diatoms
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Posts posted by diatoms
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17 minutes ago, Mattthegoone said:
I remember the clouds are melting or do I?
14 minutes ago, Mattthegoone said:I remember playing fff back at the gaf, I remember you stroking the Richard is Coming poster off the wall after the gig but there was an hour at that gig that I can't remember. Overtired
haha:) it was an amazing ending to the aphex summer
as soon as i saw that poster it was coming down since the festival was over, ha! and started the night before with cruising for burgers, it was a pretty special afx weekend which i'll never forget:)
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20 minutes ago, Mattthegoone said:
I can't remember that, I was running on fumes at that stage, I had been on the piss for 2 days, peaked at afx thankfully, I can remember more of later that night than there, hats off to the back street chemists, they done good, did he also play Synthacon 9 and Universal Indicator Red or was I just so pudding headed that I remember stuff that didn't actually happen?
so far all i've seen are the two videos posted on reddit. luke dropping fenix funk 5 (which i don't remember hearing, ha) and squarepusher - red hot car with some looping. i think i remember universal indicator red spun by luke but just now on reddit someone found vibert's ace of club - classid trax ep uses almost the same acid pattern as universal indicator red a6, so maybe that was it? we need a full upload of vibert's set!
i pretty much remember all the songs of aphex origin that rdj spun during the summer (no matter what state i was in:) and hearing synthacon 9 that night at forwards then again by luke (from my memory) i would've thought i wouldn't get the tune wrong but so far i have:) the mystery of the aphex afters continues...
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On 9/5/2023 at 11:31 AM, diatoms said:
i remember luke vibert also playing synthacon 9, got real excited hearing it twice within a couple of hours. i don't know if he would've known aphex only just played it at forwards. they know each other so well maybe they were on the same frequency
best summer of me life
here's luke vibert dropping fenix funk 5 at lost horizon, ha:) i was feeling good that night and a little mistaken
its vibert's favorite aphex tune as well
from the syrobonkers! interview: https://web.archive.org/web/20141103131334/http://noyzelab.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/syrobonkers-part1.html
dave: so is that a synton fenix in that?
rich: Yes , actually its TWO synton fenix's patched together making that vocal baseline riff, using all the bandpass filters on both machines....
it sounded a bit more vocal on an earlier pass, thats the thing with complex analogue patches in the context of a 'song' and not just fucking about with them in experiments, they just change all the time and its pretty imposs/extremely hard to keep them sounding the same throughout the whole process of making a big track , i like the challenge though, like i say you have to be slightly mad to even attempt it, i have quite a few tricks I've invented to keep things in tune over the years though.My friend had an argument with luke vibert who likes that fenix funk track, i think he said it was his fave track of all time to me once which is just a huge massive complement coming from him, thanks luke!
but anyway luke was telling my mate it was a vocal sample and you couldn't get a sound like that out of a synth , another top indirect complement, cheers mate!"
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2 hours ago, Jonny aa said:
Not been to Glasto since they reinforced the fence early 2000, that picture looks lush and I love the story, I always remember just stumbling across his sets never having any idea if he was going to be playing or not. I was also privileged to attend the Warp Lighthouse party and got to see RDJ, BOC, Autechre , Plaid and the rest of the Warp massive!
holy cow, ha!
just found this:
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9 hours ago, Jonny aa said:
Yes I did, thank you, I want to thank all those that voted, I was so gutted to not be able to go to the Downs to see Richard, last time I saw him was on the Thekla and before that a few times at The glade at Glasto. I feel so blessed to not only have my daughter meet him and for me to share my story but to then to top it off I win this prize thank you for your generosity Diatoms! Big love
ha, just looked up the thekla and its a moored ship in bristol floating harbor! sounds like a show
did you happen to see him glasto 2014 when he played a secret set?
i remember reading this at the time:)
from https://thatfestivallife.com/the-best-glastonbury-shows-ever/
"At our very first Glasto a generous soul tipped us off about a secret Aphex Twin gig, in a treehouse of all places. We knew it would be limited capacity so we left Carl Cox at The Glade early. To say The Spike was small was an understatement, there were about 10 people there including us! It was f-ing surreal, all 10 of us were just standing in front of Aphex Twin who was sitting down with his decks on some rickety fold up table. It was over 2 hours of acid house, techno and mind bending breakcore.
At the end he chatted with us all as he packed up the CDJ’s."
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On 9/11/2023 at 4:20 PM, diatoms said:
some pretty epic and amazing aphex stories!
On 8/31/2023 at 5:47 PM, Ivan Ooze said:ExpandOk
afx learned me to rave and enjoy electronic music
i liked daft punk, chemical brothers and stuff, nothing much else and was mostly into black metal, hiphop and grindcore
i didn't have internet yet back then so i looked for new music in cd stores or concerts.
Me and a bunch of friends were gonna do shrooms at a friends house who was gonna try it for the first time, so i went to the record store to buy an electronic album to chill to on the shroomies and i blindly bought drukqs. (i knew some afx songs from mtv)
oh boy when we peaked i put on that album and the first track had me by the throat (still one of the greatest songs i know) and then holy shit.... what a journey,
those small different moods, then to get catapulted back into pure insanity. hellish and beautifull
i imagined an insane composer who locked the door on his house, threw away the key and just went berzerk 24 hours a day for a year on his machines.
still the best album i ever heard and that friend who took shrooms for the first time went this year with me to his show at best kept secret.
after that i was on a hunt by anything this man made. Got icbyd, then RDJ album and was blown away at how different each release was a few years later i scored the tuss and chosen lords ( didn't have internet yet so everything i bought was on cd)
when i finally had internet in my farmers hole, i learned about this project called steinvord that might involve afx so i joined WATMM to find out more.
Had great times here on WATMM and then thanks to Joyrex we all bought the caustic window album, that felt so amazing, the power of music fans.
When he did the sounddump i became... obsessed! the legend was true, this dude had 100's of (amazing) unreleased tracks, my jaw dropped.
there he was, the music legend, giving out free music on soundcloud, chatting with his fans and he's just a normal human being like everyone else lol
went to 2 of his shows this year with friends and had the best time ever, i'll always go to his concerts in the future and try to get my hands on anything he releases.
i could type for hours but i'll stop here. Just felt like contributing to Diatoms his post.
i don't need a card cause he already gave me one, this nice ass rave wizard saved one for me on field day. You have my eternal thanks Diatoms, you legend
and yes RDJ thanks for all the amazing music and good times.
also, release the ploink and waffleland tracks afx nerd!
pls
On 8/31/2023 at 9:45 PM, beerwolf said:Yes it's good to have experienced just blindly buying records from shops. I didn't even have mtv so I don't even know how the fuck I watched videos for Aphex. Thinking about it I'm 100% sure I bought the official Warp video tapes! How fucking crazy is that? Sure there was a VHS compilation of On, Donkey Rhubard etc. Mad times. Youngsters are spoilt nowadays!!
(Farnsworth)
On 8/31/2023 at 9:57 PM, J3FF3R00 said:ExpandOh yeah. Never having heard Squarepusher, I picked up Big Loada when it was released based on the cover at Gramophone Records in Chicago and listened to it at the listening station and it blew my damn mind.
I remember how hard it was to find Aphex Twin and Coil records in the 90s. The only place “near” where I lived was not convenient. I remember always seeing April Wine and Archers of Loaf records next to where the often-empty Aphex Twin slot was. My first RDJ release was On in 94 or 95, then I nabbed either SAW2 or Ventolin next. After that it was all downhill. I remember being super excited when I came to the often-empty slot and finding The Donkey Rhubarb ep. The cover art was so modern and hilarious. The Girl/Boy ep also blew my mind when it dropped. I listened to that CD a billion times.
Come to think of it, it’s pretty rad that Richard still drops so many quality EPs. Every one has as much distinct character as a full length release. It definitely keeps the hype train rolling rather than just putting out a big LP every 5 years or whatever.
… edit…I forgot to mention my 2 aphex shows. First was in 97 @ The Vic in Chicago. He sat on a couch with just a laptop for the whole show and his buddies came out in the donkey rhubarb bear outfits and breakdanced / wrestled / etc for the whole show. Afterwards, I saw Rich outside his tour bus as his sweaty buddies were stuffing the bear costumes in the underside compartment and I didn’t know what to say to him so I just gave him a tiny green plastic alien I got earlier in the evening from a gumball machine.
22 years later, I flew back to New York (where I had lived b/w 99 & 2011) to see the Avant Gardner show. It was emotional.
I guess if rich were to ever read this, I would be curious if he remembered that little green alien. I still wouldn’t know what to say to him exactly, at least I don’t know what wouldn’t sound awkward... like how I listened to SAW2 almost every night through high school on my discman through headphones under my pillow as I fell asleep… or how I play SAW1 every other day while driving in the car these days because it’s almost 100% guaranteed to put my toddler to sleep around naptime… or how Syro came at an emotional low point in my life and was really a helpful companion to guide me through some of the darker parts… or how he’s possibly the only artist I’ve ever cared to try to be “completist” about as far as collecting and practically zero of my friends even know about him, let alone know that I hang out on a music forum and type epic posts about how big a deal he is in my life.
On 8/31/2023 at 10:02 PM, Kennylogg Bubblebath said:Expandfavourite moments from the past 20 years of my afx fandom...
- discovering rdj after seeing the come to daddy video on the channel 'Q' and it blowing my tiny brain to bits
- the tuss whodunnit saga
- not afx-specific but his music introducing me to the world of warp/idm (boc, autechre, spusher
- the whole blimp/syro rollout
- soundcloud dump (this one is at the top! it was by far the most exciting time to be an aphex fan)
- field day 2017 (first time seeing the phexmeister general)
On 8/31/2023 at 11:05 PM, Hodorsbn said:ExpandDiscovering Come to Daddy video in 2003, Chris Cunningham obsession ensues.
Getting really into Xtal/Heliosphan while making computer art in 2004
Buying ICBYD/RDJ/26Mixes on CD and discovering all the layers there while doing homework
Buying the limited vinyl of SAWII and falling asleep stoned to tracks like Tassels
Listening to Vordhosbn walking home from school, Taking Control, 54 Cymru Beats between classes.
The moment I realized the vocals in 54 Cymru were about "3 bears"...
The slow release of the Analords and wondering what would come next. Jamming out drunk to PWSteal after my cousin's wedding.
The summer of The Tuss in 2007, really special time, I was living alone and those tunes were the soundtrack to my solitude.
...
Hearing Minipops premiere on the "radio" in 2014, I took a break from work just to listen to it
The subsequent release of Syro and uptick in activity, coincided with a breakup, but felt apt somehow
Soundcloud dump, hearing 28 Organ and other "lost" tracks
Day for Night Festival, traveled to Texas just to see him
Collapse comes out, includes track played at DFN I was certain was one of his
Wearing the aphex shirt I've had since 2005 to Field Day 2023, hearing Falling Free live after getting lost in it 18 years prior at my desk.The moments all start as small/personal ones, and somehow eventually connect with bigger ones out in the world.
Power of music and community, huh.
On 9/2/2023 at 4:41 PM, cruising for burgers said:papat4 live papat4 live papat4 live tunage!!!
anyway I was watching arca because I thought they're gonna play a bit togheter on the same stage and I believe I've seen Weirdcore shit on her visuals... did I really?
anyway, it took a complete stranger to tell me that I was on the wrong stage... I almost missed Richie, again...
On 9/2/2023 at 5:30 PM, cern said:ExpandI was only in my earliest teenage years after Drukqs came and it changed my whole view of music and electronics in general.
I literally started to became interested in electronic inventions after hearing it.
Back then I only listen to HipHop. I was a graffiti writer so I hang out with them and some b-boys and drug users.
One of my friends at the home party gave me the Drukqs CD to listen to. And back home I was totally blown away..
I did research and his aliases and so much music in different flavor was everywhere suddenly and I thought he was some kind of Electronic music giant that was superior of everyone and everything in the music scene.
Under that time of the teen years your emotions are much stronger to stuff ofc.. I find out more about different artists like Ae, BoC, Squarepusher etc...
But Aphex Twin stood out for sure. Then Analord came and that was the time I was even more blown away!
I got tons of sad stories which his music has helped me alot to keep pushing and want to continue. Even with darkest thoughts of ending it all I was too touched of music and curiosity so I couldn't do it.. I want to explore, listen and hearing this music over and over again.. Still to this day I can easily pick upp a hand full of Aphex tracks to have on loop all days long!
Then I feel home and safe in myself. Like I'm a part of this music.. Maybe we are a cult? lolPeace! Thank u RDJ!
On 9/5/2023 at 2:51 PM, marf said:I can't show people electronic music. It's not real music to them. I feel alone sometimes in that way. Not that it's the only genre I like, but I keep it to myself for the most part.
On 9/5/2023 at 5:43 PM, matureraver said:Expandmy afx journey started when i was 4, i first heard i care because you do from my dad. i remember hearing the beginning of acrid avid in his car super vividly. we continued listening to that drukqs, come to daddy and windowlicker. we used to watch the rubber johnny video every night because i loved the track and the creepy video as a little kid ( i still do lol). about 4 years ago i went in super deep getting into richards discog. i started to discover caustic window and all the alia’s. i had already been a musician but richard made me want to make electronic music, so i started doing it. i went through some tough stuff and richard has been there for me through all of it. he practically saved + changed my life forever. now 4 years later i have loads of gear and have made 1,700 songs and released 11 or so records. i also have 2 record labels with coming up on 100 releases. i’m only 17 years old and seems like i have an eternity in front of me. hopefully my story didn’t get to deep, richard is just a huge hand in my life. ‘PS i’m not gonna pay 250 fucking P for this record but i love the songs so i might if i don’t get this one lolol’
i make electronic music under the name ‘Reservior…’ available on all streaming services
On 9/6/2023 at 2:53 PM, phudoshin said:ExpandMy aphex story:
At the Dublin show back around 2003, donning a blond wig to go with my ginger beard so I looked a little aphexian - some ravers told me "shouldnt you be getting on stage?!"
Anyway was at the front at some stage with my little wind-up camera and I spotted RDJ crouching below the stage so started taking some pics. Next thing, RDJ starts to take some back so for a few minutes we had a camera flash battle.
I lost the camera that night but.. I imagine RDJ has my pic somewhere.. maybe on a fridge... a fan grinning back at him in a blond wig
On 9/6/2023 at 3:33 PM, beerwolf said:As in 89 when I sensed that I must explore pastures new (from New York Hip Hop) and found new (but old) sounds with Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and then OMG thrash metal (Slaaaaaayer!!! Megadeth!!!! Metalllica!!! Hail Satan!!!!) lol, my snout was getting a little itchy and a little twitchy and I just knew in my blood I had to again expand my horizons. But I didn't know exactly what it would be. I wasn't really a fan of rave music as it seemed a bit silly and indeed I was guilty of saying 'that's not proper music mate, it's just a bloke on drugs pressing play on a machine' but then one evening I heard John Peel play Girl/Boy and that was it chief, I emptied my piggy bank pronto and quick marched my way down to HMV faster than an Exocet missile. 26 Years Of Making Cash Out Of Mr Beerwolf.
On 9/6/2023 at 6:00 PM, Jonny aa said:ExpandAs you know Richard played Bristol this last weekend, I was unable to attend due to going away for a friends birthday. Whilst away my daughter called me up really excited to tell me that RDJ was staying at the hotel she works at. I have been a fan since hearing Analogue bubble bath in the 90's, the fact that my daughter has seen and Come to daddy and Windowlicker so many times its not a face she will easily forget! Not only did she get to meet RDJ (totally lovely down to earth geez, as to be expected!), his wife and child, he even chatted to my daughter for some time, think she told him about the time I was in nyc at Philip glass studio shortly after his visit, being the amazing daughter she is, she then surprised me, she had taken my donkey rhubarb bear in to work to get it signed Oh and to make the whole weekend even weirder, at my friends birthday someone had brought masks of the birthday boy for us all to wear so the whole weekend was on an Aphex tip (parallel universe?) even though I was unable to get to the gig it was an amazing weekend!
On 9/7/2023 at 8:21 PM, Schlitze said:ExpandIt was in April 2006, diatoms. Glasgow. The place is a ballroom with a big stage more used to orchestra's, pop and cock rock. Not ideally suited to a guy sitting playing tracks on a laptop. Wolf Eyes and The Bug were the opening acts. AFX style music started at about 10.30 but he was nowhere to be seen on stage, then a guy appeared and started clapping the crowd to fire them up, it looked like R. James but with short hair.. at the time i thought it was AFX but I'm now convinced it was a lookalike. At some point the man did appear, hunched at the back of the stage, almost unseen to the naked eye, fiddling around with his laptop, very shy
With nothing much to look at on stage i grabbed a pint of Tennent's from the bar and moved to back of the crowd with the beret wearing chin strokers. They were so passive, a completely different vibe from the gadgies at the front. Up until that point it had been a fairly straightforward set..very loud but cordial..I remember he dropped Ae's LCC, the light show intensified and he ramped it up a notch with the screeching sounds and distortion.
It was then i saw a guys face melt off.
Under the glow of the flashing lights i could see this emaciated guy, eyes bulging, sweating profusely and his skin was just falling away from his face like his outer body couldn't stand the BPM and his skeleton just wanted to break free from those shackles. The room went dark and the drop kicked and i was looking around. Gig ended, lights went on, all these sweaty faces, audience applause and muttering..I'm looking around to see where this guy is..nowhere to be seen..i don't mention it, who would believe it? Then just as i'm heading down the stairs i glance round and see the sillouette of a skeleton dancing at the back of the ballroom
On 9/8/2023 at 4:42 PM, grit said:ExpandHere we go:
In July '97 I had seen Richard at Phoenix Festival (UK) and then three weeks later at The Essential Dance Weekender in Finsbury Park. Both sets featured the Aphex Bears dancing, fighting and humping around the stage while Richard played out from his children's plastic play-house
I had agreed to travel to Las Vegas with friends in September of that year and the truth is, I really wasn't prepared for the full-on assault of the senses that I encountered.
Scanning through the flyers and leaflets in the hotel, I picked up a listing for the Hard Rock Cafe and Aphex Twin was scheduled to play on 19th September, the day before I flew backSupported by Luke Vibert with a DJ set and with Sneaker Pimps and Linoleum also on the bill, it was a no-brainer
The gig was insane - Richard's best gig ever apparently
I recall there being a red chaise longue on stage and Richard lay on the floor behind it with his setup
The set list began with tracks from the newly released 'Come To Daddy' EP and I particularly remember Bucephalus Bouncing Ball pinging around the venueThe Aphex Bears were a little more hyper than I had seen previously and one bear unzipped his costume to reveal Matt Jones (The Jones Machine? of RePhLeX infamy)
Stage left, next to a particularly menacing security guard was an Asian girl, who was wearing a costume that seemed to consist of a single ribbon, wrapped around her torso
As Matt's dancing got more and more manic, she handed him an electric shaver and he proceeded to shave his chest and head, throwing the clippings into the audience who were now being worked up into a state of increasing irritationMatt grabbed a plastic cup and shoved it down the front of his bear costume
When the cup emerged again, he proceeded to throw the contents over the crowdPanic ensued and as the security guard moved onto the stage to take down this obscene teddy bear, the Asian girl proceeded to unroll the ribbon, getting naked on-stage.
That was it! - They got shut down early but man, what a gig!
PS. Warp Records ran a competition to win the Aphex Bear costumes - You had to write in (!) and complete the lyrics to "To Cure a Weakling Child"
I got a letter back saying that although I had been picked as a winner, the costumes were absolutely rancid and had already been destroyed so they would send some 12" promos insteadOn 9/9/2023 at 6:56 PM, DavieAddison said:ExpandMy Aphex story is I traveled from the US to London for Field Day and just missed getting a record. I went with my cousin who smoked a joint before we left but didn’t have anything on him and still got stopped by security because the drug dog sniffed him. They brought him to a closed off area and I waited around for him for a bit because I thought it would be a quick pat down but he was in there for about two hours. He said there were people smoking in line and tossing all kinds of drugs on the ground. After a while I went up to the merch tent and they were already sold out, which was soul crushing. I assumed they’d have quite a bit left since he sold leftovers from the other shows on his site before. I was too much of a burger to meet up with anyone from here while I waited, though I should have.
Also I thought British people loved queuing but I ended up getting into a verbal altercation with some guy who tried cutting in front of our line at the urinals after I was waiting for like 20-30 minutes to piss. He was standing in between two lines talking to his friend and when he saw the person at the front of my line was distracted he cut in front of her and looked back to his friend and laughed, which infuriated me, so I shamed him until he got back behind his friend. I could've easily gotten my ass kicked but it would've given me an excuse for pissing my pants.
Aphex Twin put on an absolutely incredible show though. I only saw him one other time, in Brooklyn in 2019, and I would definitely make the trip to see him if he plays any other festivals or shows next year. I’d just make sure to get there super early for any potential exclusive records.
On 9/10/2023 at 10:50 AM, Time Tourist said:ExpandMy 2 cents on how Aphex came and stayed into my life.
First thing I heard from him was 4. I was 16 and at my cousin's house playing Rollcage on the PS. When I heard the combination of sounds I was totally blown away. Never had I heard something so chaotic and emotionally touching at the same time. I wanted to listen to it again and again. Will always be grateful to my cousin (who was more like a soulmate) for that, unfortunately he passed away in 2012 before the SC dump... How many times I wished I could've shared that with him. I miss him. And listening to 4 always takes me back to that moment in his room.
Anyway, since that day Aphex became a bit of an obession. Started to look for all his music I could find. Bought the rdj album on cd, but I have to be honest, I downloaded tons of his music through SLSK/Napster. As a teenager money is a big issue and I'd rather spend it on weed to listen to Aphex together! Don't worry Richard, I made up for all of it since 2014 when I started buying everyting you put out, even doubles at times.
First time I saw him in concert was 2001 at Pukkelpop under mushrooms. I was flabbergasted, couldn't believe what I had heard, a friend who was with me had to puke out the mushrooms at a certain point and lay down outside the tent. We never knew if it was the mushrooms or the music which caused that reaction
Next time was 2017 where I walked around with the Vinyl all day long in a goodybag... Even got offered 100 pounds for it that day.
Saw him at Best Kept Secret this year (Ivan Ooze, wish I'd known you were there would be nice to meet up), had tickets for Dour as well, but unfortunately my mother in law passed away a few days before so had to sell them. Afterwards I heard he played "Lichen" which is like one of my all time fav tracks... Ah well, next time I hope.The way his music has been with me through decades is actually unbelievable. No other artist or genre has survived that long with me.
Also I remember posting on here when Richard's dad passed away and a few months later my own dad passed away. The Brooklyn track on Soundcloud was what I listend to that night... That track will always be tied up to the memory of my dear dad (rip).PS: how fucking good is the DeadCode track off the Analords... Just listened to all of it a few days ago, what a trip!
THANKS RICHARD! Keep them coming please!!!
On 9/11/2023 at 12:22 PM, psn said:ExpandMy story?
Was on the same festival bill as him three times (1994, 2006, 2011). At one of them, I was waiting outside our backstage room with one of my band colleagues. We're both huge AFX fans. All of a sudden he's standing right in front of us, like one foot away, staring at us, not saying a word, looking into our room then back at us. He left as soon as he appeared, not even sure we managed to muster a "hi" or anything. I speculate that he was looking for the organisers, was in a hurry, and maybe thought our backstage was the promoter's office. Life's mysteries.A couple of other highlights:
- Saw him in 97 with the big teddy bears bouncing around on stage. He was laying down in a big sofa, behind a table with a keyboard, mouse and a huge CRT monitor on it. Sat up every now and then to adjust some knobs or whatever, then laid back down. All AFX tracks, wonderful set.
- Saw him in 99 wearing a red "SECURITY" sweater and being bum rushed on stage by an overly eager fan who ended up bumping the record players. He called over a real security guy to stand next to him for the rest of the show.
- Ended up not going to a show in 2003 - had free tickets and all - because I had a row with my GF that night and broke up with her.
wanted to add these last afx stories:)
On 9/11/2023 at 4:42 PM, marf said:I was on a family trip with my grandparents, uncle and his girlfriend back in early 90's. I thought my uncle was so cool. He built race cars from scratch. Custom built and modded cars for he likes of Seinfeld and Jay Leno. Real California couple. He looked like Clint Eastwood, too. So he was a little intimidating. He didn't mince words. He needed music to drive him and his girl through national glacier park in his classic Porsche . I gave him Saw 2 and a Simple Minds CD. He made sure I knew that Saw 2 CD was absolute shit, He stared me down like I was insane to give it to him. Reiterated that it was awful crap, and they both hated it more than anything they've ever heard. They loved the Simple Minds CD. So it cancelled out
22 hours ago, IDEM said:@diatoms, everyone, pull up a chair, sit down by the open fire, get comfy, this might take a while (hey, you asked!). Truth be told, it’s not a very special story, but maybe that’s what makes it worth telling.
This is a story about three young ducklings: Huey, Dewey and me, Louie. We weren’t actual ducks, we weren’t even brothers, but, you know, there were times when it felt like we were. Brothers, I mean, not ducks. It begins in 1991 in a small town by the name of Duckburg, Germany, not far from Frankfurt, but I guess it could be situated anywhere. Or maybe it couldn’t, because to us at least, it felt like we were at the epicenter of the electronic music explosion. And Frankfurt really was a happening place at the time, with Sven Väth, Talla 2XLC, Mark Spoon, Stevie B-Zet, Ralf Hildenbeutel, Alter Ego, Heiko M/S/O, Atom Heart and the whole Omen/Eye-Q/Harthouse/Recycle or Die universe. Berlin was slowly (and a bit pathetically, to be honest) trying to catch up with Tresor and Low Spirit.
My socialisation with dance music had begun during the second summer of love in 1988, when I was recording radio shows on tape and digging tracks like "Blue Monday '88", "S-Express", "Pump up the Jam", and "This Beat Is Technotronic". The music was floating in the air, seemingly everywhere, and I plucked it from there, catching it like lightning in a bottle, listening to those tapes in my children’s bedroom while playing games on my Atari ST under the roof of our crooked little house in our provincial hamlet, population 864 (at least until ol‘ Mr. Oehler died). It was home, it was cozy, and at the same time it felt like I had the whole wide world at my fingertips. As rural as it gets, but lined with neon, that little room filled to the brim with cybernetic visions and electric dreams induced by my cheap little boombox and some William Gibson novels. The music genre, I learned from then-popular teenie magazine Bravo, was apparently called Acid House, and it was big in England. There were rumors about drugs playing an important role in "the scene". It was all very exciting. I wore a Smiley button which I think I had painted a bullet hole and a trickle of blood on with a sharpie, somehow paying homage to Acid House, Tim Burton’s Batman and Alan Moore’s Watchmen (which I hadn’t even read) at the same time.
Two or three years later, I met Huey and Dewey in high school. We were 16, united by our love for music, by wanting to be part of the movement, the spur of the moment, the sizzle in the air. We were swimming in youth like in water. Life had a shimmer to it that was not yet dulled by the trappings of daily routine.
Depeche Mode were massive. Violator dropped, and it was omni-fucking-present. We became mini-Devotees, pogo'ing in our childrens' bedrooms to "Photographic", lights out because it was cooler (and probably because we were self-conscious). But more importantly, the seeds of 1988 had bloomed into a rich hotbed of synthetic sounds, and we were making regular trips to Boy Records in Frankfurt. You could actually buy those tunes the DJ's played in the clubs and on the air – how amazing!
Our messiah was Sven Väth, our mass was the Clubnight radio show on local station hr3 (later we would worship at the altar of his legendary Omen club, but at the time, we were still much too afraid to go there. The rumors …). Like most things, we'd learned about the show from our older brothers and their friends; the internet was not even y myth, an abstract, imaginary thing like the cyberspcae from those Gibson novels at best. I taped Sven's shows and listened to them on my cheap little walkman on the way to school and during my paper routes. "My name is Barbarella …" "It's a free concert from now on …" "The end of the world is upon us …" Unbelievable that you could get all that shit for free, for you to listen, rewind and listen to as often as you wanted. The world was full of wonders.
Not long ago I had bought my very first stereo from my confirmation money, with a decent tape deck and CD player (both of which still work to this day). My first CD that I bought with it was Enigma's MCMXC A.D. (I know, I know), but the second one was Kraftwerk's Electric Café, which makes me a bit prouder. In essence, not much has changed in my musical habits over the course of the past 35 years.
Sooner or later we wanted to hear those cool new tunes in the club and were beginning to go out. On Thursday nights we went to local club "La Boom" where that guy Pascal was spinning. After months of frequenting that club, I got wind that our "Passy", the guy who'd taught us to dance, was actually the Pascal F.E.O.S. from the same Clubnight radio show, who regularly performed side-by-side with demi-god Sven Väth. I'd had no idea! My mind was blown once more. Sven himself would play the club. That night, I mustered all my courage and asked him about a certain record he was playing. In that raspy voice of his, he said "Vinyl Countdown". It was like being touched by a higher power. Much later I found out that "Vinyl Countdown" was a project of Mike Ink/Wolfgang Voigt.
We became died-in-the-wool rave kids. Jesus Christ, we wore welder's goggles and had police whistles around our necks, which we frequently blew, stopping just short of carrying hoovers on our backs. (I don't remember any glowsticks though; I think that didn't become a thing until later.) In short, we were the kind of kids that I would find incredibly annoying if I'd still go out today (which I don't - I haven't been to a club in eight years or so.) We were innocent ducklings, and while the whole club was probably pilled out, we didn't do anything harder than alcohol back in those days, Batida Kirsch (cheap coconut liquor mixed with cherry juice) being the drink of choice. We danced like maniacs to T-99's "Anastasia" and "Charly" by The Prodigy. "Mentasm" was huge.
Back then, there were no edgelords, there was no segregation in the scene, it wasn't fractured in countless microgenres. We really were one merry crowd. Basically, you were either listening to "techno" or you weren’t, and if you did, you were alright. Dewey somehow acquired a recording of one of those La Boom nights. The first track was Rozalla's "Everybody's Free", followed by tunes like Human Resource's "Dominator", "There Is No Coke" by Quartermain, 4Hero's "Mr. Kirk's Nightmare" and so on, complete with Pascal's announcements. I think the Hypnotist's "The House Is Mine" was on there, one of my favorite tracks. Those sounds were mental! It was pure ecstasy, frozen in time, a still image of something wild and free and boundless that you could set in motion at a whim. I borrowed the tape and kept it for weeks, then months, then years, until it passed into my possession and ended up as a staple of my car’s tape roster.
One day, word got out that an actual techno music store would come to Duckburg, Germany, where we went to school. The three of us were all but kicking their door down, we were literally standing in the store the first day as they were still filling the shelves. We were little sponges, desperate to suck it all in, so eager, so wide-eyed.
We quickly developed a method. As our financial means were reciprocal to our hunger for new tunes, we would go to the store, listen to all the new records we saw fit, then choose a handful we liked and more or less randomly decide who was buying what. We would then either hang out at one of us for epic recording sessions or lend each other the new vinyls and record them on tape at home. (If it hasn’t become clear at this point, the importance of cassette tapes in my musical upbringing and that of countless others simply cannot be overstated.) By the end of the month, I usually had a 90 minute tape full of new music, which I’d just label "03/1992" and so on. I always recorded the whole EP or 12'', warts and all, and would then gradually digest them by listening to the tapes on repeat.
I swear I still very clearly remember the day we discovered an EP by an artist called Aphex Twin, titled Analogue Bubblebath. I'm not entirely sure if I was the one who picked it for listening, but I guess so; I know I’d read an enthusiastic review about it in that little black-and-white zine called Frontpage that you could get for free in Boy Records. That and the more glossy Groove Magazine was where I'd also read about Final Exposure's Vortex, John + Julie's Double Happiness or the Balance of Terror EP by Life After Mutation (a Drexciya side project, but of course I had no clue then), which were among my first records. That day, however, after we had passed the record around and listened to it, it was decided that Huey was to buy it and then share it with Dewey and me.
Huey was this ghostly pale, very thin guy with slightly frizzy blond hair, and he had been basically chain-smoking as long as I knew him and probably since long before. Whenever we weren't sitting in class, he was constantly rolling these thin, crooked cigarettes, and the insides of his spindly index and middle fingers were permanently stained yellow. He had very dry, caustic humor, and his laugh would often end in a worrying smoker's cough. His parents had made him see a doctor fopr that, and he'd allegedly been prescribed some pills which he then proceeded to unceremoniously roll into cigarettes and smoke. At least that’s what he told us, and we had no reason not to believe him. (Another anecdote he liked to share was how one day he’d been listening to very loud techno music in his room, which had prompted his mother to yell at his father that apparently "the lawnmower was broken!", which just killed us.) Huey’s father was also the one who most often drove us to La Boom, which he’d call a Pressluftschuppen (only very roughly translatable as "jackhammer shack"). I always found that funny too, and the word stuck with me.
Anyway, that day it was Huey who got to keep Analogue Bubblebath, while I (I shudder to think) probably took home some ephemeral trance record I’ve long since forgotten. But I borrowed the Aphex Twin EP, recorded it on my crummy old turntable and listened to it endlessly on my paper routes. It was magic. The title track had an atmosphere unlike anything I’d ever heard. To this day it gives me the shivers as well as heavy bouts of nostalgia whenever I listen to it, and it instantly transports me back to that carefree, untroubled time. Listening to it as I type this, I immediately tear up, and why the hell wouldn’t I? "Like tears in the rain …" It’s a fucking proustian madeleine, that record is. After the eponymous track, "Isopropophlex" quickly changed gears; it was so rough, so raw, so hardcore. I loved it. "En Trance to Exit" reminded me a bit of tunes like "Quadrophonia", but was clearly on another level, while the closer "AFX 2" was just this fever dream of a track. Four tracks, one statement, absolutely to the point. And the title was so clever too – it really was like soaking in a bubblebath of beats and melodies. Pure Genius!
Years passed, and as it is prone to happen at that age, we lost touch with each other.
I finished school and moved out from my parents'. Discovered the gunjah and got quite into it, casually at first, then heavily, recklessly, smoking more or less daily for years. Listened to SAW II stoned in bed, passing out and coming to again. Took my first E, mushrooms and what-have-you. Loved the hell out of I Care Because You Do, especially "Alberto Balsalm", which every single time conjured the image of a lonely janitor in the basement of an abandoned school building at night, clanking away on heating pipes with his monkey wrench, a haunting image that made smile at the same time. Played Space Cadet on my Windows 95 machine for hours and hours, accompanied by the Richard D. James Album – which I nevertheless didn’t quite love as much; I wasn’t really into drill'n'bass or breakbeats in general, they felt so light and fluttery and unsubstantial, and I wanted more oomph.
Come to Daddy scratched that itch, as did Windowlicker. "Bucephalus Bouncing Ball" was mind-blowing. We played the Come to Daddy video on repeat at random parties, made it go viral at least in our circles before the term existed. That prolonged scream was so aburd, so incredibly funny, we couldn’t stop laughing.
After finishing college, I was on the dole for half a year before finding a job, and they employment agency made me participate in a course in fucking "Event Management" (lol). One day we were asked to bring something, anything we loved for a sort of show-and-tell, and I played the "Windowlicker" and "Rubber Johnny" videos in full length back to back to an unsuspecting (and rather shocked audience). Good times. A friend told me that one night he and some mates of his had been smoking heavily and were slumped in front of the TV when "Windowlicker" came on, and the moment the voluptuous dame turns around, one of them started to explosively throw up in the trashcan. Fun times.
Reading the other stories here, it seems like I'm in the minority, having discovered Aphex Twin before drugs, and, well, before Drukqs. I’m not ashamed to say that album didn't wow me either when it came out. More broken butterfly beats, and the piano works were just too introspective for my taste at the time. I would however call another friend-in-music of mine every year on his birthday and play him the beginning of "Lornaderek" as a private joke. By 2001, I was working at a record store myself. (The best thing abiut the job was that I ended up keeping five or six 26 Mixes for Cash posters. Yay.)
Then came the creative lull, or at least what I perceived that way. Analord and Tuss were at the periphery of my attention, I was aware of their existence, but never really pursued them. The Soundcloud dump was too overwhelming for me. Richard had become something like an old family member – beloved, but taken for granted a bit, not always appreciated in full, even though they’re always sort of present. Part of the inventory.
Like everyone else, I was by now getting bombarded with music (working at a music store didn't help), and I had a hard time digesting all of it. Albums became less and less important anyway, there was just this never ending onslaught of new tracks, and the carousel was spinning faster and faster. In short, the digital revolution happened. The internet came over us in a big way, and it definitely was a force to be reckoned with. I would still listen to RDJ's backlist, mostly I Care ... and SAW II, which had become stone-cold classics for me, but were quickly getting up there – 25 years and counting.
I'd long given up drugs, didn't smoke, didn’t drink. I'd become a father, was pretty settled in my worklife and personal life, become fat and saturated, a bit jaded, even blasé. Paradoxically, music had become ever more important as a hobby and a means to stay sane. Other interests came and went, people came and went like Hewey and Dewey and so many others – the choons stayed, I just got more and more particular about what I liked. I bought most of Richard’s works, even the Analord series, and I'd often think back to that fateful day in 1992 when we had been listening to Analogue Bubblebath in that new store and my friend Huey had gotten to keep it and what this EP had come to mean to me over the years and what it would mean to own it today. It had become my White Whale, but one that would be impossible to catch. (Of course, I had since acquired a reissue, but that wasn’t the same as that actual record I had recorded on tape back then, it didn't have the aura.) I would wonder whatever had happened to Huey and Dewey and become a bit melancholy. Where had all those years gone, and why had life changed so much? And what the hell was up with that Richard fella? Why didn't he just get off his butt and finally release some proper new tunes?
Then came Syro, and I dutifully jizzed my pants, listened to it and really liked it, then gradually listened less and less because other, newer music got in the way. Then when the Collapse EP came out, I revisited Syro, and it changed everything. Syro and Collapse both clicked with me in a major way, and both are now among my favorite pieces of music ever. I became obsessed with them, listening to those tracks over and over and over again. This might be total conjecture, but to me it felt like these were the works of a mad genius who had tinkered around with his instruments on his own for years and years, getting absolutely masterful at what he did, honing his style to utter perfection, and now sharing his exploits with the undeserving public. These tunes were so clearly on another level it wasn't even funny. Man, was the force ever strong in this one.
I still maintain this position.-For me it is not necessary about the technical proficiency (which is apparently off the charts), but all about the atmosphere. Richard's tracks transport me to a place unlike any other, a halfworld, a strange limbo unlike anything I've ever inhabited. This is the part where, like with drugs, words fail and those in the know just know. Syro and Collapse were like meeting an old lover and discovering, quite untypically, that the spark was still there, not only revelling in old memories, but falling in love anew.
I finally joined WATMM, where I'd been lurking for quite some time, followed all news about Richard intently. The shared enthusiasm somehow took my love to new heights, even if I wasn't really able to contribute more than a few silly jokes. I finally got to see Richard play live in Berlin and then in Paris, where I also got to meet Ivan Ooze in person (hi!).
Today, Aphex Twin is part of my personal Holy Trinity, along with Autechre and Kraftwerk. These are the Big Three that nothing else will ever touch.
A couple of years ago, visiting with my parents, I learned that my old friend Huey was dead. Apparently, he'd had to have some sort of tongue surgery, and there were complications, and he died on the table. I was shocked. To my knowledge, he was the first from our class to go. I hadn't seen him since those long-gone halcyon days ages, and in my head he was still that young boy, spindly-looking, but full of life. Dead? Impossible.
I don't know what happened to the Analogue Bubblebath vinyl and if he'd still had it when he passed. Sometimes I still wonder what happened to it, where it is today. I wonder where he is today. Why did he vanish from my life, even though we had been friends one time? Was he married, did he have kids? Was he still into music, into Aphex Twin? Had he listened to those other records Richard put out? Had he loved them? Had he also remembered that fateful day in the store? Had he cherished that record, had it been a priced possession for him? Or had he sold it long ago for loads of cash? Had Analogue Bubblebath led him to become a devoted Aphex Twin fan, or had it had no impact on his life? Does it matter?
Dewey, bizarrely, later went out with my younger sister. It was a short-lived relationship, and I never encountered him, but he found the infamous La Boom tape in the car where I'd left it after moving out and got it back.
Time is a strange thing. I don't know if it's the same for other people, but you see, the thing is I can't really feel it, and it drives me mad. It's like it exists and doesn't exist at the same time. When I listen to the music I love, to those old tunes that are still so close to my heart, it's like I’m ageless. And yet I know it will eventually get the better of me. In reality I'm going on fifty years old. How much time do I, how much time do any of us have left?
Ol‘ Mr. Oehler is dead.
Mark Spoon is dead.
Stevie B-Zet is dead.
Heiko M/S/O is dead.
Pascal F.E.O.S. is dead.
Andy Fletcher is dead.
Drexciya's James Stinson is dead.
Kraftwerk's Florian Schneider is dead.
(Mr. Kirk's son is dead.)
Caspar Pound aka The Hypnotist is dead.
Frontpage has long ceased to exist.
Groove still exists online, as a mere shadow of its former self.
Lee Newman from John + Julie is dead.
Lorna and Derek are dead.
HUEY IS FUCKING DEAD!
I wish my story had a point, but I guess it doesn't. Unlike diatoms perhaps, I’m not sure if music has healing powers. I don’t think Aphex Twin has at any given time saved or will ever save my life, and he sure as hell didn’t save Huey’s. But for the better part of my life (over two thirds, actually), he's always been there, as a constant, and by now I'm pretty sure that it will stay that way until the end. I know that whenever he will release new music in the future, I will make it my top priority to listen to it. All I have, all we have to counter time is passion. When the passion is gone, I’m not sure I’ll want to carry on.
It’s not a very special story, and I know that there are millions of others like it. But this is mine.
19 hours ago, cern said:I know this feeling bro, Had even bought flight tickets and festival tickets to seeing Afx with her.. All that excitement right down the trash just a day before.
I also had the chance to say hi to RDJ.. he sat at a chair just 3 meters in front of me, I started to feel afraid , afraid If he will get annoyed or angry and will shut me off.
Today I would just said "Hi, fucking love your music! I Wish you all luck!" or something simple and no cameras ofc..
19 hours ago, psn said:
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congratulations to Jonny aa!!!
On 9/6/2023 at 6:00 PM, Jonny aa said:As you know Richard played Bristol this last weekend, I was unable to attend due to going away for a friends birthday. Whilst away my daughter called me up really excited to tell me that RDJ was staying at the hotel she works at. I have been a fan since hearing Analogue bubble bath in the 90's, the fact that my daughter has seen and Come to daddy and Windowlicker so many times its not a face she will easily forget! Not only did she get to meet RDJ (totally lovely down to earth geez, as to be expected!), his wife and child, he even chatted to my daughter for some time, think she told him about the time I was in nyc at Philip glass studio shortly after his visit, being the amazing daughter she is, she then surprised me, she had taken my donkey rhubarb bear in to work to get it signed Oh and to make the whole weekend even weirder, at my friends birthday someone had brought masks of the birthday boy for us all to wear so the whole weekend was on an Aphex tip (parallel universe?) even though I was unable to get to the gig it was an amazing weekend!
loved all the afx stories!
thanks to rdj for all the music, raves & memories
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less than an hour to go
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Just now, Joyrex said:
I have several...
go on...
let's hear em
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24 hours
some pretty epic and amazing aphex stories!
On 8/31/2023 at 5:47 PM, Ivan Ooze said:Ok
afx learned me to rave and enjoy electronic music
i liked daft punk, chemical brothers and stuff, nothing much else and was mostly into black metal, hiphop and grindcore
i didn't have internet yet back then so i looked for new music in cd stores or concerts.
Me and a bunch of friends were gonna do shrooms at a friends house who was gonna try it for the first time, so i went to the record store to buy an electronic album to chill to on the shroomies and i blindly bought drukqs. (i knew some afx songs from mtv)
oh boy when we peaked i put on that album and the first track had me by the throat (still one of the greatest songs i know) and then holy shit.... what a journey,
those small different moods, then to get catapulted back into pure insanity. hellish and beautifull
i imagined an insane composer who locked the door on his house, threw away the key and just went berzerk 24 hours a day for a year on his machines.
still the best album i ever heard and that friend who took shrooms for the first time went this year with me to his show at best kept secret.
after that i was on a hunt by anything this man made. Got icbyd, then RDJ album and was blown away at how different each release was a few years later i scored the tuss and chosen lords ( didn't have internet yet so everything i bought was on cd)
when i finally had internet in my farmers hole, i learned about this project called steinvord that might involve afx so i joined WATMM to find out more.
Had great times here on WATMM and then thanks to Joyrex we all bought the caustic window album, that felt so amazing, the power of music fans.
When he did the sounddump i became... obsessed! the legend was true, this dude had 100's of (amazing) unreleased tracks, my jaw dropped.
there he was, the music legend, giving out free music on soundcloud, chatting with his fans and he's just a normal human being like everyone else lol
went to 2 of his shows this year with friends and had the best time ever, i'll always go to his concerts in the future and try to get my hands on anything he releases.
i could type for hours but i'll stop here. Just felt like contributing to Diatoms his post.
i don't need a card cause he already gave me one, this nice ass rave wizard saved one for me on field day. You have my eternal thanks Diatoms, you legend
and yes RDJ thanks for all the amazing music and good times.
also, release the ploink and waffleland tracks afx nerd!
pls
On 8/31/2023 at 9:45 PM, beerwolf said:Yes it's good to have experienced just blindly buying records from shops. I didn't even have mtv so I don't even know how the fuck I watched videos for Aphex. Thinking about it I'm 100% sure I bought the official Warp video tapes! How fucking crazy is that? Sure there was a VHS compilation of On, Donkey Rhubard etc. Mad times. Youngsters are spoilt nowadays!!
(Farnsworth)
On 8/31/2023 at 9:57 PM, J3FF3R00 said:Oh yeah. Never having heard Squarepusher, I picked up Big Loada when it was released based on the cover at Gramophone Records in Chicago and listened to it at the listening station and it blew my damn mind.
I remember how hard it was to find Aphex Twin and Coil records in the 90s. The only place “near” where I lived was not convenient. I remember always seeing April Wine and Archers of Loaf records next to where the often-empty Aphex Twin slot was. My first RDJ release was On in 94 or 95, then I nabbed either SAW2 or Ventolin next. After that it was all downhill. I remember being super excited when I came to the often-empty slot and finding The Donkey Rhubarb ep. The cover art was so modern and hilarious. The Girl/Boy ep also blew my mind when it dropped. I listened to that CD a billion times.
Come to think of it, it’s pretty rad that Richard still drops so many quality EPs. Every one has as much distinct character as a full length release. It definitely keeps the hype train rolling rather than just putting out a big LP every 5 years or whatever.
… edit…I forgot to mention my 2 aphex shows. First was in 97 @ The Vic in Chicago. He sat on a couch with just a laptop for the whole show and his buddies came out in the donkey rhubarb bear outfits and breakdanced / wrestled / etc for the whole show. Afterwards, I saw Rich outside his tour bus as his sweaty buddies were stuffing the bear costumes in the underside compartment and I didn’t know what to say to him so I just gave him a tiny green plastic alien I got earlier in the evening from a gumball machine.
22 years later, I flew back to New York (where I had lived b/w 99 & 2011) to see the Avant Gardner show. It was emotional.
I guess if rich were to ever read this, I would be curious if he remembered that little green alien. I still wouldn’t know what to say to him exactly, at least I don’t know what wouldn’t sound awkward... like how I listened to SAW2 almost every night through high school on my discman through headphones under my pillow as I fell asleep… or how I play SAW1 every other day while driving in the car these days because it’s almost 100% guaranteed to put my toddler to sleep around naptime… or how Syro came at an emotional low point in my life and was really a helpful companion to guide me through some of the darker parts… or how he’s possibly the only artist I’ve ever cared to try to be “completist” about as far as collecting and practically zero of my friends even know about him, let alone know that I hang out on a music forum and type epic posts about how big a deal he is in my life.
On 8/31/2023 at 10:02 PM, Kennylogg Bubblebath said:favourite moments from the past 20 years of my afx fandom...
- discovering rdj after seeing the come to daddy video on the channel 'Q' and it blowing my tiny brain to bits
- the tuss whodunnit saga
- not afx-specific but his music introducing me to the world of warp/idm (boc, autechre, spusher
- the whole blimp/syro rollout
- soundcloud dump (this one is at the top! it was by far the most exciting time to be an aphex fan)
- field day 2017 (first time seeing the phexmeister general)
On 8/31/2023 at 11:05 PM, Hodorsbn said:Discovering Come to Daddy video in 2003, Chris Cunningham obsession ensues.
Getting really into Xtal/Heliosphan while making computer art in 2004
Buying ICBYD/RDJ/26Mixes on CD and discovering all the layers there while doing homework
Buying the limited vinyl of SAWII and falling asleep stoned to tracks like Tassels
Listening to Vordhosbn walking home from school, Taking Control, 54 Cymru Beats between classes.
The moment I realized the vocals in 54 Cymru were about "3 bears"...
The slow release of the Analords and wondering what would come next. Jamming out drunk to PWSteal after my cousin's wedding.
The summer of The Tuss in 2007, really special time, I was living alone and those tunes were the soundtrack to my solitude.
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Hearing Minipops premiere on the "radio" in 2014, I took a break from work just to listen to it
The subsequent release of Syro and uptick in activity, coincided with a breakup, but felt apt somehow
Soundcloud dump, hearing 28 Organ and other "lost" tracks
Day for Night Festival, traveled to Texas just to see him
Collapse comes out, includes track played at DFN I was certain was one of his
Wearing the aphex shirt I've had since 2005 to Field Day 2023, hearing Falling Free live after getting lost in it 18 years prior at my desk.The moments all start as small/personal ones, and somehow eventually connect with bigger ones out in the world.
Power of music and community, huh.
On 9/2/2023 at 4:41 PM, cruising for burgers said:papat4 live papat4 live papat4 live tunage!!!
anyway I was watching arca because I thought they're gonna play a bit togheter on the same stage and I believe I've seen Weirdcore shit on her visuals... did I really?
anyway, it took a complete stranger to tell me that I was on the wrong stage... I almost missed Richie, again...
On 9/2/2023 at 5:30 PM, cern said:I was only in my earliest teenage years after Drukqs came and it changed my whole view of music and electronics in general.
I literally started to became interested in electronic inventions after hearing it.
Back then I only listen to HipHop. I was a graffiti writer so I hang out with them and some b-boys and drug users.
One of my friends at the home party gave me the Drukqs CD to listen to. And back home I was totally blown away..
I did research and his aliases and so much music in different flavor was everywhere suddenly and I thought he was some kind of Electronic music giant that was superior of everyone and everything in the music scene.
Under that time of the teen years your emotions are much stronger to stuff ofc.. I find out more about different artists like Ae, BoC, Squarepusher etc...
But Aphex Twin stood out for sure. Then Analord came and that was the time I was even more blown away!
I got tons of sad stories which his music has helped me alot to keep pushing and want to continue. Even with darkest thoughts of ending it all I was too touched of music and curiosity so I couldn't do it.. I want to explore, listen and hearing this music over and over again.. Still to this day I can easily pick upp a hand full of Aphex tracks to have on loop all days long!
Then I feel home and safe in myself. Like I'm a part of this music.. Maybe we are a cult? lolPeace! Thank u RDJ!
On 9/5/2023 at 2:51 PM, marf said:I can't show people electronic music. It's not real music to them. I feel alone sometimes in that way. Not that it's the only genre I like, but I keep it to myself for the most part.
On 9/5/2023 at 5:43 PM, matureraver said:my afx journey started when i was 4, i first heard i care because you do from my dad. i remember hearing the beginning of acrid avid in his car super vividly. we continued listening to that drukqs, come to daddy and windowlicker. we used to watch the rubber johnny video every night because i loved the track and the creepy video as a little kid ( i still do lol). about 4 years ago i went in super deep getting into richards discog. i started to discover caustic window and all the alia’s. i had already been a musician but richard made me want to make electronic music, so i started doing it. i went through some tough stuff and richard has been there for me through all of it. he practically saved + changed my life forever. now 4 years later i have loads of gear and have made 1,700 songs and released 11 or so records. i also have 2 record labels with coming up on 100 releases. i’m only 17 years old and seems like i have an eternity in front of me. hopefully my story didn’t get to deep, richard is just a huge hand in my life. ‘PS i’m not gonna pay 250 fucking P for this record but i love the songs so i might if i don’t get this one lolol’
i make electronic music under the name ‘Reservior…’ available on all streaming services
On 9/6/2023 at 2:53 PM, phudoshin said:My aphex story:
At the Dublin show back around 2003, donning a blond wig to go with my ginger beard so I looked a little aphexian - some ravers told me "shouldnt you be getting on stage?!"
Anyway was at the front at some stage with my little wind-up camera and I spotted RDJ crouching below the stage so started taking some pics. Next thing, RDJ starts to take some back so for a few minutes we had a camera flash battle.
I lost the camera that night but.. I imagine RDJ has my pic somewhere.. maybe on a fridge... a fan grinning back at him in a blond wig
On 9/6/2023 at 3:33 PM, beerwolf said:As in 89 when I sensed that I must explore pastures new (from New York Hip Hop) and found new (but old) sounds with Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and then OMG thrash metal (Slaaaaaayer!!! Megadeth!!!! Metalllica!!! Hail Satan!!!!) lol, my snout was getting a little itchy and a little twitchy and I just knew in my blood I had to again expand my horizons. But I didn't know exactly what it would be. I wasn't really a fan of rave music as it seemed a bit silly and indeed I was guilty of saying 'that's not proper music mate, it's just a bloke on drugs pressing play on a machine' but then one evening I heard John Peel play Girl/Boy and that was it chief, I emptied my piggy bank pronto and quick marched my way down to HMV faster than an Exocet missile. 26 Years Of Making Cash Out Of Mr Beerwolf.
On 9/6/2023 at 6:00 PM, Jonny aa said:As you know Richard played Bristol this last weekend, I was unable to attend due to going away for a friends birthday. Whilst away my daughter called me up really excited to tell me that RDJ was staying at the hotel she works at. I have been a fan since hearing Analogue bubble bath in the 90's, the fact that my daughter has seen and Come to daddy and Windowlicker so many times its not a face she will easily forget! Not only did she get to meet RDJ (totally lovely down to earth geez, as to be expected!), his wife and child, he even chatted to my daughter for some time, think she told him about the time I was in nyc at Philip glass studio shortly after his visit, being the amazing daughter she is, she then surprised me, she had taken my donkey rhubarb bear in to work to get it signed Oh and to make the whole weekend even weirder, at my friends birthday someone had brought masks of the birthday boy for us all to wear so the whole weekend was on an Aphex tip (parallel universe?) even though I was unable to get to the gig it was an amazing weekend!
On 9/7/2023 at 8:21 PM, Schlitze said:It was in April 2006, diatoms. Glasgow. The place is a ballroom with a big stage more used to orchestra's, pop and cock rock. Not ideally suited to a guy sitting playing tracks on a laptop. Wolf Eyes and The Bug were the opening acts. AFX style music started at about 10.30 but he was nowhere to be seen on stage, then a guy appeared and started clapping the crowd to fire them up, it looked like R. James but with short hair.. at the time i thought it was AFX but I'm now convinced it was a lookalike. At some point the man did appear, hunched at the back of the stage, almost unseen to the naked eye, fiddling around with his laptop, very shy
With nothing much to look at on stage i grabbed a pint of Tennent's from the bar and moved to back of the crowd with the beret wearing chin strokers. They were so passive, a completely different vibe from the gadgies at the front. Up until that point it had been a fairly straightforward set..very loud but cordial..I remember he dropped Ae's LCC, the light show intensified and he ramped it up a notch with the screeching sounds and distortion.
It was then i saw a guys face melt off.
Under the glow of the flashing lights i could see this emaciated guy, eyes bulging, sweating profusely and his skin was just falling away from his face like his outer body couldn't stand the BPM and his skeleton just wanted to break free from those shackles. The room went dark and the drop kicked and i was looking around. Gig ended, lights went on, all these sweaty faces, audience applause and muttering..I'm looking around to see where this guy is..nowhere to be seen..i don't mention it, who would believe it? Then just as i'm heading down the stairs i glance round and see the sillouette of a skeleton dancing at the back of the ballroom
On 9/8/2023 at 4:42 PM, grit said:Here we go:
In July '97 I had seen Richard at Phoenix Festival (UK) and then three weeks later at The Essential Dance Weekender in Finsbury Park. Both sets featured the Aphex Bears dancing, fighting and humping around the stage while Richard played out from his children's plastic play-house
I had agreed to travel to Las Vegas with friends in September of that year and the truth is, I really wasn't prepared for the full-on assault of the senses that I encountered.
Scanning through the flyers and leaflets in the hotel, I picked up a listing for the Hard Rock Cafe and Aphex Twin was scheduled to play on 19th September, the day before I flew backSupported by Luke Vibert with a DJ set and with Sneaker Pimps and Linoleum also on the bill, it was a no-brainer
The gig was insane - Richard's best gig ever apparently
I recall there being a red chaise longue on stage and Richard lay on the floor behind it with his setup
The set list began with tracks from the newly released 'Come To Daddy' EP and I particularly remember Bucephalus Bouncing Ball pinging around the venueThe Aphex Bears were a little more hyper than I had seen previously and one bear unzipped his costume to reveal Matt Jones (The Jones Machine? of RePhLeX infamy)
Stage left, next to a particularly menacing security guard was an Asian girl, who was wearing a costume that seemed to consist of a single ribbon, wrapped around her torso
As Matt's dancing got more and more manic, she handed him an electric shaver and he proceeded to shave his chest and head, throwing the clippings into the audience who were now being worked up into a state of increasing irritationMatt grabbed a plastic cup and shoved it down the front of his bear costume
When the cup emerged again, he proceeded to throw the contents over the crowdPanic ensued and as the security guard moved onto the stage to take down this obscene teddy bear, the Asian girl proceeded to unroll the ribbon, getting naked on-stage.
That was it! - They got shut down early but man, what a gig!
PS. Warp Records ran a competition to win the Aphex Bear costumes - You had to write in (!) and complete the lyrics to "To Cure a Weakling Child"
I got a letter back saying that although I had been picked as a winner, the costumes were absolutely rancid and had already been destroyed so they would send some 12" promos insteadOn 9/9/2023 at 6:56 PM, DavieAddison said:My Aphex story is I traveled from the US to London for Field Day and just missed getting a record. I went with my cousin who smoked a joint before we left but didn’t have anything on him and still got stopped by security because the drug dog sniffed him. They brought him to a closed off area and I waited around for him for a bit because I thought it would be a quick pat down but he was in there for about two hours. He said there were people smoking in line and tossing all kinds of drugs on the ground. After a while I went up to the merch tent and they were already sold out, which was soul crushing. I assumed they’d have quite a bit left since he sold leftovers from the other shows on his site before. I was too much of a burger to meet up with anyone from here while I waited, though I should have.
Also I thought British people loved queuing but I ended up getting into a verbal altercation with some guy who tried cutting in front of our line at the urinals after I was waiting for like 20-30 minutes to piss. He was standing in between two lines talking to his friend and when he saw the person at the front of my line was distracted he cut in front of her and looked back to his friend and laughed, which infuriated me, so I shamed him until he got back behind his friend. I could've easily gotten my ass kicked but it would've given me an excuse for pissing my pants.
Aphex Twin put on an absolutely incredible show though. I only saw him one other time, in Brooklyn in 2019, and I would definitely make the trip to see him if he plays any other festivals or shows next year. I’d just make sure to get there super early for any potential exclusive records.
On 9/10/2023 at 10:50 AM, Time Tourist said:My 2 cents on how Aphex came and stayed into my life.
First thing I heard from him was 4. I was 16 and at my cousin's house playing Rollcage on the PS. When I heard the combination of sounds I was totally blown away. Never had I heard something so chaotic and emotionally touching at the same time. I wanted to listen to it again and again. Will always be grateful to my cousin (who was more like a soulmate) for that, unfortunately he passed away in 2012 before the SC dump... How many times I wished I could've shared that with him. I miss him. And listening to 4 always takes me back to that moment in his room.
Anyway, since that day Aphex became a bit of an obession. Started to look for all his music I could find. Bought the rdj album on cd, but I have to be honest, I downloaded tons of his music through SLSK/Napster. As a teenager money is a big issue and I'd rather spend it on weed to listen to Aphex together! Don't worry Richard, I made up for all of it since 2014 when I started buying everyting you put out, even doubles at times.
First time I saw him in concert was 2001 at Pukkelpop under mushrooms. I was flabbergasted, couldn't believe what I had heard, a friend who was with me had to puke out the mushrooms at a certain point and lay down outside the tent. We never knew if it was the mushrooms or the music which caused that reaction
Next time was 2017 where I walked around with the Vinyl all day long in a goodybag... Even got offered 100 pounds for it that day.
Saw him at Best Kept Secret this year (Ivan Ooze, wish I'd known you were there would be nice to meet up), had tickets for Dour as well, but unfortunately my mother in law passed away a few days before so had to sell them. Afterwards I heard he played "Lichen" which is like one of my all time fav tracks... Ah well, next time I hope.The way his music has been with me through decades is actually unbelievable. No other artist or genre has survived that long with me.
Also I remember posting on here when Richard's dad passed away and a few months later my own dad passed away. The Brooklyn track on Soundcloud was what I listend to that night... That track will always be tied up to the memory of my dear dad (rip).PS: how fucking good is the DeadCode track off the Analords... Just listened to all of it a few days ago, what a trip!
THANKS RICHARD! Keep them coming please!!!
3 hours ago, psn said:My story?
Was on the same festival bill as him three times (1994, 2006, 2011). At one of them, I was waiting outside our backstage room with one of my band colleagues. We're both huge AFX fans. All of a sudden he's standing right in front of us, like one foot away, staring at us, not saying a word, looking into our room then back at us. He left as soon as he appeared, not even sure we managed to muster a "hi" or anything. I speculate that he was looking for the organisers, was in a hurry, and maybe thought our backstage was the promoter's office. Life's mysteries.A couple of other highlights:
- Saw him in 97 with the big teddy bears bouncing around on stage. He was laying down in a big sofa, behind a table with a keyboard, mouse and a huge CRT monitor on it. Sat up every now and then to adjust some knobs or whatever, then laid back down. All AFX tracks, wonderful set.
- Saw him in 99 wearing a red "SECURITY" sweater and being bum rushed on stage by an overly eager fan who ended up bumping the record players. He called over a real security guy to stand next to him for the rest of the show.
- Ended up not going to a show in 2003 - had free tickets and all - because I had a row with my GF that night and broke up with her.
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16 minutes ago, psn said:
All AFX tracks, wonderful set.
oh my rave:)
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one of my favorite gifts from afx:)
vordhosbn run through
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please vote for your favorite aphex story
make someone's day
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what made you decide to start joyrex.com then continue with watmm.com?
there's some amazing aphex stories you probably have:) @Joyrex
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@Joyrex don't you have an aphex story that's quite good
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what's your favorite aphex story @Schlitze
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32 minutes ago, Satans Little Helper said:
I'd think most would have also bought the digitals back in the day. When the rephlex shop was up and running. That was around 2009 I'm guessing.
i think i was the last one to buy analord 1-11 and the bonus tracks in march/april of 2014. the next day or so the rephlex shop closed down. were they waiting, ha:)
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8 minutes ago, Bubba69 said:
I don't think mine should count as it was just a response to the 3 little bears observation
give us your favorite afx story:)
(you're tied with yourself at 7 with your reaktor quote as well, ha)
On 9/3/2023 at 9:08 PM, Bubba69 said:I wasn't sure what I was going to do with my life before I heard aphex for the first time two decades ago. Today I make my own oscillators in Reaktor.
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14 hours ago, hello spiral said:
Got me phone nicked last night by some toerag who shoved me over after nicking it then jumping on the back of a waiting moped.
All of my internet is from my phone, was royally fucked. Had to go knocking on neighbour's doors at 22:30 on a Sunday until eventually one kind lady answered and gave me her wifi password so I could contact people. Couldn't get the signal from my flat though so I had to camp outside her door like a literal bloody hobo.
This is the pic my ex took when she biked over to stay the night so I could leach the 5G from her phone and get my affairs in order.
The phone was paid off luckily and I was now on an unlimited data sim only plan. So today I took the standard upgrade and got a new iphone14 pro. Swings and roundabouts.
sorry to hear about that hello spiral. doing harm to others will catch up with them someday and it won't be good i'd imagine.
use that new iphone14 pro to record the dublin chre show:)
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20 minutes ago, Mattthegoone said:
Great to see you again man, very good night, I hope you got those posters home safely
haha, they're still in my afx hoodie pocket:)
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On 9/1/2023 at 12:19 AM, Bubba69 said:
once.. up - on - a - time... there - were .. 3 - bears... mum - my - bear... dad - dy - bear ...
once.. up - on - a - time... there - were .. 3 - bears... mum - my - bear... dad - dy - bear ...
dadddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyw9ubuasbdousadbf -- daddy - b - b -buuuuuuuuuuu - bay -bee - bearrrrrrrr .... eaeaaeae
EDIT: jinx@Bubba69 in the lead with a week left to go, 7 e moji
the more you moji others they may return the love
i'm putting one on all the posts to be neutrally positive:)
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had the most amazing weekend
lisbon and bristol had incredible sound, raved my ass off. i'm gonna go over the bristol show and find that chest shaking bass track that was the heaviest i've ever experienced, shook the flim loose, ha:)
met up with @cruising for burgers and raved and talked before and after. gave me a car ride to the airport and put on blackbox ep for the journey, magic:)
@Mattthegoone the LEGEND!! got me a tape at bristol (THANKS!) cause i didn't show up until 19:40 with gates closing at 20:00. didn't catch up with him until the aphex afters with vibert. that was a fun night:)
i remember luke vibert also playing synthacon 9, got real excited hearing it twice within a couple of hours. i don't know if he would've known aphex only just played it at forwards. they know each other so well maybe they were on the same frequency
best summer of me life
just noticed the center writing is back since i stopped writing in the middle but i'll not use it except in special occasions, ha:)
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as soon as i saw that poster it was coming down since the festival was over, ha! and started the night before with cruising for burgers, it was a pretty special afx weekend which i'll never forget:)
APHEX TWIN - SYRO
in Aphex Twin
Posted
saw this posted on reddit, forgot this about live performance of aisatsana [102]