Aphex Twin Richard D James

Richard D. James

Main Page

Richard D. James was born a poor white genius in the ghettos of Cornwall. The D in his name stands for Dick short for Richard. His father was a tin miner, his sisters were sisters and Richard grew up with an interest in electronic equipment, hip hop and sniffin petrol. He took an electronics course at Kingston Polytechnic in London, but dropped out after a year. By this time he already had a stack of customised gear, a backlog of mad tunes on tape and a couple of records 'Aphex Twin EP' and 'Analogue Bubblebath' released through the local Exeter label, Mighty Force in the second half of 1991.

"Richard D James" is what happens to a nice Cornish lad.

Richard D James has been called a weirdo. And yet if you pan through the already weighty matter of his back catalogue, what stands out is that compared to the figurative artifice of the accepted High Street genres, from straight rock to straight jungle, his music has a naturalistic quality and emotional directness, which the historically obedient forms lack. They are weird, not Richard.

"The relationship is just between me and what I do. That's it" says Richard. And if you're careful, in listening to the astonishing freshness of his compositions, you might find yourself accepting the notion that James is dissociated from technology of music and can't give a fuck about where his music came from or where it's going. "I don't think there's any one rule for music and art" said Richard.

There are three areas of human endeavour where child prodigies occur - mathematics, chess and music. It is thought that there is a neurological link which explains this phenomenon. Richard D James is wicked at music, top at chess and has managed himself through a labyrinthian half decade of wheels, deals with multiple record labels and alias activities. His records have come out under a miasma of aka's, from Polygon Window to Soit:PP, from Caustic Window to GAK. Richard does the sums. It has been said that mathematics is the destination of true psychedelia. It has also been said that Richard was "a bit of a handful to his mother".

Although early records from Richard D. James, such as "Analogue Bubblebath" and "Digeridoo" lead him to being linked to the techno dance scene of the early 90s, James was always a tangential presence. He has said: "It's like me and my music are totally isolated from anything really". His DJ sets have always cut against the grain. As a remixer, he has been frankly disruptive. Although his first album, 93's "Selected Ambient Works 85-92" and "Surfing On Sine Waves" (as Polygon Window) located him as one of 'ambient' music's leading lights, the genre degenerated so swiftly that by the time "Selected Ambient Works II" came out in 94, he was on his own again.

Much of the confusion about the phenomenon of Richard D James arises from the fact that his instincts as an artist encompass both pop and high art attitudes and evil humour. His phase of making music from a lucid dream state bothered pop, where it would not have caused the Surrealists to blink. His dreams of homebase megawatt sound systems are pure mainstream rocker. His "Ventolin" single, which used his asthmatic condition as a sonic subject was pure woofer in avant garde clothing. Then again, DJing with a food blender against the needle and sandpaper on the turntable was full on Dada tactics, but it sounded like raw heavy metal. Surfing on the style aisles of creative endeavour, Richard D James annoys people because he likes to.

It is the business of the truly wicked to funk with conventions.

For many merely curious onlookers, personal, ephemeral and circumstantial concerns have obscured the content of James' work. This is unfortunate because the mistaken presumption that his music was 'difficult' has been undermined with each successive release. As the broader picture emerges RD James has shown himself to have the depth, sincerity and cohesion of a great modern composer. He has said: "I never take the piss out of anything I do creatively because I wouldn't be worthy of existence if I did things like that."

DJ James' 95 indie number one album "I Care Because You Do" knocked sceptics sideways with a dazzlingly multi-faceted display of jagged edge beats and tones, ranging from hip hop'n'classical through viral microsonics, to breakbeat aggro and pure orchestral melody. In the ears of the avant-gardies he confirmed his status as a bit of a boy, by joining forces with Philip Glass on the 95 single "Icct Hedral".

Through his own Rephlex label, Richard James nurtures the talents of some of the talents of some of the most far out (µ-ziq) and the far fetched (The Gentle People) artists on the existence scene.

Shit happens. And then something astonishing happens. In 1996, Richard releases an album called "Richard D. James" which is not about himself, but which takes careful note of himself. There is childhood and geography and memory bubbling up through the beats and distortion. His signature is larger this time. In the serene summery kind of toy train ride that "Fore Street" might be, in the synth pop in food blender of "Cornish Acid", in the paedo'n'bass recorder group sounds of "To Cure A Weakling Child" and the festive snow mitten smitten strings of "Goongumpas" and on to the churchy stained glass mesh of breakbeats in "Yellow Calx" and the stun-jungle stungle fear and chilling of "Carn Marth" there is a beautifully refracted suggestion of how the West Country might feel if it landed in New York after a long time in Stoke Newington. Messed up but excited perhaps.

©Warpfile on Richard D. James

Nothing new really

did you know that he huffed gas though? makes me feel cool cause i used to huff gas before i got into herb. i guess i am destined to be the next aphex twim.

  On 10/20/2011 at 4:59 PM, hardcode said:

did you know that he huffed gas though? makes me feel cool cause i used to huff gas before i got into herb. i guess i am destined to be the next aphex twim.

BCM why are you jealous that you never huffed gas; maybe you should try it. if you did you might be able to come up with a creative concept of your own for once.

oh and by the way, i saw you read this thread earlier and didnt say anything, then within 2 minutes of me coming back here after lunch here you go following me around again, which leads me to believe you (a) took 4 hours to come up with something to say in response to this (2) were sitting here waiting for me to come back in the hopes that i would read it immediately after you posted it. are you trying to innovate with some new kind of trolling, or just coming off as some kind of predictable retard unbeknownst to yourself.

  On 10/20/2011 at 7:26 PM, hardcode said:

BCM why are you jealous that you never huffed gas; maybe you should try it. if you did you might be able to come up with a creative concept of your own for once.

Come on man—in hindsight, you must realize that huffing gas is pretty trashy.

  On 10/20/2011 at 7:26 PM, hardcode said:

BCM why are you jealous that you never huffed gas; maybe you should try it. if you did you might be able to come up with a creative concept of your own for once.

  On 10/20/2011 at 7:29 PM, hardcode said:

oh and by the way, i saw you read this thread earlier and didnt say anything, then within 2 minutes of me coming back here after lunch here you go following me around again, which leads me to believe you (a) took 4 hours to come up with something to say in response to this (2) were sitting here waiting for me to come back in the hopes that i would read it immediately after you posted it. are you trying to innovate with some new kind of trolling, or just coming off as some kind of predictable retard unbeknownst to yourself.

holy lol

BCM, owned,.. hardcore style!

carry on guys... i likes me a good fight!

  On 10/20/2011 at 7:43 PM, KY said:

  On 10/20/2011 at 7:26 PM, hardcode said:

BCM why are you jealous that you never huffed gas; maybe you should try it. if you did you might be able to come up with a creative concept of your own for once.

Come on man—in hindsight, you must realize that huffing gas is pretty trashy.

of course it is. everyone knows it. but when you're a kid... you don't really give a shit.

like hardcore said, he did it before discovering the pleasures of smoking weed, a long time ago, i assume...

i know loads of people who used to do it, yeeeeeeeeeears ago.

and obviously the "next aphex twin" comment was just a joke.

BCM is just being a bellend, because he's in love with aphex twin, and he never huffed any gas. lol

fucking lolz!

>>>>huffing gas bit was the only new news to me.

i do a little housework (ahem) on the side, so sue me

LOL LOL

aphex twin we besseech you if you are out there please give us a sign (post in this thread)

you are the supergod of idm plz return to us

watch the ride prikfaces

*wolfs out*

  On 10/20/2011 at 7:26 PM, hardcode said:

BCM why are you jealous that you never huffed gas; maybe you should try it. if you did you might be able to come up with a creative concept of your own for once.

I had a friend once, who was found passed out over a fuel tin under his parents house. That told me all i needed to know about that drug. Well that and the fucking smell, jesus!

Some pent up aggression in this thread.

Bring back the Topic Rating option.

That article is filled with so many inaccuracies (LOL, D stands for Dick, short for Richard - no it stands for David, you nonce), it looks like it was typed by someone huffing petrol...

that was originally on the warp site.

Do you have documented evidence of this, or reliable witnesses?