Aphex Twin
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| Aphex Twin | |
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 Aphex Twin DJ'ing, December 2007.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Richard David James |
| Also known as | AFX Blue Calx Bradley Strider Caustic Window DJ Smojphace GAK Martin Tressider Polygon Window Power-Pill Prichard D. Jams Q-Chastic Tahnaiya Russell The Dice Man Soit P.P. |
| Born | August 18, 1971 Limerick, Ireland |
| Origin | Lanner, Cornwall, England |
| Genre(s) | Electronic music |
| Occupation(s) | Disc jockey Musician Songwriter Remixer Businessman |
| Instrument(s) | Synthesizer Electronics Laptop Softsynth Drum Machine Computer Sampler Piano |
| Years active | 1991 – present |
| Label(s) | Rephlex Records Warp Records R&S Records Sire Records Mighty Force Rabbit City |
| Associated acts | Universal Indicator Mike & Rich |
Richard David James (born August 18, 1971), better known as Aphex Twin, is a Cornish electronic music artist who has been described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music."[1] He started Rephlex Records in 1991 with Grant Wilson-Claridge.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early years
Richard David James was born of Welsh parents Lorna and Derek James on August 18, 1971[2] in St. Munchins Limerick Regional Maternity Hospital, Ireland. James grew up in Lanner, Cornwall, UK enjoying (along with two older sisters) a "very happy" childhood during which they, according to James, "were pretty much left to do what [they] wanted."[3] He "liked growing up there, being cut off from the city and the rest of the world."[4] James enjoyed his education at the Redruth School located in Redruth, Cornwall [5].
According to Benjamin Middleton, James started producing music at the age of 12. As a teenager he DJed at the Shire Horse in St Ives, with Tom Middleton at the Bowgie Inn in Crantock, and also along the numerous beaches around Cornwall. From age 16 to 18 James studied for a National Diploma in Engineering and from 1988 to 1990 at Cornwall College. When talking about his studies James has said that "music and electronics went hand in hand".[6] James passed college although he, according to an engineering lecturer, quite often would have his headphones on during practical lessons, "no doubt thinking through the mixes he'd be working on later". [7]
[edit] Early career: early 1990s
In 1989 James met and befriended Grant Wilson-Claridge when DJing on alternate weeks at the Bowgie pub, near Newquay in Cornwall. Wilson-Claridge was intrigued by James' sets and was surprised to discover that James was playing tapes of his own music
James' first release was the 12-inch EP Analogue Bubblebath on Mighty Force Records in 1991. It was first released under the moniker of Aphex Twin but that was later changed to AFX. The track "En Trance to Exit" was made in collaboration with Tom Middleton aka Schizophrenia.[8][9] The EP got on the playlist of KISS FM, an influential London pirate radiostation. This helped the release to become a success.[10]
In 1991 James founded Rephlex Records together with Wilson-Claridge to promote "Innovation in the dynamics of Acid - a much loved and misunderstood genre of house music forgotten by some and indeed new to others, especially in Britain."[11]
Between 1991 and 1993, James released two Analogue Bubblebath EPs under the name of AFX and a Bradley Strider EP under "Bradley Strider". James moved to London to take an electronics course at Kingston Polytechnic, but at the time admitted to David Toop that his "electronics studies were already slipping away as a career in the techno business took precedence". After quitting his course, James remained in London and released a number of albums and EPs on Warp Records and other labels under many aliases, including AFX, Polygon Window, and Power-Pill. A number of James' tracks (released under the aliases Blue Calx, The Dice Man, and others) appeared on various compilations. Local legend has it that James lived on the roundabout in Elephant and Castle, South London during his early years in the capital.[12][13]
[edit] Gaining success: 1992-1995
The first full-length Aphex Twin album, Selected Ambient Works 85-92, was released in 1992 on R&S Records. John Bush of the All Music Guide described it as a "watershed of ambient music". Rolling Stone magazine wrote of the album: "Aphex Twin expanded way beyond the ambient music of Brian Eno by fusing lush soundscapes with oceanic beats and bass lines". Critics also noted that the songs were recorded on cassette and that the sound quality was "relatively poor".[14][15] Warp Records has billed the album as "both the birthplace and the benchmark of modern electronic music ... every home should have a copy."[16] In 1992, he also released the Xylem Tube EP and Digeridoo as Aphex Twin, as Power-Pill the Pac-Man EP based on the arcade game Pac-Man, and two of his four Caustic Window EPs. Digeridoo reached #55 on the UK charts, and was later described as foreshadowing drum and bass by Rolling Stone. [17] Digeridoo was recorded initially for the benefit of FIZZ-BOMB (at the Shire Horse, St Ives, Cornwall). These early releases came out on Rephlex Records, Mighty Force of Exeter, and R&S Records of Belgium.[18][19]
In 1993, Aphex released his third installment in the Analogue Bubblebath series, an ambient single On, his second Bradley Strider EP, two more Caustic Window EPs, and his first releases on Warp Records, Surfing on Sine Waves and Quoth under the alias Polygon Window.
Warp Records pressed and released a follow-up to SAW85-92, Selected Ambient Works Volume II in 1994. The sound was much less beat-driven than the previous volume. Except for one song explicitly named "Blue Calx", all of the track names were described with pie chart symbols, each of which was meant to be paired with a corresponding image in the album jacket. To decipher song titles, listeners had to pair each numbered symbol with the correct image (for example, the first title, which is often labeled "cliffs", is realized by pairing the first symbol with the first image, which is that of a rocky cliffside).[20] James claimed in The Wire magazine and other media that these songs were inspired by lucid dreams and synesthesia. Other releases are a fourth Analogue Bubblebath, GAK, derived from early demos sent to Warp Records and Classics, a compilation album that includes the Digeridoo single, and the Xylem Tube EP.
For his 1995 release, ...I Care Because You Do, James used an image of his face for the album cover; a motif that would continue on many of his later records. The album was a compilation of songs composed between 1990 and 1994, and represented a mish-mash of Aphex Twin's various music styles. This was Aphex Twin's last record of the 1990s to use mostly analogue synthesizers. Aphex Twin collaborated with minimalist composer Philip Glass to make an orchestral version of one of the songs from this album, "Icct Hedral", which appeared on the Donkey Rhubarb EP.
[edit] Jungle, DSP, and laptops: 1995-1999
In 1995 (primarily with Hangable Auto Bulb, a near anagram of Analogue Bubblebath), he began releasing more material composed on computers, combining a jungle sound with nostalgic childhood themes and strange computer-generated acid lines.
Aphex Twin's early adoption of software synthesizers predated the later popularity of using computers to make music. The late 1990s saw his music become more popular and mainstream, as he released the Richard D. James Album (which included the previously released Girl/Boy EP), and Expert Knob Twiddlers (a collaboration with fellow dance producer u-ziq) in 1996, "Come to Daddy" in 1997 (#36 on UK charts) and "Windowlicker" in 1998 (#16 on UK charts), two pop songs which heavily use digital signal processing/DSP techniques, both of which were shown on MTV and became cover features for music magazines such as NME.[21] The videos for both singles were directed by British artist Chris Cunningham and caused controversy on their release due to disturbing images and themes.
[edit] Player piano, laptops, and more DSP: 2000-2003
In 2001 Aphex Twin released his most personal album yet, drukqs, a 2-CD album which featured prepared piano songs influenced by Erik Satie and John Cage. Many of the tracks names are written in the Cornish language (e.g. 'jynweythek' translatable as 'machinemusic'). Also included were abrasive, fast and meticulously programmed computer-made songs. Rolling Stone described the piano songs as "aimlessly pretty".[22] Some reviewers concluded that drukqs was released as a contract breaker with Warp Records—a credible guess, as James' next big release came out on his own Rephlex label. Richard claimed to interviewers he had left almost all the album's tracks on an MP3 player that he accidentally left on a plane with "Aphex Twin - unreleased tracks" written on it, and rushed its release to pre-empt an Internet leak.[23]
[edit] Synthesizers and drum machines: 2004-2008
In late 2004, rumours of James' return to an acid techno based sound were realised with the Analord series. Analord was created by playing and sequencing analogue and digital electronic music equipment such as synthesizers and drum machines rather than computers for the most part, and was written and recorded on magnetic tape and then later pressed to vinyl.
James was meticulous about the whole process of recording, mastering and pressing. James has said Rephlex Records were strict on quality control, trying out various pressing plant companies until they felt it sounded perfect. To James' ears vinyl or tape is better than digital as no two copies are the same. [24] However, label co-owner Grant Wilson-Claridge convinced James to release a digital CD, Chosen Lords, which included a selection from the Analord series, with some tracks slightly altered to improve the flow of the album.
For the Analord records, James used his collection of Roland drum machines which he bought when they were still at bargain prices. He also used synthesizers of his generation, the Synton Fenix, and the notoriously difficult to program Roland MC-4 sequencer (a sequencer with a reputation for excellent timing), as well as the famous Roland TB-303 for his trademark acid melodies.
Recently, rumors in the media suggest Aphex Twin is now recording under one or more secret new aliases, such as The Tuss.[25][26]
[edit] Background details
[edit] The Aphex Twin name
The name "Aphex Twin" is derived from Aphex Systems Limited, a brand of audio signal processing equipment. It is used with permission, as was recognized on the back sleeve of his Richard D. James and Drukqs albums. He has explained in interviews that the 'Twin' is in memory of his brother, also named Richard James, who died at birth.
[edit] Artwork
James has done his own photography for some of his releases' artwork. Some artwork shows James' own face, grinning or slightly distorted in some way, as it can be seen in some of his videoclips ("Come to Daddy", for example). Towards the end of the second track on the "Windowlicker" single (commonly referred to as "Equation") a photo of James' face is revealed when run through spectral analysis.[27] The picture illustrates his famous toothy, evil grin (with a spiral also visible at the end of "Windowlicker"). In addition to this, the cover of "Two Remixes by AFX" is actually contained only on the CD, encoded in SSTV format.
[edit] Influences
At age 17, Richard D. James mentioned these influences: "Phonic Bod, Computer World, Mental Telepathy, Industrial Inc, Tomita, Tangerine Dream". Mixmaster Morris mentions on the "I Luv AFX" BBC Radio 1 Breezeblock session that James' preferred moniker whilst DJ'ing in Cornwall was Phonic Boy on Dope. More recently, he has said that he gets inspiration from "everyday sounds that can be emulated / reconstructed electronically, quality techno, especially from Europe which overshadows the current hardcore pop crap". When asked about what is next for electronic music, he said "acid-techno, ambient-techno". Avante Garde music has been an influence on James, including artists such as Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Can, Neu!, Tangerine Dream, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Tod Dockstader, Xenakis, Piero Umiliani, Bernard Parmegiani, John Cage, the French composer Erik Satie for his piano works and his innovative ideas for furniture music.
The BBC Radiophonic workshop influenced Aphex Twin, and he released a compilation of music recorded by the pioneers of that studio, for example Delia Derbyshire,[28][29] called Music from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop on his own Rephlex Records label.
Many songs include sounds from and references to the ZX Spectrum. For instance, "Carn Marth" from the Richard D. James Album includes the tape loading noise of the game Sabre Wulf.
[edit] Influence on others
Fans of Aphex Twin made an internet discussion list in August 1993 to talk about Aphex Twin and Warp Records. It was called the Intelligent Dance Music List. From then internet fans have called Aphex Twin IDM and Drill and bass to describe Richard's novel approach to dance music.[30][31]
Perfect Sound Forever: Another term that's been used to describe your work is 'intelligent dance music.'
- "I just think it's really funny to have terms like that. It's basically saying 'this is intelligent and everything else is stupid.' It's really nasty to everyone else's music. (laughs) It makes me laugh, things like that. I don't use names. I just say that I like something or I don't." - Aphex Twin[32]
Advice from Aphex Twin
Future Music: What pisses you off about the current music scene?
Aphex Twin: Too many sheep and not enough shepherds. Let's all sit back and have a long hard think, then make something different! We can all do it, surely? [33]
The London Sinfonietta has performed arrangements of Aphex Twin.[34] In 2005, the orchestra Alarm Will Sound released Acoustica: Alarm Will Sound Performs Aphex Twin. The album consists of acoustic arrangements of some of James' electronic tracks. Aphex Twin has said, "I don't really like rock & roll." Despite this, he has had an influence on rock bands like Radiohead.[35] However, he has dismissed the idea of going on tour with them: "I wouldn't play with them since I don't like them."[36]
[edit] Braindance
Richard's own Rephlex Records label, which he co-owns with Grant Wilson-Claridge, created the term "Braindance" to describe Aphex Twin's music beginning in 1991.[37][38][39] "Braindance" applies to "forward-thinking" electronic music that can appeal to the mind as well as the desire to dance and party. Examples including Ed-DMX's Breakin' records label, µ-Ziq's Planet-mu label, the Aphex Twin EP Come To Daddy[40] and Astrobotnia Parts 1, 2 & 3.[41] . It encompasses elements of a variety of genres, including traditional, classical, electronic music, popular, modern, industrial, ambient, hip hop, electro, house, techno, breakbeat, hardcore, ragga, garage, drum and bass, etc.
[edit] Aphex Twin's press
James described himself in the Guardian newspaper as follows: "I'm just some irritating, lying, ginger kid from Cornwall who should have been locked up in some youth detention center. I just managed to escape and blag it into music."[42]
Aphex Twin said he composed ambient techno music at the age of 13; he has "over 100 hours" of unreleased music; he made his own software to compose with, including algorithmic processes which automatically generate beats and melodies; he experiences synesthesia; and he is able to incorporate lucid dreaming into the process of making music.[43]
James owns a 1950s armoured scout car, the Daimler Ferret Mark 3, and a submarine bought from Russia. He lives in southeast London in a converted bank, which was formerly the Bank of Cyprus and then HSBC. Contrary to popular opinion, however, he does not own the silver structure in the centre of the roundabout at Elephant and Castle. This is, in fact, the Michael Faraday Memorial, containing a power transformer for the Northern Line, which James jokingly claimed to be buying in an interview with The Face magazine in 2001.[44]
He was called by some "a child prodigy" and has been raised to a mythical status with these and other types of stories, including that he nearly precluded John Cage with his youthful experimentation using a piano in his own tunings or plucking the strings instead. Some of these rumors are hard to confirm as he has been known to spread mistruths in the prankster tradition, making such claims as only sleeping two to three hours a night.[45]
[edit] BBC digital
Aphex Twin provided all 3 of the tracks, [rhubarb] (SAW II), Xtal (SAW 85-92), and [parallel stripes] (SAW II), in the BBC's digital widescreen test transmission, broadcast on a loop in the UK during November 1998 and early 2002.[46]
[edit] Stockhausen vs. The Technocrats
In November of 1995, "The Wire" wrote an article entitled "Advice to Clever Children".
A package of tapes containing music from several artists, including Aphex Twin, was sent to the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.
Stockhausen commented:
- "I heard the piece Aphex Twin of Richard James carefully: I think it would be very helpful if he listens to my work Song Of The Youth, which is electronic music, and a young boy's voice singing with himself. Because he would then immediately stop with all these post-African repetitions, and he would look for changing tempi and changing rhythms, and he would not allow to repeat any rhythm if it were varied to some extent and if it did not have a direction in its sequence of variations."[47]
Aphex Twin responded:
- "I thought he should listen to a couple of tracks of mine: "Didgeridoo", then he'd stop making abstract, random patterns you can't dance to."
[edit] ZX81 Competition
Richard claims to have produced sound on a Sinclair ZX81 (a machine with no sound hardware) at the age of 11:
- "When I was 11, I won 50 pounds in a competition for writing this program that made sound on a ZX81. You couldn't make sound on a ZX81, but I played around with machine code and found some codes that retuned the TV signal so that it made this really weird noise when you turned the volume up."[48]
By displaying changing patterns of color on the monitor (in the case of the ZX81, as with many early personal computers, the display monitor was a television), the natural hum from the cathode ray tube was modulated, producing a semblance of melody.
[edit] Luke Vibert remix competition
In May 2006, Tahnaiya Russell (a surreal artist who cites Aphex Twin as an influence in her biography [1]) won a remix competition in Future Music magazine. Tahnaiya Russell's remix of the Luke Vibert track was deemed by Vibert himself to be the best of the submissions ("Relaxed and sophisticated, but with large balls and huge bass").[49] Richard James revealed to the magazine that he had entered under that alias, but was unaware he had actually won, and the prize of sample CDs was instead awarded to runner-up Michael Stephens (which the magazine failed to send).
[edit] Discography
[edit] Citations and references
- ^ Tank Boy
- ^ Lornaderek, from the album Drukqs
- ^ The Face magazine
- ^ The Aphex Twin Community / Learn / Interviews & Articles / Interview by Theresa Stern
- ^ Mad Magazine "Rephlexology"
- ^ [The Aphex Effect| Future Music | April 1993 | Dave Robinson |futuremusic.co.uk ]
- ^ College days | eG weekly | EducationGuardian.co.uk
- ^ Ben Middleton talking about Aphex Twin on early usenet
- ^ AFX - Analogue Bubblebath
- ^ Aphex Twin The Contrarian
- ^ The Rephlex Manifesto
- ^ interview by David Toop
- ^ list of aliases
- ^ Review by Rolling Stone magazine
- ^ Review by All Music
- ^ WARP RECORDS | APHEX TWIN | SELECTED AMBIENT WORKS 85-92 | DIST003CD
- ^ Aphex Twin: Biography : Rolling Stone
- ^ BBC Aphex Twin
- ^ BBC Aphex Twin
- ^ The Aphex Twin Community / Learn / F.A.Q / The SAW II GRAPHICAL F.A.Q
- ^ Cover of NME March 20, 1998
- ^ Drukqs: Aphex Twin: Review: Rolling Stone
- ^ Synths, drukqs and rock'n'roll FairfaxDigital, January 9, 2004
- ^ Future Music Future Music 2006
- ^ Article on The Tuss in The Guardian
- ^ Article on possible new aliases in the Village Voice
- ^ The Aphex Face Bastwood.com, retrieved on 23 May 2006
- ^ Queen of the wired frontier | Review | The Observer
- ^ BBC Radiophonic Workshop gullbuy review
- ^ IDM list http://music.hyperreal.org/lists/idm/
- ^ Drill and Basswww.allmusic.com
- ^ Perfect Sound Forever interview Perfect Sound Forever by Jason Gross, [September 1997], 1997
- ^ Future Music Future Music 2006
- ^ Interview with Morgan Hayes and David Horne, March 2, 1997
- ^ Radiohead - Kid A www.bbc.co.uk by Rhys Tranter, 17 June 2003
- ^ Aphex Twin Interview Kludge Magazine by Arturo Perez, March 16, 2002
- ^ Rephlex - the Record Label BBC - h2g2, August 28, 2002
- ^ V/A - Braindance The Milk Factory, May, 2001
- ^ Dancing in the dark: Aphex Twin's Richard D James is up to his old tricks, says Louis Pattison The Guardian, Saturday May 26, 2007
- ^ album description on HMV retailer website
- ^ Astrobotnia Parts 1, 2 & 3, Rephlex; 2002; album review by Paul Cooper Pitchfork Media , October 4, 2002
- ^ The Friday interview: Aphex Twin | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited
- ^ "Aphex Twin: Mad Musician or Investment Banker?" Don Anderson, Space Age Bachelor Magazine, Date unknown
- ^ The Aphex Twin Community / Learn / Interviews & Articles / The Face Magazine
- ^ Reynolds, Simon (1998). Generation Ecstasy. see 186, 189: Little, Brown and Company, 453 pages. ISBN 0316741116.
- ^ Google Video
- ^ Karlheinz Stockhausen - Advice to clever children... "The Wire", November 1995
- ^ The Face John O'Connell, The Face, October Issue 2001
- ^ This might be another confusion as Tahnaiya Russell's website seems to belong to a real person who is also a photographer. "Aphex Twin Wins Music Remix Competition" We Are The Music Makers.com news post
[edit] External links
- Aphex Twin links at Open Directory Project
- Aphex Twin discography at Discogs
- Complete Aphex Twin discography at xltronic.com
- The Aphex Twin Community
- Aphex Twin at Rolling Stone magazine site
- Aphex Twin Equipment List at Street Electronics web site
- VideoClip - Aphex Twin & Rephlex raving @ the Dead Sea, Israel 2000
- Warp Records Aphex Twin Page
- Rephlex Official site
- Rephlex discography
- The Rephlex Manifesto
- Rephlex Records at Discogs.com
- Aphex Twin discography at MusicBrainz
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