The Mozart of Techno
He is undoubtedly one of the most important representatives of the electronic scene: Aphex Twin aka Richard David James. It is claimed, that he produced first pieces at the tender age of ten by the help of a prepared piano and a tape recorder. We introduce the luminary.
In the late 80s, the musical career of Aphex Twin began. Who then listened to his music, either way found it awesome or just disturbing. It is exactly this ambivalence what turned this exceptional musicians into something special. When the British electronic scene in the early 90s discovered Acid House, James already screwed around with all kinds of synths and stood out from the general hype. His ambient albums "Selected Ambient Works 85-92", "Selected Ambient Works Vol. II" and "Surfing on Sine Waves" are nowadays considered as crucial to the development of electronic music. In his career, the musician released under numerous pseudonyms: AFX, Polygon Window, Caustic Window and The Dice Man.
The music of Aphex Twin cannot be set to a particular style. Basically, he interprets different styles in a very headstrong and creative way. Beautifully perceived melodies are mixed with unusual sounds, intricate rhythms meet detailed drum programming. For him, an own style was invented: Drill`n`Bass. His remixes for other artists from time to time caused a stir, since he often destroyed the musical raw material completely or he entirely reinterpreted it (eg. for Die Fantastischen Vier or for Nine Inch Nails).
After the release of the album "Drukqs" in 2001, James hardly published new material for three years. At the beginning of the new millennium only "26 Mixes for Cash" and three new remixes under the pseudonym AFX on Warp Records were released. The fulfillment of the contract with the label "Warp" lay at his British heart. In addition, however, his activities are quite clear with his own label "Rephlex", which can already look back on over a hundred releases since 1991. Here next to DMX Krew, Bogdan Raczynski, Luke Vibert aka Kerrier District also Aphex Twin himself releases.
Aphex Twin greatest successes were "Windowlicker" and "Come to Daddy". The tracks were produced in collaboration with the stage director Chris Cunningham. The music videos were unusual and sometimes disturbing. Nevertheless Aphex Twin was awarded together with Cunningham in 1999 for the "Prix Ars Electronica" in the category "Digital Musics". Even after he let his fans wait 13 years for his latest album "SYRO" in 2014, he received a Grammy Award for this one. Since then Aphex Twin almost monthly releases new and old tracks. In 2015 a 20-track LP was published, an EP titled "Orphaned Deejay Selek", and in November a new version of "Avril 14th" of "Drukqs" was released. All tracks can be listened to on the Soundcloud profile “user18081971". The new user name refers to James` date of birth, August 18th 1971.
