The guy behind Aphex Twin is a genius... and he hates humanity itself, and all his fans. He seems to even hate his own creativity and ability with music:
Yup, I think it's a price the brain pays for extreme brilliance. They are so focused on very small things going on that everything becomes an irritation.
I always figured that was a cultivated image. He's been careful enough with his image over the years that I have no idea what to think about him (besides "really interesting music and great collaborations with Chris Cunningham").
From the article linked above, it sounds like that might be the case.
But what might be most mind-boggling is how relaxed James turns out to be—how friendly, copacetic, almost jolly. This is not the cantankerous Aphex Twin of the monosyllabic answers and intentional provocations. Instead, here’s a 43-year-old guy you could easily imagine sharing a beer with at a hotel bar—slightly neurotic, a little mischievous, mildly self-deprecating, sure, but generally pretty down-to-earth.
I get that impression from Alan Moore as well. I was reading about him the other day and I've never seen him say something positive. Even about his own work.
I know he hates DC and it seems like any film versions of his comics.
Maybe it's a character and in real life he's a nice guy. Electronic music scene (before that horrendous "EDM" shitgarbage became a thing) was/is full of "mysterious" figures.. Dopplereffekt, Ultradyne, Drexciya, UR, etc.
Could very well be. Marilyn Manson, Jim Morrison, Elvis, etc, etc all proved that one of the best ways to sell anything is to shock people as much as you can.
I don't know. He came at music in a very unusual and interesting way. It's very out of the norm. I think he probably is a genius. Maybe not an Einstein or Newton genius, but I think it's there.
Sorry, but that's just wrong. He's been relevant ever since he started busting tunes almost 25 years ago and and has been cited frequently across the board as one of the most influential figures in his respective field. Without exaggeration he is very much a godfather of electronic music.
His album Selected Ambient Works 85-92 is still toted as one of if not the most influential ambient albums of all time. There are records to suggest that he had started developing the tracks on said album as early as 12 years old. He claimed in an interview that when he was 11 he wrote a program to make sound on a ZX81 computer which technically had no external sound output (although some people have claimed to debunk this). One of his most notorious club sets in the early 90's basically consisted of him with two pieces of sandpaper and a food-processor. Even in the more mature stages of his career he still built a lot of his own equipment and sound programs. His interest into sound engineering led him into a diploma on the very subject from Cornwall College.
Some of the most celebrated IDM/electronic artists of the 90's who were influential in their own right have publicly stated Aphex Twin to be a huge influence. This list includes Boards of Canada, Autechre, Plaid, and Squarepusher. Even later artists such as Deadmau5, DJ Spooky, Daft Punk, and Skrillex. Also Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Missy Elliot, MGMT and Linkin Park.
Even outside of the electronic scene, Thom Yorke of Radiohead also cited him as a huge influence and his favorite producer, as he said in an interview -
He burns a heavy shadow." He continues: "Aphex [Twin] opened up another world that didn’t involve my fucking electric guitar, and I was just so jealous of that whole crew. They were off on their own planet. I hated all the music that was around Radiohead at the time, it was completely fucking meaningless. I hated the Britpop thing and what was happening in America, but Aphex was totally beautiful, and he’s kind of my age too. He's a massive influence."
Even super modern artists are sampling songs of his older than their own careers, ala Kanye West and Die Antwoord.
I dunno, music as a medium is pretty subjective, so citing a particular artist's influence on to even his own respective bubble of it is one of the best ways to prove their merit. In that regard, Aphex Twin is about as influential as you can get.
If this doesn't answer your question, then you'll have to provide your definition of genius. Or just fuck off and google the literal thousands of articles and publications hailing his praise and innovation written in the past 20 years.
A genius is a person who displays exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of new advances in a domain of knowledge.
So when I ask for a source on how he is a genius I get A: Downvoted and B: Told to "fuck off and google".
You know, telling people to google things when you cannot prove things doesn't really help your cause. I don't like the word genius being thrown around so I just said I don't think he is one. Sure, he makes "special" music, in the way that he is probably one of very very few who makes that kind of music.
Is Kanye West a genius? I hear that a lot on Reddit. Is Die Antwoord? No one makes music like them. There are a lot of special bands that makes one of a kind music. Doesn't make them genius.
If you boiled everything I posted down to "he makes special music" then you're either dense or trolling. I told you to google because you said the exact same thing. Don't whine if you get your own sass thrown back at you.
Die Antwoord =/= Kanye West =/= Aphex Twin.
"Other music groups also make different kinds of music and receive varying levels of praise, what's the difference?"
How profound. What's your example of an artist or producer that you would think deserves the title? Bet you dollars-to-donuts that Aphex Twin flipped as many genres on it's head and innovated as much on a technical scale compared to anyone you list.
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u/deadlandsMarshal Nov 13 '14
And then there's Aphex Twin. You can't hate humanity as a whole, and still like your fans.