Pretty much all of Richard D. James’ albums as Aphex Twin are regarded as seminal classics by now; after all, the British artist and producer has completely redefined a whole breadth of electronic music since his tireless experimentation began in the early 90s. His exploits are many, from microtonal textured ambience to classical minimalism in the form of swinging microphone and piano pendulums, but this bundle gathers the coursing, complex creativity of the dance music he’s most well known for turning upside down.
A self portrait in 1995 was the genesis of the unnerving grin that would soon gain ubiquity in Aphex Twin’s visual language and marked a new era in James’ releases altogether. ...I Care Because You Do captures a new era of bracing sonic experimentation, folding in in-jokes, innuendos, and other eccentric production nuances with explosive clips of mutilated drumming, screeching industrial grade sirens, and incinerating acid raves. With ease, it switches apocalyptic arrangements of strings and brass to bucolic meadow melodies, and the hanging gardens of percussion on ‘Alberto Balsalm’ like dangling metal vines that softly distorted synths swing through.
His next “autobiographical” Richard D. James Album in 1996 wasn’t just a drill ‘n’ bass showpiece of complex beatsmithery, but also cemented his mastery in song structuring and newly focussed digital compositions. The frothing world of breakcore meets fluffy orchestrations as familiarly playful melody locks into staggering, hyperspeed breakbeats and quasi-jungle rhythms. Rhythms that are visceral, tactile, evoking electronic carnage, yet executed with such clarity that the minimal palettes of tracks like ‘Cornish Acid’ seem impossibly gargantuan in scope.
After a brief yet palpable hiatus, Aphex Twin whizzed back into view with the most “pop” music he’s ever made. 2014’s Syro capitalised on over a decade of having ravers heed his every call with a cornucopia of multi-instrumental melodies, joyously haywire percussive feasts, and accessibly danceable yet daringly deconstructive passages through his twisting, bright, and bubbly sonic evolutions. Promoting mass hysteria and excitement in equal measure, these lush and intricate yet pummelling pieces could only be attributed to Richard D. James, an artist whose devotion to taking apart musical machines has resulted in some of the most necessary and revitalising music we’ve ever heard.
