Aphex Twin

Radiohead Secretly Hid an Old App in the Anniversary Edition of OK Computer

“Old” is a very relative term when talking about computer history. By the looks of it, however, Radiohead hid a computer program on the tape that comes with the 20th anniversary edition of OK Computer, and making it work feels like time travel. That’s because you’ll need an ‘80s-era, 8-bit British computer, the ZX Spectrum,…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Jul 13

Aphex Twin’s First New Song in Almost 15 Years Is Sick

I learned to love Aphex Twin in college, not too long after Drukqs melted everyone’s ears off. It’s been a decade and a half since then. I’m getting older. Aphex Twin appears to be getting younger. “Minipops 67 [120.2][source field mix]” is the first song to be released off ofAphex Twin’s new album, Syro, and…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Sep 5

Aphex Twin Is Teasing His New Album on the Deep Web

It’s been 13 years since Aphex Twin released his last album, Drukqs, and fans have been foaming at the mouth for the next installment of the Richard D. James saga. On Monday morning, Aphex Twin taunted those fans in truly nerdy, fairly tantalizing fashion, by pointing them to the deep web. In a tweet, Aphex…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Aug 18

Two Disquiet Nights in Portland: May 7 + 8

I’m excited to travel to one of my favorite cities later this week. I get in on May 7, Wednesday, in time for a Disquiet Junto concert we’re having at Townshend’s Tea (2223 NE Alberta St), and then on Thursday I’ll be reading from my recent 33 1/3 book on Aphex Twin’s album Selected Ambient…

Tech News Marc Weidenbaum May 6

How Aphex Twin Fans Discovered—And Released—A Lost Album

Disquiet’s Marc Weidenbaum caught up with Joyrex, who recently helped lead the way in discovering—and releasing—a lost Aphex Twin album from the 1990s. Available commercially now for the first time ever, the album was produced the same year as Selected Ambient Works Vol. II. In this interview, Joyrex discusses the album and the challenge of…

Tech News Geoff Manaugh Apr 11

The Virtuous Circle of Aphex Twin Fandom

An interview with Joyrex, whose WATMM forum rescued a lost Richard D. James album from 20 years ago. Last month, March 2014, marked the 20th anniversary of the release of the landmark 1994 Aphex Twin album Selected Ambient Works Volume II. I wrote a book, also out last month, about that album, as part of…

Tech News Marc Weidenbaum Apr 11

Remembering Kurt Cobain (Feb. 20, 1967 – Apr. 5, 1994)

Grunge, drones, and fame: This is the last paragraph of the third chapter of my recently published 33 1/3 book Selected Ambient Works Volume II, about the Aphex Twin album by that name released by the labels Warp and Sire 20 years ago last month. Today marks the 20th anniversary of the death of Nirvana’s…

Tech News Marc Weidenbaum Apr 5

Packed House for Aphex Twin 33 1/3 Reading

Shot at City Lights in San Francisco last night:

Tech News Marc Weidenbaum Mar 21

The View for the City Lights Staff Bathroom

Shot just before my Aphex Twin 33 1/3 book reading last night:

Tech News Marc Weidenbaum Mar 21

Don’t Drop Your Laptop in the Toilet

Nothing may inspire music-making quite like the fear of dropping one’s laptop in the toilet. Earlier this month I had the welcome opportunity to give a guest talk at the music department at Santa Clara University, not far south of San Francisco, where I live. It was the latest in a series of guest talks…

Tech News Marc Weidenbaum Mar 20

Yapping in Detail About Ambiguity — Aphex Twin

Major thanks to Geoff Manaugh for having conducted this interview with me on the occasion of my new book, Selected Ambient Works Volume II, part of the great 33 1/3 series. The subject of the book is the 1994 album by Aphex Twin with which it shares its title.

Tech News Marc Weidenbaum Mar 14

Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II Turns 20

Bay Area sound critic Marc Weidenbaum—acoustic historian, noise futurist, music instructor, and writer of a brand new book about Aphex Twin—has been blogging about music, electronics, and everyday sounds at his blog Disquiet here at Gizmodo for the last few months. But his writing and music career both go back nearly two decades, and can…

Tech News Geoff Manaugh Mar 14

Aphex Twin SAW2 Countdown: Track 1 (“Cliffs”)

And this marks the final entry in the track-by-track reverse countdown to the release, on February 13, 2014, the day prior to Valentine’s Day, of my book in the estimable 33 1/3 series. It is a love letter to Aphex Twin’s album Selected Ambient Works Volume II, which will mark its 20th anniversary this year,…

Tech News Marc Weidenbaum Feb 14