Aphex Twin

At 52 years old, Aphex Twin has this physical status:

Career

James became involved in the Cornish free party scene in the 1980s, performing raves at "unknown coves along the coast and behind sand dunes." In 1988, he DJed at a barn. Parties were also held at Gwennap Pit. They primarily attracted local youth and visitors, with entrance fees taken in cannabis. The tight-knit community will continue to perform at small clubs in towns around the county, including St. Ives, Porthtowan, and St Austell. James would later refer to this scene as the "most he's ever been interested in."

In 1989, James began a regular DJ slot, while in Crantock's Bowgie nightclub. He met Tom Middleton and Grant Wilson-Claridge there. Middleton performed a tape James had given him to a free party manager in Exeter, who eventually persuaded James to release a record on his fledgling record label Mighty Force Records, which eventually caused him to die. James was initially apprehension, but Darby and Middleton convinced him to break the record although he was tripping on acid backstage at a DJ gig. "I think if he hadn't made that trip that night there might not have been any Aphex Twins," Darby later said. "They coerced me to sign the deal right away when I was off my face," James had said. I was tripping and they're waving this money and a pen at me. It's a little clichéd, but it's the way they got me to sign.' Wilson-Claridge, who was also captivated by James' music, suggested that they use some funds inherited to create a record label in order to promote it. In 1991, Rehlex Records was founded by James and James.

The 12" EP Analogue Bubblebath, James' first appearance on Mighty Force in September 1991, was the first time he was released. The EP debuted on Kiss FM, a well-known London radio station, giving it a wide audience in the dance music market. The Guardian named this year as one of dance music's most important moments in history. Renaat Vandepapeliere, the head of R&S Records at the time, was one of Europe's top dance labels. James spent a week in Belgium, carrying with him a box full of cassettes of his songs. They curated tracks for two albums, including James' debut album Selected Ambient Works 85-92.

As word of his 12" records began to circulate, James began performing at London techno clubs, such as formative club Knowledge, held at the SW1 nightclub in London's Victoria, and the legendary night Lost.

Along with the Digeridoo and Xylem Tube EPs on the R&S label, James released three Analogue Bubblebath EPs, two EPs as Caustic Window, and the Red EP as part of the Universal Indicator group in 1991 and 1992. Despite transferring to Kingston Polytechnic to complete an electronics course, he told David Toop that his electronics studies were fading away as he pursued a career in electronic music.

Selected Ambient Works 85-92, James' first full length album, contained works dating back to his teen years. Apollo Records, a Belgian label R&S affiliate, first announced it in November 1992. The debut of Allmusic's John Bush would later refer to it as a watershed moment in ambient music. Aphex Twin went "expanded way beyond Brian Eno's ambient music by fusing lush soundscapes with oceanic beats and bass lines," according to Pat Blashill, demonstrating that "technology can be more than druggy dance music." David Pecoraro, a writer for Pitchfork, called it "among the most interesting music ever created with a keyboard and a computer." "A seminal record in the IDM, ambient, and experimental canon," DJ Mag's Ben Murphy called it "a seminal record in the IDM, ambient, and experimental canon."

As Power-Pill, two of his four Joyrex EPs (Joyrex J4 EP and Joyrex J5 EP) as Caustic Window and Analogue Bubblebath 3, James also released the EPs Digeridoo and Xylem Tube EP as Aphex Twin (an album of remixes of Pac-Man music) in 1992 (Aphex Twin) as Well-Pill, two of his four Joyrex EPs (Jo "Digeridoo" reached #55 on the UK Singles Chart, and Rolling Stone later described it as a foreshadowing drum and bass. He also appeared on the Warp Records compilation Artificial Intelligence as the Dice Man on the track "Polygon Window," and the collection would help with the birth of "intelligent dance music" and help launch Aphex Twin's career alongside Autechre and Richie Hawtin. In 1993, Warp: Surfing on Sine Waves (the second entry in the label's Artificial Intelligence series) and the EP Quoth, as Polygon Window), and the "On" EP, which debuted on the UK charts, followed his first appearances on the UK charts, which climbed to the top 40. Rephlex also released an EP by James under the alias Bradley Strider, Bradley's Robot, and two more Caustic Window records.

In 1993, James was on several tours. He has supported Orb on several occasions and appeared on the "Midi Circus" tour at venues around the country, co-headlining with Orbital, the Orb, and Drum Club. He appeared on orbital, Moby, and Vapourspace's "See the Light" tour later this year, and his appearance at various venues around the country later this year.

In 1994, Warp introduced Selected Ambient Works Volume II, which explored a more modern sound influenced by lucid dreams and James' experience of synaesthesia. It ranked number 11 in the UK charts, but it wasn't particularly well-received; critic Simon Reynolds later said that "many in the Aphex cult were sent for a loop" and that "Aphex aficionados are still divided." Other 1994 releases included Analogue Bubblebath, GAK (derived from early demos sent to Warp), and Classics, a compilation album.

James used a snapshot of his face for the cover of his 1994 album...I Care Because You Do, a series of styles that appeared between 1990 and 1994, which became a design element on his subsequent releases. Philip Glass, a Western classical-music composer, was hired by him to produce an orchestral version of the "I Care Because You Do track "Icct Hedral," which appeared on the Donkey Rhubarb EP. In the same year, James released his Hangable Auto Bulb EP, which pioneered the short-lived drill 'n' bass style.

Aphex Twins, Richard D. James' fourth studio album, was released on Warp in 1996. It includes software synthes and irregular rhythms. Will Hermes of Spin wrote about James' use of jungle elements, describing how "by utilizing junglist tactics to his own obsessive sound design, whirring crib toys, and agitating machines, he recreates drum'n'bass in his own image." Eric Carr wrote that Richard D. James Album contained "aggressive blends of various electronic styles" that have ensured its relevance in a Pitchfork list of the best albums of the 1990s, with a "most brutal comparison between its elements" that has guaranteed its longevity. The 55th best album of all time in 2003, NME's best album of the 1990s, Pitchfork named it the 40th best album of the 1990s in 2009.

Since the debut of his charting Come to Daddy EP, James Attraction gained attention the following year. The title track was created as a death metal parody. "This little idea that I had, which was a joke, turned into something amazing, and as a result of Chris Cunningham's superb music video, James became dissatisfied with the company's success: "This little idea, which was a joke, became a huge." It wasn't right at all." It was followed by "Windowlicker," a charting single promoting another Cunningham music video nominated for the British Video Award in 2000.

Drukqs, an experimental double album influenced by Erik Satie and John Cage, was released in 2001 by Aphex Twins, which featured abrasive, meticulous programming, and computer-controlled piano. It includes the piano work "Avril 14th," which is possibly James' best known work. Reviewers were polarized by the album. During an interview, James mistakenly left an MP3 player with new tracks on a plane and had rushed the album release to prevent an internet leak.

In 2001, James released 2 Remixes By AFX, a short EP containing remixes of songs by 808 State and DJ Pierre. It also had an untitled third track, which consisted of a SSTV image with high-pitched sounds that can be decoded to a viewable image with appropriate software. In 2002, James was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Male. Warp released 26 Mixes for Cash in 2003, acquiring many of James' remixes for other artists.

In 2005, James released a series of vinyl EPs under the AFX name Analord, which were entirely created with analogue equipment. These were followed in 2006 by Chosen Lords, a compilation album of Analord tracks. Two records on Rephlex, Confederation Trough, and Rushup Edge were published in 2007. The Tuss, Cornish slang for "erection," was released by James in 2007. According to reports, James' presence was speculated about, but his identity wasn't confirmed until 2014.

Rephlex Records released digital versions (in the FLAC file format) of the 11 Analord EPs in 2009. All of them (except for Analord 10) had bonus tracks, totaling 81 minutes of new music between them all. Rephlex Records was disbanded later by Richard, who eventually took down the website entirely.

James released six new albums in 2010, including a new interpretation of the unreleased Melodies from Mars. In September 2011, he paid homage to Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki by performing his remix of Penderecki's "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima" and a version of "Polymorphia." He appeared at the Paris Pitchfork Music Festival the next month.

Discogs also carried a test pressing of a 1994 album released under James' pseudonym Caustic Window. The album was designed to be sold on James' label Rephlex, but it was not released. Fans of James and Rephlex organised a Kickstarter campaign to buy the album and sell copies.

Warp announced Syro, the first album to be released under the Aphex Twin name since Drukqs in 2001, on September 23, 2014. It was promoted through graffiti, a blimp floated over London, and an announcement made via a.onion address viewable via Tor's darknet browser Tor.

On the audio website SoundCloud, James released Modular Trax, a series of 21 tracks. The tracks were later deleted from the website. James anonymously uploaded 230 demo tracks, some dating back to the 1980s, to SoundCloud over the course of months. After he died, he said he had released the demos to relieve his family of the pressure to reveal his archives. He has continued to occasionally post updates on the account.

On January 23, 2015, James released the Disklavier, a computer-controlled piano, on the 23rd. He released the Cheetah EP on July 8, 2016, backed by a music video for the first official music video for an Aphex Twin track in 17 years. On December 17, James performed in Houston, Texas, at the Day for Night festival, his first American appearance in eight years. Only at the festival, an untitled 12-inch vinyl was available. On June 3, 2017, James performed at the Field Day festival and launched a limited edition EP, London 03.06.17. A Michigan record store sold an exclusive Aphex Twin album featuring two songs that were not available on SoundCloud in 2015. Aphex Twin unveiled a web store on July 27th with expanded versions of previous albums and new tracks.

On September 14, 2018, Aphex Twins issued Collapse, a collection of EPs. The EP was revealed on August 5th in a bloated press release printed in broken English and visually distorted with the same Aphex Twin 3D graphic found in London, Turin, and Hollywood. On Adult Swim, a promotional video for the Collapse EP was supposed to be broadcast, but after failing the Harding test, it was cancelled. It was later made available online, and "T69 Collapse"'s video was uploaded to YouTube.

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