Aphex Twin MySpace Trawl - The Tuss

July 20, 2007

MySpace Trawl - The Tuss

July 19th, 2007 at 15:00 by Matthew Laidlow

MySpace The Tuss Aphex TwinMySpace Trawl is hecklerspray's wobbly feature where we attempt to take a stroll through the sometimes discomforting world of MySpace. After we scrape the wax and other gunk out from our ears, we attempt to find the best bands and artists out there, ranging from guitar raging spasm rock to something you’d put on after vomiting up your insides from a heavy night on the tiles.

At least you’ll be listening to stuff that isn’t being pounded on the radio and TV constantly. You’ll be 'alternative' and 'hip' or something. Regular readers of the site know that, at the best of times, we are easily confused. While we are pretty much up to speed on the latest musical trends and happenings (so we’d like to think), we were deeply puzzled by an artist going under the name of The Tuss when we stumbled across him. The name seems no different to other artists we’ve covered, but further prodding away reveals far more questions than answers. Prepare yourself for a mini carry-on as we attempt to explain all of the interest in The Tuss.

Anyone who vaguely knows their electronic music and has been following it for a long time will be aware of the Rephlex record label. It’s been pumping out some fine releases for a while now and was the brainchild of Grant Wilson and Richard D James. And of course, Richard D James is better-known to many as electronic genius Aphex Twin. While we wouldn’t call Rephlex records picky, it is seemingly quite strict on what it puts out. Details are released now and then about what is coming out and no firm release dates are ever listed.

So imagine the delight and bemusement when word got out one day that an artist called The Tuss was to be releasing a single and album on the label. Big whoop indeed, but with no prior releases ever being cited from the artist in question it was slightly odd that a label with such a high reputation would take a risk. Or would it?

As rumours spread and fake songs were leaked onto the internet, people finally had some real information to go on. Samples of songs were posted on to MySpace and people got even more excited. Slick acid house and pitch-perfect arrangements could be heard, awesome stuff indeed. But people had kind of heard it before. But from where? Through Aphex Twin of course - the two styles were very similar indeed. A few ago, Richard D James aka Aphex Twin released a series of 12” only records. These records were called Analord and were a reference to the way the songs were made. All on analogue equipment.

The sound of the records harked back to the early days of early ambient/chopped-up techno feel to them. Themes ran throughout the series with records 8, 9 and 11 being named after computer viruses and other computer spyware. Are we making sense? Probably not, as a lot of random information is being chucked around, but we do aim to try and bring it all together. Because the sounds of The Tuss and Aphex Twin are so similar, it led many to believe that someone was playing naughty mind tricks on the electronic music-loving community.

Previously, Aphex Twin has recorded under different names, such include Polygon Window, AFX, Blue Calx, Power Pill and The Diceman. So it wouldn’t be in the realms of possibility to suggest another pseudonym is in use. Possible things to suggest it is Aphex Twin include PR jargon which say The Tuss is from Cornwall, a place Aphex has strong links to. With The Tuss supposedly being slang for 'cock' it does relate to his sense of humour greatly. Even more confusingly, the artist boasts up to three MySpace pages, which all include tracks from his single and album. Then there’s even more stuff that hasn’t been released. It’s making our brains hurt. Try and work it out yourselves.