Aphex Twin
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Aphex_twin_richard_d_james.jpg
Aphex Twin (born Richard David James, August 18, 1971, Ireland) is a UK-based electronic music artist, credited with pushing forward the genres of techno, ambient, IDM, acid, drum and bass (specifically drill n bass). Recent experimentation on his album drukqs included use of a prepared piano in the style of composer John Cage.
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Biography
Born to Welsh parents in 1971, James spent his childhood in Cornwall. He experimented with electronics from an early age, winning a competition to make a Sinclair ZX Spectrum play a tune by setting the connected television's volume to full and alternating the colours on the screen, producing different pitches of noise.
He became a DJ and musician on the local rave scene, taking on the moniker "Aphex Twin". James joked in an interview that the origin of this name was a combination of a manufacturer of signal processing equipment with the word twin in reference to an older brother (also called Richard James) who died at a young age before his birth. James uses his middle initial to distinguish himself from his late brother.
James was a founding partner in the Rephlex Records label, formed in 1991 and released his first records on this label, as well as Mighty Force and R&S Records of Belgium. James relocated to London and released a slew of albums and EPs on the Warp Records label, and under a bewildering set of aliases (from AFX and Polygon Window to the lesser known Gak and Power Pill). He was also responsible for a number of music videos in collaboration with acclaimed director Chris Cunningham. His videos (and album covers) often exploit his unique facial features; for example, the video for "Windowlicker" uses special effects and make-up to place a grotesque image of his face onto the heads of a group of voluptuous bikini models. He also hid his face in another track (commonly referred to as "[Equation]") of the Windowlicker single, which can be seen in the spectral analysis of the track.
The music of Aphex Twin ranges over many different genres within the encompassing genre of electronic music. Early releases featured a more hardcore and acid based sound ("Ventolin" is often called one of the harshest or most abrasive songs ever recorded due to the screeching trebles and breaking beats), and later progressing into his critically acclaimed ambient works, while his hardcore side remained active through his pseudonym of Caustic Window. In 1996, he began releasing more material composed on computers, and embraced a more drum and bass and IDM sound. The late '90s saw his music become more commercialized, and he retaliated with the IDM/Prepared Piano album drukqs. In late 2004, rumours of his return to a more acid techno based sound were realized with the Analord series.
Aphex Twin interviews are generally entertaining, eccentric, and confusing. He has made many wild claims in his interviews which have been speculated by some to be false. Several of these claims include him owning an 1950s armoured scout car (a Daimler Ferret Mark 3), a submarine, composing ambient techno music at age 13 (contradicting most music history), building all of his synthesizers from scratch, having "over 100 hours" of unreleased music, and living in a converted bank. He is a talented photographer, having done his own artwork direction for many of his albums. Aphex Twin continues to create records at the boundaries of the accepted norms of music.
Influences
James has stated in numerous interviews that he has no musical influences other than himself. [1] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/friday_review/story/0,3605,563163,00.html) He claims to have listened to the rare song on the radio as a child and that he is unable to read sheet music.
Conversely, James has said that he has listened to many bands and artists for inspiration and sampling (notably Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin for their use of breakbeats ). He was responsible for discovering and signing musican and personal friend Tom "Squarepusher" Jenkinson to his Rephlex record label, as well as many of the other artists signed to it.
Other debated influences include (alphabetically):
- 808 State, whom he has remixed for.
- Amnesia
- John Cage and his Prepared piano technique.
- Coil
- Derrick May
- Tod Dockstader
- Brian Eno
- Larry Heard [2] (http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/a/aphex-twin/analord-1-2.shtml)
- Kraftwerk
- Reese
Discography
Albums
- Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (1992)
- Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994)
- ...I Care Because You Do (1995)
- Richard D. James Album (1996)
- drukqs (2001)
EPs and Singles
- Digeridoo (1992)
- Xylem Tube EP (1992)
- On/On Remixes (1993)
- Ventolin/Ventolin Remixes EP (1995)
- Donkey Rhubarb (1995)
- Girl/Boy EP (1996)
- Come to Daddy (1997)
- Windowlicker (1999)
- Analord 10 of the Analord series (2005)
Promos and Compilations
- Words & Music (1994) (Interview and tracks from Selected Ambient Works Volume II)
- Classics (1994) (Compilation of early singles, rare and live tracks)
- 51/13 Singles Collection (1996) (Australia-only release)
- Cock 10/54 Cymru Beats (drukqs promo)
- 26 Mixes for Cash (2003), Compilation of material "remixed" for other artists (plus four original tracks)
- 2 Mixes on a 12" for Cash (2003), a 26 Mixes promo
Aliases
Richard D. James has also released a large amount of material under various aliases:
AFX:
- Analogue Bubblebath (1991)
- Analogue Bubblebath 2 (1992)
- Analogue Bubblebath 3 (1993)
- Analogue Bubblebath 3.1 (1997)
- Analogue Bubblebath 4 (1994)
- Analogue Bubblebath 5 (1995 unreleased)
- Hangable Auto Bulb (1995)
- Hangable Auto Bulb 2 (1995)
- 2 Remixes By AFX (2001)
- Smojphace EP (2003)
- Mangle 11 (Circuit Bent V.I.P. Mix) (appears on Rephlexions compilation album - 2003)
- The Analord series (2005)
Alex Blackford:
- Indigo Red Ink (1999) (limited, 3 records pressed)
Brad Strider:
Caustic Window:
- Joyrex J4 (1992)
- Joyrex J5 (1992)
- Joyrex J9 (1993)
- CAT 023 (Unreleased, only 4 copies pressed)
- Caustic Window Compilation (1998)
Gak:
- GAK (1994)
Polygon Window:
- (Surfing On Sine Waves) (1993, re-released 2001)
- (Quoth) (1993)
Power Pill:
- Pac-Man (1992)
Q-Chastic:
- Q-Chastic EP (1992 unreleased)
In the Universal Indicator series:
Misc:
- Appeared as "DJ Olive" together with Uri Caine, Tim Lefebvre and Zach Danziger in the concert "Bedrock" in the Philharmonie in Essen, Germany on 10 September 2004.
- Melodies From Mars (1995, this is an unreleased RDJ album that was given to friends at Rephlex and Warp Records on C-90 cassettes)
- With Squarepusher, contributed "Freeman Hardy & Willis Acid" to the Warp compilation WAP100.
- As "Rich" of "Mike and Rich" on the album Expert Knob Twiddlers ("Mike" being Mike Paradinas, also known as µ-Ziq)
- Was in a rap group called the Manor Boys with Philie T. Back in the squatting days.
- Created the soundtrack to the short film, "Rubber Johnny", directed by Chris Cunningham.
See also
External links
- Aphex Twin discography (http://www.discogs.com/artist/Aphex+Twin) @ Discogs
- Aphex Twin links (http://dmoz.org/Arts/Music/Bands_and_Artists/A/Aphex_Twin/) @ DMoz
- The Aphex Face (http://www.bastwood.com/aphex.php) - spectrogram screenshots of the fabled Richard D. James face embedded in the song "[Equation]".
- Manor Boys (http://www.philiet.co.uk/) Aphex Twin and Philie T rapping as part of the Manor Boys (old tracks, free download, bottom of page).de:Aphex Twin
fr:Aphex Twin hu:Aphex Twin nl:Aphex Twin fi:Richard D. James