In footage shard by a wedding guest on X, Aphex Twin can be seen performing from a modest DJ booth with nothing more than a small projection screen behind him. Instead of family-friendly sounds and a heartwarming montage of the bride and groom, he opted for drum & bass with eye-popping visuals featuring his iconic distorted face, as seen on the album cover of 1996’s Richard D. James Album.
I remember going to a wedding where the DJ played Nine Inch Nails. This felt odd. I think going to a wedding with Aphex Twin and Luke Vibert is next level. Would be a strange vibe.
A custom sample mashing app designed by Aphex Twin.
Samplebrain chops samples up into a ‘brain’ of interconnected small
sections called blocks which are connected into a network by
similarity. It processes a target sample, chopping it up into blocks
in the same way, and tries to match each block with one in its brain
to play in realtime.
This allows you to interpret a sound with a different one. As we
worked on it (during 2015 and 2016) we gradually added more and more
tweakable parameters until it became slightly out of control.
While this popularity may expose classical music fans to the sometimes overwhelming, occasionally terrorizing music of Aphex Twin, the exchange also flows the other way. “It’s a gateway to Debussy, or some of the other amazing piano pieces that are out there,” said Reitzell, the music supervisor. “If you like that piece, man, I’ve got 30 more for you. That is the most beautiful thing about music. That song will probably outlive Richard’s entire catalog in a way.”
But Moran hears an even more fundamental reason modern listeners have turned a haunting piano piece with minimalist influences into a digital era phenomenon. Before our interview, she transcribed “Avril 14th” again to refamiliarize herself with it. Holding up the piece of paper, she noted its chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus structure. “Honestly,” she said, “this is like a pop song to me.”
I think my favourite ‘myth’ is the one about The Lemonheads remix:
As legend holds, he was commissioned to remix alt-rockers The Lemonheads, but when the courier came for the tape, he had nothing to turn in; he either didn’t listen to the original or “couldn’t be bothered to do their track ’cause it was so shit.” Instead, he grabbed an old track, handed it over, and was paid four grand for his work. “Strangely, they never released it,” he told Loaded (which makes confirming this one particularly difficult). “They should’ve been honoured, I reckon. It would have sounded better than any rubbish song they wrote.”
Part 1 is Drukqs, as that was the first thing I released that utilised computer controlled instruments, namely a modified Yamaha Disklavier, 2nd gen and a couple of midi controlled solenoid based drum mechanisms I made just after I got the Disklavier.
When it came out in 2001, Drukqs divided critics. But for me, it’s still the most important Aphex Twin album.
Drukqs was not the first Aphex Twin record I listened too. I had already spent years both mesmerised and horrified by the videos for Come to Daddy:
And Windowlicker:
I had also dived into both Selected Ambient Works Volume II and Richard D. James Album.
Drukqs however was the first album I had gotten into when it was actually released. For me, it was both everything I expected, but also a complete shock to the system all in one breath.
In an interview with Annie Clark aka St. Vincent, she discusses the intent for her live shows:
My goal with any show is that it will be an experience. You might love it or you might hate it or you might be completely confounded, but you won’t forget it.
I think that same could be said about Aphex Twin. Whether it be an album or seeing him live, they are usually experiences that you do not forget. (I will never forget seeing him live in 2004.) I think that Drukqs is one of these experiences. Although it could have been broken up into three distinct albums, it would no longer be the same uncanny experience that in some respect makes it work. As Tom Breihan captures:
Drukqs is also one of our first true internet-era data-dump albums. Many more would follow. As a data-dump album, though, Drukqs is simply glorious. For mostly-clueless listeners like me, who knew the creepy videos and the Aphex logo but not the man’s whole busy arc up to that point, Drukqs fucking ruled.
Music writer John Doran ventures into the strange world of Richard D James. Over the course of three decades James, known to his legion of hardcore fans as Aphex Twin, has achieved the primary but evasive aim of most serious musicians – the invention, exploration and curation of a truly unique and inimitable sound.
John Doran reflects on the stories associated with Aphex Twin. The myth that maketh the man. This is in contrast to something like Deep Cuts’ guide to the music:
I remember growing up with many of the myths, such as Richard D James drove around in a tank. I also once met a DJ who told me he was a part of a tour in the 90’s where Richard D James spent a whole gig just playing ping pong on the computer.
What is most intriguing about Richard D James is his ability to push back on expectation. I remember when I saw him perform in 2004.
It was like nothing I had ever experienced before and since. Where some dance/electronic acts have a certain rhythm and structure of highs and lows, the whole set was just intense music with no transitions. A musical journalist I went with actually left the gig early.
There is something about both Richard D James and his music that drags the listener in only to spit them out once again. There is a constant teasing of order never quite achieved.
