| Product: |
Aphex Twin in general |
| Date: |
27.11.01 (88 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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I just couldn't decide which Aphex Twin album to review, so I thought I'd just give an overview of the man himself and tell you a little bit about some of his best works. You could be forgiven for hearing the name Aphex Twin, without actually thinking that you've heard any of his music. Everyone from Radiohead to Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland to Kid 606, have recently claimed that they have been influenced by Richard. D James. In the past few years, the man's profile seems to have rocketed skywards, especially in the States where the burgeoning IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) scene, has taken him as their father-figure somewhat. And though I just claimed that there is a chance that you may not have heard any of his music, this is not true, because he has written several cheesy dance smashes for chart acts (though he will not say which ones), and his music is frequently used in adverts (though British Airways probably won't be using the one that they commissioned him to do which features extreme noise and screaming).
Aphex Twin was born in Cornwall 28 years ago and began making music as a very young child. Apparently, he would make synthesisers himself out of basic electronic equipment. He even claimed that he invented a music programme for the Spectrum computer, which was apparently impossible. Though Richard has recorded under many different aliases such as Caustic Window, Polygon Window, AFX and billions more, I'm just gonna stick to the music that he has made under the name 'Aphex Twin', because the category is called 'Aphex Twin in General'.
The first album he put out under this moniker was 'Selected Ambient Works 84-91' and it instantly became hailed as a modern classic. It is a far cry from his work now and it relied on simple repetitive melodies and rythms, which created a truly beautiful sonic soundscape. It is 'chill out' music, but not in a coffee-table, bland, "I can't
actually be bothered listening to music, so I'll just buy Chill-Out Euphoria Breakdown III" way. It is chill-out in that it gurgles and washes and floats in a non-aggressive manner, but it remains timeless, breathtaking and magnificent. A great place to start if you're looking to get into Aphex. Some people claim that he has never bettered this work, but each differ so greatly that this is somewhat of a foolish statement to make.
The follow up to 'Selected Ambient Works 84-91' was 'Selected Ambient Works Vol. II', which sounds a little bit like 'Chill Out in Ibiza II', but only in terms of its title. Though this is ambient music, it could never be seen as 'chill-out', partially due to the fact that it is deeply disturbing. Various melodies and disembodied vocal clips fade in and out of view creating a hauntingly child-like atmosphere (the recovery of childhood innocence seems to be a major preoccupation of Aphex's). It lost him many of his fans and in some quarters it was critically panned. However, although it probably isn't the greatest starting point for those not familiar with Aphex's works, it is an immensely rewarding listen. Spread over two-discs and with symbols replacing song-titles, it is a demanding album, but it provided many treasures.
Next up was 'I Care Because You Do' (actually a B-sides and rarities compilation entitled 'Classics' came next, but it a'int brilliant so I'm gonna ignore it). By this point Richard was starting to like NOISE. Don't get me wrong, its not amazingly noisy, but in parts, 'I Care Because You Do' uses harsh, dischordant frequencies and sounds to create an amazingly claustrophic masterpiece. This album is perhaps the fans' favourite, and was reportedly what Thom Yorke had jammed in his walkman during the Kid A/Amnesiac sessions'. It is also intensely melodic in parts, and is perhaps the best example of Ahex'
; penchant for mixing uneasy listening with great, heartbreaking melodies.
'Richard D. James' album was next up and seemed to capture the zeitgeist perfectly. Basically it is the sound of the London Philamonic Orchestra trying to play drum'n'bass with elastic bands. It was the first time that 'drill and bass', as it came to be known, edged near the public consciousness. This was the first Aphex album that I bought and it is quite simply astonishing. At a brief 38 minutes long, each moment is genius, especially 'Girl/Boy Song', if you haven't heard music like this, you're in for a surprise. This also became the album which seemed to influence the growing electronica scene the most and his evidence of this f@?ked up drum'n'bass can be heard in the music of Kid 606 and Bogdan Raciznsky'.
Aphex released two amazing singles after this: 'Come to Daddy' (imagine The Prodigy doing gabba) and Windowlicker (imagine Daft Punk going through a shredder). Eac featured amazing MTV friendly videos, directed by Chris Cunnigham (who also directed Madonna's 'Frozen and Bjork's 'All is Full of Love'). Each featured Aphex Twin's head superimposed on little girls and big-titted bikini-clas women respectively. They were brilliant. "More!" everyone cried. "No said Aphex Twin. Apparently he was retiring from music altogether, but this year saw the emergenge of a new double album entitled 'Drukqs', which is apparently only a colloction of songs that Richard left on a minidisc in a plane and was scared would become bootlegged on the net, so he thought he'd release them. It is a hotch-potch bag on ambient doodles, cracking immensely fast drill n'bass, and classical piano interludes. It also features an answerphone message from his parents singing 'Happy Birthday' to him. It's not his most innovative work, but he has pushed back the boundaries of music
with each release and this is still a brilliant album, even if it doesn't do that.
Some other things you might like to know about Aphex Twin:
1) When Madonna asked for a remix, he asked her to do animal noises on the track. She refused.
2) When the Lemonheads asked him to do a remix, he forgot and just gave them a half-finished track of his own when the deadline arrived.
3) He used to own a tank and live in a bank-vault.
4) He had a brother who was born before him and shared the same name, but died as a baby. His grave features on the 'Boy/Girl EP' sleeve.
You have thirty minutes to write an essay entitled "Why I should like Aphex Twin" and you must mention at least two albums in detail in your answer.
You may begin.
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