Richard D. James, better known to electronic music enthusiasts worldwide as Aphex Twin, recently gave an interview to Resident Advisor about the early days of Rephlex Records, a label he started together with his friend Grant Wilson-Claridge.
Set up in ’91, the now-defunct label gave voice to a new form of electronic music, so unlike anything released before that, a new term, Braindance, had to be invented to describe it.
Reminiscing about that fateful night he crossed roads with Wilson-Claridge, James noted: “We met at the Bowgie club, Cornwall. Before either of us started djing we both loved going to see Paul Guntrip RIP DJ there . . . It was a combination of brilliant tunes, lush Turbosound, lush location on the cliffs in Cornwall and top early ravers, full of spirit.”
When asked how that meeting led to them starting up their own music label, he answered: “It just seemed like the obvious thing to do, Grant had a bit of money from when his parents died and he amazingly wanted to invest some of it in a record label.”
A year later and James, now Aphex Twin, made the Sandshifter Club in London his home. When asked to confirm rumors that Kylie Minogue was a regular at his shows, he laughed: “Yes Kylie turned up once [with] Madonna, Highlight of that night for me was my slacker mate trying to chat Kylie up..funny and surreal af.”
Aphex Twin is scheduled to perform at the Red Bull Music Festival in London this year. Could Kylie and Madonna be found “braindancing” in the crowd? You’d have to attend to find out!
