003! Aphex Twin: The Original Electronic Influencer
But could the cult of Aphex Twin work in 2023?
“Electronic music isn’t meant to be talked about” - Aphex Twin, 1995
As a young teen in Bristol, I had one full wall in my bedroom that was covered in posters. Pride of place was given to Blur, as well as a selection of weed-themed posters - my favourite being one that featured a neon cartoon alien smoking a spliff that said “Take Me To Your Dealer” in smoke above it. I hadn’t touched weed in my life but what did that matter. I also had a selection of ripped-out images from magazines like The Face and Jockey Slut. One of them was a full page image of the cover of Richard D. James Album, the fourth and most recent album by a local legend, Aphex Twin, that had probably come out a few years before. It’s a frankly creepy picture - a distorted and haunting image of Richard’s twisted smile.
Just like I didn’t need to smoke weed to identify with the alien stoner, I hadn’t really consumed much of the The Aphex Twin at that point. I’d seen the videos on TV, and likely the Top of the Pops performances, maybe some adverts here and there. But it didn’t matter, I was trying to align myself with what he represented - counterculture, edge and cool.
It’s been over 25 years now since that moment, and what he represents still stands firm. Despite being highly prolific, he’s only officially released two full albums in that time, in 2001 and 2014, as well as a string of EPs and drops under other aliases. This summer saw the release of his first EP in five years, the catchily titled Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / In a Room7 F760. Back in Bristol this summer, the city was adorned with posters that simply said “Richard is Coming” - advertising a rare live appearance at Forwards Festival that took place earlier this month, his first show in Bristol since 2006. The cryptic poster was aimed at the Aphex insiders, the people who not only know *which* Richard they are talking about, but also why this is a big deal.
They’re the people who know about the myths of Richard asking Madonna to make pig noises on a track, who know about the Chris Cunningham videos, about the DJ gig he played with a food mixer, the tank he owned but couldn’t drive, his “secret” Soundcloud account and his never-ending aliases.
I’ve always looked to the Aphex machine as a lesson in artistry and identity. And after all these years, his myth stands stronger than ever. Lately, I’ve been wondering if the music industry is still built for this kind of uncompromising aesthetic, if it can still hold the weight of genius and give to artists what they deserve from the world.
Before I get to that, I want to dig in to some of the ways that Aphex has created and sustained the most recognisable iconography in (electronic) music to date.
"If I went around thinking about my own mythology all the time, I'd be a pretty sad individual…I’m aware of that stuff, obviously, but I think if you got too into that you'd actually go quite crazy." — Aphex Twin, 2018
Let’s first admit when we’re dealing with Aphex, we’re talking about a virtuoso producer who custom-created his own hardware as a teenager. Someone who has mastered the ability to bridge both pounding noise terror and ambient soundscapes, to create exquisitely-programmed madness.
Even his most commercially successful tracks like “Windowlicker” - which reached the Top 20 in the official UK charts and was sandwiched by hits like “Hit Me Baby One More Time” and “Mambo No. 5” - were uncompromising in sound and structure. But I’m going to focus more on Aphex’s equally interesting approach to his visuals, branding and world-building.
His now cult logo, designed by Paul Nicholson in ’92, sits in the pantheon of instantly recognizable music logos, alongside the greats like The Stones, The Grateful Dead or Plastikman. The logo marks the beginning of a long series of mysterious imagery and clues that would be embedded in his work. In many ways, Aphex seemed to be inspired by the playbook of The KLF, who had invented a tongue-in-cheek approach to “marketing” dance music. But what set Aphex apart from his other contemporaries who were often said to be peddling “faceless techno boll*cks”, was the way he relentlessly used his own face. For all he was mysterious, he was far from anonymous. Across the years, we see Richard’s face appear distorted, repeated, superimposed on the bodies of children, put on lifesize teddy bears and in the most famous case - superimposed onto the entire cast of the video for “Windowlicker”, and the cover art:
Two years after the Windowlicker EP came out, it was discovered that the B-side track known as “Equation” was composed with a program that converts images into sound. And when the track was run through a machine that visualizes sound, it turned out that his face was literally embedded in the music, into a soundwave.
Aphex’s imagery is uncanny and often grotesque, and it’s hard to be sure if it’s all a joke, and that’s what makes the spectacle even more compelling. What does it mean to be earnestly taken in by a parody of society’s obsession with image? He both creates and undermines the obsession all at once, and leaves you stuck in a sort of Stockholm Syndrome style relationship.
To boil it down, here’s a digested version of some of the ways that Aphex built his mythology over the years.
Roll-outs: Aphex and his label Warp have become masters of the roll-out. In 2014, in the lead-up to releasing his first album (under that name) in 13 years, a blimp with his logo flew over London. It was unclear what it was for, but it set the forums and fans on fire. It was followed by mysterious billboards, posters and stencils. Similar billboards have appeared in later years (designed by his most recent graphic collaborator Weirdcore). His press releases are never orthodox, and there’s usually some kind of stunt - physical or digital - to dig into. This year’s EP came with an AR layer: an app that you could scan from the vinyl (or at his festival appearances), that would let you experience exclusive new sounds and visuals.
Videos: Aphex is responsible for some of the most widely revered and messed-up videos of all time. Come To Daddy is pure nightmare fodder, Donkey Rhubarb is like Teletubbies on a bad acid trip, Windowlicker is an absurdist rap video, Rubber Johnny is as confusing as it is twisted. After a hiatus of music and video-making, Aphex released his first video in 13 years in 2014, directed by a 12-year old Irish fan. His latest videos are animations by Weirdcore, which often play with the repetition of his logo and some classic face-smushing.
Live shows: If you’ve caught Aphex DJing or doing a live show in the past, then you might have borne witness to him bringing bodybuilders on stage, DJing with sandpaper, or suspending a piano in the air. These days he has an elaborate visual show for his festival appearances, featuring his face morphing into celebrities - from King Charles to Charli XCX.
Merch: Bootleg Aphex merch is everywhere, and getting the real deal is the height of vintage digging. Some of the most interesting pieces of merch in the past has been the objects, though - from chocolate coins, to a face mask (released pre-covid), to mini versions of the “Donkey Rhubarb” bears, and a “Windowlicker” calendar. In 2023, his merch is leaning in to the classic rap tee aesthetic:
Aphex built a world that fans could disappear into, all the while rejecting traditional mediums and subverting everything he could. His interviews often played with the idea of what an interview was, what an artist should say, and what the truth was. Most of the time they were just bonkers, and you wanted to believe it just to add to the theatre of it all. Was it true that he wrote his music while lucid dreaming? Did he really throw water balloons at the people in line for Ministry of Sound? Did he really own a tank that he couldn’t drive?
In 2023, Aphex’s music, absurdism and abstract humour is resonating with a new generation. It’s still the holy grail for young producers to have their music featured in one of his rare DJ sets. His track “QKThr” now has almost 200k videos on TikTok, and is newly growing to be one of his most streamed tracks.
In a lot of ways, his whole shtick seems well-suited for the current era: internet humour, playing with post-truth, and a firm embrace of technology. But I’ve wondered who can take up the mantle in today’s economy, and whether we’re creating the conditions for genius like this. Over the years we’ve had similarly cult-like electronic acts break through, like Burial, SOPHIE, and Arca, but in recent years it’s hard to pinpoint the talent coming through on that scale.
In many ways, Arca feels like a direct descendent of Aphex, but with the glaring difference that Arca is very much embracing pop music and is less mysterious than most left-field electronic acts. And perhaps it’s worth mentioning that there are mainstream EDM acts that are building cult of personality, all while headlining huge festivals, like Salvatore Ganacci, who has a pretty hilarious social media presence.
But while the electronic scene is in many ways at the highest point it’s ever been - financially at least - it feels hard to be uncompromising and successful. Shawn Reynaldo talked about the EDM-ification of Aphex’s shows, and called it “the contemporary cost of doing business”, and while I honestly believe that Aphex probably likes the festival-style show, that is how it feels these days - participate or die.
The true unknowability of Aphex gave him power. It’s not really as easy to play with the oblique and expect people to buy in these days. Or to wait years in between releases and expect people to come back to you. Mystery is only afforded to those who have been in the game long enough. There’s not a chance in hell that Aphex would be doing anything a label might suggest these days if he emerged now: showing his behind-the-scenes process, kicking off a viral dance, or doing “get ready with me” videos . Plus, the exhausting content machine hardly fits into the category of cool. But he’d likely be pushing weird experimentation with AI, being a troll online, using his face in interesting ways, or working with new technology in ways I can’t even guess. Lest we forget, he sold an NFT for the equivalent of $128,000 a couple of years back.
It didn’t really ever seem like he cared about his fans too much, or wanted to “build community” which is where everyone understandably wants to put their efforts now. And despite that, his subreddit /aphextwin has over 64,000 users. The distance from him was part and parcel of what made it work well.
But, it has to be said, some of the things he did were as ill-advised in industry terms then as they are now, like taking many years off from releases, splitting up your streams across aliases, publicly talking smack about your peers or your label, uploading your demos to a Soundcloud account named user18081971, or pulling your record from stores just as it’s about to hit the top of the charts. And I’m sure he’s turned down more opportunities than we can even imagine. He didn’t even show up to collect his own Grammy award.
He was never that interested in a mass audience, or the industry, and actively avoided things that he felt were “selling out”. And now is a great time to not want a mass audience, and be super locked-in to a niche crowd. It’s a good reminder that while forward-facing numbers can be important, they don’t show you nuance. They don’t show you impact in culture.
So, while I do think this is a very hard climate for interesting acts, I’d still like to take Aphex as a shining example of how to do it: be a polymath who cares about every part of the process, build a compelling identity, and play the long game.
Thanks for reading. Finally, here’s some random things I’ve enjoyed lately:
This book of logos from Venezuelan Minitecas (soundsystems).
This Anton Corbijn documentary about Hipgnosis - who were responsible for designing some of the most legendary album covers ever made.
The yearly drop of the “Spring / Summer Dubs” mixtape by Manchester producer Anz.
This feature in style newsletter Blackbird Spyplane with Oneohtrix Point Never (who has a new album out).
This NTS series about rap around the world, and this episode that goes into MC-led music from Martinique and Guadaloupe.
Since you’re still here! I’m playing at Nowadays in New York this coming Saturday, Oct 7th, with Yung Singh. Tickets here.
Really enjoyed this, thanks Suze.