Aphex Twin

Aphex Twin’s influence over modern electronica remains undiminished and perhaps
supercedes prior synth based luminaries such as Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream.
His disturbing, often perverted voice has left it’s mark on virtually all Warp/Rephlex
based artists. However AFX’s debut LP sounds remarkably different to the schizoid
drill and bass that dominates his later work. ‘Selected Ambient Works’ is perhaps the
most important work of post ‘Trans Europe Express’ electronic music. Many claim
his later work to be the most daring and experimental, yet ‘Richard D. James Album’
and ‘Drukqs’ operated within the framework of ‘glitch’, a defiantly original musical
movement that had already been pioneered by Autechre and Gridlock. Aphex Twin
brilliantly embellished upon the foundations left by his predecessors, yet he didn’t
reinvent an entire genre, as he did with ‘Selected Ambient Works’. I use the term
reinvent confidently. Whereas prior to ‘Selected Ambient Works’ ambient music
remained on the peripherary of the listeners consciousness (a point exemplified by Eno’s
desire to make ambient music for airports), Aphex Twin added discernible melodies,
beats, acid synths and subdued rhythms in order to create a new form of ambience, one
that requires your strict attention and involvement and although it’d be out place in an
airport, it definitely wouldn’t be in a nightclub.