Whats the story with Warp and Richard?

[Guest MajaIloveyou]

btw... who the fuck is his wife? Karen Tregaskin?

 

Channel is her name, or maybe with only one n, i dont recall. there's pics of them on another thread, but god forbid you mention it, people think you want to haunt them down and kill them.

 

i dont think the kids are getting in the way, i mean he went to russia, he is doing another gig soon...seems to me he's half dad, half aphex. plus in previous work his mom was a heavy family influence, with a new addition like wife and children, who knows what awesome tunes they will inspire.

 

the things analoguewings (^_^) said are all tr00, i have that interview (in that one the rhubarb bears were outside jumping )

 

He said he cant use Aphex twin because it's under warp and he'd get in trouble, "but i can still use AFX" he said.

 

lol

[Herr Jan]

plus in previous work his mom was a heavy family influence, with a new addition like wife and children, who knows what awesome tunes they will inspire.

 

"I just felt my baby moving"

(The Tuss - Deathfuck)

 

So that's one already.

[thief]

how the fuck did that photo of him and his gf get on the internet anyway? (the one where it looks like afx took it himself with a camera)

 

and the one where they're walking down the street

[Guest Betty]

The real question is when are Aphex kids releasing an album?

 

And does Richard sing "Come to Daddy," around the house?

[Guest MajaIloveyou]

plus in previous work his mom was a heavy family influence, with a new addition like wife and children, who knows what awesome tunes they will inspire.

 

"I just felt my baby moving"

(The Tuss - Deathfuck)

 

So that's one already.

 

LOL

 

The interview i mentioned was the wrong one, here's the one where he mentions the warp issue, enjoy.

 

You still live in this old bank building around the corner from here, don¹t you?

 

Yeah, it¹s a really good area. I really like it. It¹s very untrendy down here which is why I moved here. There¹s no young people at all - I never get recognized down here. I think I¹ve been recognized twice in five years. In the Eastend, where my girlfriend lives and which has become a very trendy place, people just go round your house all the time. They¹re just like: "Oh, you live in a cool area so we come and see you." Whereas down here it¹s like: "Oh, you live down there! I¹m never going to go down there."

 

I¹ve heard that the Ministry Of Sound club is a neighbour of yours.

 

Yes, and if the queue is long enough it goes all the way to my house.

Sometimes I throw water balloons on the people that stand there with my friends. I do that on a regular basis, although the last time is already three months ago. We just do it from the roof. It¹s wicked because nobody knows where it comes from. It¹s really dark and you can hide easily. I¹ve got a really good video footage of my friends in those teddybear things I used to have. They just walked across to the queue in these costumes and were harrassing people. I¹ve got that friend Damon on RePHlex Records who videod it.

 

He¹s been constantly videoing everything for three or four years. He¹s mad. He¹s not a very good film maker. He never films the good bits. But because he¹s had it for so long and because he films everything he has actually loads of good footage just by mistake. He has all this amazing footage of RePHlex Records stuff and we keep saying to him that he has to make a video. But he has 150 tapes and it would take like three years to get through them.

 

Last night you djed at a party at the Victoria & Albert museum. Your set sounded like a history lesson in breakbeats in the last ten years - ranging from happy hardcore to jungle to drum & bass and finally your own tracks.

 

I wanted to play really trashy rave music because it was in a museum. The obvious thing would have been to play really classy music but I thought it would be more funny to play something trashy.

 

Do you play different sets for different occasions?

 

I¹ve been doing lots of different sets. Although I haven¹t been doing any ambient or sort of weird sets for ages. I do lots of stuff with my laptop and that can really mean anything. It¹s usually a mishmash of live and djing. But noone knows I¹m playing live because I never actually say it. I¹ve been doing this now for about a year and a half maybe. The reason I¹m doing this is because if you¹re saying you play live then it¹s more like a gig and people just go and stand and stare at you. But if you say you¹re djing then everone dances and gets into it.

 

I remember that at Sonar festival in Barcelona this year you were playing more of a hardcore gabba set.

 

It depends on the place and on what mood I¹m in. In dance places like

massive raves I am more into brutally fast music. There are lots of people on drugs and they try do dance to it. I find that amusing. Lots of people just stare at me know in clubs. They just come up and stare, they don¹t even smile. And you get the impression that you¹re only playing towards five people because you can¹t see anyone behind them. Sometimes I can¹t be bothered and I end up just playing total noise just to fuck them off. Before I was more famous I really loved djing in the middle of the dancefloor. People just danced and didn¹t really take any notice of you. But if you¹re more a celebrity kind of thing everyone just stares at you and it doesn¹t work.

 

You seem to dj quite a lot recently.

 

Yes, just for the moment. Because the tracks I¹ve been making recently are really for the dancefloor kind of things. I¹ve been getting into raving again. I didn¹t do that for ages. If you¹re making these tracks it¹s just brilliant to be able to dj them the day after you¹ve made them and see if it works.

 

Last year your music was played along a video by Chris Cunningham at the Royal Academy in London. Yesterday you djed at the V&A museum and in October one "Prichard G. Jams" is scheduled to play at the Barbican as part of a Stockhausen festival. Do you enjoy having your music played in such traditionally highbrow places?

I¹m not making a conscious decision to play in these places. I¹d rather play in a shit club anyday. I¹m doing this Stockhausen thing because it will probably be his last gig and I actually just wanted to get tickets. He¹s played live a few times recently but only new things and I don¹t really like them. They are conceptually amazing but I don¹t really like the music. They are probably too advanced or whatever. (laughs) But this time he is playing his first three electronic pieces. Some musicians who started out in really

dodgy places and have been underground all their lives all of a sudden play only in (London concert venue) the South Bank and stuff like that. I think that¹s just wrong.

 

You are also known to play in the living rooms of other peoples houses. Yeah, I have played in people's houses. Last month we got an email from this bloke who said: "my grandmother¹s died and I inherited lots of money". So we thought that sounds cool and went over with a massive tour bus. Those are actually my favourite gigs: a mixture of mates and a random number of people from the street. I¹m also playing at a wedding reception soon and just recently this girl asked me if I would like to play gabba at her graduation party in art history. I said: "yeah totally!" As long as it¹s in London and I have the time I like to do these things.

 

Would you also play at this restaurant if they¹d ask you?

 

Yeah. Definately.

 

What do you like about gabba music?

 

I¹m well into the aggression kind of thing. But I usually don¹t like it when it¹s all distorted. I like controlled aggression. I think it¹s much more effective. If someone is just turning the gain right up on the mixer it¹s not really that scary. But things like the new stuff from Squarepusher I find them more disturbing because it¹s just so fucking off his head. But it¹s not even distorted at all, it¹s totally crisp. But the intensity is much bigger. You feel their mind, their motivation behind it and that¹s so much morre brutal. That¹s the difference between a mad man who¹s just gone mad in a shopping centre using his knife and a serial killer who is really cold and calculating. The serial killer is loads more scary.

 

What does Warp Records mean to you these days?

 

(laughing). Not a lot. The difference between them and any other record company is getting smaller and smaller which is why I¹m not going to release any more records on Warp. One single maybe but I doubt it. I have to stop them all the time. I did a promo for the album and they wanted to release it as a single. If¹ve got to constantly make sure that they don¹t push me too far.

 

Isn¹t there a personal bond between you and the people who work there?

 

Sort of. But I don¹t know most of the people working there now. I was more friends with Rob (Mitchell, Warp founder) and he is very ill now and he doesn¹t really run Warp. I like Steve (Beckett, Warp founder) but I¹ve never really been best mates with him.

 

Why do you release your new double album "Drukqs" on Warp?

 

Eh, that¹s quite a good question. I¹m sort of contractually obliged to

release with them. I¹ve got no problem with them at all, so it¹s not a big deal. At the same time me and Squarepusher are starting up our own label. I released those acid mixes ("2 Remixes by AFX", MEN1). That¹s our first release.

 

Is this new label a RePHlex Records sublabel?

 

No, it¹s just me and Tom (Jenkinson, Squarepusher) but RePHlex Records are going to help bits and bops to do it. But it¹ll be mainly run by me and Tom.

 

Why do you want another label?

 

Mainly because Tom¹s got a real problem being on a label where there¹s other artists he hates. He hates everything on Warp. He doesn¹t like Autechre, he doesn¹t like, mmh, I don¹t know. He likes the old things. "LFO" is probably the last record he liked (laughs). He doesn¹t like to carry everyone along.

 

I don¹t mind being on a label where there¹s shit people. I don¹t like that music on Warp either. And I¹m aware that they benefit from what you do. They¹re like "Oh, we¹re on Warp" and people take notice of that and then they buy their records and stuff. But it doesn¹t bother me as much as Tom.

 

But because he¹s a good mate I understand what he¹s saying. So we prefer to do it ourselves because it¹s more pure. If it was up to me "Drukqs" would be on RePHlex Records but I contractually have to give it to Warp.

 

When you started working with Warp you signed a six album deal, didn¹t you?

 

I was supposed to give them two or three more albums I can¹t remember. Before I gave them this album I said to them: "If I give you another album I have to be not be signed to another label." (laughs). I thought they were just going to go: "No way! We¹re going to sue you."

 

What does that mean?

 

I hadn¹t give them a record for like three years. And I said to them:

"Alright I¹ll give you like a double album but you have let me do my own label afterwards." And they just said "Yes"! I tried to do it with Warner Brothers (Aphex Twins record company in the US and Japan) as well but they are more hard to convince. I said like: "I want to do Aphex Twin on RePHlex Records". And they were just going like: "No way, we¹ve bought you, we own you." It was going back and forth. I was going: "If you don¹t say yes, you will never get anything." And then they were like: "Well ok, then we won¹t get anything." I¹m allowed to use AFX on RePHlex Records so I¹ll just have to go back to that.

 

Is the name Aphex Twin important to you?

 

It is really. I mean I could just use other names but I wanted to do Aphex Twin and then just do like very experimental stuff. There are lots of people who are going to buy my (Aphex Twin) album who are not really into my stuff at all, I reckon. And I¹m quite into the idea of them buying something very experimental.

 

The 30 tracks from "Drukqs" have already come up on the internet. Does that bother you?

 

I think it does it good anyway being on the internet. Because if you make an album that people like then it probably does you justice. People will go: "Yeah, download it" and it¹ll spread by word of mouth. It will probably make you sell more I reckon. I¹m not sure if that¹s true, I heard when Napster came out CD sales went up, apparently.

 

You¹ve said in the past that you don¹t care about many records you sell.

 

Well, with this one I want to sell as many as possible. I want to really rinse it. It will be the last promoted thing I do for Warp. I just want to rinse it for the last one basically. Not in terms of music but in terms of promotion.

 

Ok, you want to sell as many records as possible but you won¹t release a single, there will be no video, you won¹t have photos of you taken, you are only giving three interviews worldwide and you are not going on tour. Is that what you mean by promotion?

 

(laughing) I¹ve made a few compromises. With the CD it¹s just in a normal case and it¹s gonna to be really cheap. If it was up to me I¹d do it in really nicely designed digi-pack and stuff. But it would cost a bit more and you would lose lots of money. Little things like that. Also if it would be up to me I wouldn¹t do any interviews at all, I wouldn¹t do any promotional gigs. To me doing a little bit is as much effort as I¹m going to make.

 

You¹ve mentioned before that there might be a new single in addition to the album coming out.

 

I¹m thinking of doing an extra single with a twisted Cunningham video. But I probably won¹t do it and if I will it won¹t come out for another six months. I really enjoyed working with Chris (Cunningham, director) on "Come To Daddy" and "Windowlicker" and I would like to do it again. It¹s not my favourite thing to do, I¹d rather just sit at home doing new tracks. Warp want to do it because they just got dollars in their eyes. But I had a really good idea for a track that Chris would really like.

 

Why do you compromise at all?

 

Because it¹s the last thing. For the next one I won¹t have to do anything. So I just might as well do a little bit of work. The other reason is that I reckon that with this album I will have reached a maximum audience that I¹d be happy with. I think I will have exposed myself to enough people. That¹ll be enough for me. Then I can afford for years not to do any promotion.

 

Don¹t you think that you¹ve been in a situation like this at least since "Windowlicker" came out two years ago?

 

Yeah, maybe. But I just reckon that it needs one more little thing. One more little push. I stopped Warp from doing it too much. I didn¹t want to do a kind of Blitz, because they wanted to a really big things. And I¹ve been pushing it back a bit.

 

Why is the album coming out now, five years after your last album "Richard D. James"?

 

(laughing) The reason I release this actually is that I lost one of those mp3 players and I had 282 unreleased tracks of mine on it and 80 unreleased Squarepusher tracks and I left it on a plane. I was with Grant (Wilson-Claridge, RePHlex Records owner) on a flight to Scotland to do a gig about four months ago. I¹ve had the mp3s for like six months and he was laughing at me saying "Are you going to lose that?" and I was like "I¹m never going to lose this!". And then five minutes later I left it on the plane.

 

Didn¹t you have a copy of the music on your harddisc?

 

Oh, I didn¹t lose anything. I have the copies. I think I would've commited suicide if I've lost the masters. Since then I¹ve been keeping my eyes peeled on the internet. I thought that they would appear somewhere in about five seconds. I had written "Aphex Twin Unreleased Tracks" on it! (laughs). If they¹d started to put the tracks on the internet I¹d be round their house wherever it would be in the world and get my fucking things back. But probably an air stewardness nicked it off the plane and they looked about 35 and they were probably into Bryan Adams or something like that. And if they

would¹ve heard it they would¹ve probaly just deleted it. If a fan would have got it I wouldn¹t mind at all. It¹d be a very nice present for someone to get it. I¹d like that as long as they wouldn¹t put it on the internet and destroy my earnings for like the next ten years. I told Tom (Jenkinson) very quickly but I think he didn¹t listen to what I said. (laughs) So that¹s why I wanted to put out as many tracks as possible as soon as possible. I was gonna stick out four cds but it would¹ve just been overkill and it would have been too much work. A double is already a headfuck just to get everything right, the artwork, the mastering, the cutting and all that.

 

"Richard D James" was not much longer than half an hour. When it came out you said that "nobody listens to more than 30 minutes anyway".

(laughing). Yeah, but mp3s weren¹t around back then and I didn¹t know that I was going to own a device that could have all my tracks on it and that I was then going to lose it.

 

Do you think that people can fully appreciate a double cd of yours?

 

You could listen to all of it in one go but I think you¹d be dead if you did.

 

So the only real reason why you are putting an album out now is because you wanted to officially release as many tracks as possible before they get around unofficially?

 

Yeah, pretty much. It¹s kind of like an mp3 album really. I don¹t reckon that many people will do it, but the way I listen to music now is that I buy a CD, put it on the computer and just take the tracks I want anyway. I¹d hope that people would to the same with this CD.

 

Why would you mind somebody putting your unreleased tracks on the internet? Because then I won't be able to earn any money off it. It would just fuck me off, basically.

 

Why would you mind not earning any money with it?

 

Because that¹s the only reason why I release music.

 

You¹ve been previously thinking of putting out a DAT with four hours of your music for free, with no copyright on the recordings. Have you changed your mind?

 

(laughing) Yeah, it¹s a bit of a contradiction, I think. But if you gonna bother to release some things you may as well rinse it to the maximum. It depends on the tracks I reckon because with other things I don¹t care what happens to them. When I said that I was gonna release a DAT of four hours on it I meant older tracks that I wouldn¹t ever really release on an album. In that situation I wouldn¹t have really cared whereas the ones I lost were all new ones, none of them were more than two years old.

 

Apparently Mixmaster Morris recently told you that he found a CD for two pounds in Moscow that had all your tracks as mp3 files on it.

It¹s going to get even stupider. You are going to get a DVD with mp3s of "Electronica 95-2000" or something like that. You can probably get 100 albums on a DVD that way. You could get the Warp or RePHlex Records back catalog on a DVD.

 

Do the tracks on the album sound new to you?

 

Not really. A lot of them are quite old-style sounding, I reckon. I¹ve done loads of tracks which are really new in style and which don¹t sound like anything else but I didn¹t want to release those tracks. What I found is that if you release something that¹s really new ideas then everyone just copies that very quickly and then it becomes very old, whereas if you make things in an old style then you know how it¹s going to age. I¹ve made tracks before which are really fresh and then loads of people copy it and that just ruins it.

 

One thing one could always rely on when a new Aphex Twin album came out, was that you were going to be surprised. At least that was the case until "Richard D James". If you¹ve heard the 12" "Hangable Autobulb" before you would have got a pretty good idea for the sound of "Richard D. James". With "Drukqs" it mostly seems to be more of the same.

 

In some ways that¹s true. But they are not really the same as before.

Style-wise they are the same but not depth-wise. I haven¹t done something in so much detail before. ThereOE about a hundred times more details than in older ones. There¹s maybe only one track, number seven ("Bbydhyonchord"), that is slightly different, different kind of beat or whatever. And I¹ve done loads of stuff like that and I just don¹t want to release it.

 

How old are the tracks on the album?

 

They range from seven or eight years until a few months ago. But most of them are new. The last one I did is also the last one on the the album, "Nanou2".

 

On the cover of "Drukqs" there¹s a photo of the inside of a piano. And on the album you¹ve included quite a few piano pieces.

 

I¹ve loved pianos since I was little. The one I used to have as a child got woodworm and my mum had to sell it because the worms were eating all the wood in the house and I was really upset. A year and a half ago I bought a new piano, it¹s a midi-controlled one from Yamaha. They usually have them in hotels where the keys all plat themselves. People with too much money own them (laughs). That bloke from Take That, Gary Balow has got one. He¹s got a white one though and I wouldn¹t get a white one. I was going to have four of them all linked together for live shows.

 

This is the first time that you¹ve recorded the piano for a record, isn¹t it?

 

No, I haven¹t really done piano tracks before. I thought that I could keep my piano for a few more years and then release stuff and it¹s going to be loads more accomplished. But I like to put things out early and it¹s my first effort.

 

Some of the tracks sound very simple on others it seems as if you have

prepared the piano. Yeah. A lot of the tracks are modified. I¹ve prepared the strings. I use screws and nails and bits of rubber, I¹ve made lots of little things so that you can change the harmonics of the strings. When I bought this piano, because it was really expansive, I thought I am going going to break it straight away if I¹d started to take it apart. So for one year I just did very normal piano tracks and then after one year I started to take it apart. I¹ve also done some really complicated ones, sort of electronic versions, which are really programmed. But I didn¹t put any of these on the album because I wanted to put out the really simple ones first. My favourite piano tracks are really simple ones. I don¹t like it when they are flamboyant. Satie for example is my favourite piano composer. His tracks are deceptively simple, he¹s not wasting any notes anywhere.

 

You¹ve already played around with a prepared piano as a child. But did the work John Cage (classical composer who was know for his prepared piano pieces) have any influence on you getting back to the piano?

 

I totally know all his stuff and I probably got the idea from him to do the newer things. But when I was younger I used to only record the string sounds anyway. If you¹ve got an inquisitive mind and someone gives you a piano then you just naturally gonna take the back off and start fucking around with the strings. It¹s probably not an amazing idea of John Cage. I¹ve listened to loads of his piano stuff and I don¹t like any of it. There¹s only like one track that¹s really really nice, although I can¹t remember what it¹s called. But most of the are just these random things that don¹t have any emotion in them at all.

 

What is the meaning of "Drukqs" the title of your new album?

 

I¹ll leave it to the people to make their own mind up. But I would say that it doesn¹t mean "drug". Everyone is like "Oh, it¹s 'drugs' or 'drug use'" or anything but it¹s not. It does actually mean something and I really wanted to call it that but I don¹t want to tell.

 

Is that also the case with track titles?

 

Yes. Many of the titles are made up or Celtic. I know some of the words just from living in Cornwell (where Richard James grew up). A lot of them are just made up from either Gaelic or Welsh or some mishmash.

 

Do you think a lot about naming the tracks?

 

It depends. I¹ve made some of them while I wrote the track, others were first untitled and then I¹ve made up the titles afterwards. You can put out untitled tracks but it¹s just a headache for publishers or when people play your tracks on the TV or the radio. They get pissed off and you¹ll never get the money either. But I wanted to make the tracks completely unpronouncable.(laughs)

 

How did you choose the tracks that made it on the album?

 

People always ask me "why don¹t you put out this or that track". But it takes like an hour or so to get through one Dat and I¹ve got hundreds and hundreds of DATs. And by the time I would¹ve gone through ten I would have forgotten which ones were good and stuff. You can¹t remember all this. So it¹s just impossible to compile an album. I just have to select a certain amount of tapes to go through and then do it from there. But I can¹t to a proper compilation of all my music.

 

Is the order of the tracks important to you?

 

It is and I spent ages getting it right. I don¹t usually spend so much time doing it but I did for this one. It¹s like a journey, it¹s like a musical life diary. It¹s in order of personal events as well. One track in the middle for example is "Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels mount" and that¹s my summer holiday track. It did that track on a laptop in France while travelling around. Other tracks I¹ve done in Wales or in a car and stuff like that. A lot of people are doing this these days and I really like this. With a laptop music is becoming more like folk music again. You can do it so quickly and you don¹t have to rely on the studio any longer, which is not a very realistic selection of your life.

 

It has made it easier for you to catch certain moods and atmosphere.

Yes, and I¹m definately better at it than I used to be. I hope my music has become more personal over the years. No, I definately think it has. You lose your naivity when you get older and you can¹t really get back to that but I think I¹m better at expressing myself in music than I used to be.

 

Is it easy for you to do come up with new ideas?

 

Yes, it¹s really easy.

 

The last obvious outside influence on your music were probably breakbeats and jungle.

 

I just really love it. It¹s really exciting and it comes from early rave music and there¹s no one that can do it anymore. That music was like a fairground ride but no one seems to be doing it at the moment. Some people try to but they are never as good as the hardcore stuff that was made by people who were totally off their faces on E. I haven¹t heard any buzzed up music that really excites me. I listen to shitloads of music on the internet and thousands of demos by unsigned artists and the only person that I have heard with that kind of energy is Bogdan (Raczynski, RePHlex Records artist). But even he seems to have gone a bit disillusioned and doesn¹t really want to do it any longer, unfortunately.

 

Do you find interesting music on demo tapes that are being sent to you?

 

No, actually you never find good music that way. The stuff that people send us is always really generic. If I want to find something new it¹s not going to be through RePHlex Records¹s post box.

 

People are sending stuff to RePHlex Records because they think that it would fit on the label but that¹s not the stuff that you want.

 

Exactly. It¹s the opposite and I always tell people that. I actually find lots of good stuff in mp3.com. I¹d wish everyone would use mp3.com, it would be brilliant! You search for the "sounds like" bascially and then you just pick things that are obscure, that way you can get good stuff. If I search there I don¹t search for "Aphex Twin" because that¹s bad, instead you look for something that¹s really obscure like "Venetian Snares". Because if anyone thinks that they sound like "Venetian Snares" then you know that they are going to be a bit more eclectic. I also like to search for gabba but unfortunately there¹s not very much gabba on mp3.com.

 

"Windowlicker" sold about 300,000 records. Do you have the feeling that the music you do is now more acceptable than it used to be?

People are getting more used to listen to weird shit. More and more people listen to noise music. More inharmonic sounds are being accepted. It¹s lush I reckon.

 

Your music has been hugely influential. One of the more prominent musicians who¹ve said that they¹ve been inspired by your records are Radiohead? Did you listen to any of their last two album "Kid A" and "Amnesiac"? I don¹t like them. I heard maybe five or six tracks and I thought they sounded really really cheesy.

 

Cheesy?

 

Yeah, really obvious and cheesy. I mean I¹m just comparing it to my

favourite music and I think it¹s terrible compared to that. But compared to all the shit boring R&B tracks it¹s probably alright. Compared to those teen punk sort of bands or whatever they are supposed to be called, who think that they are really anarchic and stuff like that, they are probably amazing. If you¹re only exposed to that kind of stuff and then Radiohead come along you will probably think that they are geniuses.

 

Don¹t you think it¹s a good thing if only one percent listen of the people who buy a Radiohead album will then go and check out stuff like RePHlex Records?

 

I¹m not that bothered honestly. I¹m quite happy with the state of things at the moment. I like there to be shit music around. I like people to not be informed of what¹s around. If too many people would listen to what I listen to I wouldn¹t like it. I always wanted to be seen as being different. I like to like things that other people don¹t. If Merzbow was in the charts I wouldn¹t like it anymore. Some people don¹t wanna do what everyone else is doing and some people do. It¹s very simple. (laughs)

 

Are there sounds that you can¹t bear to listen to?

 

The only thing I can¹t really listen to for a long period of time are high frequencies. I¹ve got a few electro-acousticy tracks that are all very high frequencies and I find that very hard to listen to. But I¹ve never found noise very hard to listen to. Even when I was young I didn¹t have a problem listening to noise.

 

When your first records like "Analogue Bubblebath" came out ten years ago you were considered a perfect example for the "faceless" techno artist who disappeared behind his equipment. Now, next to Moby and Keith Flint from The Prodigy you have probably the most well-known face in electronic music.

 

(Laughing). Yeah, but in a sort of different way. I did it because the thing in techno you weren¹t supposed to do was to be recognized and stuff. The sort of unwritten rule was that you can¹t put your face on the sleeve. It has to be like a circuit board or something. Therefore I put my face on the sleeve (first on 95's "I Care Because You Do" album). That¹s why I originally did it. But then I got carried away.

 

Do you think you got carried away too far?

 

(Laughing). No. Who cares? I don¹t care. I mean I would if I¹d got

recognized in the street by people. If I did I would think I got carried away too much.

 

Do you have the feeling that after "Come To Daddy" and "Windowlicker" your image has become stronger than your music?

 

Maybe in some ways. But I reckon that only people would recognize me that know my music. If it would be the other way around I wouldn¹t like it. The other day "The Face" wanted to do a cover with me and I was going "No way!" but then I thought I¹ll do it if I can¹t be recognized. But then they didn¹t do it anyway and I was quite glad. I¹m just a little away from it being too much. I would know because I¹m the one who gets recognized. And I only get recognized at my gigs, in record shops and in clubs and only in clubs if someone like Squarepusher is playing. I wouldn¹t get recognized in the Ministry of Sound or places like that.

 

You chose not to put put your face on the cover of your records this time.

 

Yeah, and it¹s totally on purpose. And I haven¹t done any more videos and it¹s not my fault that they keep playing the same videos over and over again on MTV or where ever. I don¹t like to be forced down people¹s throats the way other famous people are. I don¹t want to walk in a shop and people go "Oh no, not that fucking twat!".

 

"Windowlicker" and the images attached to it will probably be the reason for many people to go out and buy your new album.

That does happen and it is a bit gutting. But the thing is that now most of the people who like my music started with "Windowlicker" or "Come To Daddy". But then they find out what I¹ve done before. If they only like "Windowlicker" because of the video and that more commercial edge then they are going to throw the new album in the bin when they listen to it. That's why I didn¹t do another "Windowlicker". I¹m not a commercial artist but I can be if I want to.

 

Speaking of more commercial artists both Madonna and Björk have asked to work with you, haven¹t they?

 

(laughing) Yeah, off course! They all want it!

 

What is the difference between the two of them?

Björk's loads more interesting. A million times more interesting

personality wise. Madonna is pretty normal, she is like a very famous

"Sharon".

 

They seem to have a similar interest in picking young and upcoming artists to work with.

 

Yeah, it¹s pretty similar. I can¹t guarantee it because I don¹t know her so well, but knowing Björk though, I think she does it out of (pauses)... Björk is like a little girl in a sweets shop. She¹s like: "Oh I love this, I love this! I want this, I want this!" Madonna is more like brutal. Like: "These are trendy, I can keep myself young and modern if I use them!" You know? Björk got that as well obviously but her motivation is that she just loves the musicians and would love to work with them. She picks people that aren¹t really that famous.

 

But Madonna was the first of them, for example, to work with Chris

Cunningham. She¹s got a reasonably open mind, I'd reckon. I was actually really into doing tracks with her. But I just didn¹t want to do it then. She was just too famous. If I did it everybody would just be like "Oh yeah, you¹re the person she did a track with". You¹re whole career would just disappear. Everything that you¹d work for before would disappear.

 

Wouldn't it have been interesting to do something with her on your terms? For example for RePHlex Records?

 

I was going to but she was more into me doing a track for her album or a single and I didn¹t really want to do that. I was thinking of a white label on RePHlex Records and I actually wrote a track for her and I had all these ideas: The track is this fucked acid thing and I wanted her to just do stupid noises, there wasn¹t to be any singing on the track. Just like grunts and moans and pig impersonations. I really wanted to hear Madonna doing a pig impersonation! (laughs) She was sort of into it. Maybe she even would have done it but at the time she was more concerned with her next single. I wasn't really that bothered and I¹m sure she wasn¹t bothered that much either. She¹d just be like "Yeah, there's plenty more fish in the sea!"

 

When was that?

 

Last year. I actually spoke to her quite a bit. I told her about my love life and stuff. I know she fancied Chris (Cunningham) and she wanted to shag him and he didn¹t fancy her at all. (laughs) I think she was a bit pissed off that she couldn¹t have him. Usually she can probably get everyone that she wants. She also came to one of our RePHlex Records nights in London. But it was very intimidating because she had her bodyguards with her. I was going like: "You don¹t need those in here because no one is going to hassle you." The bodyguards weren¹t aways around her but they were always watching and you can't really have a conversation like that.

 

Did you have any other pop star visitors at your parties? Kylie (Minogue) came to Rephresh (RephlexOE party night in London) as well. She knows (Warp DJ) Russell Haswell and he really likes her and was trying to shag her for ages. So she came to our party and all my mates were trying to get off with her. And one of my mates who usually only gets off with dodgy birds was dancing with her and feeling her arse up and she was really into it. And this other friend of mine was videoing everything. It was wicked. She also did the lights for about an hour while I was djing.

 

Why did you turn down Björk? Björk was also on Tom's (Jenkinson) case. She¹s been on everyone¹s case. She also did some stuff with Bogdan (Raczynski). He was going to do a track on her album and they didn¹t use it. They were quite sort of crafty and business. They just wanted to give him ten percent but I think if you work with someone you should always get fifty percent. It doesn¹t seem very respectful. But she doesn¹t get involved with that stuff she has people doing it for her in case it goes wrong. It's a bit sad in some ways. I mean she wants to work with the people she likes but at the same time she's really obsessed with "this is the newest thing", you know "goldfish memory". For some reason people always think that the best things are the most recent things.

 

I'm actually quite surprised that Björk wanted to work with you. I would have thought that you are too established for her.(laughing) Yeah, that's what I thought. I mean she¹s also worked with other old people like that string quartet and stuff like that. And they are not famous. If I really wanted to work with her I could make it happen but I'm not really that bothered. If I'd work with singers I¹d rather work with someone no one has ever heard of. Like opera singers or things like that.

 

Wouldn't you be interested in doing something with Björk the musician rather then with only Björk the vocalist. Oh yeah. I always tell her that anyway. I always say to her: "I don't understand why you get all these people you should just do it by yourself."

 

And she's been trying. She got her laptop and everything. Maybe she will do that when she's really old and everyone thinks that she's not pretty anymore. I think then she¹ll have to do it. Because then she won¹t be able to get all the little techno boys to work with her because they will be like "Björk? Oh yeah, you mean that old woman. I¹m not going to work for her!" At the moment she can just phone them up, talk some Icelandic and they will be willing to do everything. ... With Björk she's really business when it come to things like that. When you deal with Björk she's like: "Ok, I¹m going to fax you the details and you are going to send me that..." If I'm going to do a track with someone I¹d have to be their friend. I¹d have to spend some time with them and you'd have to come around my house and drink fifty cups of tea and smoke some spliffs and get pissed. You can't just send me the track. That's really cold and I think she didn't really understand because she has done it that way all her life. I think she has forgotten how to relate to people.

 

But you have worked with musicians as well in the past that you didn¹t

really know. Yeah, but only with remixes and that was just to get some money. And that's not really like working with someone either.

 

You've mentioned in the past that the only to people you'd really like to work with were Tom Jenkinson and Luke Vibert. Are you still planning to do more with them?

 

Tom's difficult because he's insane. He just disappears. I just think he's gone mad at the moment actually. So I haven't spoke to him for a month. We haven't even worked out the name of our record label. MEN is only the catalog number. He just cancelled his US tour. His brain is switching all the time. He says one thing and does another. He'd totally do your head in as a friend because he would be around your house every day and then you wouldn't see him for three months and neither will anyone else. At the moment I'm actually quite worried about him because I don't know anyone who spoke to him recently.

 

But do you still want to make music together?

Yeah, but we haven¹t been using the same equipment and we¹re trying to get on the same programme so it¹s been impossible to do some tracks together. But in the next six months me, Tom and Luke will do tracks on the internet together from our houses.

 

You seem to spend a lot of time online.

 

I bought like 3000 CDs in the last 12 months all online. I got all the mailorder companies like Amazon in one email folder. I'll just get the CD put it on the laptop get two tracks off an album and then sell the CD.(laughs) I phoned up a record shop and they just send someone round to get the CDs, so I don¹t even have to take them to the shop.

 

What are the last three CDs that you bought?

Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music", some Jungle CD and a Kraftwork bootleg.

 

Do you get on well with your postman?

 

They fucking hate me. They really hate me! They never ring my door bell,they always put the cards through. There are always boxes of shit so I have to go down to the post office to get them all the time.

 

Are there any new artists that you¹d like to recommend?

 

My favourite artist at the moment is Ceephax Acid Crew. It's Andy Jenkinson, Tom Jenkinson¹s brother. It¹s fucking wicked. It's funny because if people ask me "So, who¹s going to be the next big star of electronic music?", I always say him. But he only does a new track like every three months or so. I'm his biggest fan and I'm always raving upfront at all his gigs.

 

Is it true that you've recorded material in the past that has come out under other people's names?

 

I¹ve done other tracks for commercial things but no one has ever worked them out. Oh and Squarepusher, that's me. (laughs)

 

 

[Deepex]

What a great interview.

[Guest David R James]

It makes u wonder how much the tuss is really like louis hamlilton moving to the switz mountains to dodge the tax. Maybe its a contractual dodge? But now im just getting caught up in the thread. I just like the music i dont want 2 overly think about contracts. Oh shit but i am.

[soundwave]

My god a proper interview!!!

 

Good read I just hope most of it is true.

 

 

Why they didn't get the ryhypnol out when Kylie was partying I will never understand,

put the leftovers from a very hot n' spicy garlic bread next to her when she wakes and no questions will be asked. :wink2:

[Joyrex]

Here's a bit more on the Aphex Twin/WARP/Sire/Warner Bros./contract situation (mind you, this is from first, second and third-hand sources, so take from it what you will):

 

In 1999, Richard was paid by Sire/Warner a rather large advance for the next Aphex Twin album - Windowlicker was essentially the "single", with the album to follow later that year, in the summer (WL came out in April you might recall). At the time, I was in direct contact with the guy at Sire/WB that did the US promotion for Aphex, and was negotiating to take over the aphex-twin.com domain and run it as the "official" US site for Aphex. Unfortunately, that fell through, and my dealings with MusicFans in regards to joyrex.com were taking off, so no big deal.

 

Rumour has it he was paid US 90,000 for the advance (this was based in part on the success of Come To Daddy, even though Sire/WB got burned badly by the commercial flop that was SAW II, to the point that no other ambient-style released by any artist had to have upper management approval before being released). Anyways, back on topic, so the advance was paid, and WARP was the go-between to get Richard to deliver the album.

 

However, the amount of promotion that Sire did for Windowlicker (the video, site, etc.) was a bit much, and realistically, Richard didn't intend on doing an album so soon after releasing Windowlicker, if at all - some details of the contract were as such it didn't have an explicit date of when Richard had to deliver a new LP, and when the relationship between WARP/Sire/Richard soured on all fronts, things went quiet with Richard laughing all the way to the bank. WARP finally convinced Richard to release DrukQs, meet his contractual obligations with both WARP and Sire, and finally end the whole fiasco, except for the whole use of "Aphex Twin" as an artist name.

 

I'm told that somehow Sire/WB had (or still has) some sort of contractual right over the use of the name "Aphex Twin", hence WARP or Richard not using it again, out of fear of legal action. Analord 10 was an exception due to the name just appearing on the record (and it being produced in quantities of less than 1000, since it came bundled with the binder), and being released under the alias Analord, and not Aphex Twin (even though the tracks on the Analord 10 record are accredited to Aphex Twin). I'm not sure if Richard will ever use Aphex Twin for a full-blown release, but you will NOT ever see a Aphex Twin record released on Sire/WB in the States ever again (there was no domestic release of 26 Mixes for Cash due to this), and probably due to the whole fiasco, probably no more Aphex Twin releases on WARP - of course, they still sell his back catalogue, so they're hardly going to drop him from the roster anytime soon, and despite the working relationship souring, they still are quite happy to make money off his popularity regardless.

 

Regarding 26 Mixes - the whole reason the release came about was due to an alternate label (have no idea who, was never told) compiling all of Richard's remixes (which were all done for other labels than WARP) for a compilation, and WARP got wind of this and scrambled to compile it and get it out before the competition did. The problem was, many of the masters were missing, and Richard (supposedly) didn't have them anymore (as they were sent to the labels he did the remix for), or (supposedly) couldn't be arsed to look for them.

 

I was even contacted (by WARP) regarding if I had any CDs of the remixes as WARP was willing to use a CD instead of a master recording for the compilation, and they (rumoured) even resorted to using MP3s on a few tracks. This also was the reason there was no artwork for the release (no time for tDR (the Designer's Republic) to do any art or real layout), and why they went with the simple plain colour layout. The chocolate coins were a quick last-minute promotion to get more pre-sales lined up to ensure a healthy run (or runs if you've ever eaten one, ha).

 

Bottom line is, you will never see an Aphex Twin release on WARP ever again (unless of course enough money is in the equation, and any potential legal dangers have subsided), or a domestic (US) Aphex Twin release - in fact, with Richard content on using Analord and now The Tuss to release his more recent work, I think it's safe to say the Aphex Twin name is dead for all intents and purposes.

[Guest David R James]

Thats some badass info rite there! :omg:

[Guest tidbit]

Regarding 26 Mixes - the whole reason the release came about was due to an alternate label (have no idea who, was never told) compiling all of Richard's remixes (which were all done for other labels than WARP) for a compilation, and WARP got wind of this and scrambled to compile it and get it out before the competition did.

 

rephlex

[brian trageskin]

a trivial thought: i like the AFX moniker way more than Aphex Twin. to me, "aphex twin" is related to warp, and warp is related to BoC who are related to homosexuality. lol

i wish he would release his next albums under the AFX moniker or even The Tuss. but really, who cares, it's all about the music anyway.

[soundwave]

I'm amazed it's taken this log to get some facts (I hope) together but its good that we know even though 'Aphex Twin' being no more is pretty much what I've suspected for a while now.

 

So I'm guessing everyone's happy for Richard to use the 'Aphex Twin' name for his DJ sets? I suppose its good promotion either way but would this stop an official release if he ever wanted to do one?

 

Thinking about it has he actually ever played any Aphex Twin tracks in any recent sets?

[triachus]

I think it's safe to say the Aphex Twin name is dead for all intents and purposes.

 

 

from now on i shall tag every newly released tracks from Richard as Aphex Twin

 

 

take THAT, Sire/Warner Bros.!

[khov]

Regarding 26 Mixes - the whole reason the release came about was due to an alternate label (have no idea who, was never told) compiling all of Richard's remixes (which were all done for other labels than WARP) for a compilation, and WARP got wind of this and scrambled to compile it and get it out before the competition did.

 

rephlex

 

are you sure ? i dont have any info on that issue but if a label would like to release a compilation with various tracks (from different labels) i bet it would cost a lot of money. maybe rephlex would have put out a compilation of AFX remixes from their own catalogue?

but as i said, i'm just speculating.... in terms of music business, i'm such a miserable sherlock holmes.

 

anyway, its a bit sad if the "Aphex Twin" name is behind us. i love the analords/tuss but, still that was a wicked moniker...

[hijexx]

You seem to spend a lot of time online.

 

I bought like 3000 CDs in the last 12 months all online. I got all the mailorder companies like Amazon in one email folder. I'll just get the CD put it on the laptop get two tracks off an album and then sell the CD.(laughs) I phoned up a record shop and they just send someone round to get the CDs, so I don't even have to take them to the shop.

 

To an extent, he condones music piracy. What I'm reading is that as long as you buy it, you can make a copy for yourself then resell it. If you're a recording artist, it's the first sale that makes the difference to you anyway. You'd see nil from resale.

 

I was even contacted (by WARP) regarding if I had any CDs of the remixes as WARP was willing to use a CD instead of a master recording for the compilation, and they (rumoured) even resorted to using MP3s on a few tracks. This also was the reason there was no artwork for the release (no time for tDR (the Designer's Republic) to do any art or real layout), and why they went with the simple plain colour layout. The chocolate coins were a quick last-minute promotion to get more pre-sales lined up to ensure a healthy run (or runs if you've ever eaten one, ha).

 

Quality of some of the tracks on there does seem dodgy, especially the DMX Crew remix. I hear the telltale compression artifacts in the vocals. Do you remember seeing a Rephlex blurb (think it was on the mailing list) asking if anyone had an original CD of the 'Kriger' remix? Said it was for a project, wonder if that was related.

[Solo Strike]

The DMX Krew remix was on Fffresh! on Rephlex originally. I'm sure they could at least source a CD for that.

[Berk]

Some interesting reads in this thread

[Joyrex]

Regarding 26 Mixes - the whole reason the release came about was due to an alternate label (have no idea who, was never told) compiling all of Richard's remixes (which were all done for other labels than WARP) for a compilation, and WARP got wind of this and scrambled to compile it and get it out before the competition did.

 

rephlex

 

are you sure ? i dont have any info on that issue but if a label would like to release a compilation with various tracks (from different labels) i bet it would cost a lot of money. maybe rephlex would have put out a compilation of AFX remixes from their own catalogue?

but as i said, i'm just speculating.... in terms of music business, i'm such a miserable sherlock holmes.

 

anyway, its a bit sad if the "Aphex Twin" name is behind us. i love the analords/tuss but, still that was a wicked moniker...

 

No, it wasn't Rephlex - they wouldn't have stood for that, nor would Richard have endorsed 26 Mixes... if that was the case. I wasn't told what label it was, but at the time WARP was pretty upset by it.

 

 

You seem to spend a lot of time online.

 

I bought like 3000 CDs in the last 12 months all online. I got all the mailorder companies like Amazon in one email folder. I'll just get the CD put it on the laptop get two tracks off an album and then sell the CD.(laughs) I phoned up a record shop and they just send someone round to get the CDs, so I don't even have to take them to the shop.

 

To an extent, he condones music piracy. What I'm reading is that as long as you buy it, you can make a copy for yourself then resell it. If you're a recording artist, it's the first sale that makes the difference to you anyway. You'd see nil from resale.

 

I was even contacted (by WARP) regarding if I had any CDs of the remixes as WARP was willing to use a CD instead of a master recording for the compilation, and they (rumoured) even resorted to using MP3s on a few tracks. This also was the reason there was no artwork for the release (no time for tDR (the Designer's Republic) to do any art or real layout), and why they went with the simple plain colour layout. The chocolate coins were a quick last-minute promotion to get more pre-sales lined up to ensure a healthy run (or runs if you've ever eaten one, ha).

 

Quality of some of the tracks on there does seem dodgy, especially the DMX Crew remix. I hear the telltale compression artifacts in the vocals. Do you remember seeing a Rephlex blurb (think it was on the mailing list) asking if anyone had an original CD of the 'Kriger' remix? Said it was for a project, wonder if that was related.

 

Rephlex were probably helping source out a CD since obtaining the masters on some track wasn't feasible/possible with the time constraints.

 

I was asked specifically if I had the Heroes 3" CD, which sadly at the time I did not.

[kaini]

frequency analysis of some 26 mixes tracks shows there's no 'rumoured' to be from mp3, they are. and not particularly high bitrate ones either. forget which tracks though.

[Guest David R James]

I read an interview not so long ago, post analord, in the interview its states about him now living in scotland and about havin kids and being married. Has anyone else seen this? I cant find the link anyone know which one i mean?

[Guest assegai]

Hm, surprised to see they aren't fans of autechre

[Berk]

btw if Tom hates Warp so much, then why is he still releasing stuff for them? Has it got something to do with contract stuff?

[Dale]

You're forgetting that this interview would have been conducted years ago (Drukqs era around 2001)

Opinions have probably changed by now..

[Berk]

Yeah, you could be right.

 

Music has changed as well. I wonder what AFX thinks of his last album lol