No, I have not heard of the Aphex twin. For all I know, it is another kind of Siamese twin, fraternal twin or, for the baseball minded, Minnesota Twin. What I have heard is a slew of poorly recorded efforts that cost their investers time and money. It is to those unfortunate souls, that I address my suggestions.
There is a hell of a lot more to recording than the eqipment used. There is the ear, the experience and the expertise of a professional engineer and vetted producer. Reviewers have the advantage (or disadvantage, if you will) of having heard thousands of recordings, some "pro" and some "am" and, to a man, they will tell you that the "pro" usually has the better product.
I understand that many artists release CDs for reasons other than hoped for stardom. Often the releases are mid-life birthday presents to themselves and the sight of a jacket with their names emblazened is reward enough. But even the least ambitious would enjoy a encouraging review and, dare I say, some sales to defray their costs.
I started my column to give publicity to independant products that don't have the juice or bucks to publicise their efforts. That is still my aim.