Aphex Twin
 

Is he, as I believe, a true musical ubergenius, or am I falling for a scam?

I have a quandary with him. While superficially I dig him, I don't really find him all that innovative - at least not enough to warrant the praise he gets.

He relies a bit too much on shock value for my taste. Part of the reason I somewhat prefer the Ambient Works - they weren't an attempt "to be" as much as albums like Come to Daddy & RDJ.

But really I'm a hypocrite, because I listen to him anyhow.

And, has anyonr heard that LP where an American orchestra cover his tracks? Is it good?

I only have Drukqs, but from what I heard from that album alone I can consider him a musical genius. Other than Drukqs, I only heard another one of his albums at a party when I was crunked, so I wasn't able to pay attention to it

i have to say i like the Twin, he's like an Urban Legend, i heard he sleeps for like 2 hours a night or something,(upside down in a cave) he's videos (although i know C Cunningham has a lot to do with them) are fair cool, i put em on when all my friends are off the nut and they freak out big style! its fair funny "ohh Jerry turn em off he's got a scary head" or "Jerry, turn em off i feel so sorry for that poor granny!" windowlicker is a great vid, love them two black lads at the start "what you saying bout my hair bitch, shut the fuck up bitch and get in the car" pure funny.
I'm not heavy in electronic music at all but i do take my hat off to him.

I can honestly say that I love everthing he does. For interested parties who missed them on the old board, a few good links for the Twin:

this link. This is a 1997 radio interview, with tracks from 'Richard D. James LP' and the 'Come to Daddy' EP, that lasts about half an hour.

Also, here you can download a 55 minute video of a 2005 concert in Italy, recorded by a crowd member.

Interesting: a page about 'spectographic images' that can be culled from his work with the right computer program is here

And, finally, I recall that the Wikipedia article about him is quite good!

I cared about his stuff in the early 90s; haven't paid attention in years. I still have the first Ambient Works 2xLP, but sold my brown vinyl 3xLP of Ambient vol 2 years ago. I don't miss it; that was way too minimal for my liking and I got a good chunk of change for it.

He makes very decent music but i don't think he's a genius, just a pretty good artist. I've listened to his Selected Ambient Works Vol. II and i must say that some of the tracks were excellent but other were extremely boring.
Apart from that his videos are freakin awesome. Especially Come To Daddy and Windowlicker.

Nice to seee you, Savage.

He did a fantastic set of eleven 12"s recently called 'Analord', under the name AFX. They can be bought as 12"s or as downloads. Also, 10 of the best are being released on CD later in the year called 'Chosen Lords'. It's superb, a man absolutely at the peak of his powers.

I like him when he makes me dance (Donkey Rhubarb/ Boy/girl) but not when he makes me sleep (Ambient works). Drucqeksss was too long for me to listen to, so I sold it.

i just read that and holy shit! i never realised he was born in Limerick, thats about 20min away from me.
that is mad, everyday is a schoolday as they say

i got to say that the first time i heard him, after hearing the lore and the legend i felt like "that's it?! that's your innovative genius!!", part of it is that his beat stuff seemed to soft for me when he was supposed to be the slayer meets phil spector of the electronica world. but then i started to hear his stuff as it's own thing, without thinking about the hype and without thinking about descriptions and actually found the genius i was promised!

the analords are so genius!!! it's too bad i missed the 12"s!

Surprised me too, I have to say. Born in Ireland to Welsh parents, but he's become and English institution. Not unlike Terry Wogan in way!

The Windowlicker EP is the best thing he's done.

He's alright. He has his moments.

I really like his ambient works, both the 85-92 one and the the other one, his RDJ and I care because you do albums. his new analog series is bullshit. Also the double Drukqs has too much filler material. He is a fairly good melody-maker as tracks like flim or nannou show. Also nannou is quite inventive, the music box mechanics making up the beats of the song.

fav tracks
_________

schottkey 7th path
heliosphan
flim
curtains
windowlicker
nannou

nannou is lovely, it's true

voted... he is great but he does loose the plot on occasion... thats the halibut acid for ya!

I think Avril 14 is the most beautiful piece of music ever. Short, though - a longer version would be great.

what exactly do you mean by "does your head in" hip priest?

i agree man, love that wee tune. I read somewhere, forget where now, that that particular piano peice (recorded/created by computer program) is impossible for a single human to play as it consists of so many parts. Not stunning when you consider most music on record is impossible for one man to play, but when you dont think about it,at the age of 17, it is....yes