Richard D. James

Timeline by topic

Topics follow the event kinds supplied in this index. Each entry links to its full record in the chronological timeline. Dates retain the precision supplied by the publisher.

Timeline

1. 1971-08-18Born Richard David James in Limerick, Irelandbirth

   Raised in Cornwall, England, around Lanner and Redruth.

   [2][1]
2. 1989DJing Cornish clubs and beachesroleCornwall, UK

   Built a cult following DJing at the Bowgie Inn, the Shire Horse Inn, and Cornish beach parties, already playing his own tapes; Grant Wilson-Claridge heard him and suggested pressing records.

   [4][3]
3. 1991Co-founds Rephlex RecordsfoundedRephlex Records

   With Grant Wilson-Claridge in Cornwall; the label coined 'braindance' and later moved to London.

   [4]
4. 1991-09Analogue Bubblebath EP on Mighty Forcepublication

   His first release, a 12-inch EP picked up by Kiss FM.

   [3]
5. 1992-11-09Selected Ambient Works 85–92publication

   Debut album on Apollo (R&S), cassette-recorded material billed as dating to 1985; later named FACT's greatest album of the 1990s.

   [3]
6. 1993Surfing on Sine Waves as Polygon WindowpublicationWarp Records

   His first release on Warp, part of the Artificial Intelligence era.

   [2]
7. 1994Caustic Window LP aborted at test-pressing stageprojectRephlex Records

   The planned Rephlex album was shelved; a handful of test pressings became a two-decade collector legend.

   [30][19]
8. 1994-03Selected Ambient Works Volume IIpublicationWarp Records

   His first Aphex Twin album for Warp — beatless, brooding double album.

   [2][17]
9. 1995...I Care Because You DopublicationWarp Records[2]
10. 1996Richard D. James AlbumpublicationWarp Records

    Warp album folding jungle and drill-and-bass into his palette.

    [2]
11. 1997-10Come to Daddy EP and Chris Cunningham videopublicationWarp Records

    The Cunningham-directed video — child gangs with James's face — became one of the most famous music videos of the decade.

    [15][2]
12. 1999-03-22Windowlicker single and videopublicationWarp Records

    Cunningham's ten-minute gangsta-rap parody video was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Video.

    [6][16]
13. 2001-10DrukqspublicationWarp Records

    Thirty-track double album on Warp — his last Aphex Twin album for thirteen years.

    [23][2]
14. 2005Analord series as AFXprojectRephlex Records

    Forty-one tracks across eleven vinyl releases sold through Rephlex, condensed to a CD compendium.

    [26]
15. 2005-06-20Rubber Johnny releasedmedia

    Chris Cunningham's night-vision short film scored with James's Drukqs-era music, released on DVD by Warp.

    [7]
16. 2007The Tuss releases on RephlexpublicationRephlex Records

    Confederation Trough EP and Rushup Edge LP credited to the invented Brian and Karen Tregaskin; James's authorship confirmed a decade later.

    [5]
17. 2014Rephlex Records closesmilestoneRephlex Records[4]
18. 2014Caustic Window released via Kickstartermilestone

    A WATMM-run crowdfunding raised $67,424 to buy the test pressing; backers received the first licensed digital copies, and the vinyl was resold on eBay.

    [19][31]
19. 2014-08-18Syro announced via Tor on his 43rd birthdaymedia

    A tweet from his dormant account pointed to an .onion page with the title and tracklist, following a blimp over London and stencils in New York.

    [28]
20. 2014-09Syro released on WarppublicationWarp Records

    His first Aphex Twin album in thirteen years.

    [21][2]
21. 2015-01-25SoundCloud dump beginsmilestone

    The account that became user18081971 began uploading unreleased early tracks — over a hundred within the week, over two hundred across 2015.

    [32][9][34]
22. 2015-02-08Grammy for Syroaward

    Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 57th Grammy Awards — his first Grammy.

    [20][29]
23. 2016-07-08Cheetah EPpublicationWarp Records

    Released on Warp with marketing styled as a synthesizer owner's manual.

    [18][36]
24. 2016-12-17Day for Night, Houston — first US show in eight yearsexhibitionHouston, Texas

    A rain-soaked headline set, his first US performance since Coachella 2008.

    [35]
25. 2017Field Day headline, broadcast on NTSexhibitionVictoria Park, London[42]
26. 2018-09-14Collapse EPpublicationWarp Records

    Announced by worldwide logo projections; the 'T69 Collapse' visual failed TV's Harding photosensitivity test.

    [37]
27. 2018-11-01Funkhaus, Berlin — first Berlin show in fifteen yearsexhibitionBerlin, Germany[38]
28. 2019-04-11Avant Gardner, Brooklyn — first NYC show since the 1990sexhibitionBrooklyn, New York[39]
29. 2019-04-13Coachella setexhibitionIndio, California

    His first Coachella appearance since 2008.

    [40]
30. 2019-09-14Printworks, London — Red Bull live-streamed showexhibitionLondon, UK

    One-off show with handpicked support (Afrodeutsche, Nihiloxica, Caterina Barbieri) and custom Weirdcore visuals.

    [41]
31. 2023-06-16Sónar 30th anniversary — live returnexhibitionBarcelona, Spain

    His first Sónar appearance in twelve years, opening the 2023 comeback run.

    [43]
32. 2023-07-28Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760 EPpublicationWarp Records

    His first new commercial release in five years; the title track was later nominated for a 2024 Grammy.

    [12][20]
33. 2023-08-19Field Day headline — first London show since 2019exhibitionVictoria Park, London

    Teased via the cryptic 190823.co.uk site before announcement.

    [42]
34. 2023-09-02Forwards festival headline, BristolexhibitionThe Downs, Bristol[44]
35. 2024-10-04Selected Ambient Works Volume II (Expanded Edition)publicationWarp Records

    Thirtieth-anniversary reissue: all tracks on all formats for the first time, plus previously unreleased material.

    [17]
36. 2024-12-17Music From The Merch Desk (2016–2023)publicationWarp Records

    Surprise compilation of show-exclusive vinyl tracks; the 2023 live EPs followed digitally the next day.

    [14][13]
37. 2025-11-27Two new tracks on user18081971milestone

    'Zahl am1 live track 1' and an unfinished variant — his first unheard music in about two years.

    [48]

Themes

• Disinformation as interview practicereportedpractice

  From the 1990s onward James treated interviews as raw material for myth: fabricated biographies, impossible gear claims, tall tales about tanks, submarines and cruise-ship tours. Pitchfork calls the resulting mythos 'essentially unverifiable'; he has both admitted and denied the lying in the same record.

  [21][45][47][10]
• Pseudonyms as release strategyreportedpractice

  AFX, Polygon Window, Caustic Window, The Tuss, Bradley Strider, Power-Pill and others let him release constantly without feeding the Aphex Twin brand — The Tuss even shipped with invented sibling credits and a fake MySpace discovery story.

  [1][5][21]
• Distribution as theaterreportedpractice

  Tor-only announcements, blimps, global logo projections, synth-manual ads, show-only vinyl, an album freed by crowdfunding, and two-hundred-track SoundCloud dumps: the release mechanism is part of the art and consistently bypasses conventional promo.

  [28][37][18][19][32][14]
• The studio is the instrumentstatedmethod

  He says he enjoys building studios more than making music — 'the way I've wired it together becomes the track in itself.' Custom-modified synths, MC-4-era sequencers, microtonal setups, and track titles that name the machines involved all serve that ethic.

  [21][25][18]
• Sleep, lucid dreams, and the edge of fatiguestatedinterest

  A durable strand of the self-mythology: composing in lucid dreams, weeks claimed without sleep, then the 2006 shrug — 'I'm on six hours a night at the moment.' Whether practice or provocation, he keeps the frame alive.

  [46][26][20]
• Anti-celebrity seclusionreportedbelief

  The press frame is 'recluse': decades with almost no face-to-face interviews, curt email answers ('I hate them,' asked about his public), faceless or face-scrambled visuals, and long silences between releases. His own words alternate between contempt for publicity and plain shyness.

  [21][26][47]
• Cornish rootsreportedinfluence

  Cornwall recurs as both biography and brand: beach raves, the Bowgie Inn DJ sets, Rephlex's founding there, Tuss track titles in Cornish slang, and a career-long preference for working far from scenes.

  [4][3][5]
• Pastoral ambience vs. violent rhythminferredmethod

  Index synthesis: the catalog's poles — the weightless ambience of the SAW records and 'Avril 14th' against the assault programming of Come to Daddy, Drukqs and the live DJ sets — are one aesthetic, and every era moves between them.

  [2][6][35]

Works and projects

• Analogue Bubblebath (EP)recordingreleased1991-09

  Debut 12-inch on Mighty Force, picked up by Kiss FM.

  [3]
• Selected Ambient Works 85–92recordingreleased1992-11-09

  Debut album on Apollo/R&S; ambient-techno landmark billed as containing material back to 1985.

  [3]
• Surfing on Sine Waves (as Polygon Window)recordingreleased1993

  First Warp release, part of the Artificial Intelligence series.

  [2]
• Selected Ambient Works Volume IIrecordingreleased1994-03

  Beatless double album, his first as Aphex Twin for Warp; expanded reissue in 2024.

  [2][17]
• ...I Care Because You Dorecordingreleased1995

  Warp album with his self-painted face on the cover.

  [2]
• Richard D. James Albumrecordingreleased1996

  Warp album folding jungle into drill-and-bass.

  [2]
• Come to Daddy (EP)recordingreleased1997-10

  Warp EP whose title track and video made him infamous beyond electronic music.

  [2][15]
• Windowlicker (single)recordingreleased1999-03-22

  Warp single; he claims he briefly withdrew it as it headed for the top of the charts.

  [6][26]
• Drukqsrecordingreleased2001-10

  Thirty-track double album on Warp; last Aphex Twin album for thirteen years.

  [23][2]
• Analord series (as AFX)recordingreleased2005

  Forty-one tracks across eleven vinyl releases on Rephlex, later condensed on CD.

  [26]
• Confederation Trough EP and Rushup Edge (as The Tuss)recordingreleased2007

  Rephlex releases credited to the fictional Brian and Karen Tregaskin; his authorship confirmed via the 2017 webstore reissue.

  [5]
• Caustic Window LP (as Caustic Window)recordingreleased2014

  Aborted 1994 Rephlex album; released digitally in 2014 to Kickstarter backers under a one-time license, the test pressing then sold on eBay.

  [19][31][30]
• Syrorecordingreleased2014-09

  First Aphex Twin album in thirteen years; announced via Tor, won the Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album.

  [28][20][21]
• Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2 (EP)recordingreleased2015-01

  Warp EP of robot-played acoustic instrument pieces.

  [2]
• Orphaned Deejay Selek 2006–08 (EP, as AFX)recordingreleased2015-08

  Warp EP of archival AFX material.

  [2]
• Cheetah (EP)recordingreleased2016-07-08

  Warp EP of wave-sequenced digital synthesis, marketed as a vintage synth's owner's manual.

  [18][36]
• Collapse (EP)recordingreleased2018-09-14

  Warp EP announced by worldwide logo projections.

  [37]
• Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760 (EP)recordingreleased2023-07-28

  Warp EP; title track nominated for the 2024 Best Dance/Electronic Recording Grammy.

  [12][20]
• Barcelona 16.06.23 / London 19.08.2023 (show-only 10-inch EPs)recordingreleased2023

  Limited 10-inch records sold via reservation cards at the 2023 shows; digital release December 18, 2024.

  [8][13]
• Selected Ambient Works Volume II (Expanded Edition)recordingreleased2024-10-04

  Thirtieth-anniversary reissue with all tracks on all formats plus two newly released pieces.

  [17]
• Music From The Merch Desk (2016–2023)recordingreleased2024-12-17

  Unannounced Warp compilation of tracks previously sold only on vinyl at shows.

  [14]
• Come to Daddy (music video, dir. Chris Cunningham)filmreleased1997

  Cunningham's Thamesmead video of face-masked child gangs; a decade-defining clip.

  [15]
• Windowlicker (music video, dir. Chris Cunningham)filmreleased1999

  Ten-minute parody of gangsta-rap videos; Brit Award-nominated.

  [16][6]
• Rubber Johnny (short film)filmreleased2005-06-20

  Chris Cunningham's night-vision short built around James's Drukqs track 'Afx237 v.7'; released on DVD by Warp.

  [7]

Appearances

• Printworks — Red Bull Music Festival LondonPrintworks, London2019-09

  with Afrodeutsche, Nihiloxica, Caterina Barbieri

  A one-off show with a handpicked support bill and custom-built Weirdcore LED visuals, live-streamed by Red Bull.

  • article: https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/events/red-bull-music-festival-london-aphex-twin
  [41]
• user18081971 — the SoundCloud accountSoundCloud2015

  The dump account that became a semi-official channel: two-hundred-plus early tracks, bio messages to fans, comment exchanges, and sporadic new uploads through 2025.

  • audio: https://soundcloud.com/user18081971
  [11][32][33]
• Groove 25th-anniversary artist Q&AGroove (via SPIN coverage)2014-12

  with Skrillex, Caribou, Nicolas Jaar

  Fellow artists posed the questions for the German magazine's anniversary; he answered on EDM, the tank ('still at my sister's house in Wales'), and why he released Syro.

  • article: https://www.spin.com/2014/12/aphex-twin-interview-groove-magazine/
  [27]
• SYROBONKERS! — the Noyzelab interviewNoyzelab2014-11

  with Dave Noyze

  A months-long email interview conducted by a friend around the Syro release — the loosest, most detailed of the era, running across two parts with gear talk and shared unreleased experiments; preserved via the Internet Archive.

  • article: https://web.archive.org/web/20141103131334/http://noyzelab.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/syrobonkers-part1.html
  [25]
• Strange Visitor: A Conversation With Aphex TwinPitchfork2014-09-18

  with Philip Sherburne

  The Syro-era cover story — a rare in-person interview in a Charing Cross hotel, covering the Tor announcement, studio-building, his children, and the 'Blame Game' sampling account.

  • article: https://pitchfork.com/features/cover-story/9506-strange-visitor-a-conversation-with-aphex-twin/
  • article: https://pitchfork.com/news/56459-aphex-twin-speaks-on-his-new-album-being-sampled-by-kanye-more/
  [21][22]
• Clash email interview (Analord era)Clash2006-05-01

  Forty questions sent, not all answered; the preamble lays out his one-shot, no-follow-ups rule and his 'irritating, lying, ginger kid from Cornwall' self-description.

  • article: https://www.clashmusic.com/features/aphex-twin-interview/
  [26]
• 'Tank boy' — Guardian Drukqs profileThe Guardian2001-10-05

  A rare face-to-face interview in the Elephant & Castle shopping centre, conducted twenty-one hours late; records the bank flat, the tank, and the submarine claim.

  • article: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2001/oct/05/artsfeatures3
  [23]
• Index Magazine home interviewIndex Magazine2001

  with Meredith Danluck

  Taped at his converted-bank home in Elephant & Castle on January 14, 2001, with photographs by Wolfgang Tillmans; the bio block repeats the dead-brother naming story.

  • article: https://www.indexmagazine.com/interviews-aphex-twin
  [24]
• Come to Daddy (director's cut)Aphex Twin (official YouTube)

  with Chris Cunningham

  The official upload of Chris Cunningham's video for the 1997 EP's title track.

  • video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ827lkktYs
  [15]
• Windowlicker (official video)Aphex Twin (official YouTube)

  with Chris Cunningham

  The official upload of Cunningham's ten-minute, Brit Award-nominated parody of gangsta-rap videos.

  • video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBS4Gi1y_nc
  [16][6]

Relations

• Rephlex Recordsfounded1991 – 2014

  Co-founded the Cornwall label with Grant Wilson-Claridge in 1991 after Wilson-Claridge heard him DJ his own tapes; it coined 'braindance' and closed in 2014.

  [4]
• Grant Wilson-Claridgecofounder

  His Rephlex Records co-founder — the DJ who suggested pressing records after hearing James's own tapes at Cornish clubs.

  [4][3]
• Warp Recordssigned to1993 –

  His label home since 1993's Surfing on Sine Waves — the home of every Aphex Twin album from SAW II through the 2023 Blackbox Life Recorder EP and the 2024 expanded reissues.

  [2][17][18][12]
• Mighty Force Recordssigned to1991-09 –

  Issued his first release, the Analogue Bubblebath EP, in September 1991.

  [3]
• Apollo Recordssigned to1992 –

  The R&S subsidiary that released his 1992 debut album Selected Ambient Works 85–92.

  [3]
• Chris Cunninghamcollaborated1997-10 –

  Directed the Come to Daddy and Windowlicker videos — the latter Brit Award–nominated — and scored Rubber Johnny (2005) with James's Drukqs-era music.

  [15][16][6][7]
• Weirdcorecollaborated2018 –

  His longtime visualist — the 'T69 Collapse' video that failed TV's photosensitivity test and the custom LED visuals for the 2019 Printworks show.

  [37][41]
• Tom Middletoncollaborated

  DJed alongside him at the Bowgie Inn in Crantock during the Cornwall years.

  [3][4]
• Philip Sherburneinterviewed by2014-09 –

  Conducted the rare in-person Pitchfork cover-story interview 'Strange Visitor' (September 2014), including the 'Blame Game' sampling account.

  [21][22]
• Meredith Danluckinterviewed by2001-01 –

  Index Magazine interview taped at his Elephant & Castle bank flat in January 2001, with Wolfgang Tillmans photographs.

  [24]
• Dave Noyzeinterviewed by2014 –

  The months-long 'SYROBONKERS!' email interview (2014) — conducted by a friend and the most detailed of the Syro era; preserved via the Internet Archive.

  [25]

Claims

• factRichard David James was born on August 18, 1971, in Limerick, Ireland, and was raised in Cornwall, England.[2][1]
• factAs a teenager he built a cult following DJing in Cornwall — at the Shire Horse Inn in St Ives, with Tom Middleton at the Bowgie Inn in Crantock, and on Cornish beaches — playing his own tapes as much as records.[3][4]
• factHis first release was the 12-inch EP Analogue Bubblebath, issued on Mighty Force in September 1991 and played on the influential London station Kiss FM.[3]
• factIn 1991 he co-founded Rephlex Records in Cornwall with Grant Wilson-Claridge, who had suggested pressing records after hearing James DJ his own tapes; the label coined the term 'braindance' and closed in 2014.[4]
• factSelected Ambient Works 85–92, his debut album, was released on November 9, 1992, through Apollo Records, a subsidiary of R&S; its cassette-recorded material is billed as dating back to 1985.[3]
• factHis Warp Records association began in 1993 with Surfing on Sine Waves as Polygon Window, followed by Selected Ambient Works Volume II in March 1994.[2][17]
• fact...I Care Because You Do (1995) and the Richard D. James Album (1996) followed on Warp, the latter folding jungle and drill-and-bass programming into his palette.[2]
• factThe Come to Daddy EP (1997) and the single Windowlicker (March 22, 1999) became his best-known releases, driven by Chris Cunningham's videos; the ten-minute Windowlicker video was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Video.[6][15][16]
• factDrukqs, a 30-track double album alternating frantic drill-and-bass programming with Satie-like prepared-piano miniatures, was released on Warp in October 2001; it remained his last Aphex Twin album for thirteen years.[23][2]
• factIn 2005 he released the Analord series as AFX through Rephlex — 41 tracks across 11 vinyl releases sold via the label's website, each reportedly selling well into five figures — later condensed to a CD compendium.[26]
• factIn 2007 Rephlex issued two records by 'The Tuss' — the Confederation Trough EP and the album Rushup Edge — officially credited to the invented siblings Brian and Karen Tregaskin; James's authorship was an open secret he confirmed in 2017 by reissuing Rushup Edge with bonus tracks on his own webstore.[5]
• factThe Caustic Window LP, aborted at test-pressing stage in 1994, finally reached listeners in 2014: a WATMM-organized Kickstarter raised $67,424 from 4,124 backers, Rephlex and James granted one-time digital distribution rights, and the physical test pressing was then sold on eBay.[19][31][30]
• factSyro was announced on August 18, 2014 — his 43rd birthday — when James tweeted a Tor-only .onion link revealing the title and tracklist, days after a green blimp bearing his logo flew over London and logo stencils appeared in New York.[28]
• factSyro was released on Warp in September 2014, his first Aphex Twin album in thirteen years; the limited-edition box set carried a track-by-track equipment list he compiled for fans.[21][2]
• factSyro won Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 57th Grammy Awards on February 8, 2015 — his first Grammy; 'Blackbox Life Recorder 21f' was later nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Recording at the 2024 awards.[20][29]
• factBeginning January 25, 2015, a SoundCloud account — first user48736353001, then user18081971, encoding his birthdate — uploaded more than a hundred previously unreleased early tracks within a week, and over two hundred across the following months; James confirmed the account was his and kept it live for occasional uploads into 2023 and beyond.[32][33][9][11]
• factAround the dump he also released two Warp EPs in 2015: Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2 (January) and, as AFX, Orphaned Deejay Selek 2006–08 (August).[2]
• factThe Cheetah EP was released July 8, 2016, on Warp, marketed through print ads and a site styled as an owner's manual for a vintage digital synthesizer — complete with an offer of 'rewards' for buyers' best patches.[18][36]
• factOn December 17, 2016, he played Houston's Day for Night festival — his first US performance in about eight years, since Coachella 2008.[35]
• factHe headlined Field Day in London in 2017, a set broadcast live on NTS Radio.[42]
• factThe Collapse EP was released September 14, 2018, after 3D Aphex logos appeared in London, Turin, Los Angeles, New York, and Tokyo; a five-minute 'T69 Collapse' segment was pulled from Adult Swim's schedule after the Weirdcore visual failed the Harding photosensitivity test.[37]
• factOn November 1, 2018, he played Berlin's Funkhaus — his first Berlin appearance in fifteen years — a DJ set preceded by days of fan confusion over whether the ticket was for a concert or a club night.[38]
• factIn 2019 he played his first New York City show since the 1990s (Avant Gardner, Brooklyn, April 11), a Coachella set (April 13), and a one-off Printworks London show (September 14) with a handpicked support bill and custom Weirdcore visuals streamed by Red Bull.[39][40][41]
• factHe returned to the stage in 2023 for a handful of European festival headlines: Sónar Barcelona's 30th anniversary on June 16 — his first Sónar in twelve years — Field Day in Victoria Park on August 19, teased via a cryptic 190823.co.uk site, and Forwards in Bristol on September 2.[43][42][44]
• factThe Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760 EP was released July 28, 2023, on Warp — his first new commercial release in five years.[12]
• factLimited 10-inch records (Barcelona 16.06.23 and London 19.08.2023) were sold only at the 2023 shows via reservation cards, then released digitally on December 18, 2024.[8][13]
• factSelected Ambient Works Volume II (Expanded Edition) was released October 4, 2024 — all tracks on all formats for the first time, including the previously vinyl-only track 19 and two further pieces officially released for the first time.[17]
• factMusic From The Merch Desk (2016–2023), a compilation of tracks previously sold only on vinyl at his concerts, appeared on Warp without announcement on December 17, 2024.[14]
• factOn November 27, 2025, he uploaded two versions of a new piece ('Zahl am1 live track 1' and an unfinished variant) to user18081971 — his first unheard music in about two years.[48][11]
• factIn the late 1990s he moved into a converted bank in London's Elephant & Castle and told interviewers he used its vault and stairwell as a reverb chamber — one of the better-documented pieces of his mythology, repeated across the 1997–2001 interviews.[24][23][46]
• factHe really did own a 'tank' — a Daimler Ferret armoured scout car kept at family property in Wales — and in the 2014 Groove Q&A he confirmed he still had it, inviting Skrillex to come drive it.[26][46][27][23]
• stated beliefJames has repeatedly said he was named after an older brother, also called Richard James, who died before he was born — telling Sonic Press in 1996 that his mother named him so the brother 'was supposed to continue to live through me.'[24][10]
• stated beliefHis own account of his honesty is contradictory: in 1996 he insisted 'I never say things that aren't true,' yet he has elsewhere described himself as 'an irritating, lying, ginger kid from Cornwall' and treated fabrication as an interview sport.[10][26][47]
• stated beliefHe told Pitchfork the title Syro is a made-up word one of his children invented — pronounced 'sigh-ro' — and that he likes how people project their own meanings onto invented words.[21]
• stated beliefHe told Pitchfork he likes building studios more than making music — 'the way I've wired it together becomes the track in itself' — and that he is 'so insane for equipment' that the Syro box set's track-by-track gear list needed to exist.[21]
• stated beliefHe has long claimed to compose music in lucid dreams and to have gone extreme stretches without sleep — once reported as five weeks; asked in 2006 about his sleep-deprivation era, he said he was then sleeping six hours a night.[46][20][26]
• stated beliefDuring his email-only interview era his answers could be curt to the point of refusal — asked by Spain's El País in 2011 about his relationship with his public, he answered 'I hate them.'[21]
• stated beliefJames says Kanye West's 'Blame Game' sampled Drukqs's 'Avril 14th,' and that when he offered to re-record the piece, West's camp replied 'it's not yours, it's ours' — his account of the dispute, with no counterparty version in the cited record.[22]
• stated beliefHe said he released Syro not for money but 'to draw a line, to close a chapter' — that releases work as dividers between creative periods for an artist who would otherwise keep everything in the vault.[27][21]
• stated beliefHe told Clash in 2006 that he still believed there should be no copyright on art — admitting it was easy to say with enough money to live on — and that being copied had become flattering rather than angering.[26]
• stated beliefHe told Clash he had 'Windowlicker' withdrawn from sale for a time because it was heading toward number one or two — 'I just didn't want it happening.'[26]
• patternAcross three decades he has released under at least a dozen aliases — AFX, Polygon Window, Caustic Window, The Tuss, Bradley Strider, Power-Pill and more — sometimes presented as entirely separate artists, as with The Tuss's invented Tregaskin siblings.[1][5][21]
• patternRelease campaigns repeatedly arrive as puzzles or stunts: the Tor .onion announcement, the London blimp, worldwide logo projections for Collapse, the 190823.co.uk teaser for Field Day, synth-manual ads for Cheetah, and vinyl sold only at his own merch desk.[28][37][42][36][14]
• patternSince the 1990s he has granted few interviews — mostly by email, one shot only, with questions he dislikes ignored, ridiculed, or answered with fabrications — so the press record is a fog of mutually contradictory claims.[26][21][10]
• patternHe has claimed for decades to sit on vast archives of unreleased music — 'over 100 hours' in 2006, 'a thousand unreleased songs' in the mythos — and the 2015 SoundCloud dump of two-hundred-plus early tracks partially corroborated the archive's scale.[26][21][32][33]
• patternHis billed 'live' appearances are often closer to DJ or laptop sets with heavy visuals than conventional live performance — a distinction that repeatedly caused billing confusion, as at Funkhaus in 2018.[38][41]
• patternHe cultivates technical mystique: self-built and modified synths since his teens, a track-by-track equipment list in Syro's box set, the mock owner's-manual framing of Cheetah, and track titles that name machines (Cirklon, Korg Mini Pops).[3][21][18][25]
• speculationHe told interviewers in 1997–2001 that he had bought or was buying a second-hand Russian submarine; no evidence of a purchase has ever surfaced, and it is generally filed among his tall tales.[46][23][45]
• speculationWhether Selected Ambient Works 85–92 really contains music written at age 13–14 is unverifiable — the '85' dating is itself part of the record's self-mythology.[3][45]
• speculationThe 'Twin' in Aphex Twin is commonly read as a reference to the dead-brother naming story — the second Richard as the lost boy's twin — but James has never confirmed a definitive origin for the name.[24][10][2]
• speculationThe 2015 SoundCloud dump began under an assumed persona — an apparent 43-year-old fan dusting off old DATs — and whether the impersonation was improvised trolling or a staged reveal remains unresolved.[34][32]
• speculationThe number of Caustic Window test pressings is disputed: the standard account says four or five, while an ex-Warp/Rephlex employee told FACT there are more.[30][19]
• speculationWhether The Tuss was wholly a James solo project or involved collaborators is unresolved — the 2017 webstore reissue confirms his authorship, but the records carried the fictional Brian and Karen Tregaskin credits.[5]

Sources

1. Aphex Twin (Q223161)Wikidata · reference · dataset · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   Wikidata entity for Richard D. James; catalogs the alias list (AFX, Polygon Window, Caustic Window, The Tuss, Bradley Strider, Power-Pill, and more).

2. Aphex TwinWikipedia · reference · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   Reference for discography and biography; details that trace back to his own interview claims are marked where used.

3. Selected Ambient Works 85–92Wikipedia · reference · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   Release data for the 1992 debut; the title's 1985 dating is itself part of the self-mythology.

4. Rephlex RecordsWikipedia · reference · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   Label founded by James and Grant Wilson-Claridge in Cornwall in 1991; coined 'braindance'; closed 2014.

5. Rushup Edge (album)Wikipedia · reference · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   The Tuss LP; documents the invented Tregaskin credits and the 2017 webstore reissue that confirmed James's authorship.

6. WindowlickerWikipedia · reference · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   Release date, Chris Cunningham video, and the Brit Award nomination for Best British Video.

7. Rubber JohnnyWikipedia · reference · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   Chris Cunningham short film scored with James's music, released on DVD by Warp in 2005.

8. Aphex Twin — Barcelona 16.06.2023Discogs · reference · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   Documents the limited 10-inch sold via reservation cards at the Sónar 2023 show and the later webstore sale.

9. Aphex Twin 'user48736353001' early AFX tracks — Internet ArchiveInternet Archive · 2015 · archive · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   Fan-compiled preservation of the 112 previously unreleased tracks uploaded to SoundCloud January 25–31, 2015.

10. Aphex Twin, Sonic Press (1996) — Lanner ChronicleLanner Chronicle · 1996 · archive · transcript · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Fan-run interview archive's reprint of a 1996 Sonic Press interview: contains his dead-brother naming account and the insistence 'I never say things that aren't true.'

11. user18081971 on SoundCloudSoundCloud · subject controlled · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    The subject's long-running dump account; the handle encodes his birthdate (18-08-1971).

12. Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760 — Aphex Twin webstoreaphextwin.warp.net · 2023 · subject controlled · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Official webstore release page, catalogue WAP480.

13. Barcelona 16.06.23 — Aphex Twin webstoreaphextwin.warp.net · 2024 · subject controlled · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Official webstore page for the digital release of the Sónar 2023 show EP (WAP483); the page also lists London 19.08.2023 (WAP482).

14. Music From The Merch Desk (2016 - 2023) — Aphex Twin webstoreaphextwin.warp.net · 2024 · subject controlled · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Compilation of tracks previously sold only on vinyl at his shows; released without announcement.

15. Aphex Twin — Come To Daddy (Director's Cut)Aphex Twin (official YouTube) · subject controlled · video · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Official channel upload of the Chris Cunningham-directed video.

16. Aphex Twin — Windowlicker (official video)Aphex Twin (official YouTube) · subject controlled · video · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Official channel upload of the Chris Cunningham-directed video.

17. Selected Ambient Works Volume II (Expanded Edition) — WARPWarp Records · 2024 · primary record · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Label catalog page for the 30th-anniversary expanded reissue.

18. Cheetah EP — WARPWarp Records · 2016 · first person · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Label release page carrying James-authored 'production information' copy styled as a synthesizer owner's manual.

19. CAT023 Caustic Window — Own The Legendary Record by RDJ! — KickstarterKickstarter / WATMM · 2014 · primary record · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Crowdfunding record: 4,124 backers pledged $67,424; Rephlex and James granted one-time digital distribution rights.

20. Aphex Twin — Grammy Awards artist pageRecording Academy · primary record · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Official record: Syro won Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 57th Grammys; 'Blackbox Life Recorder 21f' was nominated in 2024.

21. Strange Visitor: A Conversation With Aphex TwinPitchfork · 2014 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Rare in-person cover-story interview, conducted in a Charing Cross hotel the day after Warp set Syro's release date.

22. Aphex Twin Speaks on His New Album, Being Sampled by Kanye, MorePitchfork · 2014 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Advance excerpts of the cover-story conversation, including the 'Blame Game' sampling account.

23. Tank boyThe Guardian · 2001 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Drukqs-era face-to-face interview in the Elephant & Castle shopping centre; records the bank flat, the tank, and the submarine claim.

24. Aphex Twin — Index MagazineIndex Magazine · 2001 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Taped at his London home on January 14, 2001, with photographs by Wolfgang Tillmans; the bio block repeats the dead-brother naming story.

25. Aphex Twin SYROBONKERS! Interview Part 1 — NoyzelabNoyzelab (via Internet Archive) · 2014 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Archived copy of the months-long 'Syrobonkers' email interview conducted by a friend; the original blog is offline.

26. Aphex Twin Interview — ClashClash · 2006 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Email interview around the Analord CD compendium; the preamble describes his one-shot, no-follow-ups interview rule.

27. Aphex Twin Answers Interview Questions From Skrillex, Apparat, Caribou, and MoreSPIN · 2014 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Covers the Groove magazine 25th-anniversary Q&A, in which fellow artists posed the questions; includes the tank-at-sister's-house confirmation.

28. Aphex Twin Announces New Album SYRO Via the Deep WebPitchfork · 2014 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
29. Grammys 2015: Syro by Aphex Twin wins dance/electronic album of the yearThe Guardian · 2015 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
30. Aphex Twin's unreleased Caustic Window album surfaces on DiscogsFACT · 2014 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Breaks the test-pressing sale story; an ex-Warp/Rephlex employee tells FACT more pressings exist than the canonical four or five.

31. Aphex Twin's Unreleased Album Caustic Window Nets $67,424 on KickstarterPitchfork · 2014 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
32. You can now download all 110 tracks from Aphex Twin's SoundcloudFACT · 2015 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Documents the dump's opening week and the fake-fan persona used in its first comment exchange with the official Aphex Twin account.

33. Aphex Twin to upload 'loads more old tapes' to SoundCloudFACT · 2015 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Reports his SoundCloud bio message claiming discovery of around seven more tapes with 20+ tracks each.

34. Aphex Twin is still uploading rare songs to a Soundcloud pageNialler9 · 2015 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Contemporaneous report of the first uploads; records the account's 'Simon' persona before attribution was settled.

35. Aphex Twin live review: A blistering return at Day For Night festivalFACT · 2016 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Review of the December 17, 2016 Houston set billed as his first US performance in eight years.

36. Aphex Twin announces Cheetah EP, due out July 8thConsequence · 2016 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
37. Aphex Twin announces Collapse EP, unveils 'T69 Collapse'Consequence · 2018 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Release details plus the worldwide logo sightings and the Adult Swim 'T69 Collapse' segment pulled after failing the Harding photosensitivity test.

38. Aphex Twin at Funkhaus Berlin — Event ReviewResident Advisor · 2018 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Review of the November 1, 2018 set — his first Berlin show in 15 years — including the live-vs-DJ billing confusion.

39. Aphex Twin played his first NYC show since the '90s at Avant GardnerBrooklynVegan · 2019 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
40. Watch Aphex Twin Perform at Coachella 2019Pitchfork · 2019 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
41. Aphex Twin live stream — Red Bull Music Festival London, PrintworksRed Bull · 2019 · reporting · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Event page for the September 14, 2019 Printworks show: handpicked support bill and custom Weirdcore visuals.

42. Aphex Twin to Headline London's Field Day FestivalPitchfork · 2023 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Confirms the August 19, 2023 headline via the 190823.co.uk teaser, and notes the 2017 Field Day set's NTS broadcast.

43. Aphex Twin to perform at Sónar's 30th-anniversary festivalMusicTech · 2023 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
44. Erykah Badu and Aphex Twin announced for Forwards Festival 2023Crack Magazine · 2023 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Saturday headliner at The Downs, Bristol, on September 2, 2023 — his first Bristol show in years.

45. Aphex Twin: an alternative myth vs reality listDazed · 2023 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Myth-versus-reality survey of the 1990s tall tales — published, fittingly, under a byline matching one of James's own Tuss pseudonyms.

46. Aphex Twin wanted to buy a submarine — the 1997 interview resurfacedMusicRadar · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Recounts the 1997 Space Age Bachelor interview: the tank's four remaining rounds, the bank-vault reverb, and the submarine ambition.

47. Aphex Twin: Inside the Mythology of the MDMA MozartMixmag · 2019 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Retrospective on the mythology, including the May 1995 'True Lies' cover story's unresolved three-options framing.

48. Aphex Twin Shares Two New Tracks On SoundCloudStereogum · 2025 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Reports the November 27, 2025 upload of two 'Zahl am1' versions to user18081971 — his first unheard music in about two years.

Coverage and method

Scope as of

2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

Coverage supplied by the publisher

• biography
• work
• media
• projects
• mythology

Method

public-person-index-v1

Tool

soulscrape

Contributors

• Soulscrape research workflow

Assembled

2026-09-17T01:00:00Z

Human review

No review status or review date is supplied. An assembly timestamp does not establish human review.

Open questions

See the supplied open questions

Open questions

• Whether the dead-brother naming story is literally true — he has told it for decades, the tellings vary, and the 'Twin' in the name is commonly read as a reference to it.
• Which 1990s claims were fabricated: the Daimler Ferret 'tank' was real, the Russian submarine was never evidenced, and stories like the cruise-ship tour and Wendy House shows sit in between.
• Whether Selected Ambient Works 85–92 really contains material from 1985, when James was 13–14, or whether the dating is itself mythology.
• The true scale of his unreleased archive — claims range from 'over 100 hours' to 'a thousand songs'; the 2015 dump confirmed only part of it.
• How many Caustic Window test pressings exist — the standard account says four or five; an ex-label employee told FACT there are more.
• Whether the 'Simon' persona behind the first SoundCloud uploads was a staged reveal or improvised trolling.
• Whether The Tuss was wholly a solo project — the fictional Brian and Karen Tregaskin credits leave collaboration formally open.
• The outcome of the 'Avril 14th'/'Blame Game' sampling dispute — only James's account is in the cited record.
• Where 'live' ends and DJing begins in his sets — billing has repeatedly confused the two, notably at Funkhaus in 2018.
• Almost nothing in the cited record covers 2008–2013 in detail — the gap years between The Tuss and the Syro campaign are thinly documented here.
• Early-life detail beyond the Limerick birth and Cornish upbringing — schooling, the claimed coal-mine job at seventeen — traces almost entirely to his own tellings.