Richard D. James
The Many Sounds of Aphex Twin
Aphex Twin | Richard D. James - Timeline
- 1971
- Richard David James was born in Limerick, Ireland on August 18, 1971.
- 1975
- Started attending Redruth School in Redruth while living nearby at Lanner village in west Cornwall, England.
- 1982
- At age 11, James won a magazine competition by producing sound on a Sinclair ZX81.
- 1985
- As a refuge from the "bloody awful" Jesus and Mary Chain albums played by his sister, he started making music at age 14.
- 1988
- Started working at clubs and raves as a DJ and included his own tracks in his sets.
- 1990
- Graduated from Cornwall College with a National Diploma in engineering.
- 1991
- Moved to London and released 12 inch EP "Analogue Bubblebath" on Mighty Force Records under the name Aphex Twin.
- 1992
- First full-length Aphex Twin album, "Selected Ambient Works 85-92", comprising ambient music, was released on R&S Records to critical acclaim.
- 1994
- Warp Records released the second Aphex Twin album, "Selected Ambient Works Volume II", inspired by lucid dreams and synesthesia.
- 1995
- For the album "I Care Because You Do", James used his face for the album cover, which became a motif on his later releases.
- 1996
- James' fourth studio album as Aphex Twin, "Richard D. James Album", was released on Warp. It featured the use of software synthesizers and unconventional beats.
- 1997
- Released "Come to Daddy" EP accompanied with a successful music video for the title track, directed by Chris Cunningham.
- 2001
- Aphex Twin released "Drukqs", an experimental double album featuring computer-controlled piano (influenced by Erik Satie and John Cage) and abrasive, fast, meticulously-programmed songs.
- 2005
- James released a series of vinyl EPs as AFX, "Analord", created entirely with analogue equipment.
- 2014
- "Syro", the first album released under the Aphex Twin name since Drukqs in 2001, was released by Warp on September 23.
- 2014
- Album "Syro" was marketed by a teaser campaign including graffiti, a blimp flown over London, and an announcement made via a .onion address accessible through the deep web browser Tor.
- 2016
- On July 8th, Aphex Twin released the "Cheetah EP", backed by a music video for "CIRKLON3 [Колхозная mix]", the first official music video for an Aphex Twin track in 17 years.
- 2018
- Aphex Twin released an EP, "Collapse", on September 14 and and the official music video for the song "T69 Collapse" was uploaded to YouTube.
"A lot of people think everything electronic is mine. I get credited for so many things, it's incredible. I'm practically everyone, I reckon everyone and nobody".