Richard D. James Album

7.9	Rating (73 ratings)

Add to favorites

Edit page

Buy at Amazon

Performed by

Aphex Twin

Lists

39 votes

100 Greatest Electronic Albums (100 items)
list by spiegel

Published 14 years, 8 months ago

4 comments

37 votes

album of the year (1957-2018) (61 items)
list by blue_skies

Published 12 years, 10 months ago

5 comments

37 votes

All Time Favorite Albums (188 items)
list by Andrew

Published 11 years ago

3 comments

20 votes

Top Albums Of The Ninties (280 items)
list by Pandoras Folly

Published 11 years, 6 months ago

1 comment

18 votes

My Favorite Album Covers (26 items)
list by Mr. Walker

Published 7 years, 3 months ago

1 comment

View all Richard D. James Album lists (5 more)

Pictures

View all Richard D. James Album pictures (1 more)

Description: If techno ever does become the sound of young America, don't expect Richard James to be its poster boy, deserving though he may be. A native of Cornwall, England, James is obsessed with the mechanics of music making: As a kid, he took apart and reassembled the living room piano. Under the names Aphex Twin, Polygon Window, AFX, and other aliases too numerous to mention, he showed that he could make entire tracks with the sounds produced by tapping on a Coke can. Like the indie rockers of yore, he revels in his marginality because of the creative freedom it gives him. His full-length U.S. debut, Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1 If techno ever does become the sound of young America, don't expect Richard James to be its poster boy, deserving though he may be. A native of Cornwall, England, James is obsessed with the mechanics of music making: As a kid, he took apart and reassembled the living room piano. Under the names Aphex Twin, Polygon Window, AFX, and other aliases too numerous to mention, he showed that he could make entire tracks with the sounds produced by tapping on a Coke can. Like the indie rockers of yore, he revels in his marginality because of the creative freedom it gives him. His full-length U.S. debut, Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994), includes some of the most serene sounds this side of the Orb, but his favorite hobby is the not-at-all-blissful pastime of driving a Daimler Ferret Mark 3 tank through his parents' backyard.
None of his recordings have captured the competing impulses to lull you to sleep and blast out your eardrums as well as Richard D. James, his third and best album. As the title indicates, James has turned inward for inspiration, painting aural pictures of real and imagined scenes from his west country childhood. "Goongumpas" is a fanciful, playful tune that wouldn't sound out of place on the soundtrack to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. As his adventures with the family upright indicate, James was a bit of a devil even as a child. "Beetles" is the sound of a boy frying bugs on the sidewalk with a magnifying glass, and "To Cure a Weakling Child" shows flashes of the sort of sadism found only on preschool playgrounds. If you still doubt that young Richard developed early on, the romantic Nino Rota-style strings on "Girl/Boy Song" are just made for passionate seductions, and the tune appears in three mixes, each one hot and hornier than the one before.

The raucous undercurrents of even his calmest tunes and the sources of many of his most common sounds are what link James to the rock tradition. With Richard D. James, the artist solidifies his position as an electronic music mastermind who has earned a spot beside such well-respected innovators--whether or not he's destined for stardom. --Jim Derogatis (Review copyright Amazon.co.uk)

Tracklisting:
1. 4 (3:36)
2. Cornish Acid (2:14)
3. Peek 824545201 (3:05)
4. Fingerbib (3:48)
5. Corn Mouth (2:33)
6. To Cure A Weakling Child (4:03)
7. Goon Gumpas (2:02)
8. Yellow Calx (3:02)
9. Girl/Boy Song (4:47)
10. Logon-Rock Witch (3:32)
11. Milkman (4:09)
12. Inkey$ (1:24)
13. Girl/Boy (£18 Snare Rush Mix) (1:57)
14. Beetles (1:31)
15. Girl/Boy (Redruth Mix) (1:37) ... (more)

Manufacturer: Warp Records
Release date: 4 November 1996
EAN: 0075596201025 UPC: 075596201025

Tags: Electronic (5), 1996 (3), Idm (3), Electronica (2), UK (1), English (1), Cd (1), Experimental (1), Jungle (1), Mark (1), Acid (1), Richard D. James (1)

My tags:

Add tags

Update feed

CD Smiles added this to a list 4 months ago

Albums Heard in 2022 (Part 3) (70 music items)

"October 3rd"

rollcallaction added this to a list 2 years ago

The 500 Essential House/Club/Electro Albums (216 music items)

Brandon Carreon added this to a list 2 years, 4 months ago

Plan to Hear: Music Albums (55 music items)

Listened to
Condition
Added date
Private notes Only visible to you
or cancel