That’s right folks, the inventive and influential musician/composer extraordinaire dropped his first tweet in two years and it has fans reeling with excitement. This comes on the heels of a weekend of buzz where his logo and the number “2014” was spotted on a neon green blimp flying above South London. It was also found stenciled on the streets of New York and outside Radio City Music Hall. Sticking to his unpredictable nature, Richard David James, the mastermind behind Aphex Twin, tweeted a link that is only reachable with Tor, a browser designed for accessing the deep web.
Those able to access the link were taken to a page with the Aphex Twin image along with details and tracklisting on his forthcoming album, SYRO, which is his first album release since Drukqs in 2001.
https://syro2eznzea2xbpi.onion
— Aphex Twin (@AphexTwin) August 18, 2014
SYRO Track List:
- “minipops 67 (source field mix)”
- “XMAS_EVET10 (thanaton3 mix)”
- “produk 29”
- “4 bit 9d api+e+6”
- “180db_”
- “CIRCLONT6A (syrobonkus mix)”
- “fz pseudotimestrech+e+3”
- “CIRCLONT14 (shrymoming mix)”
- “syro u473t8+e (piezoluminescence mix)”
- “PAPAT4 (pineal mix)”
- “s950tx16wasr10 (earth portal mix)”
- “aisatsana”
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Aphex Twin, he is considered by many to be “the Mozart of techno”. He’s always done things his own way and there really isn’t an appropriate name or genre with which to associate his music. What we can say with confidence is that he is extremely gifted and prolific in his compositions. According to interviews and friends of James, he was writing ambient techno music at the age of 13 and building circuits and synthesizers from scratch that he would use for his DJ gigs. The story gets even better in a 1997 interview with Space Age Bachelor where he claims to own a tank!
Space Age Bachelor – Do you actually drive it around as your vehicle?
Aphex Twin – Well, that’s what I want to do. I will when I move it to London. I’m just going to drive it around, go shopping, and stuff like that … I haven’t actually passed my driving test, so when I drive my tank it’s illegal.
After further investigation it was discovered that Richard David James doesn’t exactly own a tank, but he owns something very similar – a Daimler Ferret Mark 3 Armoured Scout Car to be precise. That’s close enough in our books and nonetheless proves that James is far from your average musician. His debut album – Selected Ambient Works 85-92 – was cherished for its minimalist and atmospheric style and is considered by many music critics to be one of the greatest albums in ambient, IDM and electronic music. Since then he has released four more albums and numerous EPs under the name Aphex Twin. He’s the co-owner of Rephlex Records and currently resides in England. Keep an eye out for more announcements on his forthcoming album and make sure to check out the critically acclaimed works below.
