Aphex Twin
 

Is he, as I believe, a true musical ubergenius, or am I falling for a scam?

I have a quandary with him. While superficially I dig him, I don't really find him all that innovative - at least not enough to warrant the praise he gets.

He relies a bit too much on shock value for my taste. Part of the reason I somewhat prefer the Ambient Works - they weren't an attempt "to be" as much as albums like Come to Daddy & RDJ.

But really I'm a hypocrite, because I listen to him anyhow.

And, has anyonr heard that LP where an American orchestra cover his tracks? Is it good?

I only have Drukqs, but from what I heard from that album alone I can consider him a musical genius. Other than Drukqs, I only heard another one of his albums at a party when I was crunked, so I wasn't able to pay attention to it

i have to say i like the Twin, he's like an Urban Legend, i heard he sleeps for like 2 hours a night or something,(upside down in a cave) he's videos (although i know C Cunningham has a lot to do with them) are fair cool, i put em on when all my friends are off the nut and they freak out big style! its fair funny "ohh Jerry turn em off he's got a scary head" or "Jerry, turn em off i feel so sorry for that poor granny!" windowlicker is a great vid, love them two black lads at the start "what you saying bout my hair bitch, shut the fuck up bitch and get in the car" pure funny.
I'm not heavy in electronic music at all but i do take my hat off to him.

I can honestly say that I love everthing he does. For interested parties who missed them on the old board, a few good links for the Twin:

this link. This is a 1997 radio interview, with tracks from 'Richard D. James LP' and the 'Come to Daddy' EP, that lasts about half an hour.

Also, here you can download a 55 minute video of a 2005 concert in Italy, recorded by a crowd member.

Interesting: a page about 'spectographic images' that can be culled from his work with the right computer program is here

And, finally, I recall that the Wikipedia article about him is quite good!

I cared about his stuff in the early 90s; haven't paid attention in years. I still have the first Ambient Works 2xLP, but sold my brown vinyl 3xLP of Ambient vol 2 years ago. I don't miss it; that was way too minimal for my liking and I got a good chunk of change for it.

He makes very decent music but i don't think he's a genius, just a pretty good artist. I've listened to his Selected Ambient Works Vol. II and i must say that some of the tracks were excellent but other were extremely boring.
Apart from that his videos are freakin awesome. Especially Come To Daddy and Windowlicker.

Nice to seee you, Savage.

He did a fantastic set of eleven 12"s recently called 'Analord', under the name AFX. They can be bought as 12"s or as downloads. Also, 10 of the best are being released on CD later in the year called 'Chosen Lords'. It's superb, a man absolutely at the peak of his powers.

I like him when he makes me dance (Donkey Rhubarb/ Boy/girl) but not when he makes me sleep (Ambient works). Drucqeksss was too long for me to listen to, so I sold it.

i just read that and holy shit! i never realised he was born in Limerick, thats about 20min away from me.
that is mad, everyday is a schoolday as they say

i got to say that the first time i heard him, after hearing the lore and the legend i felt like "that's it?! that's your innovative genius!!", part of it is that his beat stuff seemed to soft for me when he was supposed to be the slayer meets phil spector of the electronica world. but then i started to hear his stuff as it's own thing, without thinking about the hype and without thinking about descriptions and actually found the genius i was promised!

the analords are so genius!!! it's too bad i missed the 12"s!

Surprised me too, I have to say. Born in Ireland to Welsh parents, but he's become and English institution. Not unlike Terry Wogan in way!

The Windowlicker EP is the best thing he's done.

He's alright. He has his moments.

I really like his ambient works, both the 85-92 one and the the other one, his RDJ and I care because you do albums. his new analog series is bullshit. Also the double Drukqs has too much filler material. He is a fairly good melody-maker as tracks like flim or nannou show. Also nannou is quite inventive, the music box mechanics making up the beats of the song.

fav tracks
_________

schottkey 7th path
heliosphan
flim
curtains
windowlicker
nannou

nannou is lovely, it's true

voted... he is great but he does loose the plot on occasion... thats the halibut acid for ya!

I think Avril 14 is the most beautiful piece of music ever. Short, though - a longer version would be great.

what exactly do you mean by "does your head in" hip priest?

i agree man, love that wee tune. I read somewhere, forget where now, that that particular piano peice (recorded/created by computer program) is impossible for a single human to play as it consists of so many parts. Not stunning when you consider most music on record is impossible for one man to play, but when you dont think about it,at the age of 17, it is....yes

It's a British thing, I suppose. It means annoys, irritates etc.

I never thought of that.

Hip Priest - I'm glad you're here on the new board.

I haven't been posting much because I've been writing a paper. It is due tomorrow, so I'll probably be on here more this weekend.

about Apex Twin - I think he is really great. There is a possibility that he will be studied considerably in future and that his music will continue to gain in reputation.

I think electronic music is very fertile ground for musical invention. And Aphex Twin has taken advantage of this a good bit.

Avril 14th is indeed beautiful. Have you noticed how the next track, Mt. Saint Michel Mix+St. Michaels Mount, sort of develops the music from Avril 14th? Somtimes I like to play just the two of them together.

I have a friend at school here who is a doctoral student and he wrote his master's thesis on IDM. There is a lot of interesting stuff going on there.

Hip Priest, have you heard Cage's Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano before? Stuff like Avril 14th and Jynweythek Ylow and Strotha Tynhe sound like prepared piano and remind me of the Sonatas and Interludes. I think they're better than the Aphex Twin, though...

Later, back to the paper.

Awww, thanks dude. It's always nice to see you logged in. I was actuaaly just thinking of PMing you, as I hadn't seen you here yet. 'Seen', what do I mean? Seen you logged in!


I've been around a lot since the board went up - yesterday I just refused to do much work, and today was a day off.


HE is quite possibly the coolest person on the planet. I hadn't noticed the Avril/St Michel thing at all, no, I must confess. but I will do as you advise. Great tip.


No, again, but I check out all of your recommendations, so I shall. In return, let me ask if you have heard the LP by an American orchestra were they cover some Aphex Twin tracks? I haven't, I'd love to know if it's good!

See you soon.

Edit: hope the paper goes well.

I don't know a lot of Aphex Twins tracks but I enjoyed albums I heard...

Thought I'd show you this, which I picked up this week - it's the cover for a cassette promo of the 'Classics' LP. Slightly different track listing to my CD.

Who?
I've never listened to Aphex Twin before...

yes, avril 14th is lovely, too... i remember i loved it when i first heard it on a compilation CD given with a magazine, with tracks from forthcoming albums... i would listen to that CD only for avril 14th.

i think i prefer nannou, though!

Well then, sir, get ye to approximately thirty percent of the way down page one of this thread, where you will see that I have provided a link to a 1997 radio interview, with several of his tracks contained therein, for your perusal and edification.

I'm not sure if I like his production that much. He might have been really innovative in times of '95 or so and set direction for much of today's IDM electronica, I just simply don't like his tunes.

It has been said before but the Richard D James album is absolutely his best.

It's a masterpiece of an LP, that's true.
'Girl/Boy Song' is phenomenal.

Someone has put a 10 minute audience film of him on YouTube, right here.

Thought you may like to know.

Dont really know if he's a genius.I like some of his stuff but he is way overrated as a musician.Some stuff of his could have easily been done by Raymond Scott hundreds of years ago

Got an email from Braindance yesterday:


Yo!

Hope u r cool, this is a quick burst from rephlex master control…

...Yep all massive all crew, the album has dropped, "Chosen Lords" is out on CD now and vinyl still available from our distributors SRD (UK), Forced Exposure, JVC, La Baleine, Neuton/Rough Trade, Lowlands, Good Fellas, Inertia… a juicy digipack full of tastey braindance! Go on, give it some!...

afx is my electronic sonic youth and vice versa
one of his best is probably polynomial C
you can find it here
its number 'g2' in the jukebox

i like it but there aren't many songs that make me go crazy... maybe i've been listening to the wrong songs.

...& not stunning or impressive at all considering that Frank Zappa made an electronic album impossible for human musicians to play way back in 1986 with Jazz From Hell.

what about musicians that play actual instruments like no other human can play like Bud Powell or Art Tatum on piano? or John Coltrane's later tenor or even some of his earlier alto saxophone playing?

I don't like to listen or dance to techno, no matter how "innovative" & "creative" it supposedly is, although I do admit that Aphex Twin's music is far more listenable than most techno house/dance or ambient electronic stuff. David Bowie's electronic works are okay, because they also feature his distinct voice. Call me old fashioned, if you must. In addition to many bands I could go on to enumerate, I like a tribal drum sound or even actual African mbira music for dancing. I think I'm old enough to remember the disco era & the defrocking of real music more than most of you. On one last quasi-related note, when Thurston was asked about electronic music in a SPIN interview, he stated that he absoutely detested everything about NIN & found some of Elastica "interesting." I don't know why he complemented Elastica because they always ripped off their own songs; Maybe that's what interested him... haha.

no chance of dancing to Gloria Gaynor with you then atari

I do like techno/electronica, and I like a lot of his work, but I wouldn't go so far as to call him a genius. He's obviously extremely good at what he does, and is definitely innovative, but there are a lot of great electronic artists out there. And there's a big difference between compositional talent and physical skill. I don't know how techno artists perform live, but as far as recordings go they are definitely compositional. Bands that play instruments are physical (though they do need some level of basic composition, too). Two completely different arts.

The truly brilliant artists are the ones who do both. John Coltrane, Steve Vai, Frank Zappa, Miles Davis - you know. I don't like Zappa much, but you can't deny his ability.

Avril 14th is good. Gymnopedie No. 1, anyone?
And I can only say one thing.
SAW 85-92.
I can never tire of that album.