Aphex Twin (born
Richard David James on August 18, 1971 in Limerick, Ireland) is an English electronic music artist. He has been described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music." Rephlex Records was co-founded by Aphex Twin with his friend Grant Wilson-Claridge in 1991.
History
Richard David James was born of Welsh parents Lorna and Derek James at 5:00 AM on August 18, 1971 in St. Munchins Limerick Regional Maternity Hospital, Ireland. James grew up in Lanner, Cornwall, England, enjoying, along with two older sisters a "very happy" childhood during which they, according to James, "were pretty much left to do what [they] wanted." He "liked growing up there, being cut off from the city and the rest of the world." James was educated at the Redruth School located in Redruth, Cornwall.
As a child he experimented on the strings and hammers of the family piano. 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 James studied for a National Diploma in Engineering from 1988 to 1990 in Cornwall College. James describing his course has said "music and electronics went hand in hand". According to his teachers he passed the course, although he listened to his mixes on his headphones during practical lessons.
The Aphex Twin
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.
Artwork
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 "Equation") a photo of James' face is revealed when run through spectral analysis. 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
At age 17, Richard D. James mentioned these influences: "Phonic Bod, Computer World, Mental Telepathy, Industrial Inc, Tomita, Tangerine Dream". Mixmaster Morris mentions on the "I Luv AFX" BBC Radio 1 Breezeblock session that James' preferred moniker whilst DJ'ing in Cornwall was Phonic Boy on Dope. 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".
Avante Garde music is a big influence for James as well, including Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Can, Neu!, Tangerine Dream, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Tod Dockstader, Xenakis, Piero Umiliani, Bernard Parmegiani, John Cage, the French composer Erik Satie for his piano works and his innovation ideas for furniture music (a precursor to ambient music).
The BBC Radiophonic workshop influenced Aphex Twin, and he released a compilation of music recorded by the pioneers of that studio, for example Delia Derbyshire, called Music from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop on his own Rephlex Records label.
Many songs include sounds from and references to the ZX Spectrum. For instance, "Carn Marth" from the Richard D. James Album includes the tape loading noise of the game Sabre Wulf.
Richard has stated in many interviews that he listens to the Japanese experimental musician Merzbow.
Influence on others
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 and Drill and bass to describe Richard's novel approach to dance music.
Perfect Sound Forever: Another term that's been used to describe your work is 'intelligent dance music.'
- "I just think it's really funny to have terms like that. It's basically saying 'this is intelligent and everything else is stupid.' It's really nasty to everyone else's music. (laughs) It makes me laugh, things like that. I don't use names. I just say that I like something or I don't." - Aphex Twin
Advice from Aphex Twin
Future Music: What pisses you off about the current music scene?
Aphex Twin: Too many sheep and not enough shephards. Let's all sit back and have a long hard think, then make something different! We can all do it, surely?
The London Sinfonietta has performed arrangements of Aphex Twin. In 2005, the orchestra Alarm Will Sound released Acoustica: Alarm Will Sound Performs Aphex Twin. 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 Radiohead. However, he has dismissed the idea of going on tour with them: "I wouldn't play with them since I don't like them."
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. Additionally, Future Rock has performed "Alberto Balsalm" (from ...I Care Because You Do) live as a multi-instrumental set .