Product Description

In a career filled with re-invention, Aphex Twin comes fullcircle, with an album named after his real-life identity, RICHARD D. JAMES. James performs his usual boundary-jumping, genre-crashing magic, constantly changing gears and never standing still. Melodies are drawn from an infinite variety ofsonic sources and juxtaposed with harsh, stuttering breakbeats and placid keyboards in ever-changing permutations.
James manages to coax a wide range of emotion from his synthesizers, from the whimsical, playful melodic line which introduces "4". to the harsh beat and angular accompaniment of "Cornish Acid". "Peek 824545201" throws down a skittish, slithering beat, while "Corn Mouth" is a jumble of techno shrapnel. "To Cure A Weaking Child" makes haunting use of sampled voices of children, reassembling them into words and repeatedphrases. Drums and keyboard sounds meld into one another freely and playfully. James further showcases his ability to recycle traditional sounds into altogether new forms with thestring arrangements of "Goon Gumpas" and "Girl/Boy Song", but nowhere is this gift utilised more effectively than in "Logan Rock Witch", whose goofy rhythm and church organ support a chiming, sparse, guitar-like melody line.

Track Listing

1. 4
2. Cornish acid
3. Peek 824545201
4. Fingerbib
5. Corn mouth
6. To cure a weakling child
7. Goon gumpas
8. Yellow calx
9. Girl/boy song
10. Logon Rock Witch

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31898 in Music
• Released on: 1996-11-04
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
A native of Cornwall, Richard 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. 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. As the title indicates, James has turned inward for inspiration, painting aural pictures of real and imagined scenes from his west country childhood. "Goongumpas" is a fanciful, playful tune that wouldn't sound out of place on the soundtrack to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. As his adventures with the family upright indicate, James was a bit of a devil even as a child. "Beetles" is the sound of a boy frying bugs on the sidewalk with a magnifying glass and "To Cure A Weakling Child" shows flashes of the sort of sadism found only on primary school playgrounds. If you still doubt that young Richard developed early on, the romantic Nino Rota-style strings on "Girl/Boy Song" are just made for passionate seductions, and the tune appears in three mixes, each one hot and hornier than the one before. The raucous undercurrents of even his calmest tunes and the sources of many of his most common sounds are what link James to the rock tradition. With Richard D. James, the artist solidifies his position as an electronic music mastermind who has earned a spot beside such well-respected innovators--whether or not he's destined for stardom. --Jim Derogatis

Customer Reviews

A modern day classical masterpiece!
This is quite unlike much of Mr James' music, simply put this album could be classed as a modern day piece of classical music!
I love it!

His Best Album
I know what your thinking, if this is the great one's best album's then why just the 4/5 rating?

Pretty Simple Explanation really, the album's he releases are simply just 'best of' collections of his work over a 4-5 year period, so some songs on here are much older then some others, look at the album 'I care because you do' to see what I mean, he does not release albums in the conventional sense, he is more of a EP/single man, notice how his best work have been on these formats, Hangable Auto Bulb, Come to daddy EP and Windowlicker EP.

There are stand out tracks on this album yes, the delightful '4' in my view is one of the best tracks ever full stop but the great thing is about this release is that there is no weak track, which makes it his best full length album in my view.

Tip-Top Electronica
Aphex Twin is my favorite electronic musician. And this is my favorite Aphex Twin album. It's so glorious that words aren't good enough to describe it. Full of magical imagination and fun, the cover sums it up. It will put a smile on your face but has a twisted glint in the eye. Thats all from me, all you need to do is buy it!