"Come to daddy."

In honor of Richard D. James performing live in the states for the first time in 11 years (only Coachella for now, but we will see if that expands -- not bloody likely), I thought I would share with you some of my favorite tales of AFX apocryphal lore:

1) Aphex Twin claimed in interviews to have created computer algorithms that automatically generate all his beats and melodies, leaving him with hundreds of hours of unreleased material. In fact, every new album is speculated to be just a compendium of unreleased songs from earlier in his career.

2) On that same note, he has stated that he won't release his most innovative and original tracks because he doesn't want people ripping him off [when asked about his potential influence on Radiohead's Kid A, he responded: "Well they widely agreed to pay me 70% of the widely royalties so, Im not complaining."].

3) Aphex Twin is perhaps most notoriously known for his irreverent and negligent remixing. Despite contributing two Nine Inch Nails remixes to Further Down The Spiral, Richard D. James claimed to have never bothered listening to Trent Reznor's master DAT tapes. In that same vein, another rumor involves a representative of The Lemonheads appearing at the AFX residence (a converted bank) to retrieve a remix. Having completely forgotten about his contractual obligation, Aphex Twin simply handed off a completely original and unrelated piece of music.

4) And while he may not bother with remixes he is payed to complete, Richard D. James won the Future Music magazine remix competition under the alias Tahnaiya Russell.

5) On Come to Daddy, possibly his most famous song: "'Come to Daddy' came about while I was just hanging around my house, getting pissed and doing this crappy death metal jingle. Then it got marketed, and a video was made, and this little idea that I had, which was a joke, turned into something huge. It wasn't right at all."

6) Sleuths on the internet were able to deduce that The Tuss [Cornish slang for cock] is in fact a Richard D. James alias due to the use of the Yamaha GX1, a rare and expensive analogue synthesizer (seen below) owned by only a few people in the United Kingdom.














You never quite know with Richard D. James.

Did he actually start making ambient music when he was 13 (as would be inferred from the title Selected Ambient Works 85-92)? Did he name some of his Analord tracks after computer viruses just to take a piss at file sharers?

The only thing we know for certain about the inscrutable and self-reflexive Aphex Twin is that he is absurdly prolific. For those of you who only know Aphex Twin from his MTV music videos, I have tried to stitch together a modest selection of his career trajectory (although the word trajectory shouldn't denote any sort of linear progression because who knows when any of the songs were actually put to tape).

Not that you would hear even a single snippet of any of these songs live. Rumors is Richard D. James merely cues up some gapless glitch tracks from his library for his DJ gigs.

Aphex Twin: A Modest Sampler

1. On (On)
2. Xtal (Selected Ambient Works 85-92)
3. Journey [Aphex Twin Care Mix] (Aphex Twin - 26 Mixes For Cash)
4. Stone In Focus (Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2 - Vinyl Bonus Track)
5. Synathcon 9 (Rushup Edge)
6. Yellow Calx (Richard D. James Album)
7. Pwsteal.ldpinch.d (Chosen Lords)
8. Icct Hedral [Edit] (I Care Because You Do)
9. Polynormal-C (Classics)
10. Heliosphan (Selected Ambient Works 85-92)
11. Girl_Boy Song (Richard D. James Album)
12. Mt. Saint Michel Mix+St Michaels Mount (Drukqs)
13. Next Heap With (I Care Because You Do)

For those of you who want to try some Black Diamond Aphex Twin [or who feel that I neglected AFX's Drill'n'bass tunez], I direct you to the Chris Cunningham directed Come to Daddy and Windowlicker videos. Warning: these jackhammer beats are not for the faint of heart.

And one final piece of hearsay and conjecture:

7) Xtal is the apex of human creativity.