FRESH

Hacker News

Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin speaks to Tatsuya Takahashi (2017)

273 points by lelandfe

by BLKNSLVR

4 subcomments

The depth of knowledge of Richard James surprises me every time I come across articles about him.
No wonder Aphex Twin's music stands out the way it does. He's always a fair way ahead of the curve.

by njoyablpnting

1 subcomments

Here's a plugin that he commissioned that you can play with: https://gitlab.com/then-try-this/samplebrain
It's hard to overstate the influence RDJ has had on modern music. Maybe even more impressive than his ability to develop multiple compelling distinct styles is the way he has taken existing niches, completely mastered them and then pushed the boundaries all over again.

by publicdebates

5 subcomments

Tangential:
"Aisatsana - Aphex Twin - Barbican, London 10th October 2012. It's a bit dark so it's probably difficult to tell but that's a grand piano being swung back and forth across the stage like a pendulum."
"Yeah, it's written for my wife. When I first did that, I did this installation-y art thing at the Barbican with a remote orchestra. [The song] was made on my Disklavier [controlled piano], which was swung from the roof at that gig, and there was this massive Doppler effect. It is pretty mental. There's a bad cameraphone version of it on YouTube, but in the flesh it's fucking amazing. To listen to this piano swinging, you almost see all the notes stretching out, so it'll hit you at different times. I never knew if it was going to work or not, and everyone was like, “What the fuck is he swinging a piano for?” But when we actually got it going, we were just like, “fucking hell.” It was so extreme. My friends were like, “Are the strings stretching?” The pitch deviation is that big, it sounds like the actual frame is contorting. Maybe it is, I don't know!" - Richard D. James
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJHsT8kEyzs

by geraldmcboing

0 subcomment

This is also a great deep wide-ranging interview/conversation c SYRO release
https://web.archive.org/web/20141111015756/http://noyzelab.b...
https://web.archive.org/web/20141112205122/https://noyzelab....

by lelandfe

0 subcomment

Context from the prior year: https://pitchfork.com/news/69473-korg-announces-new-synthesi...

by flippyhead

1 subcomments

I really enjoyed this explanation of just how amazing RDJ is: https://youtu.be/5wIOBBodoic?si=HkR05lAGkSiPZVmS

by chungus

0 subcomment

Very nice read thank you. Still remember very clearly putting the Richard D James album CD into my Sony disc man for the very first time 22 years ago

by gnatman

2 subcomments

by jghn

0 subcomment

I remember once hearing an interview with cEvin Key where he described Dwayne Goettel as someone who would have probably turned out to be Aphex Twin had he not died, given the era of it all. And that made me take another look at Aphex twin, and appreciate his work.

by sailfast

1 subcomments

by SolubleSnake

1 subcomments

I love Aphex Twin but my only issue is he keeps saying in interviews how he hates surfers?!
Being a proud Cornish surfer and one of his earlier fans this saddens me. We were his first fans!
There used to be raves in Cornwall like the one in cult UK surfing classic 'Blue Juice'. They were 'lush' (i've noticed Aphex regularly says 'lush' too so is clearly from a surfer-adjacent group of friends and maybe he's just p1ssing about).

by zahlman

1 subcomments

by rballpug

0 subcomment

by ChrisArchitect

1 subcomments

No archive links please;
Source is available: https://warp.net/editorial/richard-d-james-speaks-to-tatsuya...