Aphex Twin

Born in Limerick, Ireland in 1971 and raised in Cornwall, Richard D. James, under the name Aphex Twin, has developed a central body of British electronic music since the late 1980s. Initially active in free parties and clubs in the southwest of England, he emerged in the early 1990s with the Analogue Bubblebath EP and then Selected Ambient Works 85-92 in 1992, a record that laid the foundations of a language blending ambient, techno, acid, breakbeats and melodic experimentation. Co-founder of the Rephlex label with Grant Wilson-Claridge, Aphex Twin subsequently multiplies pseudonyms, including AFX, Polygon Window, Caustic Window and The Tuss, to explore parallel formats and directions. His albums Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994), ...I Care Because You Do (1995), Richard D. James Album (1996), Drukqs (2001) and then Syro (2014) show an ever-moving writing, between contemplative pads, fractured rhythms, prepared piano, jungle and drill’n’bass. Aphex Twin also marked the 1990s with visual collaborations with Chris Cunningham around Come to Daddy and Windowlicker, which helped broaden his visibility beyond electronic scenes. Less prolific on disc during the 2000s, he remained present through his series of EPs, releases under aliases and festival performances, before regularly returning to the stage and with new projects such as Cheetah in 2016, Collapse in 2018 and Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / In a Room7 F760 in 2023.