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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 '' 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 wanted''." [http://xltronic.com/nostalgia/aphextwin.nu/v4/learn/100771194880071.shtml ''The Face'' magazine "''I liked growing up there, being cut off from the city and the rest of the world.''" [http://xltronic.com/nostalgia/aphextwin.nu/v4/learn/98494129834161.shtml] The children studied in Redruth School, Cornwall. As a child he experimented on the strings and hammers of the family piano. {Link without Title} 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. {Link without Title} 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. Ben Middleton talking about Aphex Twin on early usenet AFX - Analogue Bubblebath It was played on the KISS FM's playlist, an influential London pirate station, which helped the EP become a success. {Link without Title} 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." The Rephlex Manifesto 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. BBC Aphex Twin BBC Aphex Twin 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''', and '''Power-Pill'''. A number of Richard's tracks (released under the aliases Blue Calx, The Dice Man, and others) were also included in various compilations during this time. Local legend has it that James lived on the roundabout in Elephant And Castle , South London during his early years in the capital. interview by David Toop list of aliases Gaining success: 1992-1999 The first Aphex Twin album, '' has billed the album as "both the birthplace and the benchmark of modern electronic music ... every home should have a copy." {Link without Title} Warp Records pressed and released '''' 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 '' 1998 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, '' 2004 . 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 Machine s which he bought when they were still at bargain prices. He also used one of the rarest and most desirable Synthesizer s 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. ATP Official Website He will also attend at 14 or 15 December in Den Haag, The Netherlands at State X. State X Official Website Recently, rumors have begun surfacing that James is now recording under one or more secret new aliases, such as The Tuss . Article on The Tuss in ''The Guardian'' Article on possible new aliases in the ''Village Voice'' Aphex Twin is also set to DJ at the Warehouse Project in Manchester on the 7th December. Along side him will be Luke Vibert, DJ Rephlex Records, Otto Von Schirach and Computer Controlled DJs who are set to play the night as well. the event is being organized by Sequence which is a monthly IDM/Techno night put on in Manchester. DISCOGRAPHY :''See Richard D. James Discography BACKGROUND 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. Photography James usually creates his own photography for his releases' artwork. Many of these photos show 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 " "[Symbol ", or "[Equation]") a photo of James' face is revealed when run through 2006 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. Influences Richard D. James's influences At age 17, James mentioned these influences: " Phonic Bod , '' Computer World '', Mental Telepathy , Industrial Inc , Tomita , Tangerine Dream ". 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". In addition James was influenced by Chicago house, and Detroit techno pioneers like Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson and also Brian Eno for Ambient music. For House and Acid House influences include A Guy Called Gerald , Mr. Fingers , 808 State , Lil Louis . Avante Garde music is a big influence for James as well, including Kraftwerk , Can , Neu! , Tangerine Dream , Karlheinz Stockhausen , Tod Dockstader , Xenakis , Piero Umiliani , Parmegiani , John Cage , the french composer Erik Satie for his piano works and his innovation ideas for Furniture Music (precursor to ambient music). On the death of BBC Radiophonic Workshop Electronic Musician Delia Derbyshire Richard mentioned her in NME magazine as a hero of his. From Hiphop, Lidell Townsend , Bass Master Warriors , Sten Hanson , Brian Bennett , Grace Jones ." Richard signed fellow musicians and personal friends Tom Jenkinson ( Squarepusher ), Mike Paradinas ( µ-ziq ), and Luke Vibert ( Plug ) to his Rephlex record label. From 1994 these were influence by Drum And Bass and Jungle Music . Their drum and bass was faster and faster and more complicated so fans of Rephlex records call it Drill And Bass (Drill instead of drum). Later Hellfish & Producer and Venetian Snares from µ-ziq 's Planet-mu influence Aphex Twin for noise and gabber. Many songs include sounds from and references to the ZX Spectrum. For instance, "Carn Marth" from Richard D. James Album includes the tape loading noise of the game Sabre Wulf . Influence on others Richard's own Rephlex Records label, which he co-owns with Grant Wilson-Claridge, describe Aphex Twin's music as "Braindance". Rephlex - the Record Label BBC - h2g2, August 28 , 2002 V/A - Braindance The Milk Factory, May, 2001 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 fans from the internet have called Aphex Twin IDM to describe Richard's novel approach to dance music. IDM list http://music.hyperreal.org/lists/idm/ Drill and Bass www.allmusic.com
The ''. 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 , 2002 However, he has stated that he is a fan of Ween . The Mathcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan has covered "Come to Daddy" on one of their EPs, ''Irony is a Dead Scene'', that featured Mike Patton as vocalist. The jazz ensemble The Bad Plus covered "Flim" on their album ''These Are the Vistas''. 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 centre. I just managed to escape and blag it into music." http://www.guardian.co.uk/friday_review/story/0,3605,563163,00.html 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 Algorithm ic processes which automatically generate beats and melodies; he experiences Synesthesia ; and he is able to incorporate Lucid Dreaming into the process of making music. "Aphex Twin: Mad Musician or Investment Banker?" Don Anderson, ''Space Age Bachelor Magazine'', Date unknown James owns a tank (a 1950s armoured scout car, the Daimler Ferret Mark 3 ) and a Submarine bought from Russia, and he lives in southeast London in a converted bank, which was formerly the Bank Of Cyprus and then HSBC . Aphex Twin provided all 3 of the tracks, (SAW2), Xtal (SAW1), and [parallel stripes (SAW2), in the BBC's digital widescreen test transmission, broadcast on a loop in the UK between November 1998 and early 2002. Google Video ZX Spectrum 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." ''The Face'' John O'Connell, ''The Face'', October Issue 2001 By displaying changing patterns of color on the monitor (in the case of the Spectrum, 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. Luke Vibert remix competition In May 2006 the artist Tahnaiya Russell (a surreal artist who cites Aphex Twin as an influence in her biography won the 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"). [http://autechre.watmm.com/index.php?/aphextwin/aphex_twin_wins_future_music_remix_competition/ "Aphex Twin Wins Music Remix Competition" We Are The Music Makers.com news post Richard James revealed to the magazine that he had entered under the alias, but was unaware he had actually won, and the prize of sample CDs was instead awarded to runner-up Michael Stephens. Equipment During an interview with Future Music , Richard said he liked using Ableton Live but prefers Liveslice for beat editing/stretching. In an interview with Japan's Snoozer magazine in 2001, James stated that his favorite instruments were his piano, laptop computer, and the Synton Fenix. In one of his older interviews in the ninties, Richard said he used Protools and "stuff like that". In the same interview, he reveals that he has "homemade" equipment which covered software programmes written by himself and synthesisers and various hardware devices he built when he was younger. Richard D. James studied electronics in Cornwall College and Kingston Polytechnic in London. He built his own synthesizers and samplers in his early years, he has also modified and Circuit Bent his equipment. James programmed his personal music software Algorithm also. UPIC by Iannis Xenakis Aphex Twin interview 'In Future Music'' CITATIONS AND REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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