Thanks to TheIndieBarKidWindowlicker is Richard D. James' sexiest work. As you've read over and over beforehand, it's comprised of oohs and aahs set to a porno-esque track. What they fail to mention is Aphex Twin's trademark polyrhythms, everchanging song structure and engrossing melodies are present, making this song much more than just unique - it really is one of the greatest electronica songs ever made. AFX certainly sets a very pornographic atmosphere in Windowlicker, right up to the climax of the song, indeed, a musical orgasm. It's one of those rare tracks you can pinpoint and say "This - this right here, this is proof that this Richard D. James is a genius."
The three songs are all sortakinda thematic, all with titles of animals that more or less describe the sound of the song. "Elephant Song" blares on for 6 1/2 minutes with a beat so repetative and mind-blowingly hardcore you can't doze off in the middle of it, or pull your attention away, for that matter. "Gibbon" is a fun one. I can just imagine a little ape frolicing across the forest floor, hands waving in the air like a little simian raver *g* "Cuckoo" is in the same line as "Analogue Bubblebath" (from the first EP of the series) with a catchy little rhythm, letting RDJ's easier listening side shine through. The roar that starts the album off slows down over it's course from the thunderous Elephant to the sublime "sloth," who we can just imagine hanging upside-down collecting algea during a rainstorm. Lastly is a little soundbit of twisted dialogue from Evil Knievel about his bike or something. Don't ask, I don't know...Overall, the best part of this album is the imagery that g
If techno ever does become the sound of young America, don't expect Richard James to be its poster boy, deserving though he may be. A native of Cornwall, England, James is obsessed with the mechanics of music making: As a kid, he took apart and reassembled the living room piano. Under the names Aphex Twin, Polygon Window, AFX, and other aliases too numerous to mention, he showed that he could make entire tracks with the sounds produced by tapping on a Coke can. Like the indie rockers of yore, he revels in his marginality because of the creative freedom it gives him. His full-length U.S. debut, Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994), includes some of the most serene sounds this side of the Orb, but his favorite hobby is the not-at-all-blissful pastime of driving a Daimler Ferret Mark 3 tank through his parents' backyard. None of his recordings have captured the competing impulses to lull you to sleep and blast out your eardrums as well as Richard D. James, his third and best album.
None of the chirpy, intricate, eclectic tracks on I Care Because You Do sound dated, certainly not in any heinous way. Richard James's work stands outside any genre cages and continues to satisfy dedicated listeners. This is at least partially due to James's twisted, British-bad-boy sense of humor: the title of the disc alone is something of an ironic display. I Care Because You Do is a sound introduction to James's peculiar, personal work, which ranges from symphonic to spartan to relaxing to unnerving, though it generally manages to be all those at once. The disc is cleverly constructed and juicily modern, and it's easy to see why critics, struggling to understand James's emergent "ambient techno," early on compared him to minimalist composers such as Philip Glass and Steve Reich. James was clearly influenced by these pioneers, but his music is more about stretching the limits of what one perceives to be music, of sound itself.
After watching MTV all weekend I because I was back home away from my desktop computer, trust me I've been twitching my fingers all weekend. But back to the story.
Well I came a cropper of this little gem of a music video ... and song of cause! This video is ...
Earlier this week, a new mashup videosong was released onto Youtube. This time it was a mix of Aphex Twin's Flim and Bright Eyes' First Day of My Life. In case you were wondering, a videosong is a new type of medium comprised of two rules:
1. What you see in ...
