Richard David James, better known as Aphex Twin, is one of the most influential and celebrated musicians of all time.
Since releasing his first albums in 1991, James has continually refined his style and pushed the limits of electronic music.
This led to a fairly wide range of different directions in the musician's work: from a religious atmosphere to aggressive techno.
Unlike most artists who appeared on the 90s techno scene, James has established himself as a creator of revolutionary music and videos.
Such blurred genre boundaries helped James expand his audience from rave listeners to rock connoisseurs.
Many musicians still call him their source of inspiration.
His piano composition "Avril 14th" from the album "Drukqs" gradually took on a life of its own through frequent television and film use, becoming Aphex Twin's most widely known work.
By the mid-2010s, the musician was so immersed in modern culture that the release of albums such as 2014's "Syro" and 2018's "Collapse" was preceded by an elaborate advertising campaign.
It included showing off the iconic Aphex Twin logo on billboards in major cities.
Carier start
James became interested in electronic equipment as a teenager in Cornwall, England.
According to the musician's first albums, these recordings were made by him at the age of 14.
Inspired by acid house in the late 80s, James became a DJ in Cornwall.
His debut work was the EP "Analogue Bubblebath", recorded with Tom Middleton and released on the Mighty Force label in September 1991.
Middleton later left James to form his own Global Communication collective. After that, James recorded the continuation of the Analogue Bubblebath series.
In the series of these albums you can also see “Digeridoo”, the re-release of which in 1992 took 55th place in the British charts.
The album received some exposure on the London pirate radio station Kiss FM and prompted the Belgian record label R&S Records to sign the musician.
Also in 1992, James released the Xylem Tube EP. At the same time, he formed his own label, Rephlex, with Grant Wilson-Claridge, releasing a series of singles called Caustic Window during 1992-1993.
Development of ambient music
However, the climate for "intellectual" techno became more favorable in the early 90s. Orb proved the commercial viability of the ambient house genre with their chart-topping single "Blue Room".
At the same time, the Belgian independent label R&S founded an ambient subdivision called Apollo.
In November 1992, James made his debut on the full-length album Selected Ambient Works 85-92, consisting mainly of home-made material recorded over the past few years.
Simply put, it was an ambient techno masterpiece and the artist's second work after Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld.
When he shone like a real star, several bands turned to the musician with a desire to remix their songs.
James agreed, and the result was "updated" tracks from bands such as The Cure, Jesus Jones, Meat Beat Manifesto and Curve.
In early 1993, Richard James signed with Warp Records, an influential British label that actually introduced the concept of futuristic "electronic music to listen to" with a series of albums from techno pioneers Black Dog, Autechre, B12 and FUSE (aka Richie Hawtin).
James' release in the series titled "Surfing on Sine Waves" was released in 1993 under the pseudonym Polygon Window.
The album charted a course between the raw hard sound of techno music, and low-key minimalism like "Selected Ambient Works".
Working with Warp and TVT bore fruit - the album "Surfing on Sine Waves", released in the summer of 1993. In the same year, the second album "Analogue Bubblebath 3 for Rephlex" was released.
The work was recorded under the pseudonym AFX and turned out to be the farthest record from ambient in Aphex Twin's career.
After touring America with Orbital and Moby later that year, James cut back on his live performance schedule.
"Selected Ambient Works, Vol. II"
In December 1993, a new single called "On" was released. It climbed to the top of the charts, peaking at number 32 in the UK.
The single was in two parts and included remixes by James' old pal Tom Middleton, as well as rising Rephlex star Ziq.
Despite James' appearance on the pop charts, his next album, Selected Ambient Works, Vol. II" was taken as a joke by the techno community.
The work turned out to be too minimalistic, armed only with faintly audible beats and disturbing noise in the background.
The album reached the top 11 in the UK charts and soon gave James the opportunity to sign a contract with an American label.
In 1994, the musician worked for the ever-growing Rephlex label. -Ziq, Kosmik Kommando, Kinesthesia / Cylob also recorded there.
In August 1994, the fourth album in the Analogue Bubblebath series (an EP with five tracks) was released.
1995 began with the January release of "Classics", a collection of early R&S singles. Two months later, James released the single "Ventolin", a gritty, gritty sound. James had high hopes for her.
Richard D. James Album
The single "I Care Because You Do" followed in April, combining with more symphonic ambient material.
Adding to this genre diversity is the work of many post-classical composers - including Philip Glass, who arranged the orchestral version of Icct Hedral in August.
Later that year, the Hangable Auto Bulb EP replaced Analogue Bubblebath 3 as Aphex Twin's most brutal and uncompromising release, combining experimental music from different directions.
In July 1996, Rephlex released the highly anticipated collaboration between Richard James and -Ziq. The album "Expert Knob Twiddlers" (signed as Mike & Rich) diluted Aphex Twin's experimentalism with the easy-to-listen electro-funk -Ziq.
Aphex Twin's fourth album was released in November 1996 and was called the Richard D. James Album. The work continued its exploration of experimental music.
But with the desire to hit the British pop charts, James' next two releases - the 1997 EP "Come to Daddy" and the 1999 EP "Windowlicker" - were steered into the mainstream of the then popular drum and bass.
The beginning of 2000
James did not release anything in 2000, but recorded the score for Flex, a short film by Chris Cunningham shown as part of the Apocalypse exhibition at the Royal Academy in London.
With very little prior publicity, at the end of 2001 another LP "Drukqs" appeared - one of James' most extraordinary releases.
However, the album produced one of his most popular compositions, namely the piano piece "Avril 14th", which has appeared in several films and television programs.
Selling "Caustic Window" at auction
Although James continued to perform frequently with DJs, he did not release any more material until 2005, when Rephlex released one of their works called "Analord", a minimalist techno ambient.
Here the musician returned to his sound "Caustic Window" and "Bubblebath" of the early 90s. Chosen Lords, a CD compilation of some material from Analord, was released in April 2006.
James continued to play music as a DJ and perform live. And in 2009, "Rushup Edge" LP was born, and was signed by the pseudonym Tuss.
Although James and Rephlex denied that it was his work, there were rumors that it was another Aphex alias.
Other rumors in the late 2000s were about the release of a new James album, but they turned out to be unfounded.
However, in 2014, an extremely rare version of the 1994 album Caustic Window was auctioned off. It was bought through one company and distributed to participants in digital form.
The physical copy was then bought by the creator of the popular video game Min. More than $46 was transferred, and the money was distributed among James, sponsors and a charitable organization.
What to listen to from the new Aphex Twin?
In August of the same year, a green airship with the Aphex Twin logo was seen over London. By the end of the following month, Warp released "Syro", the first Aphex Twin album in ten years.
The album won a Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album. Just three months later, James uploaded over 30 previously unreleased recordings that were made available for free download.
Later in 2015, after James uploaded over 100 tracks, the producer reinstated the AFX alias for another more substantial EP: "Orphaned Deejay Selek 2006-2008".
There were infrequent live performances in 2017 with very limited tickets.
In the summer of 2018, James launched another mysterious street advertising campaign.
The Aphex Twin logo has been found in London, Turin and Los Angeles, but no further details have been provided. In September of the same year, he released the Collapse EP, which featured the brilliant single "T69 Collapse".
