Aphex Twin Would You Pay For A Digital Rip of The Unreleased Caustic Window LP

[Joyrex]

So, as most of you may already know, someone on Discogs has finally decided to offer the legendary unreleased Caustic Window LP (CAT023) for sale. There are plenty of threads about this release if you are unaware of the history.

 

The seller is asking 13,500.00USD for this 2xLP test pressing, and several people suggested everyone chipping in and buying the album in exchange for a digital rip of the album.

 

I am willing as owner and administrator of WATMM to head such a venture, with the understanding that any and all monies collected in excess of the asking price will go straight to Richard D. James - this is his work, and is copyrighted, despite not being official released.

 

At this point, I think 25.00 would be a reasonable amount for each person to pay (13,500 / 25.00 = 540 persons). This would entitle a contributor to a high quality vinyl rip of the LP, in whatever format(s) deemed appropriate. They would also be required to pledge not to distribute the tracks elsewhere to anyone else.

 

Why Do This?

 

I think any Aphex Twin fan (myself included) would dearly love for Richard to release any new material, and for whatever reasons he hasn't yet, this is an opprotunity for the fans to let Richard know there is a demand for even his older material. This may not mesh well with Richard's personal wishes (there was probably a reason he didn't commercially release this), but since this is fan-driven, if anything, it will convey to him and the labels the fans are willing to support their favourite artists in unique wayss. This may even prompt Richard's contemporaries to follow suit.

 

What If This Doesn't Work?

 

If for whatever reason we don't reach the goal, or for some unforseen legal issue this gets halted, etc., any person who contributed will get a refund, minus any fees PayPal may charge for any transactions to do so.

 

What's Next?

 

Please vote in the attached poll so we can guage interest, and also discuss any aspects of doing this. I'm also going to announce via the Official WATMM Twitter Channel this to bring attention to this endeavour.

[soma333]

1000%

 

It'd be interesting to see if this gets released and no one leaks it.

[Adieu]

So, are there any tracks of this particular album floating around anywhere? I've heard AB5, and MFM, but I don't think I've heard anything from an unreleased Caustic Window LP.

 

I would also chip in money to buy a decent AB5 & MFM rip as well.

[Hugh Mughnus]

so your idea is to pay richard directly instead of buying it from the discogs guy?

[soma333]

I'm also curious how the $ would get to richard

[Guest jasondonervan]

Yeah, count me in.

 

Richard pls (take the money)

[th555]

I think the whole "this will let Richard know we want his tracks" thing is kinda pointless. He already knows people want his tracks, duh.

[Joyrex]

No, the money in excess of the asking price would go to Richard - sorry that wasn't clear - I'll amend the original post, sorry for the confusion.

I think the whole "this will let Richard know we want his tracks" thing is kinda pointless. He already knows people want his tracks, duh.

Yeah, but there's a big difference between fans saying they want his stuff vs. handing him a cheque for xxx quid as proof.

1000%

It'd be interesting to see if this gets released and no one leaks it.

I would certainly hope anyone interested enough in contributing would stay true to their word and not leak it.

[DorkingtonPugsly]

I'm willing to pay 25, but I'm gonna wait until more people say yes.

[Guest Gravity]

I've wanted to hear it for so damn long that yeah, I think I'd contribute if the thing's legit.

 

So, are there any tracks of this particular album floating around anywhere? I've heard AB5, and MFM, but I don't think I've heard anything from an unreleased Caustic Window LP.

 

I would also chip in money to buy a decent AB5 & MFM rip as well.

 

These two.

 

 

[Hugh Mughnus]

No, the money in excess of the asking price would go to Richard - sorry that wasn't clear - I'll amend the original post, sorry for the confusion.

I think the whole "this will let Richard know we want his tracks" thing is kinda pointless. He already knows people want his tracks, duh.

Yeah, but there's a big difference between fans saying they want his stuff vs. handing him a cheque for xxx quid as proof.

1000%

 

It'd be interesting to see if this gets released and no one leaks it.

I would certainly hope anyone interested enough in contributing would stay true to their word and not leak it.

 

Who would get the physical copy?

[Guest jasondonervan]

[th555]

I think the whole "this will let Richard know we want his tracks" thing is kinda pointless. He already knows people want his tracks, duh.

Yeah, but there's a big difference between fans saying they want his stuff vs. handing him a cheque for xxx quid as proof.

That'd be cool. Hey Richard, here's some money for ya! :D

edit: lol

[Joyrex]

That's a good question - I suppose we could auction it off afterwards to the highest bidder (again, money going to Richard) on Ebay.

[Adieu]

What if we cut it into 540 separate pieces and meet once a century to play it in the middle of gwennap pit on the first full moon of autumn? Everyone would be in IDM jumpers and we would burn a 303 while the record was played. Each owner would pass down this responsibility to their children, or any other person they deem worthy of being a piece holder.

[Nil]

I guess I would pay those $25 for a pristine, high-quality rip.

If, once ripped/sold back, Richard gets all the money (supposing it once again for an insane amount of money), then it'll definitely be his most rentable album...

[Hugh Mughnus]

That's a good question - I suppose we could auction it off afterwards to the highest bidder (again, money going to Richard) on Ebay.

or auction it off and then redistribute the earnings back to everyone that paid into it!!!

 

muahahahaha free caustic window lp for us!

[Guest Ron Manager]

i'm interested to see how this goes and kind of hope that enough interest is shown, although i'm not sure i see it coming off (i'm thinking about Old Tunes, prince murat, more recent Mike P saga, etc... without knowing who the owner is, it's all a bit dubious). but if there are as few of these in existence as supposed, then perhaps the seller has RDJ's blessing, in which case presumably he wouldn't object to this ploy.

 

personally i wouldn't pay $25, but mainly just because i'm not a big fan of the Caustic Window stuff anyway and would be doubtful about the quality of this given its history (i.e. not being released). FWIW, if i knew the money was going somewhere useful (RDJ, Rephlex), i'd pay $10 or so.

 

also, i imagine the seller is willing to come down in price, isn't s/he? the asking price suggests to me they'd take perhaps $10k... so you may only need to sign 400 people up...

[YEK]

sounds good to me

[th555]

 

That's a good question - I suppose we could auction it off afterwards to the highest bidder (again, money going to Richard) on Ebay.

or auction it off and then redistribute the earnings back to everyone that paid into it!!!

 

muahahahaha free caustic window lp for us!

 

I was thinking this too but it goes against the let's give Rich money part. I think it'd be okay though since Rich doesn't even want money for this stuff.

[Herr Jan]

Ah, very cool to see this materialize. Thanks Joyrex for arranging this! I proposed it as a joke at first, but why not actually? I'm definitely in.

First step would be to contact the seller I guess, to see if he'd be up for this / maybe help, maybe to see if it's Grant and if the cash can be delivered to Richard? Does Richard even know about this auction?

Are you planning to make an official kickstarter page for it too Joyrex? It seems like Grant was aiming at the same thing (see the xltronic post).

I was thinking to give the record back to Rephlex itself, but I couldn't care less what happens to it after it gets digitally ripped to pieces.

[oscillik]

this is quite funny, considering the reaction to Mike P and his selling of the tapes.

[mcbpete]

i'm interested to see how this goes and kind of hope that enough interest is shown, although i'm not sure i see it coming off (i'm thinking about Old Tunes, prince murat, more recent Mike P saga, etc..

Was thinking about the latter actually.... particularly this:

 

And for those wondering why I'm so fervent about this: Despite the fact I own these releases myself,I would love for BoC to release these in some format, as there are some truly great tracks, and the sale and almost-certain illegal distribution of these may prevent that from happening. For me, it really is "all about the music". Why do you think I run this website and stick my neck out like this repeatedly? I have no other stake in this than the music, and spreading that love of it to others.

 

Unless there's no other objections, I think it best this thread gets closed.

[Hugh Mughnus]

 

 

That's a good question - I suppose we could auction it off afterwards to the highest bidder (again, money going to Richard) on Ebay.

or auction it off and then redistribute the earnings back to everyone that paid into it!!!

 

muahahahaha free caustic window lp for us!

 

I was thinking this too but it goes against the let's give Rich money part. I think it'd be okay though since Rich doesn't even want money for this stuff.

 

 

That's true. Richard won't get any money from the discogs sale either though so I'm sure he'd rather WATMM have it than some schmuck. (hopefully!) lol

[oscillik]

 

i'm interested to see how this goes and kind of hope that enough interest is shown, although i'm not sure i see it coming off (i'm thinking about Old Tunes, prince murat, more recent Mike P saga, etc..

Was thinking about the latter actually.... particularly this:

 

And for those wondering why I'm so fervent about this: Despite the fact I own these releases myself,I would love for BoC to release these in some format, as there are some truly great tracks, and the sale and almost-certain illegal distribution of these may prevent that from happening. For me, it really is "all about the music". Why do you think I run this website and stick my neck out like this repeatedly? I have no other stake in this than the music, and spreading that love of it to others.

 

Unless there's no other objections, I think it best this thread gets closed.

 

glad I'm not the only one to notice the clear and blatant dissonance here...