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Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin speaks to Tatsuya Takahashi (2017)

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Re: Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin speaks to Tatsuya Takahashi (2017)

#51

Post by bigyabai »

brcmthrowaway wrote: post #18
spacechild1 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is indeed a very technical and nerdy person. For example, he was an early adopter of the SuperCollider audio programming language. Fun trivia: he was trolling the SuperCollider mailing list under the alias "eric hard jams" which is an anagram of Richard [D.] James. Some of his messages were truely horrendous and he got kicked out eventually. He is quite a character...

Has anyone used SuperCollider or computer music framework to make anything resembling a pop song? Look at how easily a producer can make a pop song in Ableton https://youtube.com/watch?v=F5CPQ8LU36w

Ableton includes a fairly comprehensive SDK called Max for Live, it's been used in a handful of popular tracks before.

Pure algomusic/tracker setups are usually a poor fit for pop music, though. DAWs have indispensable tools for vocal processing that you cannot forego most of the time.

Re: Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin speaks to Tatsuya Takahashi (2017)

#52

Post by poisonarena »

maccard wrote: post #50
poisonarena wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, been this way for 30 years, and significant amount of effort by him and warp have been adding to cult of his mystique(actually many electronic music artists in the 90s/early 2000s). He is one of the last popular electronic musicians younger generations of "#DAWLESS" guys like now because he kept up that mystique which is basically impossible to have now in the current social media era. I remember buying some…

> I often wonder what its like to been born in 2010 and never experiencing this. It’s always amusing to see these cycles continue. If his music is indeed as good as you claim it will still be listened to - just as so much of the best music of the last 75 years is. People have been lamenting the loss of the thing they felt was their transformative experince, and each generation keeps finding a new generation defining…

Thats actually not what I meant. I meant the experience of owning music on cd's/records/tapes. This cant really be experienced anymore since every song ever released can be immediately streamed. Sure you can buy vinyl or cd's at shows but it isnt the same because back then it was radio or buy/own the stuff

And my other point was how lots of electronic musicians seemed so distant and mysterious because they weren't livestreaming and and social media that made them/their personality/tweets etc available.

as for AFX, I think like one in 15 of his songs are amazing, the rest is just noise/filler

Re: Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin speaks to Tatsuya Takahashi (2017)

#53

Post by lomase »

gilleain wrote: post #40
tea_cult_1 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A different opinion about their music is that it all seems rather ostentatious in an aural sense, and leaves a doubt if some of the praise being heaped on it is 'perfomative'.

Uhm. If I understand correctly, you are saying that some people are pretending to like his music because it is over the top and showy rather than actually good or enjoyable? While it is possible these fake enjoyers exist, I'm fairly certain a lot of fans of Mr Twin's work like it in a straightforward sense of most music appreciation. Personally, 'Vordhosbn', 'Windowlicker', 'Rhubarb'... etc are all great tracks. Are…

Even some AFX fans have the opinion that the stuff on Drukqs is "style over substance".

Re: Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin speaks to Tatsuya Takahashi (2017)

#54

Post by [deleted] »

shimman wrote: post #29
mft_ wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not in vogue these days, but rather than forgiving, we can compartmentalise and rationalise. Being a bad person in one domain doesn't mean that someone can't generate value in another.

Why are you putting "value" above human decency? Maybe you shouldn't be considered to generate any "value" if you put misery on others, how can any "value" make up for the direct suffering? There are plenty people just the same, with the same capabilities without the quality of being a tarpit of suck.

[deleted]

Re: Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin speaks to Tatsuya Takahashi (2017)

#55

Post by bondarchuk »

brcmthrowaway wrote: post #18
spacechild1 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is indeed a very technical and nerdy person. For example, he was an early adopter of the SuperCollider audio programming language. Fun trivia: he was trolling the SuperCollider mailing list under the alias "eric hard jams" which is an anagram of Richard [D.] James. Some of his messages were truely horrendous and he got kicked out eventually. He is quite a character...

Has anyone used SuperCollider or computer music framework to make anything resembling a pop song? Look at how easily a producer can make a pop song in Ableton https://youtube.com/watch?v=F5CPQ8LU36w

Yeah BT lol.

Re: Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin speaks to Tatsuya Takahashi (2017)

#56

Post by bondarchuk »

publicdebates wrote: post #16
spacechild1 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is indeed a very technical and nerdy person. For example, he was an early adopter of the SuperCollider audio programming language. Fun trivia: he was trolling the SuperCollider mailing list under the alias "eric hard jams" which is an anagram of Richard [D.] James. Some of his messages were truely horrendous and he got kicked out eventually. He is quite a character...

Was it confirmed that eric hard jams was actually him? How strange it is that we so easily forgive bad behavior from people we love.

>Was it confirmed that eric hard jams was actually him?

Nope. By then RDJ (the actual person) was of course known for using anagrams so it would be an obvious thing to do for any troll.

Re: Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin speaks to Tatsuya Takahashi (2017)

#57

Post by bondarchuk »

Mistletoe wrote: post #37
spacechild1 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is indeed a very technical and nerdy person. For example, he was an early adopter of the SuperCollider audio programming language. Fun trivia: he was trolling the SuperCollider mailing list under the alias "eric hard jams" which is an anagram of Richard [D.] James. Some of his messages were truely horrendous and he got kicked out eventually. He is quite a character...

Can you link to the horrendous messages or summarize them?

http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n223

http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n224

http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n225

http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n226

http://www.audiosynth.com/files/sc-users-archive/v01.n227

(note I am not personally claiming this is RDJ)

Re: Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin speaks to Tatsuya Takahashi (2017)

#58

Post by sneak »

bigyabai wrote: post #49
shimman wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you putting "value" above human decency? Maybe you shouldn't be considered to generate any "value" if you put misery on others, how can any "value" make up for the direct suffering? There are plenty people just the same, with the same capabilities without the quality of being a tarpit of suck.

A lot of James' discography is predicated on making other people suffer. The album art is offputting, the track listings are usually cluttered and useless, his music videos are scary and confusing, random tracks are designed to torture you (eg. Ventolin ), and half of his music is released under unrelated aliases. If you're not familiar with Aphex Twin, it's hard to understand that this hatred does nothing to inhibit…

Just because art is challenging and unpredictable doesn’t mean it’s interned to make you suffer.

Is Giger’s art created to cause suffering? How about Beksiński’s paintings? The emotions they invoke are not happiness or joy, but neither are they purely dread or loathing.

Aesthetic pursuit isn’t solely (or even primarily) about the emotions it conjures in the consumer.

Remember: the customer is always right in matters of taste.

Re: Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin speaks to Tatsuya Takahashi (2017)

#59

Post by bondarchuk »

tea_cult_1 wrote: post #26
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #7

The depth of knowledge of Richard James surprises me every time I come across articles about him. No wonder Aphex Twin's music stands out the way it does. He's always a fair way ahead of the curve.

A different opinion about their music is that it all seems rather ostentatious in an aural sense, and leaves a doubt if some of the praise being heaped on it is 'perfomative'.

"I don't like it, therefore everyone else who likes it must be only pretending"

Re: Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin speaks to Tatsuya Takahashi (2017)

#60

Post by 2b3a51 »

publicdebates wrote: post #14

Tangential: "Aisatsana - Aphex Twin - Barbican, London 10th October 2012. It's a bit dark so it's probably difficult to tell but that's a grand piano being swung back and forth across the stage like a pendulum." "Yeah, it's written for my wife. When I first did that, I did this installation-y art thing at the Barbican with a remote orchestra. [The song] was made on my Disklavier [controlled piano], which was swung fr…

Stage is quite wide so doppler shift could be in the semi-tones range depending on microphone placement. Estimating the shift at around 3% from that video. The piano is standing on a platform that is itself on the hoist so I'd be surprised if there was much frame bending.
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