Talk:Aphex Twin

Archives
1

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Chris Cunningham himself responsible for the "afx237 v7" remix used in Rubber Johnny? I believe he said so in an interview.

- Gencoil

The Wire

There should at least be a mention of his appearances in The Wire, such as the famous cover of number 237!

If it's a good picture, and it can be shown legally without any copyright problems, then why don't you scan it in and add it to the article? Good luck. Newsnight Watcher 08:19, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Richard built his own sampler and other lies

Richard's close friends support his claims that he built his own synthesizers and samplers from scratch in his early years—he is experienced in electronics and electricity, and has modified and circuit bent his equipment from a young age. Further, the UK music magazine Future Music ran an article (with photo) about a sampler he built for his microelectronics degree.

Mike Paradinas was on Richard's label, Richard has had his music released on Mike Paradinas' label. In an interview with Joyrex of www.joyrex.com, Mike Paradinas claimed Richard's claims about building synthesizers and samplers from scratch were total lies. Future Music magazine even got tricked into posting a picture of an obviously fake looking sampler. Mike Paradinas claims Richard used only normal equipment that was easily available to everyone, although some equipment was slightly modified. It's a shame I can't find the source, because some troll is twisting this article to suit his own bullshit.

"other debated influences"

Somebody deleted this entire section for no apparent reason? Funks A lot of it was quite true or near accurate. It just needed sources to back it up. Why was it deleted?

As part of Wikipedia's official Policy on verifiability, unsourced statements can be removed at any time by any editor. It's really up to the contributing editor to cite his or her sources. Twelvethirteen 21:06, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

IDM

Well, there's a difference between what you call IDM music, and then how the name IDM is applied to some music. When Aphex Twin makes a song he's just making music, and he's influenced by a lot of Acid House and Electronic Music and Classical composers. He is not doing anything "IDM". It's just that he hyped up his genius in the press to sell more copies, so the internet fans started a discussion forum and they describe his music as IDM. Even though his music is Electronic Music, which is a much more accurate name, considering Aphex Twin's history of studying Electronics and having Stockhausen as a hero. It's a popular name people use to describe music, but most of the time if you look at the individual albums up close then there is a better more specific name for it like Acid House, Drill and Bass, Ambient Techno, Ambient, Noise, Prepared Piano. They are also popular names to describe music, and they are more specific. If you then look at Autechre or some more modern groups then you could definitely call them IDM as they fall into it easily and can't be described as much else. I'm really into Aphex Twin and Electronic Music, and see it labelled IDM instead of something more accurate, and find it just weird. That IDM list could just take someone's artistic work and pidgeonhole it to a not very descriptive name, and we should stick with that even when most usually there are much more better and popular names available.

When Aphex Twin pushed the boundaries, he pushed the boundaries of Drum and Bass, Acid House, and so on. After this music came out, the fans labelled it IDM and drill and bass, and that is represented later on in the article. Seeing as that is what actually happened, I feel like that is the best way to show it in the article. So we say Aphex Twin is electronic music, because that's where the history, ideas, influences, and music come from. Then we say that the fans on the internet IDM list made the IDM name popular to describe it all, and that goes in the third party influences section, because they are a third party who created that stuff.

Quoth

(Quoth) should redirect to the "Singles" section of the "(Surfing On Sine Waves)" article, unless anyone thinks there's enough info available about it to warrant a full article.

Advertising

There are about 20 too many mentions of FUTURE MUSIC MAGAZINE in this article. Please stop advertising. Recury 16:33, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

What else are we supposed to call it?

You aren't supposed to mention it in the article itself. So like instead of "When asked by Future Music in 2006 who he currently admired musically, he responded..." you should say "He has said that the artists he admires musically are..." and then put the article as a source. Recury 19:59, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Ya dude, that's cool. You rewrite it.User:Joyrex

Perhaps you could draft a suitable rewrite? I agree with what you're saying, but you probably have a better idea of how the article should be expressed than I do.

Yeah, I was planning to. Just don't add it back once I do it is all I'm saying. Recury 20:29, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

IDM musicians

Why did you remove Aphex Twin from the IDM musicians category? Recury 16:25, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Selected ambient works: Ambient Techno, Selected Ambient Works 2: Ambient, I care because you do: Ambient Techno, Richard D. James album: Drum and Bass/Drill and Bass, Drukqs: Prepared Piano/Drill and Bass, Chosen Lords: Acid House. With those albums listed, it should be obvious! Newsnight Watcher 16:59, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Of course he has made many different types of music but it is generally agreed that he is one of the major figures in the IDM genre along Autechre, Boards of Canada, Squarepusher, etc. Also I would argue with much of your categorization, for instance I wouldn't say ICBYD is ambient techno by any stretch and I would say Drill and Bass is a subgenre or at least overlaps heavily with IDM. Recury 17:27, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

What the hell is IDM? Newsnight Watcher 17:29, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

If you don't know, you shouldnt be removing him from the category. Recury 17:31, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, what the hell is IDM? It was invented by the IDM list to categorise Rephlex Records songs. What is drill and bass? A genre name made by fans to describe Aphex Twin's take on drum and bass. If we're going to describe Richard D. James album, drill and bass is accurate, popular, and perfect really, how the heck is that a subgenre of IDM? In reality it's a subgenre of Drum and Bass. Newsnight Watcher 17:29, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

The question is not whether or not he is drill and bass, but whether or not he is IDM. There are plenty of published sources that say that he is, so your opinion doesn't really matter all that much here, I'm afraid. Recury 17:40, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Where? Where are those sources? I have never seen Aphex Twin quoted as an IDM musician in any respected published music magazine or newspaper source. Please show those sources to me. Newsnight Watcher 17:41, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

You really haven't? Well, here's one, here's another, allmusic lists him as one, and, hell, he's in the lead paragraph of the Wikipedia article on IDM. I'm sure there are dozens more if you feel like looking. Recury 17:49, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Although All Music is highly respected and can't be faulted, those other two articles are bullshit. Show me some decent print sources. Newsnight Watcher 17:53, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

No, that's plenty. Adding the category back. Recury 18:04, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Dude, those two sources are online and they are wrong too. That allmusic site also lists Aphex Twin as trance. You've gotta be joking! Give me a real fucking source, such as from NME, The Wire, Melody Maker, or Rolling Stone. Newsnight Watcher 18:07, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

The first time I saw Aphex Twin on MTV, it was 1991/92, I can't remember now the name of the song, but I recorded it on a VHS tape and I still have here. I suddenly compared him to Kraftwerk, and I found it very strange that MTV was broadcasting such pure electronic music with no danceable rhythms. Those days, the Orb and Aphex Twin were referred to as electronic music, electronic dance music, techno and ambient techno, some works by AT were jungle (a term that is still used in Germany, see www.laud.de). The words IDM and electronica appeared on the web many years later, and I honestly have never heard of them in the real world; I don't live in UK, though I'm (or I have been) familiar with people from every corner of the world.Dr. Who 02:23, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

IDM was originally created for the rephlex records. Rephlex records is practically just aphex twin. It think it's the ultrimate to describe Aphex Twin. IDM can be any thing from Acid House TO Drum and Bass. Sure it wasn't the first genre to describe, but it's easier to say IDM then, to list 10 diffren't grenres. IDM is an evolved genre title, and is far more effecient. When you hear the term "Electronic" you usually think of cheesey techno stuff, and more formatic groups like Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk. so IDM is the "Intelligent" side of Electronic, in my personal view. This can be further debated, but I baleave that the fact that Richard pretty much created the idealism of IDM that he should be quallified as so. SamWhite 03:42, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

artists influenced by aphx twin

87.203.73.42 00:41, 18 August 2006 (UTC)kost

majority of DnB artists, shpongle(and alikes). discuss, please!

Infobox

I've updated the infobox. There is no need to list every genre and subgenre that he has explored, becouse a complete list should include almost everything related to electronic music, that is a really huge list.--Dr. Who 22:37, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

Well, the list of genres pretty accurately describes the music of Aphex Twin's career. It's pretty accurate, isn't it? The list doesn't need to become any bigger than about 8 genres because everything is covered by Electronic Music. I think it's great to show that Aphex Twin makes noise music as well as electronic music. The list is long because Aphex Twin worked in all those genres. The list doesn't need to become bigger again, but having it like this shows the reader more of the colour of Aphex Twin's palette than he'd see otherwise.Newsnight Watcher 08:33, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

The list is too long, no other musician on Wikipedia has such huge list, it's like saying that Pink Floyd's genres are:Psychedelic rock, symphonic rock, music concrete, noise, electronic (art) music, progressive rock, hard rock, folk ballads, that is true, but the term progressive rock is enough. Anyway, I'll change ambient with Ambient music, becouse he explored both the pure drumless Ambient Music (the Eno style) and the more recent Ambient house and Ambient Techno. The Ambient page should be a disambiguation one, given that the word itself has so many meanings to different people and contexts, even outside music. The word IDM is meaningless, it's a sort of hyperonym that will to encompass all the above genres, so it's not really needed. Prepared piano is not a genre, it's a technique used in many different Contemporary classical music and Avantgarde music contexts. Oh, I forgot to mention that Mr Aphex Twin has so many fans and listeners that really do not care about the obsessions that many Wikipedians have with regard to classifying information, facts and people.Dr. Who 13:27, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Aphex Twin worked in very seperate genres, and it's good to note them all down. It's wrong to compare him to a rock band or another musician as he is not exactly the same as them, we should just treat him on what he does rather than compare him to rock bands. You are dead right about prepared piano. I agree that only wikipedians care about a tiny little genre name list, that's why it's good that we get it right, because we're the ones geeky enough to care enough to correct it! P.S. I personally like the genre list right now. Newsnight Watcher 19:59, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

There is no problem in mentioning al the subgenres of Electronic Music, electronic dance music and so on along the article and/or the discography. I just believe that it's useless if those are listed in the infobox (I would list just one, maybe 2 or 3, not 5 or 8!); and beside useless, it makes the page and the infobox more difficult to read. The infobox should represent information so that you can fully watch and read it in less than 1 second. With regard to my VHS tape reporting a video by Aphex Twin on MTV Europe in early 1990s, I do not have the right videocard for uploading, I am very sorry. I would be pleased that someone else aged about 38/42 would help such articles, but I sadly realized that people of my generation are not great Wikipedians, they seem too busy with work, and in many cases they come here, stay for a while and then leave becouse they do not want to have nothing to do with younger people. Too bad.Dr. Who 02:13, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Sources, here!

Lots of sources here, many thanks to whoever added this link: [1]

One of the earliest sources on Aphex Twin, ooh nice: [2]

Please add any other great sources here as they will help us greatly in improving this article.Newsnight Watcher 09:57, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

There is nothing regarding the so called IDM here. Dr. Who 13:55, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Hi there. The point of posting sources in this little section is so that editors have some reliable information with which to edit the article. I'm a bit confused by your response. Please if you find any great sources about Aphex Twin but you feel you don't have the time to make edits then please post those sources here. We have some good sources for the biography section and so on. If anyone has any more, please add them here. This sources section has nothing to do with genre names. Thanks. Good luck! Newsnight Watcher 19:49, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Again on genres

IDM, beside having been a term that some journalists sometimes used in a metaphoric way, is only the product of some stupid people that are trolling the whole web. You do not need to be a scientist to fuck Google, it is named Google bombing. And by the way, I suspect that many Wikipedians are almost crazy , beside being very rich and with no real problems in the real world, becouse there is no such a thing like hundreds of music genres in the real world. Music genres are not more than a couple of dozens, in the worst case, in the best case are less than 10. Many of you would need a doctor [yes, Doctor Who ;P ]Dr. Who 13:55, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Before reverting again, take a breath and go to Prepared piano: it's a technique, and I moved it in the instruments section, not a genre.Dr. Who 14:46, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

I see that someone still insists that Aphex Twin doesn't have nothing to do with Ambient Music, Electronic Music, Instrumental music (a term that sounds better than new age or similar). IDM is WP:OR, indeed the term was coined by some groups of fans and the article itself explains that Richard D. James doesn't take it seriously, indeed he laughs at it; the point is that, according to critical reasoning, there is no proof that IDM is a term that describes a genre in a way that no other word can describe or address. It is obvious that every artist has his/her own style, that doesn't mean that we can maintain an Encyclopedia with a different genre for each artist. Fanatism sometimes is funny, sometimes is boring.Dr. Who 02:17, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

Don't expect too many more responses from me on this, because I don't take your position very seriously. You may not think that IDM is a legitimate genre, but plenty of published writers do and that is all that matters here. You obviously do not understand WP:OR very well if you think that a genre that has been used by dozens of legitimate publications is OR, and perhaps you should take a good hard read of WP:V which explains the whole "verifiability, not truth" thing. Recury 15:53, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

As you can see from previous talks (above), I'm not the only guy that has to "complain" about the abuse of the term IDM. I'm arguing that it should not be put in the infobox, that's all, but of course it has to be covered in the page. From the point of view of a music theorist, IDM is a meaningless word; is music theory still important, or you are going to tell me that journalists can teach music?

Unless your opinion has been published in reliable publications, then no, it doesn't matter. It's Wikipedia's rule, not mine. Recury 23:50, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

Indeed due to its open "source-ness" the web is not a reputable and reliable source of information. Honestly, I believe that 99 % of the web content is trash. There is no serious magazine, such as Sound on Sound, Q Magazine or Rolling Stone that support or emmphasize the use of IDM. By the way, if you put IDM in the infobox, then all the other genres have to be deleted from there, becouse IDM is also an umbrella term encompassing a number of different things.Dr. Who 03:44, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

Recury, it's not nice to see that you still haven't given a reliable print source from a respected publication for your assertion that IDM is actually a genre of music and that Aphex Twin makes his music in that genre. There is no source for it because it's false and just your opinion. Deleting the ambient music genre from the infobox is laughable, especially as two of Aphex Twin's albums are called Selected Ambient Works Why delete Electronic Music from the genre name list? You know Aphex Twin is totally influenced by Electronic Music, right? You know he makes Electronic Music. You know he made his own equipment from his knowledge in Electronics? Newsnight Watcher 06:44, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

Again, your belief that 99% of the web is trash doesn't matter one bit, as Wikipedia accepts as reliable many types of websites and the ones I've listed fall well within that. Other reasons I won't be giving print sources are 1) I don't read any magazines, and therefore don't have any to give 2) as I've said, I don't need to since the ones I gave before were fine and 3) to help you guys learn about the policies of this site so that maybe one day you will stop being disruptive and start actually being helpful. Recury 14:11, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

I know the policies. I'm not breaking them. You must provide a good source to back up what you're saying. Because you haven't, you'll have to wait until somebody else does it for you. The point of having sources is so we can check to see if it's incorrect or not. Recury, I don't understand why you insist on having an unverifiable genre name in the infobox considering that there are perfect verifiable genre names that represent Aphex Twin's work and descriptions of his work from various print magazines such as Rolling Stone. Considering that Aphex Twin has never made an IDM genre record, I can't understand your position at all. The genre list is for genres that Aphex Twin has worked in and released albums in. Like, it's supposed to show the reader what style of music Aphex Twin has made and stuff. Recury, we are being bold by stating Aphex Twin's musical genres, please be helpful and stop replacing the verifiable genre names used by magazines with unverifiable names invented by internet fanboys. Newsnight Watcher 14:49, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

When I mentioned that "99 % (arguably) of thrash" I was referring to the number of not-relevant-to-the-sought-subject results that almost every search engine returns after any query. So we ask Google: how many pages on the web include the word IDM?, but I'm sure that none will ever check every page, so we get faked and unuseful results.Dr. Who 00:21, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't want to revert again because of the 3rr rule and the edit war smell is getting worse. Recury, please stop it. Stop it. Newsnight Watcher 08:37, 29 August 2006 (UTC)