When I had a warrant, I used to give the Police the name Richard D James. Fortunately I never met an Aphex Twin aware officer.

The fact he turned down Madonna but asked a boy in Ireland to make his video gets a thumbs up from me.

Cool to hear the dancer talking. I found myself at an Aphex gig back in the early to mid nineties. It was some old club in London.. I think I was there on my own. I'd taken a microdot not knowing how strong it was going to be. Also knew nothing of Aphex at the time, just vaguely remembered one ambient type track I liked. What transpired was one of the most memorable nights ever from my rave/ jungle days. I ended up tripping so hard I had to escape the crowd, go upstairs and found a lovely mostly empty upper level that looked down on the stage. I could sit in a comfy chair with my feet up on a small ledge and trip out in peace. The stage was basically a set of giant curtains. No DJ, no performer in sight. Somewhere there was a sound system. There was this crazy music, you know what I'm talking about, no need to describe. I was instantly being taken on a thrill ride and it was one of those situations where you had to just sit down and take it all in. Believe me I loved dancing, but this was not a dance moment. Then this guy appears on the stage. I can only describe him as a big viking punk type dude. shorts, spikey hair, big boots, angry looking. He was absolutely thrashing around on that stage like a lunatic but obviously loving every mad beat in that music. He was doing the dancing for us. He was translating the sound to physical movement. He owned that stage. I just could not tell if he was from the crowd below, a performer or what. He was mesmerising. I could not work out anything that was going on! Where was the sound coming from? Who was this dancer dude? Who the heck is Aphex Twin? Where's the music coming from? Has anyone else noticed?! That guy danced for us for the entire set. It wasn't till some years later that I found out this was normal for an Aphex gig. To me it was just a really special moment, lost in time, that I experienced totally alone, no other w itnesses to reminisce with. Just a bunch of anonymous KZfaqrs to share it with now in my 50's. Cheers to Richard, his dancer and all of you fans 🤙

Haha, that anecdote about seeing Richard walking through the crowd while he was simultaneously on stage DJ'ing was awesome.

Pretty much the only artist who's music I keep coming back to, and I discover something new every time, even when it's tracks I've listened to countless times. As far as I'm concerned, no other artist compares. His music speaks to me in a way no other has and I just can't explain why. There's just something magical about it, like I feel homesick when I listen to his music, but not for a home I've ever actually had. Probably sounds pretentious as fuck but who cares

He reminds me a lot of Zappa. The seriousness of the music, tempered by the big lump of humour and sarcasm...a phenomenally talented musician.

I saw the aphex twin doing his Christmas shopping and I'm listening to a ten hour loop of Avril 14th whilst working night shift on a Cornish psychiatric ward. Peak aphex shenanigans. (True story)

John that thing where Richard appeared on the dancefloor happened to me and I was completely freaked out. It would have been around 2000, downstairs in Switch nightclub, and he had done a set in the Templebar Music Center earlier that night. I also met Tom Jenkinson not knowing who he was inside the Templebar Music Center one day a few hours before his set (I used to work there) and literally asked him 'do you know Squarepusher?' XD

Druqks was hated? Unbelievable.

This is a great audio doc, as is John Doran’s video lecture about his trip to Cornwall to visit the locations and delve into the lore Richard has referenced throughout his career. Tho, to this day, I still find it difficult to understand how people came to the assumed conclusion he’d retired to the country, decided releasing music had become a chore, and wasn’t sure the public cared about him anymore. I mean, he always considered releasing music as a chore. And we all wondered if and when he would come back with an official major label Warp release. However, Analord anyone? The Tuss? Not to mention he was touring far more frequently back then, and it’s those tours that started his professional relationship with weirdcore leading to him being solidified as Richard’s longest running collaborative artist and the weirdcore element of his shows becoming an essential part of the live afx experience. Doran is well versed enough with the afx story to understand this. I’m sure he’s well aware of his rather consistent output over this time, albeit without the corporate backing of Warp. His hiatus was merely a commercial one. And he’s made it clear enough that the discontent that led to his hiatus was more to do with his struggles regarding the cult of personality element of fame. The pedestal placing, the expectations of living up to the greatness he never believed he he was yet was thrust upon him. The growing elitist toxicity within the fan community that came about from the pedestal he’d been placed on that projected him as an almost Devine being, literally at times depicting his image with religious iconography. They literally put him above others. Almost more than human. A higher being better and more worthy than the majority. And that projection of him by parts of the community resulted in an element of superiority. That they were better and more worthy for understanding and appreciating his material. But he has never put himself above anybody. He found the high end adoration overwhelming. The couldn’t relate with being labeled a genius and it made him extremely uncomfortable. His hiatus was because he was no longer able to cope with what everyone else made him. He never even wanted to share his music with his friends initially. So he stopped it in its tracks. His own way. Took a while. Almost 13 years to be precise. But he never stopped being the artist he always was. He just did it on his own terms for a while. The Tuss was a direct message to the community about his feelings about it all. And it kinda worked a little too well. Literally divided the community. So much so that some hostility on the subject still remains to this day. And when the caustic window kickstarter happened, it moved him significantly. he also felt extremely guilty about how the Tuss thing all went down. So he decided to release Syro. Come clean on the Tuss. Learned how to deal with the elements that bothered him and embraced everything good about his community. And the good always outweighed the negative. The negative was just louder. His return to the mainstream was far more significant than him coming back after an extended hiatus. He never actually went away. He just took a long time learning how to properly accept how he’s perceived by embracing how he wants to be perceived, all the white maintaining his integrity as an artist on his own terms and for his own reasons in his own way. His return was a personal statement of acceptance and new found strength and confidence to be Aphex Twin how he dictates it. That’s why the blimp was so perfect. Grandiose. Bold. Yet absurd and satirical. An arrogant and egotistical statement from a man who possesses no arrogance and rejects ego I feel like John should have been all over that. He knows everything that lead up to it….

This is gold. Been a fan since ambient works first came out. Thanks so much.

Thank you much for the adventure. The adventure has thanked me.

...but he didn't disappear for 13 years!!! How many Analords were there? 11? Each with about 3 - 4 tunes on? And had two releases as 'The Tuss' :D :D :D hardly sitting on his arse!

I think it depends of what music your in to in order to like the genre he makes and it sounds like Richard is into everthing thats why it all so eclectic.

Still never managed to see him live, will do as soon as the opportunity arises...

Great job with this. Much appreciated... Ricchaaarrrddd!!!! Richard: yup!

cheers mate, i don't have to register with the beeb thanks to you!

Brilliant - Thanks for the upload

the part of the kid talking at the end kinda choked me up. richard champions the right people. great overview.

supposedly Richard used to come into #aphextwin on efnet years ago. If you talked about his music to him he never talked to you again, but if you talked tales of various female conquests boy he had some stories. He used to sign his emails with a big giant ascii art 7\ that I have on some old dead/ish hard drive from the late 90s / early 00s

The mystique and myth around Aphex Twin was definitely true when I first discovered him in around 1994. He was seen as a sort of Jimi Hendrix of electronic music, a prodigy who built his own gear and was just in a league of his own. For me his greatest work is everything up to and including his 1995 album, I Care Because You Do. Wasn't a big fan of much after that. His 90's material stands the test of time very well, Still listen to it to this day without ever get sick of it.

cheerz fert upload :-)

Saw him live in '95, Washington DC.

As of Aug, 15 2021, 30 downvoters had this on mute.

I believe the lucid dream writing bit. I do all of what he was talking about. It's a beautiful, liberating, and creative state of mind.

We can take comfort from the fact that this video concludes just as dearest Richard would have wanted, including remembering him (at 26:42) as part of a 'proud heritage', a 'conduit to the pre-Christian culture of the Cornish pasty.' Unsure? Bemused? Go back and gwarek it.

Seeing him in Brooklyn on April 11th. I'd faint if I got the chance to say hello... I'm terrified and excited all at once.

Thanks for this - the alternative was to make an account on BBC site \//\

Nice to hear from Toop. Read "Ocean of Sound" if you can find a copy. More products from his interviews can be found in his chapter on Aphex Twin.

He totally disappeared except for the Analord series of 12 vinyls and Tuss and who knows what. But except for this masterpiece, he totally disappeared.

Richard knows who I am (btw he’s a nice guy)

Thought this was gonna be crap.Was actually pretty good.

if he wasnt as illusive there'd be nothing but hit pieces about him because he is one who can see through the mainstream vomit.

Drukqs was an amazing album, one of my favourites.

The best thing about Aphex I've ever heard.

I laughed really hard when they said Drukqs got the lowest possible score in Rolling Stone. Fuck Rolling Stone, if it wasnt for Hunter Thompson nobody would know it exists

i love aphex. i love aphex tween. i love u richaaard

Druqks was one of his greatest works - I love it! Besides most of his other work :D

Analord might be the hardest moniker ever. The word describes the music to a T

Fascinating listen

Respect to John Doran for making this about the one and only

Aphex is Brilliant. But more accessible with his later releases. Those Scottish Brothers are a harder tungsten to try find anything about. Both of equal value in utter inspiration... but far me... BOC are just so closed. Can't you guys jut come out and play.... so wising this :))))))

"I like u2 but I dont like Bono"... This kid is awsome

Sweet 👍

Orbital, Moby and Aphex all together

I honestly think Richard D. James isn’t his real name. It’s a chop up of names. I’m pretty sure its another name he made. **RICH(ard) D.J(Ames)**

Does anybody know what the name of the piano tune just before Avril 14th is?

I loved Drukqs. It's beautiful in places.

Richard David James abbreviated is “Rich DJ”. Coincidence? ;)

The aphex twin logo is from superdimension fortress macross, it appears in a light box advertisement on the street in macross city

Game changer

I heard he stopped music to build metropolises out of crisps. He's stuck on quaver city.

Ok, Obviously people were working on things before Richard. Morton Subotnik for instance. John Cage, isn't the whole record he made basically referencing that? Also the whole mystery behind the aphex twin logo is from an Armin Hofman graphic design manual. Look it up.

2:34 This sound of a cassette being inserted into a radio will never be understood by newbies. The sound itself has it's own timestamp.

Track ID 15:28 - vic reeves chatting over

Still waiting...

He started me on my own musical journey! If he had a church in his name I’d be the first at the alter! Haha

I have only one tattoo and it's an aphex twin tattoo. Lol

11:51 does anyone have the track id for the song playing in the background

How did ppl not know that his logo was an A? On S.A.W.2 the whole name “Aphex Twin” is spelled out in those letters. At least on the packaging I’ve had since like 95.

Wow.

Can anyone ID the track that's playing at 11:54? Thank you

Absolute musical virtue. To me anyways... Great video.

I don't know how, yet. But somehow, Æpx x2 = "Dark matter". That much chaos belongs to the cosmos.

This man is very misunderstood.

Yo at the beginning what he says, that's the description for his page on the Day For Night website, which is now down I think. Does anyone else remember what the rest of that text was? It was so wild.

What’s the song that starts at 2:37??

What is the audio from?

Fantastic Irish producer.

23rd November 1968 ? Huh ? That's incorrect.

anyone know the song at 6:10?

"Brilliant" - Every English person ever

What’s the song that starts at around 1:33?

Does anyone know the song that starts around 22:50??

someone know the song at he end?

What's the song @2:36???

Track at 22:53???

One Piece fans know the truth.

and sub. sincerely, a hopeless fan of Aphex Twin.

Which song at 22:14

Cornwall great

Good piece. Some writers sound like total wankers trying to write about Aphex, but this is a good listen.

whats the track that starts at 11:48?

3:10 ID?

Twinning is winning

song at 10:58 ?

big up big sexy land john doran u legend

The a is clearly lambda

cornish mythweaver

I just like his music, don't care about what the rest of you are on about lol

Syros was a big disappointment to me though. Really wanted another Selected Ambient Works 85-92

He’s born in limerick, he’s Irish. That explains his musical and poetic talent 😌

Also the drukqs rumor was that he released a double album to finish off his contract with warp, not that the album was shit. It was really one great LP and the other? *shrug*

Not a Dj dude.