Avril 14th

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"Avril 14th"
Instrumental by Aphex Twin
from the album Drukqs
Released22 October 2001
GenreContemporary classical
Length2:05
LabelWarp
Songwriter(s)Richard James[1]
Audio sample
"Avril 14th"

"Avril 14th" is a piano instrumental by the electronic musician Richard D. James, under his pseudonym Aphex Twin, released on his 2001 album Drukqs. It was recorded using a Disklavier, a computer-controlled piano.

Composition[edit]

A Disklavier piano
A Disklavier piano

Whereas most of James's music is electronic, "Avril 14th" is a piano composition.[2] It was recorded using a Disklavier, a piano with a mechanism that reads MIDI data and plays the keyboard without human input.[3] The clicking of the mechanism is audible on the recording.[2] According to the Fact writer Scott Wilson, "The result is something that sounds human but not quite."[3] Several critics likened it to the works of Erik Satie.[4][2] Fact described it as a "a butterfly-fragile float" of "piano calm".[3]

Reception[edit]

Reviewing Drukqs in 2001, Pitchfork wrote that tracks including "'Avril 14th' ... rove dangerously close to the Windham Hill new age aesthetic of the 80s".[4] It surprised some listeners expecting more electronic work, though Fact wrote in 2017 that it was "a perfect embodiment of Aphex and the line he constantly treads between the mechanical and the human".[2] As of April 2017, "Avril 14th" had been streamed 124 million times on Spotify, 106 million more than Aphex Twin's 1999 single "Windowlicker".[3]

Appearances[edit]

"Avril 14th" has been used in films including Marie Antoinette (2006), Four Lions (2010), and the international trailer for Her (2013).[3] For Four Lions, James rerecorded the track with a minor edit.[3] In 2007, "Avril 14th" was sampled for a song used in the SNL digital short "Iran So Far." As SNL owner NBC had not obtained the rights to use the track, the short was quickly removed from YouTube.[5]

The American rapper Kanye West used elements of "Avril 14th" for his 2010 track "Blame Game." According to James, after he was sent an early version of "Blame Game" with a heavily timestretched sample of "Avril 14th", he offered to rerecord it at a different tempo. West's team replied with "It's not yours, it's ours, and we're not even asking you any more," and tried to avoid paying for its use.[6] The final "Blame Game" used a rerecorded version of "Avril 14th" rather than a sample, and James received credit.[7]

On December 4, 2018, Aphex Twin released two alternative versions of "Avril 14th" on his webstore, subtitled "reversed music not audio" and "half speed alternative version". A third version, subtitled "doubletempo half speed", was removed from the store the same day.[8][9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "ASCAP Repertory entry for this song". ASCAP. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "7 pieces of gear that helped define Aphex Twin's pioneering sound". FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music. 14 April 2017. Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Horner, Al (25 October 2001). "How Aphex Twin's piano lullaby 'Avril 14th' became a runaway pop culture hit". Fact. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Aphex Twin: Drukqs". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  5. ^ Ben, Party. "SNL Samples Aphex Twin Without Asking?". Mother Jones. Archived from the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  6. ^ "Aphex Twin Speaks on His New Album, Being Sampled by Kanye, More". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  7. ^ Michaels, Sean (26 August 2014). "Aphex Twin: Kanye tried to get away with not paying for Avril 14th sample". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  8. ^ "Aphex Twin has released two new versions of his classic track 'Avril 14th'". Mixmag. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  9. ^ "Aphex Twin releases three tracks in online store". Crack Magazine. Archived from the original on 8 November 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
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