Windowlicker
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"Windowlicker" is a 1999 single by IDM and electronica artist Richard D. James, commonly known as Aphex Twin. "Windowlicker" consists of three tracks, each done in a different musical style.
The title track consists of soothing tones, mixed with Richard's trademark breakbeat snare rushes and drum samples, and mixed choir-like singing, resulting in a smooth, yet erratic song, with its last minute escalating into an extremely distorted wall of bass. The song can be interpreted as a parody of oversexualized commercial pop rap and dance music. Track two features sounds that wreak havoc on the eardrums of the listener, and was most likely created as an experimental track. Track three, dedicated to his girlfriend, is made up of wind-up music box samples.
Viewing a spectrogram of Track 2 reveals hidden images that were apparently synthesized as sound by Aphex Twin for the express purpose of being discovered in this manner. It is perhaps the only known instance of an artist using steganography to embed his own face into his music. A spectrogram of the first track also reveals a spiral at the end of the song.
Although only 3 tracks long, "Windowlicker" is meant to accompany its promotional music video, a 10 minute long parody of modern rap music videos. In the video, two foul mouthed young men (a Hispanic and an African American) attempt, unsuccessfully, to pick up two young African American women, resulting in a ridiculously long limousine crashing into the two men's convertible, and a "pimped-out" Richard D. James displaying a surreal amount of wealth and power. The two women accompany Richard in his limousine, while throughout the video, their faces continuously morph into James' own likeness. The video was directed by Chris Cunningham, who also directed Aphex Twin's infamous 1997 music video, "Come to Daddy".
Track listing
All tracks written, produced and engineered by Richard D. James. The original album was released on two separate compact discs
Disc One and 12" vinyl release
- "Windowlicker"
- Commonly referred to as "Equation", full name is: <math>\Delta M_i^{-1} = -a \sum_{n=1}^N D_i \left[ n \right] \left[ \sum_{j \in C[i]} F_{ij} \left[ n-1 \right] + F\operatorname{ext}_i \left[ n^{-1} \right] \right]<math>
- "Nannou"
Disc Two
- Windowlicker (Original Demo)
- Windowlicker Video, in Quicktime format.
Other promotional material included a 5" calendar featuring images from the video, an authentic jeweled Aphex Twin logo necklace (replicas of the one worn in the video), and the videos (both censored and uncut) on VHS.
There are also 2 other mixes of Windowlicker in existence. The "End-Roll Version", which is played during the credits of the video (available on some Japanese imports), and the "Acid Edit", a remix performed in the acid techno style (also available on the remix compilation 26 Mixes for Cash).
Samples of "Equation" can be heard on the song "54 Cymru beats" from James' 2001 album drukqs.
External links
- the Windowlicker Video (Directors Cut) (http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2432540)
- Spectrogram analysis of track 2 (http://gecsub.noise.hu/images/aphex-symbol.jpg)
