Description

As a young boy growing up in Cornwall, England, Richard James made his first music by banging found objects together. Whether he's working under the moniker Aphex Twin, Polygon Window, or AFX, James has continued to experiment with sound in increasingly sophisticated ways. He might be producing eerie ambient soundscapes where very little moves, or brutally beat-crazy dance music, but Aphex Twin remains a fixture on the forefront of electronic music.

Biography

b. Richard D. James, 18 August 1971, Ireland, but raised in Truro, Cornwall, England. Over the course of the 90s James, under a variety of names, became one of the leading exponents of "intelligent techno", "ambient techno" and other terms invented to describe his brand of electronic music. As a child he was not interested in music, but instead amused himself "making noises and banging on things"; later he began recording his efforts on tape and consequently began building and customizing his own synthesizers. While DJing at parties and raves he sometimes included in his sets the odd original tune such as "Didgeridoo"; "I wanted to have some tracks to finish the raves I used to play in Cornwall, to really kill everybody off so they couldn't dance any more". "Didgeridoo" was a dark pulsating track with analogue sounds bubbling over a splashy breakbeat. He eventually released the Aphex Twin EP and "Analogue Bubblebath" on the Exeter-based Mighty Force label in 1991. His breakthrough came the following year when he released "Didgeridoo" on R&S Records.
Much of his work from around this time such as "Phloam" and "Isopropanol' was built from incredibly abrasive sounds but a different style by which he became more widely known emerged on the album Selected Ambient Works '85 - "92. In the same year, Warp Records included his "Polygon Window", credited to the Diceman, on their Artificial Intelligence compilation. This track opened Surfing On Sine Waves which James released the following year under the name Polygon Window as part of Warp's Artificial Intelligence series. Like much of the work on these albums, much of the music sounded quite unique and followed little of the dancefloor trends of the time, but the press soon managed to invent the term "ambient techno". However, some of the tracks were anything but ambient and "Quoth" (which was also released as a single in 1993) with its coarse kick drum sound actually had more in common with much hard techno. Even so, on a number of more introspective tunes, notably "If It Really Is Me" with its forlorn melodies and "Quino - phec", James managed to create a barren Eno-like texture.
The On EP in November 1993 followed his signing to Warp on a permanent basis and the next year he released the eagerly awaited Selected Ambient Works Volume II which was not as well received as its predecessor. In 1995, Aphex Twin released ... I Care Because You Do and the EPs, Ventolin and Donkey Rhubarb and as AFX two Hangable Auto Bulb EPs. These were followed the next year by Richard D. James Album on which his usual combination of caustic noises and forlorn textures were set beside more varied rhythms than usual, showing the influence of drum 'n' bass. The Come To Daddy and Windowlicker EPs moved further into this genre, and were accompanied by controversial and genuinely disquieting videos directed by Chris Cunningham. James also recorded the score to Cunningham's short film, Flex, before breaking a long album silence in 2001 with the double set, Drukqs.
As one of the few modern artists to establish an individual sound, James is often hailed as electronic music's most experimental individual. He has also become associated with deliberately obscure DJ sets in which he has been known to put sandpaper on the turntable, and his Rephlex Records label (founded in 1991) has promoted the work of similarly esoteric artists. However, it seems after a number of albums that much of his work tends to revolve around the same ideas. Hysteria in the press may also have obscured his tendency towards self-indulgence. Other names under which he has released material include Caustic Window, GAK, Blue Calx and PCP.
DISCOGRAPHY: Selected Ambient Works '85 - '92 (R&S 1992)****, as Polygon Window Surfing On Sine Waves (Warp/Wax Trax! 1993)***, Selected Ambient Works Volume II (Warp/Sire 1994)***, ... I Care Because You Do (Warp/Sire 1995)***, Richard D. James Album (Warp/Sire 1996)***, Drukqs (Warp/Sire 2001)***.
COMPILATIONS: Classics (R&S 1995)****, as Caustic Window Compilation (Rephlex 1998)***, 26 Mixes For Cash (Warp 2003)***.
VIDEOGRAPHY: Come To Viddy (Warp 1997), Windowlicker (Warp 1999).

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