Aphex Twin, alias Richard David James, is a British musician and producer. In 2001 he was described by the British newspaper, The Guardian, as the most inventive and influential musician in contemporary electronic music.
Richard grew up in 1971 in Ireland. He grew up with his sisters in Cornwall where he could do as he pleases. As a child he experimented with the strings and hammers of the family piano. At the age of 12 he already started producing music. As a teenager he started DJing with Tom Middleton at the Bowgie Inn in Crantock.
In 1991, James co-founded the record label Rephlex Records with Grant Wilson-Claridge. He met Grant in 1989 while they were DJing at the Bowgie Inn. In 1992 Aphex Twin had a big hit in their own country with the song Digeridoo. The song is still popular at raves. In the same year he released his debut album 'Selected Ambient Works 85-92', which focused more on the 'ambient sound' and less on beats.
In 1995 James started producing on computers and moved more towards drum n bass in the mix with acid lines. In the late 1990s, his music became more popular with the song 'Come to Daddy' and 'Windowlicker' with its accompanying video clips.
In addition to a campaign he set up via kickstarter in 2014, it turned out to be a harbinger of new work. Shortly after some mysterious appearances of the Aphex Twin logo in London and New York, record label WARP announced the release of Syro, its first official album since 2001's Drukqs.
