Aphex Twin is perhaps the best known of the many monikers used by Richard D. James, one of the more creative minds in '90s electronica. James, who has recorded as AFX, Polygon Window, Caustic Window, and several others, is equally capable of both Eno-esque ambient pieces and headach-inducing techno
As a child, he conducted sound experiments on the strings and hammers of his family piano; by age 14, he had recorded his first compositions. During the late '80s, he DJ'd at raves in Cornwall before moving to London, where he attended college for one year before dropping out to focus on his music.
The name Aphex is derived from Aphex Systems Limited, a brand of audio signal processing equipment (itself derived from "analogue effects").
Aphex Twin refers to his own breakbeat tracks as breakbeat, jungle, or drum and bass interchangeably.
James described himself in The Guardian as follows: "I'm just some irritating, lying, ginger kid from Cornwall who should have been locked up in some youth detention centre. I just managed to escape and blag it into music."
He lives in southeast London in a converted bank, which was formerly the Bank of Cyprus and then HSBC.
Submit Interesting Facts
