Recently, Aphex Twin, a.k.a. the experimental English musician Richard James, announced his first album in 13 years, Syro. But this wasn't any old album announcement: Aphex Twin broke the news with a giant green blimp over London, mysterious graffiti on the sidewalks of New York, and a tracklist accessible only via the deep web browser Tor. He followed all of that up by sending out a completely nonsensical press release.
For fans, new music from Aphex Twin was cause for excitement. But if you’re unfamiliar with the music of Aphex Twin and wondering what all of the hullabaloo is about (and especially why this guy deserves his own blimp!) -- we're here to help explain. In a conversation with Soundcheck host John Schaefer, Simon Vozick-Levinson, senior editor at Rolling Stone -- who recently interviewed Aphex Twin about Syro -- and Michelle Lhooq, features editor at Vice's online channel Thump, talk about Aphex Twin's latest effort, and to point out some highlights from his back catalog.
Interview Highlights
Michelle Lhooq, on Aphex Twin's creative announcement of Syro:
I think he's always portrayed himself as the merry prankster of the dance music world. He has a wicked sense of humor and he loves doing these theatrical stunts that are totally tongue and cheek. He loves throwing you against yourself and startling people and making people come out of what they've been conditioned to expect.
Simon Vozick-Levinson on the style of dance music that Aphex Twin creates:
Richard James has worked in a multitude of styles over the years, under a multitude of pseudonyms and fake names, but he's typically associated with the more esoteric, cerebral, music. He'll make long, ambient washes of sound. He'll make really twisted beats that sound like they're made by an alien from another planet. It's not dance music that you expect to hear at a club.
Vozick-Levinson about the early days of Aphex Twin:
He started out as a DJ in England's rave scene, playing acid house and that side of electronic music at the time. He got a local reputation, but he didn't really break out and become famous until he started putting out singles under the name Aphex Twin and ultimately put out his first album, which was sort of a left turn into ambient music [called Selected Ambient Works]. That's a classic, and anyone who wants to start learning about Aphex Twin should just soak up and absorb that album. There's a lot to hear there.
Vozick-Levinson on whether Aphex Twin always creates music electronically:
There have been times where he's worked exclusively with analog instruments, there have been times where he's made his music entirely on computers. He told me recently that the only thing he uses computers for now is to sequence tracks -- make a track listing -- after the music is completely done.
Lhooq on Aphex Twin's influence on pop and hip hop music:
His sound has become so much a part of the pop music canon that you see his influences everywhere. But it also comes down to more specific instances of sampling. There was a famous story about how Kanye West lifted a piano chord from Aphex Twin's song "Avril 14th." It's this really beautiful piano melody and Kanye just took it and used it as part of his song ["Blame Game"]. Aphex Twin reached out to him and wanted to give him a better quality version of that song, and Kanye said something like 'It's not yours, it's ours.' Which I think is actually very poignant -- people view Aphex Twin's material as commonly shared material.