Aphex Twin Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Aphex Twin (born Richard David James, 1971) is a UK-based electronic music artist, credited with pushing forward the genres of techno, ambient, IDM, acid, drum and bass (specifically drill n bass). Recent experimentation on his album drukqs included use of a prepared piano (specifically a Yamaha Disklavier) in the style of composer John Cage.
Born to Welsh parents in 1971, James spent his childhood in Cornwall. He experimented with electronics from an early age, winning a competition to make a Sinclair ZX Spectrum play a tune by setting the connected television's volume to full and alternating the colours on the screen, producing different pitches of noise.
He became a DJ and musician on the local rave scene, taking on the moniker "Aphex Twin". James claimed in an interview that the origin of this name was a combination of a manufacturer of signal processing equipment with the word twin in reference to an older brother (also called Richard James) who died at a young age before his birth. James uses his middle initial to distinguish himself from his late brother.
James was a founding partner in the Rephlex Records label, formed in 1991 and released his first records on this label, as well as Mighty Force and R&S Records; of Belgium. James relocated to London and released a slew of albums and EPs on the Warp Records label, and under a bewildering set of aliases (from the well known AFX and Polygon Window to the ultra underground Gak and Power Pill) . He was also responsible for a number of disturbing music videos in collaboration with director Chris Cunningham.
Aphex Twin interviews are inevitably entertaining, eccentric, and confusing. He has made many wild claims in his interviews which have been speculated by some to be false. Several of these claims include him owning an 1950s armoured scout car (a Daimler Ferret Mark 3), a submarine, composing ambient techno music at age 13 (contradicting most music history), building all of his synthesizers from scratch, having "over 100 hours" of unreleased music, and living in a converted bank. He is a talented photographer, having done his own artwork direction for many of his albums. Aphex Twin continues to create records at the boundaries of the accepted norms of music.
Ventolin is often called one of the harshest or most abrasive songs ever recorded due to the screeching trebles and breaking beats.
Richard D. James has also released a large amount of material under various aliases:
AFX:
This is an Article on Aphex Twin. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Aphex Twin Discography
Albums
EPs and Singles
Promos and Compilations
Aliases
Brad Strider:
Caustic Window:
Gak:
Polygon Window:
Power Pill:
Q-Chastic:
In the Universal Indicator series:
Misc:
See also
External links