A blogger’s recap of Aphex Twin’s Coachella performance has gone viral, with the reviewer’s wide-eyed wonder serving as a testament to everything the divisive English musician aims to achieve.
If you’re a fan of Aphex Twin, then you’d likely know that Richard D. James is the sort of bloke who does things in a rather unconventional manner.
From creepy videos like ‘Come To Daddy’, and ‘Windowlicker’, to the harsh, high-pitched noise of 1995’s ‘Ventolin’, Aphex Twin has also dabbled in the genres of ambient and classical music. Needless to say, he marches to the beat of his own drum.
After a couple of years away though, this month saw Aphex Twin make his long-awaited return to America as part of this year’s Coachella music festival. However, his unconventional styles and sounds weren’t exactly appreciated by everyone in attendance.
As Clash have reported, an American concertgoer’s review of Coachella has recently gone viral, thanks in part to her uninformed, yet highly innocent review of Richard D. James’ live set.
“It’s these people called Aphex Twins” 😭 pic.twitter.com/G6aygIiaFL
— arj (@shempiii) April 27, 2019
The video, posted by 23-year-old blogger Olivia Cara, sees her recalling the experience of walking into an Aphex Twin performance and being completely blown away by what she sees.
“We see this tent in the distance and it’s flashing lights,” she begins. “It looks like a regular rave. We’re stoked, we’re running towards this like, “yay, this is EDM, this is going to be so good,’ like, we’re all excited.”
“We get to this tent, and it’s a weird-ass vibe, like, it’s a weird EDM vibe. It’s not your typical Dillon Francis, Diplo… it’s weird. It’s not enjoyable necessarily, so I’m like ‘okay, something’s off about this, but let’s watch.'”
“We’re kind of there, we’re watching, and all of a sudden – it’s these people called The Aphex Twins, I didn’t know anything about them – I start hearing like the weirdest noises. I’m on a psychedelic, I’m tripping a little bit, so it’s extra fucking weird. I start hearing crying, and babies crying, and screaming.”
“I’m just sitting here like [shocked face],” she continues. “Me and Seb [boyfriend] just watched this for like five minutes, we’re just like in shock.”
“It’s literally making me feel like, scared. It’s making me feel the music, like, it’s making me understand why they’re crying. It’s hard to explain, it was like an emotional thing. Seb, he best described it like, ‘I felt violated, like my soul was violated.'”
Understandably, this clip soon went viral, with countless EDM fans around the world either criticising Olivia Cara for her ignorance towards Aphex Twin, or for not realising how lucky she is to have witnessed him performing live.
I don't like the "us versus them" vibes in the comments here. The superiority. The tribalism. She doesn't know aphex twin. She saw two people on stage (his wife was up). She experiences the show the way it's supposed to be experienced (she's a bit shocked). And u mad? https://t.co/NbYmoI8vpW
— Thys (@ThysMusic) April 28, 2019
One Tweet from Dutch musician Thys pointed out that not only was Olivia Cara’s reaction towards Aphex Twin’s live set justified, but that it pointed out a level of gatekeeping that lives within the EDM genre.
“I don’t like the ‘us versus them’ vibes in the comments here,” Thys writes. “The superiority. The tribalism.”
“She doesn’t know Aphex Twin. She saw two people on stage (his wife was up). She experiences the show the way it’s supposed to be experienced (she’s a bit shocked).”
Of course, considering just how strange Richard D. James and his Aphex Twin project is in general (BBC Radio 4 last produced an entire documentary on his enigmatic behaviour), we can’t blame her at all for being taken aback by his live show.
While Aphex Twin hasn’t been back to Aussie shores since 2012, here’s hoping the future holds another opportunity for newcomers to be shocked out of their minds by what they’re witnessing when he takes the stage.
Check out Aphex Twin’s ‘Windowlicker’:
