Aphex Twin was onstage at The Vic playing his last Chicago show...





(it was like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehwY7b8JJeg but instead of female bodybuilders he had some girl dressed up as little red riding hood coming out and flashing her snatch at us. oh and they were kind enough to give him a couch. and my ride was tweaked out of his mind driving through puerto rican fiesta week hanging out the window screaming at everyone to go home and get the fuck out of his way. we were chased for a few minutes at one point =)

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Missed that one!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

touche, papa grande!

unless you're actually being some sort of sirius satellite radio, in which case welcome to the space age! we have velcro!

basically, aphex twin is the norse god of percussion, futhermore he's the don tiny of electronic music. many have said over the years that techno is "faceless music" insomuchas you're programming computers to sequence/execute a script of synthesized sounds (ranging from actual synthesizers to drum machines) and in this process you strip away all of the "humanity" of creating/performing music.

starting with the "i care because you do" LP in 1995 (a perfect subtitle for this thread) richard d james, aka the aphex twin, started putting his face on all of the albums. for i care... he pained his face, then in 1996 on the richard d james LP he had an actual up lcose picture of his face unleashing a menacing grin, and then from there he commissioned a bunch of latex masks of his face to put on little children (come to daddy EP) and then the grand finale, buxom models (windowlicker)

in the end, richard d. james put a face on faceless music: his own. any and all symbolism is thusly earned, as to this date nobody has really managed to make anyting even remotely close to ripping off the richard james LP, which in and of itself sounds like badass futuristic children's music. click on the picture below to be transported to a better world:



(my apologies on the wanky video, but people tend to want to piggyback with their menial artistic contributions in the wake of THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND.....

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Even nonlectronica fans appreciate Chris Cunningham's video for Windowlicker:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoJeiRVnlu8

I caught RDJ as the headliner at the Autechre curated ATP festival @ Camber Sands in Rye on the Southern coast of merry ol' a few years back. Terrific festival, Autechre brought together a stellar lineup:

A Guy Called Gerald,
Andrea Parker,
Anthony 'Shake' Shakir,
Aphex Twin,
Baby Ford,
Bernard Parmegiani,
Coil,
Curtis Roads,
Disjecta,
Drexciyan DJ Stingray,
Earth (cancelled),
EL-P + MURS,
Farmersmanual,
G-Man,
Hecker,
Jim O'Rourke,
Kool Keith,
Kut Masta Kurt,
LFO,
Mark Broom,
Mira Calix,
Ned Beckett,
O.S.T.,
Pita,
Public Enemy,
Req,
Russell Haswell,
Sluta Leta,
SND,
Sonic Sum,
Stasis,
Strictly Kev,
Sunn O))),
Surgeon,
The Fall,
The Magic Band,
Thirstin Howl III,
Venetian Snares,
Yasunao Tone + Hecker,
Zoviet France,
Skam Records Room: Alder and Elius,
Bola,
DJ Woody,
Freeform,
Gescom,
Made,
Meam,
Mike Williamson,
Mr 76IX,
N M B Allstars,
North Manchester Bedroom Allstars,
Push Button Objects,
Quinoline Yellow,
Skam DJ's,
Tatamax,
Team Doyobi,
Wevie Stonder,
ZK