Aphex Twin is a UK Techno/Ambient Artist, real name Richard D. James.
Born to Welsh parents in 1971, James spent his childhood in Cornwall. He experimented with electronics from an early age, winning a competition to make a Sinclair Spectrum play a tune by setting the connected television's volume to full and alternating the colours on the screen, producing different pitches of noise.
He became a DJ and musician on the local rave scene, taking on the monicker "Aphex Twin" from the name of a manufacturer of signal processing equipment combined with the word "twin"; this was because the original Richard James, his brother, had died before Richard D James was born. James uses the "D" of his middle name to distinguish himself from his late brother.
He was a founding partner[?] in the Rephlex Records label in 1991 and released his first records on this label, as well as Mighty Force and R&S Records of Belgium. James soon moved to London and released a slew of albums and EPs on the Warp Records label. He was also responsible for a number of disturbing music videos in collaboration with director Chris Cunningham.
Aphex Twin is credited with pushing forward the genres of techno, ambient and drum and bass and has created a vast amount of music, much of it unreleased. Recent experimentation on his album Drukqs included use of a prepared piano in the style of composer John Cage.
He owns a 1950s armored scout car (a Daimler Ferret Mark 3), a submarine, and lives in a converted bank. Aphex Twin continues to create records at the boundaries of the accepted norms of music.
- Digeridoo (1992)
- The Aphex Twin (1992)
- Xylem Tube EP (1992)
- Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (1992)
- On/On Remixes (1993)
- Selected Ambient Works Vol 2 (1994)
- Words & Music (1994)
- Classics (1994)
- ...I Care Because You Do (1995)
- Ventolin/Ventolin EP (1995)
- Donkey Rhubarb (1995)
- 51/13 Singles Collection (1996)
- Girl/Boy EP (1996)
- Richard D James Album (1996)
- Come To Daddy/Remixes/EP (1997)
- Windowlicker (1999)
- Drukqs (2001)
- Cock 10/54 Cymru Beats (Promo) (2001)
- 26 Mixes For Cash (2003)
Richard D. James has also released a large amount of material under various aliases:
AFX:
- Analogue Bubblebath (1991)
- Analogue Bubblebath 2 (1991)
- Analogue Bubblebath 3 (1993)
- Analogue Bubblebath 3.1 (1997)
- Analogue Bubblebath 4 (1994)
- Analogue Bubblebath 5 (1995 unreleased)
- Hangable Auto Bulb (1995)
- Hangable Auto Bulb 2 (1995)
- 2 Remixes By AFX (2001)
Brad Strider:
- Bradley's Beat (1995)
- Bradley's Robot (1996)
Caustic Window:
- Compilation (1998)
- Joyrex J4 (1992)
- Joyrex J5 (1992)
- Joyrex J9 (1993)
GAK:
Polygon Window:
- Surfing On Sine Waves (1993, re-released 2001)
- Quoth (1993)
Power Pill:
Q-Chastic:
- Q-Chastic EP (1992 unreleased)
In the Universal Indicator series:
- Universal Indicator: Red (1991)
- Universal Indicator: Green (1995)
