Aphex Twin

DarkPsyFanatic · 07-24-2007, 07:20 PM

Anyone else here a fan of Aphex Twin? I've been a fan since I first discovered him in 1996, and I also have heard almost all of the side projects. Richard D James is a musical genius, and one of the best artists in all of electronic music. Not only has he tried a number of different styles, he's done all of them brilliantly. My favorite Aphex Twin album is probably Ambient Work II. Pure ambient bliss, some of it would even be a good soundtrack for your dreams. So, anyone else here into him?

fotog · 07-25-2007, 11:13 AM

Funny Little Man and Cornish Acid 1 are my two tops. I cant say that I love one group over another, more songs touch me than actually artists. If I can get into the song and understand what the artist is trying to convey, then I'm all for it. Otherwise its like

and I switch to something else.

DarkPsyFanatic · 07-25-2007, 11:42 AM

Thanks for the reply! Glad to see somebody else here enjoys Richard D James work. Everything i've heard by him i've enjoyed. Not to say I blindly worship him(or any other artists/people/whatever). But yeah, he's one of my favorite electronic artists for good reason!

MC fool · 07-27-2007, 09:18 PM

I've heard his songs in a lot of games, especially racing games and like. Fits perfectly with a ricer car flying through an urban area at 125 mphs. Good music all around too.

The AFX · 07-28-2007, 05:57 PM

Aphex Twin is pretty tite. Always dug his stuff specially the self-titled album.

quinda2 · 08-08-2007, 09:14 AM

I must be the only Aphex Twin fan who absolutely LOVES the Drukqs album. A lot of people complain about it, but I think it offers about the best variety of all Aphex albums all in one place.

ladyt · 08-08-2007, 01:37 PM

I think I need to turn some AT on today, have not listened to in abit (friend showed me "the ways").

I will have to check out the album you mentioned, never heard of it.

quinda2 · 08-09-2007, 08:47 AM

ladyt: Yes, please do so! It'd be great to hear your opinion on it

Oh yeah, and for those who are too lazy to look them up on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphex_Twin

Quote:

Aphex Twin (born Richard David James on August 18, 1971 in Limerick, Ireland) is a British electronic music artist, credited with pushing forward the genres of techno, ambient, acid and drum and bass.

History

Early life

Richard D. James was born of Welsh parents Lorna and Derek James at 5:00 AM[1] on August 18, 1971 in St. Munchins's Limerick Regional Maternity Hospital, Ireland. He grew up in Lanner, Cornwall, England, enjoying, along with two sisters, a "very happy" childhood during which they "were pretty much left to do what [they] wanted." [2] "I liked growing up there, being cut off from the city and the rest of the world." [3] The children studied in Redruth School, Cornwall.

As a child he experimented on the strings and hammers of the family piano.[4]

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 Richard James studied the National Diploma in Engineering from 1988 to 1990 in Cornwall College . He passed the course, although he listened to his mixes on his headphones during the practical lesson. [5]

Early career: Early 1990s

Aphex Twin's first record was the 12-inch EP Analogue Bubblebath, the last two tracks of which were made with Tom Middleton.[6][7] Play on the KISS FM's playlist, an influential London pirate station, helped the EP become an success.[8]

In 1991 James formed Rephlex Records with his friend Grant 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."[9]

Between 1991 and 1993, James released three Analogue Bubblebath EPs under the name of AFX, two Bradley Strider EPs, and three Caustic Window EPs. Under the Power-Pill name he released the Pac-Man EP based on the arcade game Pac-Man. Under the Aphex Twin name he released the Xylem Tube EP and Didgeridoo, a fast-paced song designed to tire dancers at the end of a DJ set. These early releases came out on Rephlex Records, Mighty Force of Exeter, and R&S Records of Belgium.[10][11]

Early in his career, 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, Blue Calx, The Dice Man, Power-Pill, and The Tuss. 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]

Gaining success: 1992-1999

The first 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 pressed and released Selected Ambient Works Volume II in 1994. The sound was much less beat-driven than the previous volume. Despite one song also having the name "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)[6]. James stated in The Wire magazine and other media that these songs were inspired by lucid dreams and synesthesia.

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 in his later records. The album was a compilation of songs composed between 1991 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 synthesizer. Aphex Twin collaborated with minimalist composer Philip Glass to make an orchestral version of one of the songs from this album, Icct Hedral.

In 1995 (primarily with Hangable Auto Bulb, an anagram of Analogue Bubblebath), he began releasing more material composed on computers, and embraced a drum and bass sound combined 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 and two singles, "Come to Daddy" and "Windowlicker", which were shown on MTV and were cover features of music magazines including NME.[16] The videos for both singles were directed by British artist Chris Cunningham and caused controversy on their release due to disturbing images and themes.

2000-Present

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. Also included were abrasive, fast and meticulously programmed computer-made songs. Rolling Stone described the piano songs as "aimlessly pretty".[17] 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 told the 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.[18].

In late 2004, rumours of James' return to an acid techno based sound were realised with the Analord series. This series concentrated on producing fully analogue pieces of music, written and recorded on analogue equipment and pressed to vinyl. James was very meticulous about the whole process of recording, mastering and pressing. 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 extensive collection of Roland drum machines which he bought when they were still at bargain prices. He also used one of the rarest and most desirable 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.

Aphex Twin is set to play at the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival in December 2007.[19]

Recently, rumors have begun surfacing that James is now recording under one or more secret new aliases, such as The Tuss.[20] [21]

Read the rest in the article, i'm too lazy to copy/paste more!

The AFX · 08-29-2007, 12:11 PM

Well, I just checked out the Drukqs album recently, and Quinda was right. After a few listens, it really started to grow on me a lot.

07-24-2007, 07:20 PM	Aphex Twin Post #1 (permalink)
DarkPsyFanatic Resident Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 122	Aphex Twin Anyone else here a fan of Aphex Twin? I've been a fan since I first discovered him in 1996, and I also have heard almost all of the side projects. Richard D James is a musical genius, and one of the best artists in all of electronic music. Not only has he tried a number of different styles, he's done all of them brilliantly. My favorite Aphex Twin album is probably Ambient Work II. Pure ambient bliss, some of it would even be a good soundtrack for your dreams. So, anyone else here into him? Last edited by DarkPsyFanatic : 07-24-2007 at 07:22 PM

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07-25-2007, 11:13 AM	Aphex Twin Post #2 (permalink)
fotog Newcomer Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Maryland Posts: 75	Funny Little Man and Cornish Acid 1 are my two tops. I cant say that I love one group over another, more songs touch me than actually artists. If I can get into the song and understand what the artist is trying to convey, then I'm all for it. Otherwise its like and I switch to something else.

07-25-2007, 11:42 AM	Aphex Twin Post #3 (permalink)
DarkPsyFanatic Resident Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 122	Thanks for the reply! Glad to see somebody else here enjoys Richard D James work. Everything i've heard by him i've enjoyed. Not to say I blindly worship him(or any other artists/people/whatever). But yeah, he's one of my favorite electronic artists for good reason!

07-27-2007, 09:18 PM	Aphex Twin Post #4 (permalink)
MC fool Bedroomer Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 25	I've heard his songs in a lot of games, especially racing games and like. Fits perfectly with a ricer car flying through an urban area at 125 mphs. Good music all around too.

07-28-2007, 05:57 PM	Aphex Twin Post #5 (permalink)
The AFX Newcomer Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 64	Aphex Twin is pretty tite. Always dug his stuff specially the self-titled album.

08-08-2007, 09:14 AM	Aphex Twin Post #6 (permalink)
quinda2 Newcomer Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 62	I must be the only Aphex Twin fan who absolutely LOVES the Drukqs album. A lot of people complain about it, but I think it offers about the best variety of all Aphex albums all in one place.

08-08-2007, 01:37 PM	Aphex Twin Post #7 (permalink)
ladyt Super Moderator Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: SC Posts: 110	I think I need to turn some AT on today, have not listened to in abit (friend showed me "the ways"). I will have to check out the album you mentioned, never heard of it.

08-29-2007, 12:11 PM	Aphex Twin Post #9 (permalink)
The AFX Newcomer Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 64	Well, I just checked out the Drukqs album recently, and Quinda was right. After a few listens, it really started to grow on me a lot.

Aphex Twin

house, techno, progressive, broken beats: producers, djs, releases

Aphex Twin