Aphex Twin SUCKS!
Interview by Dirk Preston
Dirk Preston Goes Head-to-Head with Richard James for Another Round of Two-Player Verbal Assault
Some people harbour the romantic but misguided idea that American press shies away from covering alternative electronic acts because they’re afraid. Afraid of what they can not and do not understand. Afraid of the underground and the intricacy of its surrounding culture. Afraid of the future itself. While this may be partly true, it is largely not the case. More likely it has to do with the fact that a great deal of the people behind electronic music are socially inept. Electronic artists like Autechre, Wagon Christ’s Luke Vibert and Outcast Production’s Beaumont Hannant have gradually become known in the press as spoiled brats who regularly refuse to answer questions, badger reporters and, when they finally do have something to say, it’s as exciting to read as the Ladies Home Journal.
In an interview I did with Richard James over one year ago, he was certainly no exception. To ask him a question about any song on 1995’s mediocre effort I Care Because You Do was to be answered with either vacancy (“Uh…I don’t know”) or difficulty (“I’m not going to tell you”). And though the prospect of another round with James may appear at first redundant I also figured it was worth another shot. I may have written some grim things about his last album, but the chances that he’s actually remember me seemed slim. It was an entire year ago, after all. I’ve changed, maybe he has too.
The logic behind such optimism is James’ new album, plainly titled Richard D. James. Unlike the battery acid discomfort of I Care Because You Do, the tracks on Richard D. James are warm, bubbly, even cute. Compare the first single “Girl/Boy Song” with last year’s “Ventolin” and the similarities are indeed so sparse it’s hard to imagine they came from the same mind. From one song to the next, Richard D. James is the greatest Aphex Twin album to date and among the year’s best albums so far. Even James seems more pleased this time around.
“That album is shit.” James says of I Care Because You Do. Whether he actually believes it or not isn’t entirely clear as he tends to say things for the sheer reaction.
“Oh I definitely think so. Do you really agree?” I offer, suddenly feeling as I’ve fallen into some sort of trap.
“Well, no… I don’t know. It’s got some good tracks on it.” Some? Like two. “No, no They’re all good… there’s just something about it. I can’t work out what it is. It’s just not right. I reckon it is good. Most of it, at least. But there’s definitely something…well, of course you don’t like it. You’re a lightweight so you don’t like all those hardcore tracks. I still really like ‘Come on You Slags.’ But the one that everyone likes, I’m really bored of that track. I don’t like that. No, the whole album is alright actually. I’m glad I put it out because I really like most of it. It’s just that it’s a combination of old and new tracks that don’t quite go together. I thought they would, but they didn’t.”
“It’s quite scary. All the different ways people approach you. It’s weird. They’ve all got these totally different vibes. Fucking weirdos come up to me. Some of them will hug me and then there are some that get really anal, like, intellectual conversation when it’s clear that they’re just fucked in the head and really not thinking anything. Mostly, the people who like my music are wicked but they’ve all got a few screws loose.”
Richard on his fans
Poor baby. His last album was a dud and he knows it. I attempt to offer the guy a little slack “The songs themselves worked well as singles but as an album they seemed kind of awkward.” But it yields no mercy.
“That’s what I just said.”
“No, you said something completely different.”
“No, I believe if you play the tape back you will find that you’re wrong.”
“Sounds like it’s still a little too weird for you to conduct normal interviews.”
“Well, not really. It used to be weird but I’ve gotten used to it…scarily used to it,” adds James. “It doesn’t bother me at all. Once you’ve said yes, you have to sort of do ’em ’cause I don’t like blowing people out. It creates more grief. You may as well just do it right,” he pauses, “actually, I reckon I remember you. I just did an interview this evening and I thought ‘Oh yeah, I wonder if I’ll get that guy again, I sort of only just recognised you now. You were more nerdy before. But I really enjoyed the last one, actually, ’cause I hate really easy people. I’d rather someone have a total go at me. Interview-wise, it’s more interesting.”
If that’s the case, Richard James probably finds the majority of his press rather lacklustre. While the story may be different in the UK, James has been an American media darling since his first Stateside release, 1994’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II. Landing mainstream magazine covers and conducting interviews with alternative press, James was often referred to as a pioneer whose knack for creating his own instruments out of broken synthesisers was nothing short of genius. Whether or not the albums were selling didn’t seem to matter. With only three domestic releases under his belt Aphex Twin has fast become one of the most notorious names in electronic music. Even ambient guru Brian Eno turned green with envy at James’ success, claiming Aphex ambient sounds like the type of stuff he does when testing out a new keyboard. Yet whatever naysayers felt about Aphex Twin rarely surfaced in the press, and any aggression that managed to eke out couldn’t penetrate the obsessive loyalty of his fans.
“I’ve just done the first tour I’ve ever done on my own. So I knew that everyone who came were there just to see me. It’s quite scary. All the different ways people approach you. It’s weird. They’ve all got these totally different vibes. Fucking weirdos come up to me. Some of them will hug me and then there are some that get really anal, like, intellectual conversation when it’s clear that they’re just fucked in the head and really not thinking anything. Mostly, the people who like my music are wicked but they’ve all got a few screws loose.”
Despite later outings such as a Nine Inch Nails remix for Trent Reznor and Mike & Rich, a full-length he produced with μ-Ziq frontman Mike Paradinas, Aphex Twin is still largely considered an ambient artist. “It doesn’t really help when your first major release in the States is a triple ambient album.” says James. “It doesn’t bother me either way. I don’t care, really. I don’t care if people say I’m a complete cunt and you shouldn’t buy it. I reckon that would be quite decent. I’d be well into that.”
With Richard D. James, James’ striking affinity for hard drum and bass should finally correct any misconceptions. But what about those who call Richard D. James nothing more than an obvious sell-out? After all, Aphex Twin has never been a jungle artists until this year when that drum and bass began to result in big sales. “As far as suddenly making jungle, I’ve always been on the jungle tip. I reckon the first music I ever did was breakbeats…I’ve always been into recycling other people’s beats. It’s something I’ve always done. I really, really don’t care what people say about this record. I just want to get it out there and sell a decent amount of them. And even if it doesn’t sell I really wouldn’t care.”
James maintains that his relationship with the press is likely to improve with a new outlook he’s adapted to promote the Richard D. James album. Is this the signalling of a kinder, gentler Aphex? “As far as interviews are concerned, well, I’ve said to myself I’m going to do it right for this album. I’m going to play it the way you’re suppose to play it just to see what it’s like. I’ve quite gotten into it and, in effect, it’s been really good. I reckon sometimes it helps as well, ’cause you analyse stuff when you do interviews. It makes you really think about what you’re doing. People can have a go at you or just pick out every single angle possible if you do enough of them. Sometimes it’s quite shit as well, ’cause like one of the reasons is like you get people asking you about you’re music and you start talking about stuff that gets you excited and you talk about it so much, like stuff before you’ve done it, you get bored of it and you end up not even doing it. And that’s really bad.”
“For the last American tour I did with Orbital and Moby, I ended up taking loads of acid for most of the interviews I did. That was pretty good. Definitely made it more interesting. “
“Or it’s funny ’cause when you finally read an interview you’ve done, and you end up thinking ‘How the fuck did they work out that from what I said? It happened the other day, actually, in Melody Maker. There was some kind of word-association thing where they’d say a word and I’d have to say what I thought. And I read it and I was like ‘I don’t reckon any of that is right. I don’t reckon I said any of those things.’ Especially when they have you saying words that you just know you never say. Sometimes it’s just normal words and you’re like ‘Well, maybe I did say that…’ But the classic one is when you say something, then they exaggerate what you said, then they say you were lying for exaggerating. I get into that one. For the last American tour I did with Orbital and Moby, I ended up taking loads of acid for most of the interviews I did. That was pretty good. Definitely made it more interesting. That’s the way I got through those. But there were still loads of things that I won’t talk about. I’ll just evade the question. Like specifics, sort of ‘Why did you do this? What did you mean to do by that?’ I know full well why I do what I do, I don’t have to say.”
James also has a few opinions regarding the attitudes of his peers, friends like Autechre’s Sean Booth and Rob Brown who’s recent relations with American press have been less than glowing. “I get on with Sean really well, actually. Sean… not Rob so much. The thing is, it’s like, most questions that you get asked, if you answered them in your true character you probably wouldn’t answer them at all. You’d just be like ‘What? Sorry? Uh… no. Yes. What the fuck are you talking about?’ But there’s no point. You’ve got to try and like get your head around the question. Otherwise you may as well not bother. If Sean is difficult it’s probably just that he can’t really be bothered to get his head around stupid questions.”
Then there’s Beaumont Hannant. As one half of the critically acclaimed Outcast Productions, Hannant has made a name for himself through a number of remixes for artists like Björk and Lida Husik, as well as his own solo projects such as Notions of Tonality and Sculptured. But in Jame’s eyes, Hannant’s continued success in experimental electronica is a simple matter of trespassing on the same ground that Jame’s has laid claim. “I don’t worry about him ’cause he’s crap. He’s fucking shit. It’s only ’cause the last thing I’ve heard of his was a total rip-off of ‘Ventolin’. That Björk mix he did? Björk kept playing it to me saying ‘Listen to this amazing track’ and I was going ‘It’s Ventolin, love.’ He completely ripped off my track. But whatever.” But on behalf of the infamously intoxicated Luke Vibert, Richard James has only the kindest of words. Vibert is another name considered among the electronic elite. His popular domestic full-length, 1995’s Throbbing Pouch, widely established Vibert whose sudden transformation into a media darling closely mirrored Aphex Twin.
“He’s always stoned.” James says giggling like a little school girl.
“Well that’s no excuse. I spoke with him last year and, I don’t know, it didn’t seem like he could understand anything I asked him. He just mumbled a lot and took his off his bong.”
“I love him. If he was a girl I’d fancy him.”
“Why can’t you fancy him as a boy? That’s kind of narrow.”
Immediately thrown, Richard snaps “I can fancy his brain. I don’t get turned on by blokes, eh?”
“Yeah, well that’s not your fault.”
Realising he’s revealed himself in the presence of a journalist, James quickly slides back into character and looks for an opportunity to return the favour. “I might do one someday. I can’t rule it out. I could’ve almost done it a few times. I’m not hung up about it at all. I’ve fucking sucked some blokes knobs when I was little. It was alright.” Yeah, but that’s different. “Because I was little? Of course it is.” Suddenly uncomfortable, I look to close the subject with a polite summary. Something about how kids who have same-sex interactions are common and they usually don’t really care or know what’s going on. But James isn’t one to let anybody off that easy. “Well, I fucking knew what was going on.” Pleased with the sudden silence, he adds a mischievous “Definitely.”
Don’t let the evil-streak fool you, Richard James is just as infatuated with girls as the next geek. In fact, friends credit the sudden cuddliness of his music on his recent relationships with women. “The music is different partly because I’ve fallen in love a few times.” says James in a brief moment of humility, “But I’m quite sceptical of that. I reckon it’s just the luck of the draw. That’s just the way the tracks came out. I don’t really reckon it is love that’s changed me. That’s just what I’ve been told. It could be true, I suppose.”
I can just imagine being in a relationship with someone like James. It would probably be hell. “The girls you date probably have to put up with a lot of your shit.”
“No. Not at all. I reckon I’m pretty easy.” We both laugh. “Well… I don’t know. Maybe.” What exactly is the type of girl who can capture his nutty little heart? “I’m not going to say, actually ’cause I might attract the wrong type if they read this interview. I mean, as far as looks it’s pretty easy. I like girls who are sort of really pretty but they’ve got something fucked up about them. Sort of modelish with something bad about them. I don’t like it when girls are really perfect and I don’t like it when they’re really ugly. As far as personality. I like really erratic people. You don’t really know what they’re thinking and they can keep you entertained most of the time. Passionate people. They’ve got to be really passionate. Really intelligent people turn me on. Like scientists. You know, women in lab suits talking formally. I hang around libraries a lot… in the science section. Well, I used to do that. Chatting people up in the library to find a scientist. You just go to the section you’re interested in and sort of hang around and wait for someone nice to turn up. It works.”
Bored of the whole sexy scientist bit, of which I suspect he’s lying about anyway, I suggest “You don’t need to go to libraries anymore to do that, though. You can just jump on the net.”
“Yeah, but you can’t see what they look like. And they lie. I don’t get into any of that shit. I used to go on the net a lot more but I got bored of it. POWER DROID.”
“Maybe you should think about buying a PlayStation or something.”
“No, I was gonna wait for those other ones to come out. I’ve been waiting for ages now. But there’s already some good games for that PlayStation so I just might get one.”
“You’ll want to wait for the Nintendo 64” I say. “It’s really cool.”
“Is it out over there yet? What do you think of the Saturn? They’ve got that Virtual On game haven’t they? Is that two players or just one?”
“For the Saturn? Probably just one.”
“Yeah, fuck that. I quite like video games, though. That’s what Power Droid is. That’s why I just said Power Droid really loud and distortedly. I love computer games and I’d probably still be playing them all the time if most of them weren’t shit now. They’re all really simple. They may look fancy but most of them just get boring after five minutes. So what they can talk now? Yeah they talk. They say the same things over and over again.” Irritated, James says “No, I hate things repeating, it’s rubbish. They should program it so that they generate different bits of speech every time. Program the syllables instead of just sample. That would be wicked.”
“Stop complaining and make your own video game.”
“I did when I was younger. I won a competition as well.” James proudly chirps. “I won fifty pounds and came in second. It was a skiing game where you were a number 8 and had to go down a ski course of, like, arrows.”
“Really? Do you still have it?
“No.”
“Does your mom have it?”
“Yeah, My mum shoved it up her fanny.”
After a while, it becomes clear to both James and myself that we no longer have any interest in further ridiculing one another. There are only so many times you can call the other guy lightweight and still find it amusing. The fact that I very much like Richard D. James and that James himself finds continued baiting somewhat amusing is probably the only reason we never slammed down the phone or threatened each other with violence… although, come to think of it, I do remember something about that as well. Despite all his posturing and concealment, in speaking with James, there are times when you can feel a hidden sensitivity. A muted honesty. And, as cheesy as it may sound, a secret innocence. It’s not that he isn’t in tune with these aspects of his personality. Moreover, it appears he reserves those characteristics only for those closest to him, his friends, his mother and father. Which is probably why he gives such emotionally bankrupt interviews. His sensitivity, honesty and innocence is what every reporter is looking for in order to full understand Aphex Twin. We want it all. It makes good copy and sells magazines. But at the end of the day, Richard James is a very normal guy who, like most of us, cringes at the prospect of opening up his entire life for dissection and misinterpretation by strangers with tape recorders. In a standard procedure in closing any interview, I ask him if there’s anything else he’d like to add that we many not have covered. After a short pause, he mumbles “I hope…” and then pauses once more. Could this be it? Could it be that I’ve won over the trust of Richard James to the point where he’s prepared to say something honest like “I really hope people will just start to appreciate me more.” or “I work really hard to do what I do and it feels like nobody cares.” No. Not really. Instead, Richard James simply adds “… I hope I’ll make loads of money with this record. That would be wicked.”
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