.8888 .8888 88888 88888 888 888 .d8888b oo888oo 888 888 oo888oo .d8888b .d88b 888 .88888888 8888888 888 888 8888888 .88888888 d88P~Y888 888P `888 888 888. .888 888 888P `888 888 888 888 888 `88b.d88' 888 888 888 888 .oooo888 888 3888E 888 .oooo888 888 888 d88P~~888 888 .88P Y88. 888 d88P~~888 888 888 888 888 888 888' `888 888 888 888 888 888 888ooo888 888 888 888 888 888ooo888 Y888o8888 `888P~888 888 888 888 888 `888P~888 `Y8P`888 888 the official unofficial aphex twin faq 888 version 2.6 888 released 2000.02.18 888 copyright (c) 1998-2000 Screwtape, T.E., B.S., Etc. [see section z for further information] A...GENERAL INFORMATION 1...What is Aphex Twin? > 2...What does Aphex Twin mean? 3a..What other pseudonyms has Richard used in the past? 3b..Is The Diceman really Richard? 4...What Aphex Twin albums are out there? 5...Is Aphex Twin really only one person? 6...Who is Richard D. James? 7...Where does Richard live? 8...What kind of equipment does Aphex Twin use? > 9...What is Aphex Twin's connection to...? 10a.If I like Aphex Twin, what other music might I like? * 10b.What music does Richard like? 11a.What is 'Rephlex'? * 11b.What is 'braindance'? 12..Who is on the Rephlex artist roster? 13..Where can I send my demo? 14..Where can I buy Aphex Twin music? 15..Where can I buy Aphex Twin merchandise? > 16..What Aphex Twin songs have appeared in other media? 17..Did I see an ad for _Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 23 2038-2040_? 18..What does Richard drive? Does he really drive a tank? 19..Sandpaper and a food mixer? 20..Is Aphex Twin online? B...AFX RELEASES 1...What is a digeridoo? 2...What do those numbers stand for on _Analogue Bubblebath 3_? 3...What is the difference between the AB3 releases? 4...What is that last track of _Analogue Bubblebath 4_? > 5...Was there ever an _Analogue Bubblebath 5_? C...CAUSTIC WINDOW RELEASES 1...What is the voice saying at the start of 'Italic Eyeball'? > 2...What is Richard saying in 'Humanoid Must Not Escape'? 3...Why does 'Popcorn' sound so familiar? 4...What samples does 'Fantasia' use? > 5...Will there be another Caustic Window album? 6...What does 'Clayhill Dub' mean? D...POLYGON WINDOW RELEASES 1...Where was _Surfing On Sine Waves_ recorded? 2...Where were the pictures taken for _Surfing On Sine Waves_? 3...Is it true that all the sounds from 'Quoth' were deleted? 4...What is the voice saying in 'If It Really Is Me'? 5...Whose voice is used in 'Supremacy II'? 6...What is that damn computer saying in 'UT1-dot'? 7...Will there be any new material coming out from Polygon Window? E...Selected Ambient Works 85-92 / On EP / Selected Ambient Works Volume II 1...What does 'Ptolemy' mean? > 2...Who is that talking in 'We Are The Music Makers'? 3...What kind of cracked-up lunatic...? 4...What is the difference between the SAWII releases? F...Ventolin EP / ...I Care Because You Do / Donkey Rhubarb EP 1...What is that awful noise at the start of the 'Ventolin' track? 2...Do the other track names for the 'Ventolin' EPs have any meaning? 3...What is 'Alberto Balsalm'? 4...How can I hear the hidden 'I care be-cause you do'? 5...What is 'Donkey Rhubarb'? 6...What is 'Vaz Deferenz'? > 7...Who is speaking in 'Come On You Slags!'? G...Girl/Boy EP / Richard D. James Album 1...Are the string sounds on _Richard D. James Album_ real? 2...Who is that talking to Richard on '4'? > 3...Is there any significance to .824545201? > 4...What does 'Goon Gumpas' sound like? 5...Who is the child speaking on 'To Cure A Weakling Child'? 6...Why the name 'Girl/Boy Song' for a track? 7...So what is 'Yellow Calx'? 8...Do you think anyone might find the lyrics to 'Milkman' a bit offensive? 9...How do I pronounce 'Inkey$'? 10..What is 'Redruth'? 11..Is that really Richard's gravestone? What's going on? 12..What is being said at the beginning of 'Girl/Boy (£18 Snare Rush Mix)'? H...Come To Daddy EP / Windowlicker EP 1...Where was _Come To Daddy_ recorded? 2...Where did Richard get the idea for 'Come To Daddy, Pappy mix'? 3...What is the voice saying in 'Come To Daddy, Little Lord Faulteroy mix'? 4...What does 'Bucephalus Bouncing Ball' mean? * 5...What is the computer saying at the end of 'Funny Little Man'? 6...Who is that talking at the beginning of 'Come To Daddy, Mummy mix'? 7...What does 'Windowlicker' mean? > 8...What is the voice saying in 'Windowlicker'? It sounds French. X...MISCELLANEOUS RELEASES 1...What is 'Aphex Airlines'? 2...Why does 'My Teapot' sound familiar? 3...Is 'Tamphex (Headphuq Mix)' really based on a tampon commercial? * 4...Does the name 'Freeman Hardy & Willis Acid' mean anything? * 5...What is calx? * 6...I downloaded this track 'Brivert And Muons.' Which album is it from? * 7...Did Aphex Twin collaborate with LFO on a track? Y...APHEX TWIN VIDEOS 1...What videos have been released by Aphex Twin? Z...THE FAQ'S FAQ 1...Who wrote the FAQ? 2...What exactly does 'official unofficial' mean? > 3...Where can I get the newest version of the FAQ? > 4...What's new with this FAQ? 5...Is the Aphex Twin FAQ available in other languages? > 6...Who helped out? * New since the last official release of the FAQ > Updated since the last official release of the FAQ ****************************************************************************** PLEASE READ SECTION Z ****************************************************************************** 8888 88 88888 --88--88-----------------------------------SECTION A - GENERAL INFORMATION---- 88 88 88 888 888 88 A:1 "What is Aphex Twin?" Aphex Twin is the ongoing project of Richard D. James, a brilliant modern composer of electronic music, sound, and noise. He has been hailed from both sides of the Atlantic as "the one-man Kraftwerk" and "the next Mozart" showing that his music knows no geographical boundaries. Known for his faster-than-lightning snare rushes just as much as for his beatless ambient loops, Richard's music is never the same sound twice. Some would try to categorise Aphex Twin as "ambient," "electronica," "intelligent dance music," "jungle," or even "noise." They would all be correct, but it is much safer to say that with each new release, the sounds created by Richard are torn down and rebuilt from the ground up without giving a second thought to what the press or listening public may think. There are some similarities among all of his works, but each track can definitely hold its own. See section A.11b for more information on musical classification. A:2 "What does Aphex Twin mean?" The "Aphex" in Aphex Twin is actually a registered trademark of Aphex Systems, Ltd. a manufacturer of pro audio and broadcast sound processing products (most well-known for their Aural Exciter). Some recent releases include the line "Aphex is a registered trademark of Aphex Systems Ltd and is used by permission" somewhere on the package. But, according to the February 13, 1993 issue of NME: "Richard came across the word by accident, using the 'A' in Aphex for the acid element in his sound, and the 'ph' as the pH value of acid. He hadn't even heard of an Aural Exciter until he'd had a few records out. He is, let's face it, the last person who'd name himself after a piece of gear made by somebody else: he was constructing his own synthesisers at 13." At one time, the "Twin" was thought to be a reference to Tom Middleton (see section A9ee) who shares the same date of birth as Richard. Tom also collaborated with Richard on his first release. It should be made clear, though, that although Tom has referred to _himself_ as the "Twin" in Aphex Twin, Richard underplays all that. The Aphex Twin name was around before they ever recorded together. The real story behind the "Twin" in Aphex Twin is best told by Richard when he speaks of his brother with whom he actually shares the same name. See section G.11 for more information regarding Richard's late brother. A:3a "What other pseudonyms has Richard used in the past?" Known pseudonyms include AFX, The Aphex Twin, Polygon Window, Caustic Window, Blue Calx, The Dice Man, GAK, Power-Pill, Q-Chastic, Soit-P.P., and Rich (of Mike & Rich). Of all this madness he says: "They existed before I got into the music business. I used to make up little names on tapes and stuff when I used to catalogue my stuff, and that's why I made up most of the names. And then it sort of worked quite nicely when I got into the music business, 'cause I just gave different names to different record companies, and I thought that was quite cool. But now with so much music being out on the, sort of, scene, splintered up so much into different bits, and people have like five labels for different types of music and stuff. I thought it was quite a good idea at first, but now I really don't like it. I want it to be all back together again; I want to go out to a club and listen to all different types, not just one specialist type of jungle. I think having different names breaks it up, so that's why I'm sticking to two again, now, to keep it all under the same names." At one point he actually lost track of all of them, so future releases will only be put out as AFX (on Rephlex) and Aphex Twin (on Warp). Unless, of course, he is releasing old material, which will be released under the alias for which it was originally intended. But in the end, he says they are all the same to him anyway. A:3b "Is The Diceman really Richard?" No. Not if you are referring to the one on Vivatonal Records. The Diceman is not anything to do with Richard D. James. The Diceman is the alias used for certain projects of Colin James (Jolly James, Gregg Retch, formerly of Meat Beat Manifesto). All releases by The Diceman have been mistaken as being done by Richard D. James for multiple reasons. One reason is that Richard did do a track on Warp Records' _Artificial Intelligence_ compilation under the alias The Dice Man (notice the distinct space between "Dice" and "Man"). The track was called "Polygon Window" and later showed up on his very own Polygon Window album _Surfing On Sine Waves_. This was the only use of the alias for Richard as he was forced to retire it after finding out about the other Diceman. Additionally, The Diceman releases (on Vivatonal Records) give credit to "Jolly James," "C. James," and "S. James." The last name "James" seems to mislead quite a few people. And to confuse matters further, S. James (Scott) is indeed another (third) person, but he is related to neither Richard nor Colin James. All three James are unrelated. To sum it up, The Dice Man is Richard, The Diceman is Colin. If you are looking for Richard's music, get _Artificial Intelligence_ then stop looking for dice anything. Better yet, just buy _Surfing On Sine Waves_. You'll get more Richard for your money. On a related note, the alias itself probably comes from a 1972 novel by Luke Rhinehart (a pen name of George Cockcroft) entitled _The Dice Man_. It deals with a doctor who decides to use dice in every decision he makes. A very highly recommended book. A:4 "What Aphex Twin albums are out there?" Here is a short chronological list of some of the releases that Richard has produced. It is in no way the best or most complete discography you will find. For that, please direct your World Wide Web browser to Richard D. James Complete Discography (http://www.warprecords.com/warp/file/afx/). 1991.09.00 AFX Analogue Bubblebath 1991.12.00 AFX Analogue Bubblebath 2 1992.00.00 Power-Pill PAC-MAN 1992.00.00 Q-Chastic Q-Chastic 1992.04.00 The Aphex Twin Digeridoo 1992.06.00 The Aphex Twin Xylem Tube 1992.07.00 Caustic Window Joyrex J4 EP 1992.07.00 Caustic Window Joyrex J5 EP 1992.11.00 Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works 85-92 1993.02.00 AFX Analogue Bubblebath 3 1993.03.22 Polygon Window Quoth 1993.08.11 Polygon Window Surfing On Sine Waves 1993.11.00 Caustic Window Joyrex J9 1993.11.15 Aphex Twin On 1993.11.15 Aphex Twin On Remixes 1993.12.00 Caustic Window Joyrex J9 EP 1994.01.00 Aphex Twin On Maxi 1994.03.07 Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works Volume II 1994.05.00 Aphex Twin Words & Music 1994.06.13 GAK GAK 1994.08.00 AFX Analogue Bubblebath 4 1995.01.00 The Aphex Twin Classics 1995.03.27 Aphex Twin Ventolin 1995.03.27 Aphex Twin Ventolin Remixes 1995.03.28 Aphex Twin Ventolin Maxi 1995.04.24 Aphex Twin ...I Care Because You Do 1995.08.14 Aphex Twin Donkey Rhubarb 1995.10.16 AFX Hangable Auto Bulb 1995.12.11 AFX Hangable Auto Bulb 2 1996.07.00 Mike & Rich Expert Knob Twiddlers 1996.08.19 Aphex Twin Girl/Boy EP 1996.11.04 Aphex Twin Richard D. James Album 1997.00.00 AFX Analogue Bubblebath 3.1 1997.10.06 Aphex Twin Come To Daddy 1998.06.01 Caustic Window Compilation 1999.02.22 Aphex Twin Windowlicker Video 1999.03.22 Aphex Twin Windowlicker NOTE: A double zero indicates information unknown. Obviously, there is no date 00. At least, not on _my_ calendar, so that's what that means. Also, dates reflect first available releases. The dates may reflect US, UK, or other countries' release dates based on the first available pressing. A:5 "Is Aphex Twin really only one person?" To date, all Aphex Twin work has been the work of Richard D. James and Richard D. James alone. Other pseudonyms, however, have given Richard the freedom to collaborate with others such as Mike Paradinas (Mike & Rich) and Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher/AFX). Most of Richard's collaborative works are clearly labelled so there is usually no confusion. If there is any question, though, chances are he worked on it solo. A:6 "Who is Richard D. James?" Richard's Statistics: Full Name : Richard David James Born On : August 18, 1971 Born In : Cornwall, England, United Kingdom Eye Colour : Hazel Hair Colour : Noisy Red Marital Status : Single Location : Stoke Newington, London, England, United Kingdom Education : 1 year at Kingston Polytechnic University Born Richard David James in Cornwall, England (the place where the legend of King Arthur supposedly started), he enjoys computer games and paintball (aside from making noise). His first recordings were made at the age of fourteen. Later, he did take an electronics course at Kingston Polytechnic in London but dropped out after a year. "It was doing my head in," he said. "I wanted to get out and make music." The parents of the electro-avant-gardist who reckons Mozart is "pretty wicked" met while working in a mental hospital. His father, Richard claims, used to dole out the LSD prescribed to patients. Sometimes, at the encouragement of the staff nurse, they used to take it themselves. His father moved to Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, to work as a miner in the county's doomed tin mines. In 1968, Richard's brother died at birth, and his grave is still in Canada. After the mines closed in the 1980s, Richard's father worked capping old mines, filling shafts that were in danger of collapsing. His parents now reside in Wales. The younger of his two sisters was into The Jesus And Mary Chain, and had boyfriends who played in indie bands. Richard never had much time for guitar rock. "I thought some of that stuff was quite good, but I didn't really like it." Richard's favourite pastime was playing with sound, taping and editing on reel to reels, playing them backwards, and changing speeds. The family had a piano that he recorded too, messing up the strings and hammers to make different noises. It drove his mother up the wall. By his teenage years, he was playing with a cheap synthesiser, a Sinclair Spectrum computer, and a cheap sampler. The mum of one of his childhood friends says: "Richard was a bit of a handful to his mother." A:7 "Where does Richard live?" To the best of my knowledge, he is still living in the bank that he purchased for the recording of _Come To Daddy_. See section H.1 for more information. A:8 "What kind of equipment does Aphex Twin use?" Originally, Richard was known for creating his own equipment. He would use shells of other devices and fill them with his own circuits, but these days he doesn't use the electronic stuff he made before. He uses about two things that he built when he was younger, and that's all. He's strictly into the computer domain. He has three computers: two laptops and a PowerPC. In fact, almost the entire _Richard D. James Album_ was done on his PowerPC. He has always been into computers, but, according to him, "they weren't good enough for a while." "Computers were too rubbish for me to get into them, but now they've reached really good heights again, and I'm really back into them." He has even started to write his own software. He has never been one to use standard tools, so virtually every aspect of his music-making has been customised in some way, shape, or form. That is part of what gives his music it's unique sound. One of his favourite mainstream tools is Steinberg's ReCycle. "Yeah, it's quite a wicked program. The most useful thing about it is it creates a bank on your sampler, and gives it loads of sample names. And that saves you an hour, at least. You can cut something up into, like, 90 samples, and transfer it over SCSI in a minute. That would take two hours normally." And not only for breakbeats, Richard uses ReCycle for melodic material as well. "I might play a violin or a trumpet scale into Pro Tools -- every note I can think of -- and then bang it into ReCycle, chop it up into little bits, bang it into the sampler, and you've got a complete bank of sounds in your sampler in about five minutes. "That's what I'm into now. I don't muck around with electronics anymore but I probably will get back into it soon because it's still got advantages. It's nice to have something in your hands rather than on a screen. I'm really into computers because obviously you can do something with it -- I'll be dealing with electronics in a nostalgic way not in an inventive way. Using older electronics for an older type of sound. My prime motivation is to do something new all the time and keep exploring. Computers are so powerful now, there's so much to be done with them really." As far as live shows are concerned, it took about a year, but he has finally filled his laptop with everything he needs to tour. Well, _almost_ everything. He also uses a little mixer, and an effects unit. But soon he will be eradicating the mixer and effects unit, so basically it will just be one computer. It does everything he did before with live samples and sequences. He has put every element down on a digital track in Digidesign's Pro Tools, so he can mix between tracks. A:9 "What is Aphex Twin's connection to..." a. "...The Beatniks?" Aphex Twin remixed "Une Femme N'est Pas Un Homme" for The Beatniks' _Another High Exit_, released in 1994. ~~~ b. "...Beck?" Richard remixed Beck's "Devil's Haircut" into "Richard's Hairpiece" for _The New Pollution_. ~~~ c. "...Bradley Strider?" What kind of question is that? If anyone has ever told you that there is no such thing as a stupid question, they would be very wrong. You just asked one. Some questions are better left ignored and unanswered. ~~~ d. "...Buck-Tick?" Aphex Twin remixed "In The Glitter Pt. 2" for _Shapeless_. ~~~ e. "...Chris Jeffs (Cylob, Kinesthesia)?" "I met him at Sound City in Sheffield," Richard says, "when I had to do a half-hour live thing in between M-People and Jamiroquai which I thought was wicked. It was weird, actually, because someone had taken this photo of me when I was playing and there's this mad-looking guy looking down on the stuff and I thought, 'Look at that geezer, he just looks like a total trainspotter.' And it was Chris. I didn't know that at the time though. His stuff really freaked me out, because he's made the most violent records I've ever heard: more violent than any gabba, and he's such a mellow guy, really quiet. He's got a little demon inside. "You want to see Cylob when he's pissed, he's well psycho. We were in New York once and there was this free musician thing in this bar where people came in and did whatever they wanted. He went on the mic about 20 minutes just doing stupid noises. All these New York people clapped for him as well. Then he threw a glass at my head. Hours and hours later we found him asleep in this doorway in the snow. He would've fuckin' had it, but he didn't care." Richard later remixed "Triachus" for Kinesthesia's _Empathy Box Remixes_ release. Cylob also did a remix of "Ventolin" for the _Ventolin Remixes_ EP. ~~~ f. "...Curve?" A remix of Curve's "Falling Free" on _Falling Free_ was done by Richard. ~~~ g. "...Ed Upton (DMX Krew)?" The _Ffressshh!_ release by DMX Krew contains "You Can't Hide Your Love (Aphex Twin Mix)." ~~~ h. "...Die Fantastischen Vier?" "Krieger (Aphex Twin Baldhu Mix)" on _Live Und Direkt_ is a remix "for a German hip-hop band, called something like the Fantastic Four," explains Richard, "and they're sort of a really big pop/hip-hop band, and I did a pretty mad mix of that, like chopped the bloke's voice up into millions of little bits and re-organised it, so you didn't know what they were saying. I don't know what I've arranged it into. I don't know what I've made him say because I can't speak German." ~~~ i. "...Gavin Bryars?" Gavin Bryars' sons are great fans of Richard's, and they told him to get Richard to remix one of his tracks. So the tracks "Raising The Titanic (Edit)" and "Raising The Titanic (Big Drum Mix)" from _Raising The Titanic: The Aphex Twin Mixes_ are the results of Richard's work for Gavin Bryars. ~~~ j. "...The Gentle People?" One time neighbours of Richard James allowed him to remix a track of theirs. "Journey (Aphex Twin Care Mix)" appears on _Journey_. ~~~ k. "...Grant Wilson-Claridge (IG-88)?" Grant is Richard's partner in the Rephlex record label. See section A.11a for further information regarding Rephlex Records. ~~~ l. "...Jesus Jones?" Richard remixed "Zeroes & Ones" into "Zeroes & Ones (Aphex Twin Reconstruction #1 Mix)" and "Zeroes & Ones (Aphex Twin Reconstruction #2 Mix)" for Jesus Jones' _Zeroes & Ones_. ~~~ m. "...Johnny Hawk (Global Goon)?" He used to live below Richard in a communal house. "He's really cool, really mellow," Richard points out. ~~~ n. "...The Lemonheads?" In Richard's own words: "I admit that sometimes I don't put any work into remixing at all. Sometimes I just give them an old, completely different track and say, 'Yeah, there's your remix.' I did that with The Lemonheads. I couldn't be bothered to do their track 'cause it was so shit. I don't know if they noticed or not 'cause I never bothered talking to any of them. "Basically, I was supposed to do it but I forgot the courier was coming that day. The doorbell rang, and I realised I'd forgotten so I just told him 'Fifteen minutes,' went upstairs, found an old track, taped it off, and gave it to him. I got paid four grand for that. A nice day's work. I've done that a few times, but I don't always do it." ~~~ o. "...Luke Vibert (Plug, Wagon Christ, Vibert of Vibert and Simmonds)?" Luke Vibert was the featured DJ on all the gigs apart from one on Richard's 1997 tour. Both Richard and Luke are Cornwall natives. He knew Richard quite a long time before Richard knew him, because Richard used to DJ and Luke would go to listen to Richard play. Richard was mates with him for a while before he found out Luke actually made music as well. They have now transcended the first name basis, and Luke actually calls him Aphex. As far as music is concerned, Richard did a remix of the Wagon Christ track "Spotlight" for the _Redone_ EP, and Luke is credited with additional production for "Ventolin (Deep Gong Mix)" on _Ventolin Remixes_. ~~~ p. "...Meat Beat Manifesto?" Aphex Twin remixed "Mindstream" for the Meat Beat Manifesto release _Mindstream_. ~~~ q. "...Mescalinum United?" The tracks on The Aphex Twin's _Classics_ album "We Have Arrived (Aphex Twin QQT Mix)" and "We Have Arrived (Aphex Twin TTQ Mix)" are remixes of the original "We Have Arrived" by Mescalinum United. ~~~ r. "...The Mike Flowers Pops?" _The Freebase Connection_ showcases "Debase (Soft Palate)" co-written by "R. James" and "produced by The Aphex Twin." ~~~ s. "...Mike Paradinas (µ-Ziq, Mike of Mike and Rich)?" Mike runs the record label Planet µ. He has remixed "On" for _On Remixes_ and Richard has done various remixes for Mike. The most notable connection, however, would be their collaboration on the _Expert Knob Twiddlers_ album as Mike & Rich (see section X.6). ~~~ t. "...Nav Katze?" In 1994, the songs "Ziggy" and "Change" appeared on _Never Mind The Distortion_, a Japanese and Australian only release. ~~~ u. "...Nine Inch Nails?" The songs "At The Heart Of It All" "created by Aphex Twin" and "The Beauty Of Being Numb" "section B created by Aphex Twin" appear on the Nine Inch Nails US release _Further Down The Spiral_. Richard has also expressed an interest in touring with Nine Inch Nails. ~~~ v. "...Nobukazu Takemura?" On Nobukazu Takemura's _Let My Fish Loose_, the song "Let My Fish Loose" was remixed by Richard D. James. ~~~ w. "...Oval?" There is a program from the people of Oval which functions as sort of a CD player on the Macintosh platform. It has a record button which lets you collect samples from the CD and rearrange them into a track that sounds like an Oval track. You can then add it to the menu of your CD so that every time you reopen the CD, you have more tracks: your own Oval re-mixes of the CD available to play. "They did that to my album, actually: Selected Ambient Works," claims Richard. "I am good at recognising sounds, I swear they did it. I was really getting into the album, and thinking, yeah, that sounds really familiar, and found my whole album being torn apart, it's quite good though, and I didn't know which way to take it. Did they like my album or did they just think, 'Well, this CD is rubbish; let's tear it apart'? That was what I liked most about their record." ~~~ x. "...Philip Glass?" Richard originally did "ICCT Hedral" with real instruments in mind. He did the mix that appears on _...I Care Because You Do_ and thought it would be nice to have it played with real instruments. Rather than "get someone sort of standard" who could score it for an orchestra, he wanted to get someone who he liked to do it. Philip Glass was on his list of people. "I had Michael Nyman down, and he was well into it, but he was really busy, couldn't do it for like a year or something. And Philip Glass was ready to roll with it. I just wrote him a letter. I was quite a big fan of his work; that's why I picked him, basically. They did one take and I didn't like it, and I couldn't quite work out what they'd done at all, I didn't like it at all. And I was in New York at the time; so we went to meet him and I was like, yeah, I didn't like what you did, and I said exactly why, and he was, like, agreeing with me. And then they said, well, they would be up for doing something else -- try again. So I went over and, like, helped them. They did most of it, and I just sat there and sort of said a few things now and again." The song "ICCT Hedral (Philip Glass Orchestration)" appears on the _Donkey Rhubarb_ EP. Also, possibly to return the favour, Richard remixed the track "Heroes" for Glass's _"Heroes" Symphony_ release featuring vocals by David Bowie. ~~~ y. "...Phillip Boa?" The 1998 German release of _Love Me Like An Alien_ features track 4, "Deep In Velvet (Turnips Mix)," remixed by Aphex Twin. The 12" for _Deep In Velvet RMX_ also features the same track. ~~~ z. "...Reload?" Reload remixed "On" for the _On Remixes_ release. ~~~ aa. "...Saint Etienne?" Saint Etienne's _Who Do You Think You Are_ includes the tracks mixed by The Aphex Twin at Llanerlog Studios, Cornwall, "Who Do You Think You Are (Quex-RD)" and "Your Head My Voice (Voix Revirement)." The first track was also used on _Casino Classics_ and _Too Young To Die_. ~~~ bb. "...Seefeel?" "Time To Find Me (AFX Fast Mix)" and "Time To Find Me (AFX Slow Mix)" were remixed by none other than Richard D. James. These tracks appear on Seefeel's _Time To Find Me_, _Pure, Impure_, and _Polyfusia_. ~~~ cc. "...Soft Ballet?" The Polygon Window remix of "Sand Lowe" appears on _Twist And Turn_. ~~~ dd. "...Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher, Chaos AD)?" The Squarepusher/AFX duet, "Freeman, Hardy & Willis Acid," is featured on the _We Are Reasonable People_ compilation, Warp Records' hundredth single (WAP100) which isn't really a single itself. Richard thinks fondly of Tom. Also, the liner notes for Squarepusher's _Feed Me Weird Things_ are signed by "Prichard D. Jams." Go figure. ~~~ ee. "...Tom Middleton?" Richard's first release, _Analogue Bubblebath 1_, was recorded with Tom Middleton and credited to "Aphex Twin Featuring Schizophrenia." It appeared on the Mighty Force label in September 1991. Middleton left later that year to form Global Communication. They also share the same date of birth. ~~~ ff. "...Peter Ford (Baby Ford)?" The _Normal_ release (1998) was released in two parts. The first part (BFORD15X/T) contains the track "Normal (Helston Flora Remix by AFX)." The second part (BFORD15R/A) contains three more remixes all by Baby Ford. The AFX mix is definitely on the first part. Some people have been finding that out the hard way. It can be very disappointing. A:10a "If I like Aphex Twin, what other music might I like?" There is certainly no way to tell for sure what music any one person may or may not like. In fact, it may depend on your mood at the time. But first, check out all the artists on the Rephlex label. Next, try listening to the artists on the Warp label. Since Richard has so many different sounds, it is possible that you will find another artist on one of those labels with a sound that suits your ears. If you like the hard, abrasive tracks, check out artists on Nothing Records (Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor's record label). In fact, that is the label some Warp and Rephlex artists are using to release some of their material on in the US. You also might even be interested in music by modern composers such as Philip Glass and Gavin Bryars. What the hell, if you like Aphex Twin, there's no telling _what_ other noise you'll put up with. A:10b "What music does Richard like?" In a September 1997 interview with Theresa Stern for Perfect Sound Forever (http://www.furious.com/perfect/) Richard was quoted as saying: "I like the old tape and avant-garde music. I really like Stockhausen's first record. It's awesome. Don't really like much else after that. 'Songs of Youth' is my favorite one. Tod Dockstader as well. He's an American [composer] from the 1960s, working with tape music. At the moment, I like Luke Vibert. He's doing this [1997] tour with me. I love his music. I like Squarepusher as well." After the interview, he listed off some music along with an explanation. + Drexciya's _The Quest_ + Erik Satie's "Trois Gymnopédies" + _Return of the DJ_ + Squarepusher's _Big Loada_ + Luke Vibert's _Big Soup_ + Batucada's _The Sound Of The Favelas_ + _Best Of Acid 1_ + Ween's _Pod_ and _Pure Guava_ + Les Baxter's _Exotic Moods Of Les Baxter_ + Serge Gainsbourg + Tod Dockstader's _Apocalypse_ [mistaken by Richard as "Luna Park"] "Drexciya are from Detriot, part of Underground Resistance," Richard offers as an explantion. "I really like them. _Return of the DJ_ is music from California. It's avant-garde hip-hop, taking it to another extreme with a lot of excessive scratching and cutting up. Batucada are from South America with really, really fast rhythms with screaming and shouting with no songs. _Best Of Acid 1_ is old school from 1988 with all of these Chicago producers and acid tunes. I love Ween. I really, really like them and everything they do. I'm well into Les Baxter, a right weirdo. I have this double CD by Gainsbourg that I like a lot with 'Lemon Incest' on it. [The 2CD set is _Gainsbourg A Gainsbarre_.] I've got CDs by Nurse With Wound and Harry Partch with me, but I haven't listened to them yet." A more straightforward answer to the question of what music Richard likes would be: A lot of weird shit. A:11a "What is 'Rephlex'?" Located in the darkest part of London, England, United Kingdom, and spreading as far as Cornwall, "Rephlex" is Richard D. James' own record label. He co-formed the label with Grant Wilson-Claridge around 1991. As the story goes, Grant first came across Richard at a tiny club called The Bowgie in the surfer village of Crantock, near Newquay, where he was a DJ, playing hip-hop records and slipping on occasional strange sounding tapes of his own. He always told Richard he was going to press his sounds onto records, and he was the first person to ever say that to Richard. They decided they wanted to start up their own label originally intended for Richard's own work, but then they started getting loads of tapes of everyone, so they started releasing other people's as well. They didn't get around to any of this until after Richard had already entered contracts with (many) other record labels, though. Richard has said that he just wanted to see how they all worked, and he needed a lot of record contracts to release all of his old material fast enough. Nowadays he's just sticking with Warp and Rephlex, and the only reason he's sticking with Warp is because he likes the way that it is run. Maybe he still wants to get ideas about how to run his _own_ label. A:11b "What is 'braindance'?" According to the Rephlex Records Web site (http://www.rephlex.com/): "When Rephlex started in 1991 people said that the type of music we released was called 'techno.' People always say that 'things aren't what they used to be.' Well, the same could be said for techno. "As the years progressed, the media invented more and more terms to describe the various sub-genres of music ('intellegent happy hardcore,' 'psychedelic handbag,' 'progressive bluntcore,' 'uplifting trance,' etc.). To be honest with you this made us confused about how we fit into the dance spectrum. So we decided to invent 'braindance,' a genre that encompasses all known genres -- to make things simpler. "Braindance is not so much a style of music but a way of life. It's a bit hard to explain, but if you buy all our releases you should have a better grasp of the concept." A:12 "Who is on the Rephlex artist roster?" This is simply a copy of what is available on the Rephlex Artists page (http://www.rephlex.com/artists.htm) so go there for the latest version. AFX / Caustic Window / Q-Chastic / Rich of Mike & Rich...........(Richard D. James) Bodenständig 2000.....(Bernhard Kirsch & Dragan Espenschied) Bogdan Raczynski........................................... Baby Ford.......................................(Peter Ford) Bradley Strider............................................ Bochum Welt..........................(Gianluigi di Costanzo) CYLOB / Kinesthesia............................(Chris Jeffs) DMX Krew..........................................(Ed Upton) D'Arcangelo.................(Fabrizio and Marco D'Arcangelo) Drexciya................................................... Dynamix ii.........................................(dynamix) Freakwincey................................................ Fushimuschi................................................ Futuresound Records........................................ The Gentle People............(Dougee Dimensional, Honeymink, Laurie LeMans and Valentine Carnelian) Global Goon....................................(Johnny Hawk) J.P. Buckle / Rubber Johnny / [one third of] The All Seeing Eye.............(Jason Buckle) Kiyoshi Izumi.............................................. The Kosmik Kommando / Chimera / DJ Mike Dred (+Peter Green) / Universal Indicator.......... Leila...................................................... Leo Anibaldi............................................... Like-A-Tim................................................. The Lisa Carbon Trio....................................... Lektrogirl................................................. µ-Ziq / Mike of Mike & Rich.................(Mike Paradinas) Ono........................................................ Ovuca........................................(Aleksi Perälä) Railway Raver / B.R. Posse..................(Jordan Muscott) Robert O'Dell.............................................. Sam and Valley..........................(ADK, Sam and Tango) Seefeel.....................(Mark Clifford, Justin Fletcher, Sara Peacock and Darren Seymour) Squarepusher / Chaos A.D.....................(Tom Jenkinson) Synectics..........................(Repetto & Stefan Riesen) The Jones Machine / Jones.......................(Matt Jones) Vibert/Simmonds............(Luke Vibert and Jeremy Simmonds) Vulva.........................(Tim Hutton & Thomas Melchior) X-ASP...........................(Paul Gulatti, Simon Powell) 808 State....................(Graham Massey, Gerald Simpson & Martin Price) A:13 "Where can I send my demo?" Both Warp Records and Rephlex Records welcome demos in any format (MC, CD, MD, DAT) but prefer CD and MC. Be warned, though, that they receive hundreds of demos a year. When all of them are listened to, they cannot acknowledge their arrival and tell you what they thought of each track. If they did this, they would never get anything released. If they like what they hear, you _will_ be notified. That is why it is extremely important for you to include your e-mail address and phone number clearly on both the media and the packaging. Mail to: Warp Records Rephlex Records PO Box 474 PO Box 2676 Sheffield or London S1 3BW N11 1AZ UK UK A:14 "Where can I buy Aphex Twin music?" In some places it can be very hard to find any Aphex Twin music, but don't get too discouraged because certain releases are hard to come by no matter where you are located. Here is a list of online distributors of Aphex Twin and related music: WarpMart http://www.warprecords.com/warp/mart/ CDnow http://www.cdnow.com/from=sr-1759968 Bent Crayon http://www.bentcrayon.com/ CDZone http://www.cdzone.co.uk/ Forced Exposure http://www.forcedexposure.com/ Isolation Tank http://www.isotank.com/ Siren Disc http://www.sirencd.com/ Sister Ray http://www.sisterray.co.uk/ Sonic Groove http://www.sonicgroove.com/ Sound City 2000 http://www.soundcity2000.com/ Throb http://www.throb.com/ A:15 "Where can I buy Aphex Twin merchandise?" Unfortunately, official Aphex Twin merchandise is no longer available. The old address for that is: Aphex Twin Merchandise Dept P O Box 3637 London N16 9AZ But don't bother writing because that whole operation is no longer in effect (read: "out of business"). The address is simply included for posterity. Please don't blame anyone if you never get anything from that address. The only reasonable alternatives at this point are (1) making your own goods by hand or (2) enlisting the help of a local printing shop that can make stickers, t-shirts, and everything else that you want _for_ you. Good luck. A:16 "What Aphex Twin songs have appeared in other media?" The Polygon Window track "UT1-dot" is played uncredited in the movie _Blade_ for about twenty seconds worth during the opening credits. Allegedly, Richard has composed numerous songs for commercials including those for Virgin Airlines, Lee jeans and Special K breakfast cereal. The soundtrack for _Pi_ features "Bucephalus Bouncing Ball," but the track makes no appearance in the movie. Possibly it was used in a scene that was cut from the final version, but, more likely, it's just a good track that is included on the soundtrack for no reason at all. "On" is played during one of the many sex scenes in _The Doom Generation_. It is credited at the end but is not featured on the soundtrack. "Time To Find Me (AFX Fast Mix)" (a remix of a Seefeel track) was used in the ending credits to a fashion show called "Perfecto" on MusiquePlus from 1993 to 1998. Caustic Window's "The Garden Of Linmiri" was used in a Pirelli television advertisement for tires. The ad featured runner Carl Lewis running through New York with tire treads on the bottoms of his feet. Check out a link to http://www.pirelli.com/adv/video/10a.avi to download the Windows movie or http://www.pirelli.com/adv/video/10a.mov to download the QuickTime version. Bank of America has used "Girl/Boy Song" in one of its commercials. "Yellow Calx" was used as a theme for the television show "Date With An Artist" in the UK. The film _8MM_ starring Nicholas Cage features the "Come To Daddy" video playing on a television set. The track is played again on a record player as a very integral part of the climax of the movie. MTV's "The Real World" used "On" during a train ride scene. "Windowlicker" was used for the theme in the Eurosport program schedule. A commercial for the special Olympics used "Girl/Boy Song" as background music. The band Placebo samples the computer voice used at the end of "Funny Little Man" (see section H.5) for their hidden track "Evil Dildo" from the album _Without You I'm Nothing_. A slightly edited version of "73-Yips" was used at the end of a Schick Diamond razor commercial in the US. In the UK the razors are known as Wilkinson Sword and basically the same commercial was used. Compaq used "Girl/Boy Song" in one of their ads. Orange, a communications company in the UK, used "Girl/Boy Song" for one of their ad campaigns. A:17 "Did I see an ad for _Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 23 2038-2040_?" You sure did if you were paying careful attention to the ad at the bus stop in the movie _Macross Plus_ (Part 1). It is shown for a fraction of time, right before a bus passes in front of it, at which point it changes to another ad for something much less interesting. A:18 "What does Richard drive? Does he really drive a tank?" No, on two accounts, but let me explain. First of all, it's not technically a tank. Second of all, he doesn't really drive it around right now. It is currently at his sister's house in Cornwall where he uses it to chase sheep around on the countryside. But he does indeed own a Daimler Ferret Mark 3 Armoured Scout Car. Heavier than 4.5 tons (9000 pounds) when combat-ready and armed with a 7.62 mm machine gun, the Mark 3 is a dream toy. "Once, I sort of took the front end off a sedan that was parked unattended near my house," Richard admits. One good thing about the Mark 3 is that it has top speeds of 93 km/h (58 mph) in forward AND reverse; he got out of there pretty quickly. The engine is a Rolls-Royce B-60 6-cylinder producing 129 hp at 3750 rpm. The Ferret was developed by the Daimler company in 1949. Production began three years later in 1952 and continued until 1971, during which time some 4500 were built. As well as being used by the British Army, they have been adopted by 36 other countries. The Ferret is basically a four-wheeled car with an all-welded steel body. The driver sits in the front of the hull, the centre is the commander's compartment, and the engine and transmission are at the rear. Used in every internal security campaign from Malaysia through Aden and Cyprus to Ulster, it is a fast and handy vehicle and one of the few ATVs that is politically acceptable to use on the streets. "It's like a giant remote controlled car," quips Richard. "It's got big antennas at the back, and you think there must be someone hiding with the control box. You can [legally drive it] if you passed your driving test. I haven't, but I still drive it on the roads, but you may drive it with another driver, and nobody knows who's in it. I've seen loads of police, but they just laugh. They never pull you over if you got your insurance. It is really cheap, apart from the petrol, 3 miles a gallon. But yeah, in the country nothing ever happens. When you bring it to London they will probably get worried that you are going to drive through the house of parliament with it. You got to be careful, 'cause there are restricted areas in London, for like terrorists and stuff, and they might probably think you've got a bomb in it. It can easily go through like car blocks and stuff. They will probably get really worried." A:19 "Sandpaper and a food mixer?" It started off in 1994 at a club called Disobey, around the corner from where Richard lived. He would go down there to see all the weird and wonderful acts they had, and one time they asked him to DJ. First, he dropped a tone arm on a sheet of sandpaper, sending an ear-shattering roar of scratchy distortion through the shocked crowd. Next, he stuck a microphone inside a blender and flipped the power switch. Disobey really got into it and invited him to go to America to do it again. It was only supposed to be a one-off, but they wanted to pay him and take his friends, so he did it. It was Blast First Records' showcase in New York, and there were people there who danced to it; they thought it was death metal or something. He just mixed some sandpaper together for a bit and then played a food mixer and threw it at someone. Oops! It hit the bloke on the head. "I thought I would get sued for that," Richard worried, "but he wanted me to sign it afterward. He said, 'I will keep this food mixer forever.'" A:20 "Is Aphex Twin online?" The fact is that Richard himself is wired to the hilt these days, but he has no personal (public) Internet presence. Meaning that he doesn't sit around in IRC chat rooms, reading newsgroups, or interacting with his fans as a service to them as fans. Surely he has online contacts and personal friends, but if you were looking for his e-mail address here, you are out of luck. That is not public knowledge. (And, no, I'm not just keeping it from you. I don't know it either.) On the other hand, if all you want are some good online resources pertaining to Aphex Twin, then you might be in more luck than we first expected. Check out these sites for starting points into your vast study of Aphex Twin on the Internet. --Aphex Start-- http://www.aphextwin.org/ --Richard D. James Complete Discography-- http://www.warprecords.com/warp/file/afx/ --Selected AFX Loops-- http://www.hyperreal.org/music/artists/afx/ --Warp Records-- http://www.warprecords.com/ --Rephlex Records-- http://www.rephlex.com/ --Aphex Start Discussion List-- http://www.aphextwin.org/help/aphex-list.htm 888 88 88 88888 88 88 88 88 ---88--88-----------------------------------------SECTION B - AFX RELEASES---- 88 88 88 88 888888 B:1 "What is a digeridoo?" A digeridoo is an Australian aboriginal musical instrument. As far as the song "Digeridoo" in concerned, Richard has this to say about it: "Friends of mine used to organise regular after parties at the beach in Cornwall, but they always had trouble to make the people leave at the end. So they asked me to make something to shake the people out of their XTC trance, a track to end the party with a big bang!" That should explain its more than 150 beats per minute. B:2 "What do those numbers stand for on _Analogue Bubblebath 3_?" That's a confusing joke. They are Richard and Grant's post codes, phone numbers, and dates of birth all mixed up. Many of the tracks don't even have titles. B:3 "What is the difference between the AB3 releases?" The original _Analogue Bubblebath 3_ (CAT008LP) was released in 1992 on vinyl with approximately 8 tracks (depending on how you count them). The more standard version (CAT008CD) came about in 1993 and was released only on CD. It has 13 tracks and two are different from their LP versions. Tracks 3 and 5 from the CD version are also played as one track 4 on the vinyl release (track 3 played in the right channel and track 5 in the left). To make matters worse, there was a reissue of the CD in 1997, along with the vinyl-only _Analogue Bubblebath 3.1_ (CAT00897). AB3.1 features only four tracks; the CD tracks 9, 13, and 8, are used for tracks 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The fourth track is a highly modulated conversation about shit, faeces, and smelly cunts. B:4 "What is that last track of _Analogue Bubblebath 4_?" That is nothing more than a distorted 27 second clip of a press conference held by Evel Knievel, the famous stunt man from the 1970s. B:5 "Was there ever an _Analogue Bubblebath 5_?" Yes, Richard did _Analogue Bubblebath 5_, but he has no plans on releasing it. When asked why not he responded: "Because I don't like it, no, I do, but not all the tracks, I want better ones on that. Quite often, if you make records, very soon after you did the tracks, you change your mind about them." However, you never know. There have been indications of AB5 eventually being released on CD one day, but there is no date set as of this writing, so don't hold your breath. 88888 88 88 88 --88-----------------------------------SECTION C - CAUSTIC WINDOW RELEASES---- 88 88 88 88888 C:1 "What is the voice saying at the start of 'Italic Eyeball'?" Played backwards, the voice sings: "Perhaps I had a wicked childhood." It is Maria von Trapp (Julie Andrews) in _The Sound Of Music_. It is also played forward later on in the song. C:2 "What is Richard saying in 'Humanoid Must Not Escape'?" Richard isn't saying anything at all. Those voice samples -- the one that says "Let's fuck!" and the girl that replies, "Yeah, yeah!" -- are taken from David Bowie's "The Man Who Fell To Earth." The other sample (the main one) that says "Humanoid must not escape!" comes from the video game "Robotron 2084." It must be one of the releases _with_ the "robot" voice such as the Atari 5200 and standup arcades. The Atari 2600 didn't really have voices. C:3 "Why does 'Popcorn' sound so familiar?" Perhaps you were forced to listen to the original version by Gershon Kingsley (under the name Hot Butter) in nursery school whilst doing a silly dance or playing a stupid game. Or maybe you are too old for that and actually bought the record when it came out in 1972 on Musicor Records. For more information, try heading to http://www.popcornsong.com/ which is a page devoted entirely to the song and its various covers (including the version by Richard). C:4 "What samples does 'Fantasia' use?" The samples of "Ooh, ooh! That's great! Yeah!" are allegedly taken from a porno flick of the same name. This has not been verified. C:5 "Will there be another Caustic Window album?" "Yeah, I'm doing another Caustic Window album," Richard said of the now-released compilation. "I did one but wanted to change a lot of the tracks on it, and basically it's on my computer now I'm just trying to find the time to finish it now. Mostly older tracks, loads of old ones." Now that the compilation is released, there is probably no new Caustic Window material. C:6 "What does 'Clayhill Dub' mean?" "Clayhill Dub" was written about the Clayhill Halls of Residence at Kingston Polytech, where Richard lived when he studied there for a year. (See section A.6.) The distorted rushing sounds in the track are trains whizzing past the halls from Surbiton to Waterloo. 888 88 88 88888 88 88 88 88 --88--88-------------------------------SECTION D - POLYGON WINDOW RELEASES---- 88 88 88 88 888888 D:1 "Where was _Surfing On Sine Waves_ recorded?" The Polygon Window LP was written entirely in the deep south west of Cornwall between 1986 and 1989 apart from "Quoth" and "If It Really Is Me," which were updated due to a spillage of orange juice on the master tapes. The tracks were created in the Llanerlog studios. The studios are set close to the coast where the cover photos were taken. D:2 "Where were the pictures taken for _Surfing On Sine Waves_?" The photo on the front cover shows where there used to be a swimming pool made from the rocks of Porthtowan beach in Cornwall. When they were nippers they'd stand on a wall for as long as possible and let massive waves crash into them. If you fell the right way you'd get mashed on the rocks by the sea. "Porth Towan" is even listed in the "thanks to" section on the back of the album. D:3 "Is it true that all the sounds from 'Quoth' were deleted?" Yes, the song that features sounds captured from Richard's day job digging tunnels was given the distinction of being released and deleted on the same day. In fact, all the songs on the LP were deleted. D:4 "What is the voice saying in 'If It Really Is Me'?" At about 4:30 into the song, a woman's voice says, "We have to make a deal. You know I accept that fact. Find out who he is not, okay?" Later in the song, the line "If it is me," is repeated a couple times. D:5 "Whose voice is used in 'Supremacy II'?" The sample, "Do-re-me-fa-so-la-ti. Oh, let's see if I can make it easier," is of Maria von Trapp (Julie Andrews) taken from the movie _The Sound Of Music_. She was trying to teach a family of little children to sing. It is, after all, a musical. D:6 "What is that damn computer saying in 'UT1-dot'?" The computer is saying something remotely resembling: "Introducing integrated inside with electronic techno music, controlled manual by Aphex mind program... Acid might kill the population." D:7 "Will there be any new material coming out from Polygon Window?" Not anything new. There was another album that Richard did that didn't get released. It will get released someday he reckons. It's just stuff that was left over from the first one that he liked just as much, sort of a second _Surfing On Sine Waves_. "Probably when I'm dead, they'll find it," Richard morbidly states. 88888 88 88 88 88 --8888888-----------SECTION E - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 / On EP / 88 Selected Ambient Works Volume II----------- 88 88 88888 E:1 "What does 'Ptolemy' mean?" Ptolemy was an ancient astronomer, who put forth the theory -- later disproved by Copernicus -- that the earth was the centre of the universe. E:2 "Who is that talking in 'We Are The Music Makers'?" The sample "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams," is taken from the movie _Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory_. It is none other than Willy Wonka himself (played by Gene Wilder). E:3 "What kind of cracked-up lunatic...?" You must be wondering about _Selected Ambient Works Volume II_. Richard has compared it with "standing in a power station on acid." "This album is really specific," he says, "because 70 percent of it is done from lucid dreaming. To have lucid dreams is to be conscious of being in a dream state, even to be capable of directing the action while still in a dream. I've been able to do it since I was little," Richard explains. "I taught myself how to do it and it's my most precious thing. Through the years, I've done everything that you can do, including talking and shagging with anyone you feel that takes your fancy. The only thing I haven't done is tried to kill myself. That's a bit shady. You probably wouldn't wake up, and you wouldn't know if it had worked, anyway. Or maybe you would. "I often throw myself off skyscrapers or cliffs and zoom off right at the last minute. That's quite good fun. It's well realistic. Eating food is quite smart. Like tasting food. Smells as well. I make foods up and sometimes they don't taste of anything -- like they taste of some weird mish-mash of other things." E:4 "What is the difference between the SAWII releases?" _Selected Ambient Works Volume II_ was released in 1994 in three formats. The most complete format is Warp Records' UK 3LP version with a total of 25 tracks. The next most complete version is Warp's UK 2CD version with a total of 24 tracks (missing only track "19" from the LP version). Lastly, there is the pathetic Sire Records' US 2CD version with only 23 tracks (missing both track "19" and also track "4" from the LP version). NOTE: The only way to obtain track "19" in a digital format is to locate a copy of _Excursions In Ambience: The Third Dimension_, a compilation that features the track "#19" as its own track 10. 888 88 88 88 88 888888 88 ----88----------------SECTION F - Ventolin EP / ...I Care Because You Do / 88 Donkey Rhubarb EP---------------- 88 8888 F:1 "What is that awful noise at the start of the 'Ventolin' track?" Allegedly, the high-pitched tone in "Ventolin" is the noise you would hear if you were to overdose on Ventolin (an inhaler for asthma, also sold as Proventil). In the US, the drug itself is known as Albuterol, but in the UK, its official name is Salbutamol (hence the Salbutamol mix on the single). If you take too much at one time, you see flashes of light and your ears ring with that exact pitch. Richard himself is an asthmatic. "Yeah, but it's never really bothered me," he says, "never stopped me from doing anything. With 'Ventolin' I tried to get it really claustrophobic. I tried to get it like, sort of, similar to -- similar sort of feeling to having an asthma attack, which is like claustrophobic, basically. But it's not something that -- I've got it, like, quite bad, but it's -- I'm not the sort of person to let things like that scare me away. "I was trying to make it sound like wheezing. Like when you get asthma -- just the sound it makes -- without sampling myself. I did it just out of interest," he says, baldly. "To see if I could get the sound or the same sort of feeling -- kind of thing. That's it, really." F:2 "Do the other track names for the 'Ventolin' EPs have any meaning?" A great deal of the track names on the "Ventolin" EPs are Cornwall related. Praze an Beeble, Cornwall, is an actual place, as is Probus. Slightly similar to Marazanvose, Marazion is an actual place as well. A coppice is a thicket, grove, or growth of small trees. You can find a coppice anywhere you look in Cornwall. F:3 "What is 'Alberto Balsalm'?" Absolutely nothing. Alberto Balsam, on the other hand (without the second "L"), is a shampoo made by the Alberto-Culver Company, makers of Alberto VO5. F:4 "How can I hear the hidden 'I care be-cause you do'?" If you listen very carefully to the left channel in "Cow Cud Is A Twin," at about 50 seconds into the track you will hear a voice quietly singing "A-phex Twin" and then "I care be-cause you do." It will repeat "I care be-cause you do" and then start laughing again as the beginning of the track. That laughing voice is made using a text-to-speech program for Macintosh computers called SimpleText which is similar to SBTALKER from Creative Labs (for the PC). The voice is called "hysterical." The same program is also used for the "respect list" in "ventolin CROWSMENGEGUS mix" and on _51/13 Aphex Singles Collection_ using a voice called "whisper." [Hint: To better hear the hidden "I care be-cause you do," listen to the song out of phase by either running it through a "stereo voice remover" effect or simply loosening headphones from their jack.] F:5 "What is 'Donkey Rhubarb'?" It is a common name for Japanese Knotweed, a plant, whose proper name is Reynoutria japonica. It forms thickets of stout, rather zig-zag, red-brown stems up to nearly 2 metres high, with broad pointed leaves straight at the base. It has white, feathery flowers. In the mid-1930s it was known as "Hancock’s Curse" in the area surrounding a Cornish garden from where it was believed to have escaped, and the garden had 100 British pounds taken off its market price. Many people know it as "Donkey Rhubarb" because one would be a donkey to attempt to eat its rhubarb-like stems. F:6 "What is 'Vaz Deferenz'?" The vas deferens is the technical term for the spermatic duct which connects the testicles to the prostate and seminal vesicles in male mammals. F:7 "Who is speaking in 'Come On You Slags!'?" The voices are allegedly sampled from the same porno flick called "Fantasia" that was used for the Caustic Window track "Fantasia" (see section C.4). 888 88 88 888 88 88 88 88 88 888 ---888-88-----------------SECTION G - Girl/Boy EP / Richard D. James Album---- 88 88 88 88888 G:1 "Are the string sounds on _Richard D. James Album_ real?" According to Richard: "Well, they were originally real, yeah. I've got a violin, and a cello as well, and I've learned to play that enough to be able to sample it, get some good notes, and that's where they come from." "Most of the album was done on my Mac, basically. Even the keyboard sounds were all pretty much computer-generated. Native audio." G:2 "Who is that talking to Richard on '4'?" Richard is actually letting his dad into his tank there. Richard explains, "My dad called me for tea, and I answered. My mum and dad's voices are in loads of my old stuff. Six years later I find these conversations I had with my dad while I'm in-between hitting something and recording it." That would also explain the tape loading noises used throughout the song. G:3 "Is there any significance to .824545201?" There is no confirmed significance to anything Richard does, but PEEK is a command in the BASIC computer language. It is a memory function that returns the byte stored at a specified memory location. The number .824545201 has no special meaning. G:4 "What does 'Goon Gumpas' sound like?" "Sounds like an insurance advert to me," quips Richard. He would know. Allegedly he has composed numerous tracks for various commercials, some of which we will never even know (see section A.16). G:5 "Who is the child speaking on 'To Cure A Weakling Child'?" "That's my voice, going through my computer and come out the other end," Richard explains. "I said loads of words, and then I chopped them all up and made a tune around the words, like, the way I said it and stuff. It's quite a good way of writing tunes. It's a bit similar to, like, sometimes I just hit the keyboard in the sort of way I'd like the rhythm of the tracks to sound, like just hitting 12 notes at a time, and then I'll spend four hours moving all the notes where I want them to go." G:6 "Why the name 'Girl/Boy Song' for a track?" The reason Richard came up with that is because he thinks some tracks are girl tracks and some are boy tracks. Maybe "Girl/Boy Song" is both. G:7 "So what is 'Yellow Calx'?" That's a boy track according to Richard. G:8 "Do you think anyone might find the lyrics to 'Milkman' a bit offensive?" "Yeah, probably," Richard says. "Well, my mum doesn't find it offensive. My girlfriend sings it while she's out shopping. I made it after Tom [Jenkinson] said, 'It's all very well making all this jungle, but could we make a proper pop song?' So I went and did one." The vocals for the track were modulated entirely on the computer. G:9 "How do I pronounce 'Inkey$'?" INKEY$ is a command in the BASIC computer language. It is a device I/O function that reads a character from the keyboard. It INputs a KEY and sends it to a STRING variable. Properly pronounced 'IN-key-string,' it is also referred to simply as 'IN-key.' G:10 "What is 'Redruth'?" Correctly stated, the question is "Where is 'Redruth'?" because Redruth, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, is actually a place. G:11 "Is that really Richard's gravestone? What's going on?" The cover of _Girl/Boy EP_ and the inside artwork for the US release of _Richard D. James Album_ feature a photograph of a gravestone inscribed with: RICHARD JAMES NOV 23, 1968 It is his brother's grave (who died three years before Richard was born). When Richard D. was born, his mother named him Richard David James, the same name basically. "So I always felt guilty about it," Richard admits, "'cause I nicked his name. So the single is basically him, and the album is me. "It used to freak me out, 'cause my mom had a photo of this gravestone in her room, and when I looked at it when I was young, I didn't understand; 'Why is there a gravestone with my name on it?' I didn't realise, until I was older, who it was. The photo just freaks me out a bit. It's not every day that you can look at a gravestone with your name on it." Though he has never actually seen the grave in Canada firsthand. He doesn't even know where it is! "Richard D. James is the difference between me and him. Like the 'D' makes the whole difference, and I did it for him 'cause I always felt guilty, and it's like I wanted to give him something back, something he would be remembered by. So I wanted the photo. I'm not really fucked up about it, but it's always like been on my mind kind of thing: pointing out the difference between the two. As a tribute mainly." "Mom and I were talking about it the other day," says Richard. "She didn't see it as him dying. It's pretty fucking weird, actually, which is why I like [the photograph]. She basically decided I was going to be Richard James before I was born, not afterward. I can totally understand why she did it; she didn't want to accept the death of the child." "That's why I'm the Aphex Twin," he claims. "I feel as if I nicked his identity. I reckon he looks after me, like a guardian angel." G:12 "What is being said at the beginning of 'Girl/Boy (£18 Snare Rush Mix)'?" The line "Looking at the swans and hearing the birds singing; watching the water flow past in the canal" is from the movie _Little Lord Fauntleroy_ based on the book of the same name. 888 88 88 88888 88 88 88 88 ---88--88-------------------SECTION H - Come To Daddy EP / Windowlicker EP---- 88 88 88 88 888 88 H:1 "Where was _Come To Daddy_ recorded?" It was recorded in the vault of a former bank in Central London. Richard bought the bank around the time of the production of _Come To Daddy_ to record and live in. H:2 "Where did Richard get the idea for 'Come To Daddy, Pappy mix'?" The lyrics were allegedly written after an obsessed female fan wrote a letter to Richard in which she made the passing comment, "I want your soul." It seems Richard blew it all out of proportion. H:3 "What is the voice saying in 'Come To Daddy, Little Lord Faulteroy mix'?" It says, "Looking at the swans and hearing the birds singing; watching the water flow past in the canal." The same line is used in "Girl/Boy (£18 Snare Rush Mix)" (see section G.12). Also heard is the line "Oh, you dirty little boy!" H:4 "What does 'Bucephalus Bouncing Ball' mean?" Bucephalus was the horse of Alexander the Great. It is said that 12 year old Alexander managed to tame this very vicious and unmanageable horse in front of his father, who was very impressed by this and predicted a great future for Alexander. He later rode the horse throughout much of his conquests and was portrayed with the horse in statues and paintings, which is how it became famous. The horse eventually died in India where Alexander named a town in its honour, Bucephala. On a side note, the song includes sounds from the classic video game _Defender_. H:5 "What is the computer saying at the end of 'Funny Little Man'?" The voice says something resembling: "I would like to fuck you up the bunghole, and then I will sneak into your room and cut your cock off and stuff it in my mouth, and chew them up with my little boys." H:6 "Who is that talking at the beginning of 'Come To Daddy, Mummy mix'?" That is none other than Richard's own mum telling him, "You've got so many machines, Richard." As a side note, the "whooshing" sound heard throughout the track is from "Robotron 2084" (see section C.2). H:7 "What does 'Windowlicker' mean?" Maybe it's not particularly relevant to why Richard chose it as a track title, but the colloquial French term for "window shopping," ("lécher les vitrines") translates literally into English as "to lick the windows." It is usually used to describe someone wanting something that they cannot afford. Hence "window licker" refers to the two African-American gentlemen shown throughout the "Windowlicker" video engaging in the pursuit of women they cannot have. All of this makes damn near no sense until you take into account the fact that Richard's girlfriend at the time the track was released was French. So it still hardly makes any sense, but at least you know _why_ it doesn't make sense. Slightly less related but possibly of interest to readers outside of London: The term "window licker" is [un]commonly used as "a name for the sort of 'nutter' who sits next to you on the bus and does something weird." (This is confirmed by the London Slang Page at http://www.geezer.demon.co.uk/.) Most often it is used in a very derogative way in reference to mentally challenged children on a mini-bus. H:8 "What is the voice saying in 'Windowlicker'? It sounds French." Indeed it is French. (Read the answer to the previous question regarding why in the world Richard has French "lyrics" in his song.) At 2:43 into the CD/LP version of "Windowlicker" and 7:03 into the video (where they reach the beach palisades) a small female-sounding voice says, "J'aime faire des croquettes au chien." Which literally means, "I like to make food for the dog." "Croquette" means dog treat, like a milk-bone, or those brown, bone-shaped cookies for dogs. Interestingly enough, though, the words are said with a French-Canadian accent, not a French-French accent. That seems to piss on the notion that it has anything to do with Richard's French girlfriend, unless, of course, _she_ is French-Canadian. According to Benoit Arsenault: "I am a French-Canadian. And, in that sentence, 'croquette' does not seem to mean 'food' at all! In the French-Canadian, 'croquette' is mainly used with that meaning: a dog 'fait une croquette' when he bites you, but just a little bit, to show you his affection; not to hurt you. So, when the girl is saying 'J'aime faire des croquettes au chien,' that sounds like she likes to bite her dog, but just a little bit, to show him her affection. That's quite stranger that way, but, if the girl is French-Canadian, I think that that interpretation is better." One more thing of absolutely no interest: In Canada, the French menus at McDonald's list the chicken "McNuggets" as "McCroquettes." So maybe that is an indication of exactly what _kind_ of food Richard makes for dogs (or has his girlfriend make). Who really knows? Who really cares. I don't live in Canada, and I don't speak French at all. All of this could be completely made up for all I know. 88 88 88 88 88 88 ----888---------------------------------SECTION X - MISCELLANEOUS RELEASES---- 88 88 88 88 88 88 X:1 "What is 'Aphex Airlines'?" Richard was commissioned by Virgin Airlines to write a song for a television commercial, and he came up with the track "Aphex Airlines." According to him, the song is supposed to represent a jet engine at takeoff. Not surprisingly, the Virgin Airlines representatives didn't feel that the song would be very appropriate, they thought it would more likely conjure images of airplane crashes and death. Though it was never used by Virgin Airlines, it did make an appearance on the compilation _Ambient 4 Isolationism_. X:2 "Why does 'My Teapot' sound familiar?" The Polygon Window track "My Teapot" from _Artificial Intelligence II_ features samples and clips from the last track on AB3.1 (the only track on AB3.1 that is not on AB3). See section B.3 for more information regarding the differences between the AB3 releases. X:3 "Is 'Tamphex (Headphuq Mix)' really based on a tampon commercial?" The track "Tamphex (Headphuq Mix)" (also spelled "Hedphuq") is available on _Classics_ and _Xylem Tube EP_. It is indeed based on an old Tampax tampon commercial. The woman is saying, "Are you one of those girls for whom time stands still once a month?" and "Why stop when your period starts?" X:4 "Does the name 'Freeman Hardy & Willis Acid' mean anything?" Freeman Hardy & Willis is a shoe store. The sounds similar to those of someone tap-dancing may have something to do with that part of the title, and the "acid" is probably in reference to the acid jazz bass line. The general air of the song really. X:5 "What is calx?" According to Merriam-Webster it is "the crumbly residue left when a metal or mineral has been subjected to calcination or combustion." Richard just took a liking to the word and has used it for an alias (Blue Calx), a track of the same name ("Blue Calx"), and two other tracks ("Green Calx" and "Yellow Calx"). There seems to be no connection between any of the tracks. X:6 "I downloaded this track 'Brivert And Muons.' Which album is it from?" First of all, you had better hope that it is not from an album; if it was, you downloaded copyrighted material. That's illegal. Luckily, the track was never officially "released" on an album. It was a track from the Mike & Rich session that was not included on _Expert Knob Twiddlers_. It was made available, for a limited time back around 1996, from the old Planet µ site (http://freespace.virgin.net/kung.funk/mu.htm) as a free MP3 download. X:7 "Did Aphex Twin collaborate with LFO on a track?" First, no, the track that Pram remixed for the _Warp10+3 Remixes_ compilation was a combination of two separate tracks (LFO's "Simon From Sydney" and Aphex Twin's SAW2 track 7). Second, in case you were wondering, that LFO is not the US boy band; Warp's LFO have been around much longer than the boy band of the same name. 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 888 ---888-88------------------------------------SECTION Y - APHEX TWIN VIDEOS---- 88 88 88 88888 Y:1 "What videos have been released by Aphex Twin?" The VHS cassette _Come To Viddy_ contains the videos for "On," "Donkey Rhubarb," and "Come To Daddy, Director's cut." There was also a video for "Ventolin (Video Version)" that is not available in retail. Well, not in the US anyway. You can obtain the video for "Ventolin (Video Version)" from the Japanese release of _Come To Viddy_. The newest video release is "Windowlicker" on a cassette by itself. It can also be obtained on the UK _Windowlicker Remixes_ CD in Quicktime format and in an edited form on the US _Windowlicker_ CD single. "On" (1993) directed by Jarvis Cocker & Martin Wallace produced by Steve Mackey The video for "On" is entirely stop-motion and time-lapse photography. The opening scene shows raindrops hitting a pool of water in time with the piano sample. You watch as the tide quickly comes in when it pans to a beach which features a bunch of seemingly (and most likely) random objects including a likeness of Richard and a scuba diver. Day turns to night, and someone plays with fire as night turns to day again; back and forth it goes until the video fades to black. "Donkey Rhubarb" (1995) directed by David Slade produced by Robert Lloyd Here marks the debut performance of the now infamous Donkey Rhubears. (They later become the stars of Richard's live performances, at least for a while.) The bears dance in a warehouse (where the lighting is just superb!). The scene cuts to a playground abounding with children. The Rhubears dance and play with them. The remainder of the video goes back and forth between these two scenes while the Donkey Rhubears show their stuff. "Ventolin (Video Version)" (1995) directed by Steve Doughton & Gavin Wilson A rather odd video centred around a Ventolin asthma inhaler, industrial buildings, smog, and an elevator stuck on the twenty-seventh floor. Just plain strange imagery. "Come To Daddy, Director's cut" (1997) directed by Chris Cunningham produced by Cindy Burnay Possibly Aphex Twin's breakthrough video for mainstream recognition. An old lady just wants to walk her dog as a television set comes to life, screaming, "I want your soul. I will eat your soul. Come to daddy!" Dozens of children (all with Richard's face) seem to take the message quite seriously as they throw rocks, overturn garbage cans, and generally wreak havoc. A demonic looking character comes out of the TV and screams at the old woman. He gathers all the children around him and then...dances!?! "Windowlicker" (1999) directed by Chris Cunningham produced by Cindy Burnay Seemingly made to poke fun of rap videos, the first four minutes is almost entirely cursing (or bleeping if you are watching the edited version). An extremely long limousine pulls up for about twenty seconds complete with AFX logo hubcaps and gas cap. "Richard" gets out, dances (think Michael Jackson), and gets the girls. The video is ten and a half minutes long including the opening scene and credits. You have to see it to believe it. 8888888 8 88 88 -----88------------------------------------------SECTION Z - THE FAQ'S FAQ---- 88 88 8 8888888 Z:1 "Who wrote the FAQ?" This Official Unofficial Aphex Twin FAQ was compiled by absolutely no one, but go to Aphex Start (http://www.aphextwin.org/) if you wish to contribute to, correct, or piss on this FAQ. Z:2 "What exactly does 'official unofficial' mean?" Any FAQ can claim to be unofficial, and it probably is. This FAQ is the "official" unofficial Aphex Twin FAQ. Meaning that it is UNOFFICIAL because it is not related to Aphex Twin, Richard D. James, Aphex Systems Ltd., Warp Records, Rephlex Records, or any other company, group, or person. It is OFFICIAL to differentiate it from any other Aphex Twin FAQ you may encounter. This is the only OFFICIAL unofficial Aphex Twin FAQ. Z:3 "Where can I get the newest version of the FAQ?" As of this writing, the only official source for the latest version of this FAQ is at Aphex Start (http://www.aphextwin.org/) where there will be a link of some sort to the latest version. New versions are also posted to the rec.music.ambient newsgroup as they are released. If you wish to have all new versions sent directly to your e-mail account, send an e-mail message to afxfaq-request@aphextwin.org with the word "subscribe" (without the quotes) somewhere in the subject of the message. Z:4 "What's new with this FAQ?" Well, this version should hopefully be short-lived while the transition from residing on the Aphex Start server is made. For legal reasons, it cannot be hosted there at this time. Meanwhile, some additions to this version have been the music that Richard likes, a definition of "braindance," a bunch of information on miscellaneous tracks and more. Plenty of other updates were also made, but I don't feel like checking right now. As always, check the flags in the table of contents which are actually used and kept track of every time a correction or addition is made. They're accurate. Honest. Z:5 "Is the Aphex Twin FAQ available in other languages?" Yeah, right. If you want to translate the whole thing, go right ahead, but as of now, there are no other language versions available. Z:6 "Who helped out?" Many people helped to get this FAQ to where it is today. The original version was compiled entirely by no one, but now that it has been posted, others have contributed to and corrected it. If you feel your name was left out in error, please contact your lawyer about it. Information was gathered from all over the Internet and many different publications. Some of it was common knowledge. Basically, this FAQ was the result of one lunatic who loves Aphex Twin so much that he would catch mono just to stay home for a week and work on this. Since he has long recovered from mono, the job has been taken up by others who are far crazier. I N C O M P L E T E C R E D I T S the following list is in alphabetical order Mordion Agenos...........................Aphex Twin ASCII logo, really smart Benoit Arsenault............................Silly "Windowlicker" information Ed Clews.....................................Minor additions and corrections Crackers 'n Pudd'n.......................Proofreading, invaluable assistance Andrea Havis.............................................Placebo information Stuart Hawkes....................................."Clayhill Dub" information Jason Jacobs...................................."The Real World" information Richard D. James.....................He did something, I can't remember what John Kaniarz........................Master of all things Aphex, really smart Katy Kornas............................Mono, again, so I could get v2.5 done Guillaume Legaré..................French-Canadian "Windowlicker" information Dimitri L. Melkih.....................Eurosport program schedule information Gonzi Merchan...........................Complete Discography, general monkey Christopher Miller.............Complete Discography and Dice Man information MultSanta...................Wrote a FAQ that makes this one look even better Gregory Nachon.....................Proper French "Windowlicker" translations Georgia Neumeyer...................Ani DiFranco information (or lack thereof) Mike Olshansky......................."Windowlicker" slang, technoextreme.com Justin Roman...............................French "Windowlicker" information Rephlex00...............................................Ventolin information Andrew Schrock..................................."Robotron 2084" information Brent Stone.............................He did absolutely nothing, literally Bryan Sykes.................."Come On You Slags!" and "Fantasia" information Khad Young.................................Promoting and linking to this FAQ Jeri Young...............................Excessive Julie Andrews information Aleks Zawisza.......................................Rants and Fun Facts page ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION: PLEASE READ The Aphex Twin Frequently Asked Questions file is copyright (c) 1998-2000 Screwtape, T.E., B.S., Etc. No more than twelve percent (12%) of the text contained in this document may be quoted or redistributed in any form by a single person, entity, or monkey without prior written consent. Contact Aphex Start (http://www.aphextwin.org/) for more information. The FAQ loosely follows a standard FAQ format. Any similarities to any other Frequently Asked Questions file is purely coincidental. There may be other Aphex Twin FAQ files in circulation and they are in _no way_ related to this FAQ. All bands/artists listed in this FAQ are trademarked/copyrighted/owned by their specific labels/monkeys. All videos/films are owned/copyrighted by their specific film companies. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ copyright (c) 1998-2000 Screwtape, T.E., B.S., Etc. g@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@b_ 0@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@k 0@@@@@@@@@@@@@^^#@@@@@@@@@@@@L #@@@@@@@@@@" J@@@@@@@@@@@@@ J@@@@@@@@@@@@@@b d@@@@@##@@@@@@@@@L d@@@@# ^@@@@@@@@Q d@@@@@@r #@@@@@@@[ d@@@@@@@[ #@@@@@@@r 0@@@@@@@P 0@@@@@@% 0@@@@P 0@@@@@@L 0@@@@^ 0@@@@@@ #@@@F 0@@@@@b 1@@@^ `@@@@@L ^@@@@@ ^@@@@[ ##P