what did make aphex sucessful

what did give afx the kind of extra boost / status to be superior to the normal electronic music producers that are out there? i mean the difference of him to become somekind of (pop)star in compairing to other electronic music acts. is it the commercial success with windowlicker? or is it that he is releasing constantly good material? or is the weird CI he uses? or is it the way warp promotes him? what do you think was / is his main key to such a success?

very good music.

ast

the big-big success of aphex is windowlicker with this video by chris cunningham

in 1999, richard is known in all the world, there was moreover in more of fans...

RDJ is the only one of the Warp crew, to my knowledge, who has built up a rock-star Cult of Personality around himself ... I guess BOC as well, but they seem to have little to do with the media, whereas RDJ appears to like smearing his grin on any public surface he can find.

Far more accessible to newbies than AE, too.

EDIT: (oh yeah, and he writes bloody good music)

  sisforawesome said:

very good music.

obviously.

he also creates an air of mystery (and authenticity) by not playing shows, giving interviews or caving in to major label prssure.

The eccentric stories (true or false) also help a bit.

His music is the main key. he's always ahead of the curve.

If anyone else changed their name as much as he did, they wouldn't get very far.

subforums

  sisforawesome said:

very good music.

ingenuity, and his presence early in the same. the personality came l8ter.

  Caustic said:

subforums

aristocrats

he makes very skilled and beautiful electronic music!

kptas

i think its because he co-owns rephlex.

a) giant balls - he's crazy talented and knows it

b) the mythology that he (and others) have built

c) has created some of the most twisted & unique electronic music ever for many years

The main difference is that he is constantly reinventing himself. No electronic music artist has covered nearly as much ground and done it as well. Compare ICBYD to the RDJ album. This two rcords came out within a year of eachother, only a year! Even compare the two SAW's they are very different. And compare anything to drukqs. The videos are responsible as well, and his cover art is also different. It's many factors. I think the second biggest factor is the interviews he has given and his over all press image, when you combine his press image and then the release's of entirely different material, no one knew what was what about him, and people just couldn't get a grasp on him.

If you compare Ae and Squarepusher and BOC they're styles have changed, but it hasn't been as obvious or as drastic from album to album, very gradual. They don't go out on a limb like RDJ.

  o00o said:

what did give afx the kind of extra boost / status to be superior to the normal electronic music producers that are out there? i mean the difference of him to become somekind of (pop)star in compairing to other electronic music acts. is it the commercial success with windowlicker? or is it that he is releasing constantly good material? or is the weird CI he uses? or is it the way warp promotes him? what do you think was / is his main key to such a success?

lsd

  Mcdergbit said:

kptas

lol

come to daddy, lol

lol

LOL

LOL

Musical quality and sheer genius without a shadow of a doubt. AFX was always a cut above all the other electronic/techno folks out there. He just had that cult/star/mysterious status about him from day one.

I'd say 'Analogue Bubblebath', 'Quoth', 'Selected Ambient Works' and the Caustic Window series are far more significant than 'Windowlicker'. Even without 'Windowlicker' Aphex was gonna to carry on getting bigger and bigger. Of all the electronic music I began to listen to back in the early to mid nineties Aphex stood out the most. And ironically I listened to Sabres of Paradise, Sun Electric and a few others before I got to Aphex.

freemasons

stealing all of wisps sound

"on" did it for me.

that was his first video too, right?