About

Richard D. James' fourth, autobiographical album as Aphex Twin is regarded as his 'drill n' bass' showpiece. Originally released in 1996, Richard D. James continues the lineage of his digital era (beginning from the previous Aphex Twin album, ...I Care Because You Do), where familiar, playful melody locks into aggressive, hyperspeed breakbeats and quasi-jungle rhythms. This album also yielded the single 'Girl / Boy Song' which, memorably, uses a self-parodying, macabre image of a grave, scribed 'Richard James - November 1968' as a sleeve image.

Characteristically, Richard D. James employs audio generated electronically, whilst furthering his ideas of more 'concrete' techniques such as sampling, distorting, looping and the use of human voice, physical instruments and environmental sound. As compelling a listen today as it ever was. — (via Label)

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Aphex Twin is the unequivocal master of modern electronic music. This much we know already. But studio albums have rarely been his thing. Selected Ambient Works 85-92 was a magnificent debut — arguably game-changing — but that was a quarter of a century ago. The few records released since then have been drastically influential, but each suffering from similar issues of length, filler, and genuine instances of bewilderment.

In the middle of these releases, however, sits Richard D. James Album, which endures no such pain. This is a compact record; 30 minutes of mesmerising electronica that is both pleasingly disorientating and emotionally stirring. James strikes a balance that was previously left unfound (and eventually abandoned again), which results in one of the most rewarding releases in his entire catalogue of works. — (via AudiOxide)

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Perhaps inspired by the experimental drum'n'bass being created by Squarepusher (a recent signee to his Rephlex label), Richard D. James' third major-label album as Aphex Twin was his first to work with jungle - though, to his credit, he had released the breakbeat EP Hangable Auto Bulb almost a year earlier.

Contemporaries Orbital and Underworld were beginning to incorporate moderate use of drum'n'bass in their work as well, but this album was more extreme than virtually all jungle being made at the time. The beats are jackhammer quick and even more jarring considering what is - for the most part - laid over the top: the same fragile, slow-moving melodies that characterized Aphex Twin's earlier ambient works. Most overtly disturbing is "Milkman," the first straight-ahead vocal track from Aphex Twin; the song is a child-like ode that gradually deteriorates into a bizarre fantasy concerning the milkman's wife. With all the Aphex Twin's curious idiosyncracies, though, Richard D. James Album is a very listenable record and a worthy follow-up to I Care Because You Do. — (via AllMusic)

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Label: Warp Records
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Repress
Reissue: 2017 / Original Release: 1996
Genre: Electronic
Style: IDM, Acid, Abstract, Jungle, Drum n Bass, Experimental

File under: Electronic // House / Electro / Techno
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