History Music / APHEXTWIN

James started making music at the age of 11 by tinkering with one of his home computers, and hasn't looked back since. After some years of false starts, his first album ''[[Music/SelectedAmbientWorks8592 Selected Ambient Works 85-92]]'' was released on 1992 (a year after he started Rephlex Records) to overwhelming critical praise, setting him on the path to widespread recognition. Retrospective consensus deemed the album's success a watershed moment for the transition of electronic music to the mainstream, and the album itself an effective blueprint for the whole [[InsistentTerminology braindance]][[note]]More colloquially referred to as "intelligent dance music" or "IDM"; James prefers the "braindance" label since he (along with many, many other people for that matter) thinks "intelligent dance music" comes off as elitist[[/note]] movement.

James started making music at the age of 11 by tinkering with one of his home computers, and hasn't looked back since. After some years of false starts, his first album ''[[Music/SelectedAmbientWorks8592 Selected Ambient Works 85-92]]'' was released on 1992 (a year after he started Rephlex Records) to overwhelming critical praise, setting him on the path to widespread recognition. Retrospective consensus deemed the album's success a watershed moment for the transition of electronic music to the mainstream, and the album itself an effective blueprint for the whole [[InsistentTerminology braindance]][[note]]More colloquially referred to as "intelligent dance music" or "IDM"; James prefers the "braindance" label since he (along with many, many other people) thinks "intelligent dance music" comes off as elitist[[/note]] movement.

James started making music at the age of 11 by tinkering with one of his home computers, and hasn't looked back since. After some years of false starts, his first album ''[[Music/SelectedAmbientWorks8592 Selected Ambient Works 85-92]]'' was released on 1992 (a year after he started Rephlex Records) to overwhelming critical praise, setting him on the path to widespread recognition. Retrospective consensus deemed the album's success a watershed moment for the transition of electronic music to the mainstream, and the album itself an effective blueprint for the whole [[InsistentTerminology braindance]] [[note]]More colloquially referred to as "intelligent dance music" or "IDM"; James prefers the "braindance" label since he thinks "intelligent dance music" comes off as elitist[[/note]] movement.

** If you take the ''SAW 85-92'' title into thought, that means that some of the oldest tracks on that album were made when Richard was only around 13/14.

** If you take the ''SAW 85-92'' title into thought, that means that some of the oldest tracks on that album were made when Richard was only 14.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Assumed by many due to his eccentric public persona, due to the anecdotes he's told and his overall surreal aesthetic.

** Examples also abound in ''[=drukQs=]'', which feature most of its track names in Cornish dialect or Kernawek (modern Cornish). [[http://forum.watmm.com/topic/28561-drukqs-translations Here is a list of translations on a WATMM forum post.]]

* ''bbox.l.r.'' (2023)[[note]]EP was announced under the name ''Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760'', but the physical release lists its' official title.[[/note]]

* ''bbox.l.r.'' (2023)[[note]]EP was announced under the name ''Blackbox Life Recorder 21F / In a Room7 F760'', but the physical release lists its' official title.[[/note]]

* ''bbox.l.r.'' (2023)

** The last track on ''[=drukQs=]'' is called "[=nanou2=]", which is seemingly a sequel to the closing track on the ''Windowlicker'' EP, titled "Nannou."
* CarefulWithThatAxe: One of the most famous parts of "Come to Daddy, Pappy Mix" is a horrific, anguished 34-second scream (actually composed of four screams following each other in quick succession) near the end of the song that is presumably from Richard himself.

** Used to even more disturbing effect in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBS4Gi1y_nc the music video]].

** On ''Come to Daddy'', the heavy, pounding, and terrifying "Come to Daddy, Pappy Mix" is followed by the calm, mellow "Flim".

* LongTitle:
** Track 2 on the ''Windowlicker'' EP has, as a title, an incredibly long mathematical equation. For this reason, it's often referred to as "Equation" or "Formula".
** Almost all of ''Syro'' is this, as most of the titles are akin to computer code (two examples being "fz pseudotimestretch+e+3 [138.85]" and "syro u473t8+e [141.98] (piezoluminescence mix)").

* WhipItGood: The sound of a whip crack is sampled extensively throughout "Omgyjya-[=Switch7=]".

While James is known in some ways as a TropeMaker for ambient techno thanks to the aforementioned ''SAW 85-92'', his material is very diverse, ranging between pure {{ambient}} (''[[Music/SelectedAmbientWorksVolumeII SAW Vol. II]]''), sad and beautiful {{Lonely Piano Piece}}s (most of them on ''[=drukQs=]''), ear-splitting drum 'n' bass (''...I Care Because You Do'', the ''Come to Daddy'' EP, some songs in ''[=drukQs=]''), acid techno (his early AFX/Caustic Window material, plus the ''Analord'' 12" series), and his trademark combination of upbeat melodies with complicated beats (''Music/RichardDJamesAlbum'', ''[[Music/{{Drukqs}} drukQs]]''). His 2014 album ''Music/{{Syro}}'' (his first full-length release in 13 years!) falls somewhere in between the last two styles, respectively.

* ''...I Care Because You Do'' (1995)

* {{Portmantitle}}: "s950tx16wasr10" is a portmanteau of the names of three synthesizers: Akai S950, Yamaha [=TX16W=], and Ensoniq ASR-10.

James is highly known and respected for his innovations in the world of {{electronic music}} and the sheer volume and versatility of his output, to the point where he's often regarded as one of the most influential artists of the umbrella genre's modern era, if not ''the'' most. His experimentation with sounds and visuals has built a [[MindScrew surreal]] style that is truly his own, and his individual persona -- eccentric and {{reclusive|Artist}}, with any information about his personal life muddled up with lies he tells ForTheLulz -- is arguably [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} just as weird]].

James started making music at the age of 11 by tinkering with one of his home computers, and hasn't looked back since. After some years of false starts, his first album ''[[Music/SelectedAmbientWorks8592 Selected Ambient Works 85-92]]'' was released on 1992 (a year after he started Rephlex Records) to overwhelming critical praise, setting him on the path to widespread recognition. Retrospective consensus deemed the album's success a watershed moment for the transition of electronic music to the mainstream, and the album itself an effective blueprint for the whole [[InsistentTerminology braindance]] [[note]] More colloquially referred to as "intelligent dance music" or "IDM"; James prefers the "braindance" label since he thinks "intelligent dance music" comes off as elitist.[[/note]] movement.

While James is known in some ways as a TropeMaker for ambient techno thanks to the aforementioned ''SAW 85-92'', his material is very diverse, ranging between pure {{ambient}} (''[[Music/SelectedAmbientWorksVolumeII SAW Vol. II]]''), sad and beautiful {{Lonely Piano Piece}}s (most of them on ''[=drukQs=]''), ear-splitting drum 'n' bass (''...I Care Because You Do'', the ''Come to Daddy'' EP, some songs in ''[=drukQs=]''), acid techno (his early AFX/Caustic Window material, plus the ''Analord'' 12" series) and his trademark combination of upbeat melodies with complicated beats (''Music/RichardDJamesAlbum'', ''[[Music/{{Drukqs}} drukQs]]''). His 2014 album ''Music/{{Syro}}'' (his first full-length release in 13 years!) falls somewhere in between the last two styles, respectively.

* DeconReconSwitch: As a satirical jab at the rap videos that were coming out at the time, the "Windowlicker" video starts by deconstructing a standard premise for such videos with two foul-mouthed young men in a Mazda coming across two women on the street that they try to pick up. As the tropes in a standard video would entail, the men would probably score them with ease, but in this video, the women aren't having it for a second and repeatedly shoot them down. This then leads to a ridiculously exaggerated reconstruction once Richard enters the video; he steps out of an AbsurdlyLongLimousine and surrounds himself with beautiful dancing women as [[MaleGaze the camera gratuitously ogles over their bodies]]...but the women are all bearing his face, as if to lampoon the rampant [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissism]] of the male subjects in these videos.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Although Richard is known for being a {{Jerkass}} (see below), he was upset that Music/KanyeWest tried to sample "Avril 14th" on his ''Music/MyBeautifulDarkTwistedFantasy'' song "Blame Game" without his permission or help (even when James offered to ''rerecord the song in a different tempo''). It would eventually lead to West's team to use a rerecording instead of the sample and James was given proper credit.

* TheFaceless: Defied via inversion. Richard has stated that due to faceless anonymity being a norm of techno at the time, he responded by putting his face in ''[[SigilSpam every conceivable place]]''.

*** When a representative for the band The Lemonheads came to his house one morning asking for the remix he was commissioned to do, he went to his studio, ripped a random song which was irrelevant to the song he was requested to do, and gave it to him for in exchange for thousands of dollars. Supposedly, this was due to Aphex completely forgetting about the remix he was commissioned to do, but apparently, he didn't demand money.[[note]]The Lemonheads' Evan Dando once gave his side of the story in an interview - according to Evan, the Lemonheads song Richard was supposed to have remixed was "Style", and what he actually turned in was "a piano piece"; Evan thought the music itself was "cool", but still rejected it for not using any elements of the original composition[[/note]]

* LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand: This is how "Peek 824545201" ends.

** ''[=drukQs=]'' alternates between pounding breakcore and this trope. Examples include the most famous of the bunch, "Avril 14th", as well as "Strotha Tynhe", "Petiatil Cx Htdui", and the album's finale "nanou2".

** "Aisatsana", the track that closes ''Syro''.

*** When a representative for the band The Lemonheads came to his house one morning asking for the remix he was commissioned to do, he went to his studio, ripped a random song which was irrelevant to the song he was requested to do, and gave it to him for in exchange for thousands of dollars. Supposedly, this was due to Aphex completely forgetting about the remix he was commissioned to do, but apparently, he didn't demand money.[[note]]The Lemonheads' Evan Dando once gave his side of the story in an interview - according to Evan, the Lemonheads song Richard was supposed to have remixed was "Style", and what he actually turned in was "a piano piece"; Evan thought it was "cool", but still rejected it for not using any elements of the original composition[[/note]]

While James is known in some ways as a TropeMaker for ambient techno thanks to the aforementioned ''SAW 85-92'', his material is very diverse, ranging between pure {{ambient}} (''SAW Vol. II''), sad and beautiful {{Lonely Piano Piece}}s (most of them on ''[=drukQs=]''), ear-splitting drum 'n' bass (''...I Care Because You Do'', the ''Come to Daddy'' EP, some songs in ''[=drukQs=]''), acid techno (his early AFX/Caustic Window material, plus the ''Analord'' 12" series) and his trademark combination of upbeat melodies with complicated beats (''Music/RichardDJamesAlbum'', ''[[Music/{{Drukqs}} drukQs]]''). His 2014 album ''Music/{{Syro}}'' (his first full-length release in 13 years!) falls somewhere in between the last two styles, respectively.

*** When a representative for the band The Lemonheads came to his house one morning asking for the remix he was commissioned to do, he went to his studio, ripped a random song which was irrelevant to the song he was requested to do, and gave it to him for in exchange for thousands of dollars. Supposedly, this was due to Aphex completely forgetting about the remix he was commissioned to do, but apparently, he didn't demand money.[[note]]An interviewer once asked Lemonheads' Evan Dando about the story - according to Evan, the Lemonheads song Richard was supposed to have remixed was "Style", and what he actually turned in was "a piano piece", which Evan thought was "cool", but still rejected for not using any elements of the original composition[[/note]]

*** When a representative for the band The Lemonheads came to his house one morning asking for the remix he was commissioned to do, he went to his studio, ripped a random song which was irrelevant to the song he was requested to do, and gave it to him for in exchange for thousands of dollars. Supposedly, this was due to Aphex completely forgetting about the remix he was commissioned to do, but apparently, he didn't demand money.[[note]]An interviewer once asked Lemonheads' Evan Dando about the story - according to Evan, the song Richard was supposed to have remixed was "Style", and what he actually turned in was "a piano piece", which he thought was "cool", but still rejected for not using any elements of the original composition[[/note]]

*** When a representative for the band The Lemonheads came to his house one morning asking for the remix he was commissioned to do, he went to his studio, ripped a random song which was irrelevant to the song he was requested to do, and gave it to him for in exchange for thousands of dollars. Supposedly, this was due to Aphex completely forgetting about the remix he was commissioned to do, but apparently, he didn't demand money.[[note]]Though it would appear the track got rejected anyway, since The Lemonheads never released an Aphex Twin remix.[[/note]]

While James is known in some ways as a TropeMaker for ambient techno thanks to the aforementioned ''SAW 85-92'', his material is very diverse, ranging between pure {{ambient}} (''SAW Vol. II''), sad and beautiful {{Lonely Piano Piece}}s (most of them on ''[=drukQs=]''), ear-splitting drum 'n' bass (''...I Care Because You Do'', the ''Come to Daddy'' EP, some songs in ''[=drukQs=]''), acid techno (his early AFX/Caustic Window material, plus the ''Analord'' 12" series) and his trademark combination of upbeat melodies with complicated beats (''Music/RichardDJamesAlbum'', ''[=drukQs=]''). His 2014 album ''Music/{{Syro}}'' (his first full-length release in 13 years!) falls somewhere in between the last two styles, respectively.

** The one and only lyric in the track "Cock/ver10" from ''[=drukQs=]'', "COME ON, YOU CUNT, LET'S HAVE SOME APHEX ACID!", is screamed in the middle of the track. It was also a phrase used in promotion for the album.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Let's take a look at the ''Come to Daddy'' EP. A bunch of kids with Richard's face creepily grinning at you and...what's that on the far left? ''A kid doing a gang sign?''

* GenreBusting [=/=] GenreRoulette: His discography is one of the most diverse ones in electronic music history, ranging from blissful ambient music to piano pieces to archetypal IDM to horrifying beat-sliced madness, as well as basically everything in between. His albums are also prone for swapping between musical styles and genres at the drop of a hat between tracks, or perhaps within a single track.

* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle: It's bad enough that he has songs called things like "Cunt", "Death Fuck" and "Come On You Slags", not to mention things like "Backdoor.Spybooter.A" and ""[=PWSteal.Bancos.Q=]". But it's taken further with titles like "Kladfvgbung Micshk", "[=Beskhu3epnm=]", and "s950tx16wasr10". Not forgetting the one that's a complex mathematical equation.

** LyricalDissonance aside, "Milkman" has a happy, peaceful feel to it. However, at the very beginning of the song, James's voice can be heard unintelligibly mumbling an anecdote about [[EyeScream gouging a kid's eye out with his erect penis.]]

* SignificantAnagram: Richard seemed to be fond of this trope around 1995, as both ''...I Care Because You Do'' and ''Hangable Auto Bulb''[[note]] itself an anagram for "Analogue [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Bublbath]]" [[/note]] have several tracks titled after anagrams like "Wax the Nip" [[note]] "Aphex Twin" [[/note]] or "Laughable Butane Bob" [[note]] "Analogue Bubblebath" [[/note]].

** Done eight times in succession in "Come to Daddy" around the 45-second mark.

* WhipItGood: The sound of a whip crack is sampled extensively throughout "Omgyjya-Switch 7".

* ''[=drukQs=]'' (2001)

* ''[=drukqs=]'' (2001)

** The one and only lyric in the track "Cock/ver10" from ''[=drukqs=]'', "COME ON, YOU CUNT, LET'S HAVE SOME APHEX ACID!", is screamed in the middle of the track. It was also a phrase used in promotion for the album.

While James is known in some ways as a TropeMaker for ambient techno thanks to the aforementioned ''SAW 85-92'', his material is very diverse, ranging between pure {{ambient}} (''SAW Vol. II''), sad and beautiful {{Lonely Piano Piece}}s (most of them on ''[=drukQs''), ear-splitting drum 'n' bass (''...I Care Because You Do'', the ''Come to Daddy'' EP, some songs in ''[=drukQs=]''), acid techno (his early AFX/Caustic Window material, plus the ''Analord'' 12" series) and his trademark combination of upbeat melodies with complicated beats (''Music/RichardDJamesAlbum'', ''[=drukQs=]''). His 2014 album ''Music/{{Syro}}'' (his first full-length release in 13 years!) falls somewhere in between the last two styles, respectively.

While James is known in some ways as a TropeMaker for ambient techno thanks to the aforementioned ''SAW 85-92'', his material is very diverse, ranging between pure {{ambient}} (''SAW Vol. II''), sad and beautiful {{Lonely Piano Piece}}s (most of them on ''Drukqs''), ear-splitting drum 'n' bass (''...I Care Because You Do'', the ''Come to Daddy'' EP, some songs in ''Drukqs''), acid techno (his early AFX/Caustic Window material, plus the ''Analord'' 12" series) and his trademark combination of upbeat melodies with complicated beats (''Music/RichardDJamesAlbum'', ''Drukqs''). His 2014 album ''Music/{{Syro}}'' (his first full-length release in 13 years!) falls somewhere in between the last two styles, respectively.

* ''Drukqs'' (2001)

** Examples also abound in ''Drukqs'', which feature most of its track names in Cornish dialect or Kernawek (modern Cornish). [[http://forum.watmm.com/topic/28561-drukqs-translations Here is a list of translations on a WATMM forum post.]]

** The last track on ''Drukqs'' is called "[=nanou2=]", which is seemingly a sequel to the closing track on the ''Windowlicker'' EP, titled "Nannou".

** The one and only lyric in the track "Cock/ver10" from ''Drukqs'', "COME ON, YOU CUNT, LET'S HAVE SOME APHEX ACID!", is screamed in the middle of the track. It was also a phrase used in promotion for the album.

* DistinctDoubleAlbum: ''Selected Ambient Works Volume II'' and ''Drukqs''.

** 8 out of the 30 tracks on ''Drukqs'' are over 5 minutes long, with the 8.5-minute long "Ziggomatic 17" as the longest.

** ''Quoth EP'' had the 8-minute Wooden Thump mix of "Quoth".

** [[http://doubleti.free.fr/Images/Mes-images/pages/Aphex%20Twin%20--%20drukqs%20-%204.htm These]] [[http://doubleti.free.fr/Images/Mes-images/pages/Aphex%20Twin%20--%20drukqs%20-%202.htm images]] were left out of the official ''Drukqs'' album art, presumably on purpose.

** Several track titles on ''Drukqs'' are in Cornish. Throughout his career there have also been numerous titles referring to places in Cornwall.

** ''Drukqs'' alternates between pounding breakcore and this trope. Examples include the most famous of the bunch, "Avril 14th", as well as "Strotha Tynhe", "Petiatil Cx Htdui", and the album's finale "nanou2".

** ''Drukqs'' also falls prey to this. At first it seems to alternate between pounding breakcore and soft piano pieces, but then the ambient tracks show up...

** James claims that ''Drukqs'' is this, despite it sounding like an InheritedIlliteracyTitle of "drugs".

** The original form of ''Rubber Johnny'', a 30-second commercial for ''Drukqs'', has a lot of this due to the lack of explanation for the incredibly bizarre visuals.

** ''Drukqs'' has spoken-word interludes, and the song "Cock/ver10" stops abruptly to play a voice clip of someone screaming "COME ON, YOU CUNT, LET'S HAVE SOME APHEX ACID!"

** A majority of ''Drukqs'', considering the album switches between aggressive breakcore and calm piano instrumentals at the drop of a hat.