Whats the story with Warp and Richard?

should have replaced the jesus jones - zeroes and ones reconstruction #2 with reconstruction #1 imo

and swapped the saint etienne remixes too

AND included the soft ballet polygon window remix

  thief said:

should have replaced the jesus jones - zeroes and ones reconstruction #2 with reconstruction #1 imo

and swapped the saint etienne remixes too

AND included the soft ballet polygon window remix

 

They couldnt - slsk didnt download them in time

  David R James said:

I read an interview not so long ago, post analord, in the interview its states about him now living in scotland and about havin kids and being married. Has anyone else seen this? I cant find the link anyone know which one i mean?

^Might be in my Interview download, its supposed to have them all. i'll look for it.

  David R James said:

  David R James said:

I read an interview not so long ago, post analord, in the interview its states about him now living in scotland and about havin kids and being married. Has anyone else seen this? I cant find the link anyone know which one i mean?

 

Cornwall?

  David R James said:

  David R James said:

I read an interview not so long ago, post analord, in the interview its states about him now living in scotland and about havin kids and being married. Has anyone else seen this? I cant find the link anyone know which one i mean?

 

I think this was more threads on messageboards rather than interviews...

yeah it was strange he said he liked boc and was living in scotland

  Joyrex said:

  David R James said:

  David R James said:

I read an interview not so long ago, post analord, in the interview its states about him now living in scotland and about havin kids and being married. Has anyone else seen this? I cant find the link anyone know which one i mean?

 

I think this was more threads on messageboards rather than interviews...

 

I was interested in reading the interview again as it had some stuff about analord, and as an interview had been posted here i thought would not bother starting a completely new topic to find out if anyone had a link.

 

Edit: seriously, living in scotland

Edited December 30, 2008 by David R James

  David R James said:

I was interested in reading the interview again as it had some stuff about analord, and as an interview had been posted here i thought would not bother starting a completely new topic to find out if anyone had a link.

 

Edit: seriously, living in scotland

 

I braved the horrors of watmms awful search function and managed to find said interview:

 

http://forum.watmm.com/index.php?showtopic...erview&st=0

(from Clash magazine, May 2006)

 

Its a good interview, and it mentions the baby and living in scotland.

Thank u mr zazen

I dont know where else to post this, awesome 1995 interview

 

Wicked. Thanks

 

Edit: Is there anymore of the interview?

Edited January 3, 2009 by David R James

No that is all!

If I were Richard, I wouldn't want to release on Warp, solely based on the shit quality of all of there new acts / recent releases / etc.

It's kinda sad that that label took such a creative nosedive.

Replhlex > Warp.

  MajaIloveyou said:

I dont know where else to post this, awesome 1995 interview

 

 

what's that picture with all those drukqs vinyls/cds? I like it

Richard has always seemed so confident. From an early age. Maybe it was all an act, but he pulled it off

  MajaIloveyou said:

I dont know where else to post this, awesome 1995 interview

 

 

b7

Fuck you, you dont contribute anything!

  MajaIloveyou said:

Fuck you, you dont contribute anything!

 

With the exception of my cock to your mom. And the 'crappy' track 10 (?) years ago.

So what were the top 40 hits mentioned in the interview?

A long conversation with Richard D.James, aka

 

AFX and Aphex Twin ( Tuesday, December

 

24, 1996)

 

By Mark Wiedenbaum

 

Richard D. James: Sorry about that. I was

 

right in the middle of doing stuff --

 

everything got a bit hectic. I was just

 

copying off a Beck mix.

 

 

 

Marc Weidenbaum: What song?

 

 

 

James: That "Devil's Haircut" thing.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: I love that song.

 

 

 

James: Yeah, I did it -- I did the mix ages

 

ago, but, um, I didn't like it. I thought I

 

was just doing it for the money. But when I

 

chilled out and listened to it about a week

 

later, I really loved -- I really liked it.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Before we start the interview, I

 

wanted to tell you about the magazine where

 

the article will appear. It covers all types

 

of music, from electronic to folk, from

 

hip-hop and trad jazz to reggae and heavy

 

metal. People who read this article in

 

Pulse! will likely have run across

 

interviews with Philip Glass and Gavin

 

Bryars -- to name to names with whom you've

 

been linked -- in past issues.

 

 

 

I wanted to start by saying that

 

what took me with the new albums, Richard D.

 

James and Girl/Boy, is how playful they are.

 

There's always been an element of play in

 

your music, but it's especially apparent

 

here. Not just on "Milkman," but the record

 

as a whole. I'm looking forward to playing

 

it for kids.

 

 

 

James: Yeah [laughs].

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: I listen to your music at home,

 

and I think that's where most turn it on. Do

 

you still think of it as a club music?

 

 

 

James: Um, sometimes. Like, I dunno, 'cause

 

I like the beats and stuff -- like, most of

 

the tracks I do, still, I play out myself,

 

and I do play them out when I'm DJ'ing. So,

 

I suppose I do think about it as club music.

 

I've thought about it less recently, but I

 

reckon I'm gonna begin thinking about it

 

more again.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: A pivotal moment for me in terms

 

of dance music was when I was at a club and

 

heard, back to back, a really simplistic

 

techno track I'd never particularly dug and

 

a really great drum'n'bass track I loved.

 

The techno track sounded great in the club,

 

but the drum'n'bass track made absolutely no

 

sense there.

 

 

 

James: It's like that, when it's really

 

overcomplicated -- like for club music it

 

needs to be really simple, basic sort of

 

stuff, and the bigger the club the more so,

 

I reckon. But you can still get into it,

 

'cause I mean I've just done a live tour and

 

I've been doing a lot of very complicated

 

tracks and I think those go over people's

 

heads in the club, but I'm quite into that

 

as well.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: You like to confound them.

 

 

 

James: For me, I quite like it when it's

 

really loud and when I get real confused

 

listening to it while I'm trying to mix it

 

down.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Who've you been touring with?

 

 

 

James: Well, myself, and Luke Vibert. He

 

does the Plug thing, came and DJ'ed on all

 

the gigs apart from one.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: I interviewed him about a year

 

ago.

 

 

 

James: Ah, wicked.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: About his Throbbing Pouch

 

record, which I thought was amazing.

 

 

 

James: Yeah, decent.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: I hadn't heard the Plug stuff

 

yet at that point. It hadn't come out in the

 

States. Both you and Vibert are from

 

Cornwall, right?.

 

 

 

James: Yeah.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: We're you friends there?

 

 

 

James: He knew me quite a long time before I

 

knew him, 'cause I used to DJ and he used to

 

come and, like, listen to me play and that,

 

before he got into, like, dance music. And

 

then I always heard about him, and I was

 

mates with him for a while before I found he

 

actually used to make music as well.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: He doesn't seem to miss

 

Cornwall. Do you?

 

 

 

James: Yeah, I think. Yeah. I mean, I do, I

 

really love the place. But I think I will

 

probably end up living down there when I'm

 

older -- definitely going to retire down

 

there.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: For many of us in the States,

 

England seems fairly homogenous, at least

 

once you get outside the cities. Could you

 

explain what Cornwall is like for a little

 

kid growing up.

 

 

 

James: It's really beautiful -- like, the

 

countryside's really nice. It's got a really

 

sort of quite mystical sort of vibe to it,

 

as well. Lots of sort of folklore and folk

 

tales and it's full of stuff like that, and

 

there's lots of strange people, lots of sort

 

of weird hermit people who live out in the

 

middle of nowhere and there's a lot of

 

witches and sort of magic, black magic, and

 

stuff like that.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Is that where the new song

 

"Logan Witch Rock" gets its title?

 

 

 

James: Yeah, that's like a famous sort of

 

witch in Cornwall.

 

 

 

There's like no, there were no

 

record shops when I was growing up, there

 

were like two and they were pretty basic,

 

and there were no clubs or anything; so we

 

had to make our own clubs, make our own

 

music.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: How far is Cornwall from London?

 

 

 

James: Six hours. Yeah, we used to hitch up

 

to London to buy records and then come down

 

to play them.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Luke Vibert's parents seem

 

fairly young, his dad being into punk and

 

Hendrix, his mom into Montovanni and the

 

Beatles. Were your parents music fans?

 

 

 

James: My parents are quite strange 'cause

 

they really like music but they've only

 

recently got really into it. They've always

 

listened to on the radio and stuff, but

 

they've never been the type to go out and

 

buy it. I suppose it's a generational thing.

 

They used to go and buy, sort of,

 

rock'n'roll records when they were young,

 

but ...

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: The time of frivolity has

 

passed.

 

 

 

James: Yeah, I dunno. I have never quite

 

understood it, but my dad's back now, he's

 

really into jazz and he goes out and buys

 

lots of jazz things now. And Mom likes sort

 

of classical music. They're not, like,

 

experts or anything, so they probably don't

 

know that much.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Do you listen to much classical?

 

 

 

James: I don't really know that much about

 

it. I don't know anything about it, really.

 

But you know things I've heard I've really

 

liked. It's something I'll probably get into

 

a bit later on, when I've got a few more

 

creative urges out of the way.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Please talk about your work with

 

Philip Glass. He provided the orchestration

 

for a version of a song from your last full

 

length album.

 

 

 

James: I needed -- well, I'd done the track

 

originally with, like, sort of, real

 

instruments in mind, and I'd done the mix

 

that's on ... I Care Because You Do --

 

that's the original one -- and I thought

 

it'd be really nice to get it done played

 

with real instruments and stuff, and rather

 

than to get someone sort of standard who

 

could score it for an orchestra, I could get

 

someone who I liked to do it. And Philip

 

Glass was on my list of people, basically. I

 

had Michael Nyman down, and he was well into

 

it but he was really busy, couldn't do it

 

for like a year or something [laughs]. And

 

Philip Glass was ready to roll with it.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: That's pretty unique, to be able

 

to phone up Philip Glass.

 

 

 

James: Yeah, I just wrote him a letter. I

 

was quite a big fan of his work; that's why

 

I picked him, basically. They did one take

 

and I didn't like it and I couldn't quite

 

work out what they'd done at all, I didn't

 

like it at all. And I was in New York at the

 

time; so we went to meet him and I was like,

 

yeah, I didn't like what you did [laughs],

 

sort of thing, and I said exactly why and he

 

was, like, agreeing with me. And then they

 

said, well, they would be up for doing

 

something else -- try again.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: This is the track that ended up

 

on the Donkey Rhubarb EP.

 

 

 

James: So I went over and, like, helped

 

them. They did most of it and I just sat

 

there and sort of said a few things now and

 

again.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Are the string sounds on the new

 

record real?

 

 

 

James: Well, they were originally real,

 

yeah. I've got a violin, and a cello as

 

well, and I've learned to play that enough

 

to be able sample it, get some good notes,

 

and that's where they come from.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: And the Gavin Bryars remix you

 

did, of Sinking of the Titanic -- did that

 

opportunity develop out of your work with

 

Glass? The remix came out on Glass' Point

 

Music label.

 

 

 

James: I think that was -- I think it was

 

about the same time. I don't think the two

 

were linked. They're on the same label and

 

they know each other, but I think it was

 

'cause Gavin Bryars' sons are, like, really

 

big fans of mine and they, like, told him

 

to, like, get me to remix one of his tracks.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Are you serious?

 

 

 

James: Yeah. He was really into it. So, he

 

was, like -- wrote me loads of letters and

 

phoned me up and used to go on about it.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: He and Michael Nyman go back a

 

ways. Bryars was one of Brian Eno's

 

teachers, and both of them released record

 

on Eno's first attempt at running a record

 

label, Obscure. Could you talk about the

 

playfulness of the new record?

 

 

 

James: Yeah. I dunno. It's something that

 

I've always liked. I like, sort of, mixing,

 

sort of, like, complex things with simple

 

things, so the complex things don't get too

 

avant-garde and, sort of, way out kind of

 

thing, even though I like things that are

 

really avant-garde for avant-garde's sake; I

 

do like things like that. But my favorite

 

stuff is when it's, for me, when I do stuff

 

-- 'cause to do really complicated things is

 

just a matter of time, how much time you

 

spend doing it, and you know you can produce

 

it if you spend enough time, something

 

that's going to be complicated -- the

 

challenge comes from making it like really

 

accessible at the same time; so I like to

 

mix something simple, or deceptively simple,

 

with it.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: I love the mix of harsh and

 

sweet in the song "Girl/Boy." The rhythms of

 

the drums seem to extrapolate from innate

 

rhythms of the strings.

 

 

 

James: Yeah, they're there. They're all

 

following the same sort of path. The drums

 

are just filling in all the gaps, basically.

 

The strings couldn't -- wouldn't be fast

 

enough to play.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: It brings to mind something like

 

a translucent bird, graceful in flight but

 

with all its skeletal machinery visible.

 

Have you heard the track with the children

 

and the carousel sample on DJ Krush's last

 

record, Meiso?

 

 

 

James: Rings a bell. I'm not sure.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: He has a track named for the

 

Oklahoma City explosion. Anyhow, were you a

 

weakling child, like the song title ["To

 

Cure a Weakling Child"]?

 

 

 

James: No, I just got that title out of the

 

top of me head. I don't know where I got it

 

from, just made it up.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Luke Vibert mentioned that you

 

do suffer from asthma. Your Ventolin remix

 

collection is named for asthma medication,

 

and the cover features asthma images.

 

 

 

James: Yeah, but it's never really bothered

 

me, never stopped me from doing anything.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: I wondered if the claustrophobic

 

nature of that music was derived from

 

personal experience.

 

 

 

James: With Ventolin I tried to get it

 

really claustrophobic. I tried to get it

 

like, sort of, similar to -- similar sort of

 

feeling to having an asthma attack, which is

 

like claustrophobic, basically. But it's not

 

something that -- I've got it, like, quite

 

bad but it's -- I'm not sort of personally,

 

let things like that scare me away.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Luke Vibert says your bedroom is

 

far plusher than his. Can you verify that?

 

 

 

James: It sort of is at the moment, but I

 

reckon his is better to work in at the

 

moment 'cause he hasn't got a girlfriend

 

living in the same room with him. So he's on

 

his own. [laughs] I'd say his is better than

 

mine.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: I asked him about the phenomenon

 

of people making music in their bedrooms.

 

It's amazing that, today, people have the

 

freedom to work so productively in such a

 

small place.

 

 

 

James: To me, it's essential to be able to

 

work -- I mean, I didn't realize it when I

 

was growing up, until I moved my studio like

 

out of my bedroom into another room -- when

 

I came to London I thought that was a really

 

good idea: you know, studio in one room and

 

bedroom in another -- get really excited.

 

And I just, for ages, I just wasn't as happy

 

and I couldn't work it out, just 'cause I

 

wasn't sleeping in the same room as my

 

stuff. There's something magical about

 

having all your equipment in the same room

 

as your bed, and you just get out of bed and

 

like do a track and go back to sleep and

 

then get up and do some more and do tracks

 

in your pants and stuff.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Many blues musicians

 

traditionally sleep with their guitars. Jimi

 

Hendrix had difficulty in the U.S. military

 

because he would sleep with his guitar.

 

 

 

James: Right. You've got to, man; you've got

 

to, like, get into your stuff loads before

 

you can start producing good things.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: What is you favorite instrument,

 

electronic or otherwise?

 

 

 

James: Um, I think at the moment it's just

 

my computer -- like, I tend to only use my

 

computer now, like I'm just getting to [be]

 

a total computer fanatic, always used to be

 

and they weren't good enough for a while --

 

computers were too rubbish for me to get

 

into them, but now they've reached really

 

good heights again, and I'm really back into

 

them.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: What do you use?

 

 

 

James: At the moment I use things like

 

ProTools and things like that. But at the

 

moment I've been writing my own software,

 

and I'm pretty much using that all the time

 

now. It's like in a programming language,

 

and I'm sort of just exploring a totally

 

different path in music, basically.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: What on the new records do you

 

track back to that technology.

 

 

 

James: Well, most of them were done with

 

sort of standard, specialist sequencing

 

packages, and some of it's with some of the

 

programs I've written.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Can you point to the latter?

 

 

 

James: Well, no, not really. I mean,

 

ProTools is the main thing for me, and

 

that's written by someone else. That's the

 

best tool for me.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: What kind of instruments do you

 

see yourself using 10 years from now?

 

 

 

James: With a computer, definitely, with a

 

really good interface, not just a keyboard

 

and a mouse -- some sort of wicked interface

 

you can stretch and squeeze and blow into

 

and lots of other things, as well as use

 

with a mouse.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Were you a big new-wave fan,

 

growing up in Cornwall?

 

 

 

James: New age?

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: New wave. Did you listen to the

 

Human League, OMD and such?

 

 

 

James: No, I did like them, did like some of

 

it; I don't think I bought any of their

 

records, though, until I moved to London. I

 

didn't really buy any music apart from

 

techno until I moved to London, which is

 

like four years ago.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: There's a proliferation of

 

information about you on the Internet. Are

 

you aware of this?

 

 

 

James: Yeah.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Do you check in on it?

 

 

 

James: Yeah. Sometimes it's pretty amusing.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: It's quiet extravagant: mailing

 

lists, discographies, essays.

 

 

 

James: Yeah, It's quite bizarre. I've sort

 

of got used to it. At first, I just couldn't

 

understand it at all, and then thought it's

 

quite sweet. I thought it's quite nice after

 

awhile. But some of it I find bizarre.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: What's the most surprising thing

 

you can remember finding on the Internet

 

about you or your music?

 

 

 

James: Yeah. I think the funniest one I saw

 

recently, someone had written what the

 

"Milkman" song had meant to them, or what

 

they thought it meant, and it was really

 

elaborate. Like, the milk is white and the

 

milkman's wife is God and the milk is the

 

white whale, and stuff like that, and it was

 

really abstract and went on for ages and got

 

more and more obscure.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: I'll have to do a search for

 

that.

 

 

 

James: There's been a lot of stuff like

 

that, a lot of that sort of stuff.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: What was your first nickname?

 

 

 

James: Don't know, actually. I did have one,

 

but I can't remember what it was, but I used

 

to have one in primary school. Can't

 

remember, dunno.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Do you remember any of your

 

early nicknames?

 

 

 

James: No, can't remember any of them. I got

 

a feeling I had loads when I was in primary

 

school, 'cause I had red hair and stuff; so

 

it was probably quite a few, you know, like

 

Duracel and things like that. That was one

 

of them, anyhow.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Why did you choose to name this

 

particular record after yourself? Were you

 

just being, oh, "cheeky."

 

 

 

James: Yeah, sort of a bit cheeky, and a bit

 

-- it's just me and no one else, basically,

 

and it seemed like reason to call it that

 

more than anything.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Luke Vibert calls you Aphex.

 

 

 

James: He calls me that; sometimes people

 

do.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: But he teasing you when he calls

 

you that.

 

 

 

James: Yeah, yeah, sort of a bit of a joke,

 

but I like it, quite like it -- rolls of the

 

tongue.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Do you keep track of all the

 

pseudonyms you've used?

 

 

 

James: No, not really. I think it's about

 

10, but I keep it down to two these days.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Just Aphex and ...

 

 

 

James: AFX.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Such as the Analogue Bubblebath

 

records?

 

 

 

James: Yeah.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: You titled one of the new songs

 

"Girl/Boy." Would you say much of your music

 

is about girls and boys.

 

 

 

James: Some of it, not all of it, reckon.

 

Like, the reason I came up with that [title]

 

is 'cause I thought it was some tracks were

 

girl tracks, and some which were boy tracks.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: So, what's "Yellow Calx"?

 

 

 

James: I reckon that's a boy track.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Which word would you use to

 

describe remixing: collaboration or

 

graffiti?

 

 

 

James: Graffiti, definitely.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: What's some of the graffiti

 

you've been doing recently.

 

 

 

James: The last one was for a German hip-hop

 

band, called something like the Fantastic

 

Four, and they're sort of a really big

 

pop/hip-hop band, and I did a pretty mad mix

 

of that, like chopped the bloke's voice up

 

into millions of little bits and reorganized

 

it, so you didn't know what they were

 

saying. I don't know what I've arranged it

 

into. I don't know what I've made him say

 

because I can't speak German.

 

 

 

[Long-ish pause as he goes to sort something

 

out.]

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: I take it you're speaking from

 

your home.

 

 

 

James: Yeah, it's quite a hectic household;

 

a lot of people live here. Me friends, me

 

girlfriend, about six of us, like minimum,

 

and they've al got mates.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Other musicians?

 

 

 

James: Yeah, the guy below me is called

 

Global Goon -- just put his first record out

 

on Rephlex. I don't mind living with the guy

 

below. He's really cool, really mellow, but

 

I wouldn't want to live with any more

 

[musicians]; it's too hectic. Like, Tom

 

[Jenkinson] wanted to move in, Squarepusher.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: The Squarepusher I've been

 

playing, along with Spring Heel Jack, is

 

some of my favorite material lately.

 

 

 

James: I don't know about [spring Heel

 

Jack], but Tom's just one of me mates.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Are you aware you're part of a

 

consortium, all this new pop music coming

 

out of England?

 

 

 

James: Sort of, but I don't really see it

 

that way. I've always seen myself on me own.

 

I don't really want to be part of scenes and

 

groups. I want to see myself on my own.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: What is your next touring

 

situation?

 

 

 

James: I'm supposed to be playing in New

 

York on the third [of January], but I've

 

broke my foot.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: How?

 

 

 

James: I fell down the stairs, and I gashed

 

my hand out when I was like pissed a couple

 

of days before that, and it's gone a bit

 

moldy and so I had to go to hospital and I

 

couldn't be bothered, so I went for both at

 

the same time.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: You could use the break.

 

 

 

James: Yeah, I'm going to Wales to see the

 

parents on Friday, which should be nice.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: A couple more pseudonym

 

questions. Rock bands have names, but

 

there's something unique to quality of

 

electronic bands/artists' names.

 

 

 

James: Yeah, like the thing is, they existed

 

before I got into the music business. I used

 

to make up little names on tapes and stuff

 

when I used to catalog my stuff, and that's

 

why I made up most of the names. And then it

 

sort of worked quite nicely when I got into

 

the music business, 'cause I just gave

 

different names to different record

 

companies and I thought that was quite cool.

 

But now with so much music being out on the,

 

sort of, scene, splintered up so much into

 

different bits, and people have like five

 

labels for different types of music and

 

stuff. I thought it was quite a good idea at

 

first, but now I really don't like it. I

 

want it to be all back together again; I

 

want to go out to a club and listen to all

 

different types, not just one specialist

 

type of jungle. I think having different

 

names breaks it up; so that's why I'm

 

sticking to two again, now, to keep it all

 

under the same names.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: How does Warp fit into all this?

 

 

 

James: Yeah, the guy who owns it just left,

 

actually. That's who I was talking to a

 

minute ago. We're just really good mates.

 

Just sent him a tape after being not wanting

 

to stay on R&S anymore, in Belgium, which is

 

the label, the first sort of big label, I

 

got signed to. And there, they got straight

 

into it straight away, called me back

 

straight away. Got really good mates from

 

there, and I quite like the people who live

 

there.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Rephlex is your own concern. How

 

did that come to be?

 

 

 

James: Well, Grant Wilson-Claridge I know

 

from Cornwall. And, before I, like, made any

 

records, he always said -- 'cause he used to

 

play my tunes at this club; that's where I

 

met him -- and he always said he was gonna

 

press them up on record. He was the first

 

person that ever said that to me. We didn't

 

get round to it until after I'd pressed up a

 

few records, basically, and we decided we

 

wanted to start our own label up: It'd be

 

really nice to do. It was originally for my

 

stuff, but then we started to get loads of

 

tapes, of everyone, so we started releasing

 

other people's as well.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: What does Warp think of this?

 

 

 

James: Well, I tied it into the contract, so

 

I can basically release what I want on

 

Rephlex, as long as it's not Aphex Twin, and

 

that goes with Warner Bros., or Elektra,

 

now, too. It's a cool deal.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Why did it take so long for the

 

records to come out here, Girl/Boy and

 

Richard D. James?

 

 

 

James: It's just that they're slow,

 

basically. I mean, yeah, they do get the

 

stuff pretty much in advance, but they just

 

-- like, with the new one, they're gonna

 

package the album with the single, which I

 

thought they were gonna do.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: They're slow because they're a

 

big company, and they have to get everything

 

going, marketing, production.

 

 

 

James: I'm pretty in the dark as to the

 

whole American side of it.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Markus Popp, of Oval and

 

Microstoria, said the reason he has

 

pseudonyms is because the more pseudonyms,

 

the more record companies he can record for.

 

 

 

James: It was for me, but the thing is,

 

after a while, like, I wanted to record at

 

different labels, to see what they're all

 

like, see, to experience working with

 

different people, but when I started working

 

with Warp I realized I was really happy with

 

them, and they're really together, like

 

business-wise and people/personality-wise. I

 

want to stick with them. I've got no regard

 

to releasing records anywhere else. I don't

 

want to sign with a major or anything. I'm

 

happy to be on an independent.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: A lot of British people can stay

 

on small labels, at least in England: Elvis

 

Costello on Demon, Depeche Mode on Mute ...

 

 

 

James: I reckon the majors are pretty shit,

 

see. They're loads better these days,

 

signing up people like Luke and Mike

 

Paradinas. They've got a lot of freedom, on

 

Virgin. They've got their own labels. Mike's

 

got High Rise. It's quite amazing.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: What's next thing from you?

 

 

 

James: The next single is pretty much the

 

same sort of thing, although it will be

 

different, and I think after that it

 

probably will be a lot different again,

 

'cause I'm off on another -- I've done the

 

next single, did it ages ago -- like, I'm

 

off on another tangent now; I'm off in

 

another world now.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Something less childlike?

 

 

 

James: No. I'll always try and keep that in.

 

I can't quite work out what I'll release.

 

All I can say is what I've been doing, and

 

some of it has been really complicated, sort

 

of, programming with my own language I've

 

been doing. Bit like Pascal.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Are you aware that your stuff is

 

apart from most pop music, yet is still

 

considered pop music?

 

 

 

James: Yeah, it is quite amazing. It is

 

quite a weird time for music. It seems to

 

be, people doing different things seems to

 

be really accepted, which is really nice. I

 

can't believe it's quite happening. But at

 

the end of the day, the only reason it's

 

nice is for the money, 'cause the

 

recognition and stuff is not important for

 

me. It's a nice little bonus, but it's not

 

important.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: I get the impression some people

 

make music in order to be interviewed. This

 

isn't the case with you.

 

 

 

James: It's kind of the opposite case. Even

 

though I've got used to doing interviews,

 

they used to really freak me out at first.

 

People like me aren't meant to do things

 

like this. What you said is true of loads of

 

people, but me and my friends, people like

 

Luke, we never set out to be interviewed.

 

And it's, well, freaky, but I've done so

 

many now I'm quite used to them.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: What have you learned in your

 

many interviews?

 

 

 

James: Well, the thing that freaked me out

 

is that you're forced to analyze what you're

 

doing and I didn't used to do that before,

 

just did the music naturally, and I couldn't

 

work out for ages if it was good or bad

 

thing, and eventually I just came to the

 

conclusion that whether I like it or not I'm

 

doing it, so I'm gonna really get into it.

 

So now I totally analyze everything I do,

 

because I've done interviews, and I've got

 

no trouble with it.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Has it affected your music?

 

 

 

James: Yeah, I reckon it has. I'm not quite

 

sure how, but I reckon it has. It's probably

 

made it more aware. It's definitely got its

 

disadvantages and advantages.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Luke Vibert mentioned that he

 

gets assignments to do remixes from people

 

he's fairly certain have never heard his

 

music before. Have you had the same

 

experience?

 

 

 

James: Yeah, but I think it's quite

 

interesting. It doesn't bother me at all,

 

wouldn't bother me if they're total fans or

 

they'd never heard anything -- like, that's

 

not a contributing factor.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: People have mistakenly referred

 

to Aphex Twin as a genre, not a person.

 

 

 

James: Quite nice, like Hoover.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Or Duracel.

 

 

 

James: Yeah.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Have you taken the opportunity

 

to correct people?

 

 

 

James: Not usually. If people say my name

 

wrong, I never say anything. I just think

 

it's quite funny -- I don't care how people

 

or what they think of me.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: How else could computers

 

improve.

 

 

 

James: I think something you control with

 

your eyes could be really nice, something

 

where you don't have to touch anything, so

 

you have like something that scans your

 

retina, and so you can work out where you're

 

looking. I know it's possible 'cause I seen

 

it on TV like 10 years ago, where they did

 

sex observation, see where guys are looking

 

and stuff. You see their eyes going on like

 

their tits, and then their face and then

 

their ass. It must be possible. I'd like

 

something like that.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Where did the girls look?

 

 

 

James: I think the face, and then the butt.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Would this free your hands to do

 

other things.

 

 

 

James: Yeah, you'd have to select something

 

with your eyes, I reckon. So you'd probably

 

have to use your finger to select something,

 

but maybe control it in a third dimension.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: There was a lot of science

 

fiction imagery, or UFO imagery, on your

 

records for a while. Not any more.

 

 

 

James: No, not really, I've always found

 

stuff like that quite cheesy. It's not

 

really, doesn't really do a lot for me.

 

'Cause everyone else does it, so -- it's

 

always interesting, but it's not interesting

 

if everyone else is doing it.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Who is the child speaking on "To

 

Cure a Weakling Child."

 

 

 

James: That's my voice, going through my

 

computer and come out the other end. I said

 

loads of words and then I chopped them all

 

up and made a tune around all around them

 

words, like, the way I said it and stuff.

 

It's quite a good way of writing tunes. It's

 

a bit similar to, like, sometimes I just hit

 

the keyboard in a really sort of way I'd

 

like the rhythm of the tracks to sound, like

 

just hitting 12 notes at a time, and then

 

I'll spend four hours moving all the notes

 

where I want them to go.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Devo has said it would find a

 

sound the band liked and then write a song

 

around it.

 

 

 

James: I do that as well, not always but

 

sometimes.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: In the time of Bach, people

 

would write tunes based on their friends or

 

loved one's names, each letter become a

 

note. It's still done today, a kind of

 

parlor game.

 

 

 

James: You'd have to have the right name. I

 

don't know what the note K sounds like.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: You just start the alphabet

 

over.

 

 

 

James: That's cheating. I think I'd split

 

the scale into 26 microtones.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Well, I think today we'd write

 

tunes about the tunes on our friends' phone

 

numbers. You don't seem to use many

 

recognizable sounds, like faxes or busy

 

signals.

 

 

 

James: I love all those sorts of noises,

 

like I used to really get into using them,

 

but I don't use them now, because you just

 

hear them all the time anyway; so it's kind

 

of like part of my life. I'm always hearing

 

motors whizzing around, 'cause I've got so

 

many gadgets in my house, that I'm always

 

hearing those sort of noises.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Part of the reason people like

 

to record in their bedroom is because it

 

isn't a clean space.

 

 

 

James: It makes it more personal, I think.

 

When you go into studio, it's just really

 

clinical. It becomes a job and I'm rubbish

 

at doing jobs.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: What kind of challenges do you

 

set yourself. What areas do you think you're

 

weakest in?

 

 

 

James: When you're busy, usually it's the

 

time sort of thing, which I don't like, I

 

don't like to feel pressurized with time.

 

That's the main challenge, 'cause I'm quite

 

busy, but I'd like to have as much time as I

 

want. The challenge is getting something

 

that's as complicated as possible but making

 

it sound really accessible.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: What would you say is your

 

greatest success on this album in this way.

 

 

 

James: The song you just mentioned, "To Cure

 

a Weakling Child." There's quite a lot of

 

complicated stuff going on you don't really

 

notice.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Couple more questions. It's

 

interesting to have an opportunity to talk

 

with you before I hear some of your music.

 

Could you describe the Beck single?

 

 

 

James: Yeah, it's got a quite tasty beat I

 

got off an old '50s percussion record,

 

called Repercussion, like sampled it,

 

chopped it up into little beats. It's very

 

cool, really did my head in, the vocal on

 

its own, 'cause it's really untuneful,

 

unmelodic, and I'd rather have done another

 

track off the album -- 'cause I really like

 

his track, the way they've done it, but it's

 

quite a challenge because I really wanted to

 

make a tune around his voice, a nice melody.

 

That was quite a challenge doing that. And I

 

speeded it up, and changed the key, and

 

there's like a middle section of it where I

 

didn't bother getting it in time, I just let

 

his vocal go slow over my tune and it's

 

quite weird because the time signature

 

changes every time his bit loops around.

 

It's not in time with my bit at all. Gives

 

it quite nice a feel, I think. And I put

 

some mad acid noise over the top of it all,

 

in tune with his vocal. It quite kicks, I

 

reckon.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: This is my next to last

 

question.

 

 

 

James: The penultimate question.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: As electronic musicians' careers

 

progress, the technology with which they

 

work progresses, whereas jazz musicians were

 

for the most part playing the same

 

instruments throughout their careers. This

 

parallel progress changes how we read the

 

progress in your career.

 

 

 

James: I would be happy with my first set-up

 

for the rest of my life. I could be quite

 

happy working with, like, about four bits of

 

my favorite equipment forever, 'cause it's

 

got infinite possibilities. You're not

 

limited -- well, you are limited with some

 

sound generation sort of things, but you're

 

still only limited by your imagination, and

 

getting new equipment is sort of like being

 

spoiled, really. You're spoiling yourself

 

getting new toys and stuff, but it does

 

obviously change the sound totally, and

 

change the way you work. To be quite honest,

 

I'm quite happy either way. I'd be happy

 

using the same rubbish equipment 'cause

 

you'd just be forced to get better stuff out

 

of it every time -- like, I wouldn't repeat

 

myself, so I'd just be forced to think of

 

other ways to use it. And that's usually

 

where electronic music is best, people like

 

Squarepusher -- he's got no equipment, he's

 

so bored of his equipment, and he just has

 

to squeeze more and more out of it all the

 

time. He told me six months ago he had to

 

get a computer. He's just got a crap drum

 

machine and a crap sampler, but then he

 

changed his mind, said he's not going to get

 

one now.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: I was listening to two Analogue

 

Bubblebath records this weekend, one all

 

straight-time, quick, familiar, the other

 

complicated, resplendent. There's such a

 

vast change between those two records. If

 

someone was to hear the second one and then

 

go back to the first, what would they hear

 

in the first that prepared them for the

 

second?

 

 

 

James: It sounds like -- [laughs] I can't

 

really explain it. I kind of almost don't

 

want to explain it. I like not knowing. It's

 

a good question, but this is like I was

 

talking about, where analysis comes in with

 

interviews. I reckon the first one's better.

 

It's more personal. The other one's quite

 

aggro.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: I tend to mistake aggression for

 

complexity.

 

 

 

James: It's different for me, 'cause the

 

first one is so old so it's got lots of

 

nostalgia linked into it, and that's always

 

confused me. 'Cause sometimes I'll play

 

someone who's only really into dance music

 

for a couple of years, I'll play them

 

something that's like six years old, and

 

I'll say this track is amazing, and they'll

 

just go, Yeah, but it sounds really rubbish

 

-- and you suddenly realize that they're not

 

listening to it in the same way you are.

 

It's quite confusing. They haven't gone

 

through that whole evolution of dance music,

 

they just got into it a couple of years ago

 

and they couldn't understand why that's

 

good. They wouldn't be able to comprehend

 

it. They just see it because all the sound

 

and stuff has been superseded by other

 

things.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: One last question: You have done

 

some true collaborations, as with Mike

 

Paradinas. Do you see yourself doing more of

 

that?

 

 

 

James: Yeah, hopefully, the only people I

 

want to work with in the same way are Tom

 

and Luke. I don't want to work with anyone

 

else. As soon as I move, I'm gonna work

 

first with Luke.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Where are you moving?

 

 

 

James: I'm buying a bank, gonna record in a

 

vault.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: And you'll live there, too.

 

 

 

James: Yeah.

 

 

 

Weidenbaum: Well, thanks a lot.

 

 

 

James: Take care, then. Bye.

 

 

i remember an interview in which he said.

 

making drukqs a double album got him out of the warp contract.

 

no such luck with warner, so he can't use the name aphex twin because he still has an obligation to warner or something.

  jefferoo said:

If I were Richard, I wouldn't want to release on Warp, solely based on the shit quality of all of there new acts / recent releases / etc.

It's kinda sad that that label took such a creative nosedive.

Replhlex > Warp.

 

I would agree with that. I know the label has to move with the times, but IMHO Warp has diversified too much. I rarely buy anything released by them now, if at all. Shame really as I've been a loyal fan of the label since the start.

If Warp's news section is any indication:

 

http://www.warprecords.com/artists/news.php?artist=afx

 

They didn't seem to care to promote any Aphex shows of 2008 nor of 2009 so far.

REPHLEX WARP RICHARD DR. U.K. Q'S TANK AND FUCKIN OVER TEH LEMONHEDZ BIG FUCKIN WHOP