LET'S 'AVE SOME APHEX ACID

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEX

There’s no musician that brings up more emotions in me than Aphex Twin. I’ve thought about writing about him for ages, but there’s so much to say spanning the cultural and the personal. It’s as if the weight of writing about him collapses me and, as a result, I end up writing something insubstantial.

I can’t describe what it felt like to hear “Analogue Bubblebath 1” for the first time from a random techno compilation; that single, squelchy acid bass note; the strange, detuned synth chord with a long attack; those high pitched dots of sounds that sprinkle throughout the track… Listening back now has the impact on me that a lot of Aphex’s music has. Extreme emotion brought on by music that isn’t necessarily associated with being emotive.

To treat Aphex Twin as just a Cornish trickster-holdover from classic British rave does him a disservice. His peak 90s albums - I Care Because You Do and Richard D. James - work because, for the most part, they contrast scatty, angular rhythms with some of the most beautiful melodies. Likewise, the title track from On. (I just learnt this having found the YouTube link: the music video was directed by Jarvis Cocker?!)

The inclusion of acoustic piano from the Drukqs album onwards emphasises his talent for composition. “Avril 14th” broke out into the mainstream, being featured on the closing sequence of Chris Morris’ Four Lions and 2000s online digital animations. I’ve met people who don’t like or otherwise know Aphex Twin that adore “Avril 14th”. That said, for me, Drukqs’ final track, “Nanou Two”, remains the showstopper.

But, let’s face it. I’m still saying nothing.

I could comment on how Aphex Twin has been with me through everything, from the ages of 16 to 40, and will continue to be with me but, even by The Emergency Kisses’ standards, going through all that would be too much.

I could comment on how, mercifully, the term intelligent dance music appended to Aphex Twin and Warp Records has died a death. I always felt techno as an umbrella term was useful in its vagueness, denoting not only the produces that came from Detroit but an array of electronic musics. My problem isn’t that rave is framed as stupid, but that it can be framed as purely cognitive. Whether it’s Aphex Twin or Jeff Mills, old Dreamscape cassettes or Brian Eno, techno elicits a visceral response like no other sound. To that end, instead of trying to intellectually explain what Aphex Twin means to me, I leave you with a fan video.

This 2007 video was made by two lads on what looks like a handheld digital camera of that era. Using their classical guitar cover of “Rhubarb” as a soundtrack, they do exactly what me and my mate did in 2007: generally dick about. It’s silly and serious and blokey and beautiful and profound and unabashedly meloncholic. There’s a whole YouTube scene of Aphex Twin covers on acoustic instruments. I urge you to explore them. The majority are incredible.