the same difference of taste at work -- simple elegance
vs. robust development? (Not that these two are necessarily incompatible,
but maybe it's a starting point for discussion)
Rob