Dave Navarro
David Michael Navarro is an American guitarist, songwriter and actor. Navarro is a member of the alternative rock band Jane's Addiction and a former member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he released one solo album Trust No One. Navarro has been a member of the Jane's Addiction spin-off bands and The Panic Channel. Allmusic's Greg Prato described him as "one of alternative rock's first true guitar heroes", with an eclectic playing style that merges heavy metal and modern rock. Navarro is host and one of the judges on Ink Master, an American tattoo competition reality show now in its eleventh season on Paramount Network. Navarro was born in Santa Monica, California on June 7, 1967, the son of James Raul Navarro and Constance Colleen Hopkins, his paternal grandparents were Mexican immigrants. His grandfather Gabriel Navarro was close friends with Mexican silent film actor Ramón Novarro, who adopted his artistic surname, he attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, where he was a member of the marching band with future Jane's Addiction bandmate Stephen Perkins.
Navarro's mother was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, John Riccardi, in March 1983. Riccardi was arrested in 1991, thanks to a viewer tip after Riccardi was featured on the television series America's Most Wanted. During his appearance on America's Most Wanted in 2004, Navarro stated that he was supposed to visit and stay with his mother on the night of her murder but at the last minute went to stay with his father. In 2015, Navarro released the documentary Mourning Son, which details his mother's murder and his spiral into drug addiction, as well as the pain he has had to overcome in the years since her death. Navarro has been married three times: celebrity makeup artist Tania Goddard-Saylor, Rhian Gittins, model and actress, Carmen Electra. On his Instructional Guitar DVD Navarro tells how he started playing guitar at the age of seven after hearing a Jimi Hendrix song at a skate park. Navarro joined the band Jane's Addiction in 1986 as the lead guitarist after he was recommended to vocalist Perry Farrell by drummer Stephen Perkins, a childhood friend of Navarro's.
The band was popular in the alternative-rock music scene. Over the next five years, Jane's Addiction released three albums, Jane's Addiction, Nothing's Shocking and Ritual de lo Habitual. Personal tensions, led to their breakup in 1991; the Lollapalooza festival was created by Farrell as a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction. After the departure of Guns N' Roses' original rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin in August 1991, Navarro was the first choice of lead singer Axl Rose to replace Stradlin. However, he went on to play on the 1999 Guns N' Roses song "Oh My God", featured on the End of Days soundtrack. In 1993, Navarro formed Deconstruction with Jane's Addiction's Eric Avery on vocals and bass and Michael Murphy on drums; the band put out one self-titled album in 1994. Rick Rubin was involved in the production and Butthole Surfers singer Gibby Haynes makes a guest appearance, they did not tour due to Avery's exhaustion after Jane's Addiction. Navarro joined Red Hot Chili Peppers in September 1993, his first large-scale performance with the band was at Woodstock'94.
The only album on which Navarro played with Red Hot Chili Peppers, One Hot Minute, was released in 1995. The band recorded and released a cover of the Ohio Players' song "Love Rollercoaster" for the Beavis and Butthead Do America soundtrack, released as a single; the band contributed the John Lennon song "I Found Out" to the Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon album, as well as the One Hot Minute outtake "Melancholy Mechanics" to the Twister soundtrack. In 1995, Navarro played guitar for Alanis Morissette's track "You Oughta Know" on one of the 1990s most successful albums, Jagged Little Pill. Despite mixed reviews, One Hot Minute sold over eight million copies worldwide and produced three hit singles. Navarro toured with Jane's Addiction for their 1997 Relapse tour with Flea on bass. After two years of touring on and off with Red Hot Chili Peppers, his subsequent heroin relapse, Navarro was fired in 1998 over "creative differences." Navarro remixed Janet Jackson's "What'll I Do" for her Janet Remixed album in this time.
The album, Trust No One, marked his solo debut in the summer of 2001 for Capitol Records. The band assembled for the accompanying US tour consisted of Navarro, guitarist Dave Kushner, bassist Miiko Watanabe and drummer Angel Roché, Jr.. In 2002, Jane's Addiction reformed with bass player Chris Chaney, started work on a new album; the band entered the studio with veteran rock producer Bob Ezrin, resulting in the album Strays and the Lollapalooza 2003 tour in support of the album. In 2002, Michael Jackson performed at the Apollo Theater, Navarro played guitar for his hit song "Black or White". During this time Navarro made a cameo in Mariah Carey's "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" music video. Navarro began working with Camp Freddy during this time. In 2003, he and his fiancée, Carmen Electra, agreed to have their wedding preparations filmed for an MTV show titled Til Death Do Us Part; the show was a great success and was released on DVD in the fall of 2005. Navarro's book, Don't Try This at Home, was released on October 5, 2004 with Regan books, became a Los Angeles Times bestseller.
Navarro appeared in two tournaments on Celebrity Poker Showdown in 2004. In the third t
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay Rubin is an American record producer and former co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, he is the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings and established American Recordings. With the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Geto Boys, Run-DMC, Rubin helped popularize hip hop music. Rubin has worked with artists such as AC/DC, Aerosmith, At The Drive-In, Black Sabbath, Coheed And Cambria, Damien Rice, Dixie Chicks, Ed Sheeran, Frank Ocean, Gogol Bordello, Jakob Dylan, Jay Z, Jake Bugg, James Blake, Joe Strummer, Johnny Cash, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Kid Rock, Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey, Led Zeppelin, Linkin Park, Melanie C, Mick Jagger, Neil Diamond, Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sheryl Crow, Slipknot, System of a Down, The Avett Brothers, The Black Crowes, The Cult, The Four Horsemen, The Mars Volta, The Smashing Pumpkins, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Type O Negative, Dan Auerbach, The Black Keys and ZZ Top. In 2007, MTV called him "the most important producer of the last 20 years", the same year Rubin appeared on Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World.
Frederick Jay Rubin grew up in Lido Beach, New York. His father, Michael was a shoe wholesaler and his mother, Linda, a housewife, he is of Jewish descent. While a student at Long Beach High School he befriended the school's audiovisual department director Steve Freeman who gave him a few lessons in guitar playing and songwriting, he played in a band with childhood friends Marc Greenhut, Carlos Ferreiro, Joey Ferrante doing garage and school shows for town friends until Steve, an AV teacher, helped him create a punk band called The Pricks. Their biggest claim to fame was being thrown off the stage at CBGB after two songs for brawling with the heckling audience; these hecklers were friends of the band instructed to instigate a confrontation so as to get the show shut down and create a buzz. Somewhat anecdotally, this story was confirmed in an interview with music journalist Zane Lowe. Although he had no authority in New York City, Rubin's father traveled from Nassau County, New York, to Manhattan wearing his Long Beach auxiliary police uniform as he attempted to "shut down" the show.
During his senior year, Rubin founded Def Jam Records using the school's four-track recorder. He moved on to form Hose, influenced by San Francisco's Flipper. In 1982, a Hose track became Def Jam's first release, a 45 rpm 7" vinyl single in a brown paper bag, no label; the band played in and around the NYC punk scene, toured the Midwest and California, played with seminal hardcore bands like Meat Puppets, Hüsker Dü, Circle Jerks, Butthole Surfers, Minor Threat, becoming friends with frontman and Dischord Records owner Ian MacKaye. The band broke up in 1984. Having befriended Zulu Nation's DJ Jazzy Jay, Rubin began to learn about hip hop production. By 1983, the two had produced "It's Yours" for rapper T La Rock, released it on their independent label, Def Jam Records. Producer Arthur Baker helped to distribute the record worldwide on Baker's Streetwise Records in 1984. Jazzy Jay introduced Rubin to concert promoter/artist manager Russell Simmons in a club, Rubin explained he needed help getting Def Jam off the ground.
Simmons and Rubin edged out Jazzy Jay and the official Def Jam record label was founded while Rubin was attending New York University in 1984. Their first record released was LL Cool J's "I Need a Beat". Rubin went on to find more hip-hop acts outside The Bronx and Harlem including rappers from Queens, Staten Island, Long Island, which led to Def Jam's signing of Public Enemy. Rubin was instrumental in pointing the members of the Beastie Boys away from their punk roots and into rap, resulting in the exit of Kate Schellenbach from the group. 1985's "Rock Hard"/"Party's Gettin' Rough"/"Beastie Groove" EP by the Beastie Boys came out on the success of Rubin's production work with breakthrough act Run-DMC, of which previous recordings were produced by Russell Simmons and Orange Krush's musician Larry Smith. His productions were characterized by fusing rap with heavy rock. Rubin tapped Adam Dubin and Ric Menello to co-direct the music videos for the Beastie Boys' " Fight for Your Right" and "No Sleep till Brooklyn" launching the band's mainstream hip hop careers.
It was the idea of Rick Rubin's friend Sue Cummings, an editor at Spin magazine, to have Run–D. M. C. and Aerosmith collaborate on a cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way". This 1986 production is credited with both introducing rap hard rock to mainstream ears, revitalizing Aerosmith's career. In 1986, he worked with Aerosmith again on demos for their forthcoming album, but their collaboration ended early and resulted in only rough studio jams. In the same year, Rubin began his long musical partnership with Slayer, producing Reign in Blood, considered a classic of the heavy metal genre; this was his first work with a metal band. In 1987, The Cult released Electric. Produced by Rubin, the album remains one of classic works. Rubin would work with The Cult again for the single "The Witch", in 1992. Rubin is credited as music supervisor in the movie Less Than Zero and is the producer of its soundtrack. Rubin portrayed a character based upon himself in the 1985 hip-hop motion picture Krush Groove, inspired by the early days of Russell Simmons' career as an artist management and music producer.
He directed and co-wrote a second Run–D. M. C. Film, Tougher Than Leather in 1988. In 1988, Rubin and Simmons went thei
Spin (magazine)
Spin is an American music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione, Jr. The magazine stopped running in print in 2012 and runs as a webzine, owned by the Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group division of Valence Media. Spin was established in 1985. In its early years, the magazine was known for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college rock, indie rock, the ongoing emergence of hip-hop; the magazine was bold, if sometimes haphazard. It pointedly provided a national alternative to Rolling Stone's more establishment-oriented style. Spin prominently placed newer artists such as R. E. M. Prince, Run-D. M. C. Eurythmics, Beastie Boys, Talking Heads on its covers and did lengthy features on established figures such as Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Miles Davis, Lou Reed, Tom Waits, John Lee Hooker—Bart Bull's article on Hooker won the magazine its first major award. On a cultural level, the magazine devoted significant coverage to punk, alternative country, electronica and world music, experimental rock, jazz of the most adventurous sort, burgeoning underground music scenes, a variety of fringe styles.
Artists such as the Ramones, Patti Smith, Blondie, X, Black Flag, the former members of the Sex Pistols, The Clash, the early punk and New Wave movements were featured in Spin's editorial mix. Spin's extensive coverage of hip-hop music and culture that of contributing editor John Leland, was notable at the time. Editorial contributions by musical and cultural figures included Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins, David Lee Roth and Dwight Yoakam; the magazine reported on cities such as Austin, Texas, or Glasgow, Scotland, as cultural incubators in the independent music scene. A 1990 article on the contemporary country blues scene brought R. L. Burnside to national attention for the first time. Coverage of American cartoonists, Japanese manga, monster trucks, the AIDS crisis, outsider artists, Twin Peaks, other non-mainstream cultural phenomena distinguished the magazine's dynamic early years. In late 1987, publisher Bob Guccione Jr.'s father, Bob Guccione Sr. abruptly shut the magazine down despite the fact that the two-year-old magazine was considered a success, with a newsstand circulation of 150,000.
Guccione Jr. was able to rally much of his staff, partner with former MTV president and David H. Horowitz, locate additional new investors and offices and after missing a month's publication, returned with a combined November–December issue. During this time, it was published by Camouflage Associates. In 1997, Guccione sold Spin to Miller Publishing. In 1994, two journalists working for the magazine were killed by a landmine while reporting on the Bosnian War in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A third, William T. Vollmann, was injured. In February 2006, Miller Publishing sold the magazine to a San Francisco-based company called the McEvoy Group LLC, the owner of Chronicle Books; that company formed Spin Media LLC as a holding company. The new owners replaced editor-in-chief Sia Michel with a former editor at Blender; the first issue to be published under his brief command was the July 2006 issue—sent to the printer in May 2006—which featured Beyoncé on the cover. Pemberton and Spin parted ways the next month, in June 2006.
The following editor, Doug Brod, was executive editor during Michel's tenure. For Spin's 20th anniversary, it published a book chronicling the prior two decades in music; the book has essays on grunge and emo, among other genres of music, as well as pieces on musical acts including Marilyn Manson, Tupac Shakur, R. E. M. Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, Limp Bizkit, the Smashing Pumpkins. In February 2012, Spin relaunched the magazine in a larger, bi-monthly format and expanded its online presence, which covered reviews, extended editorials and features on up-and-coming talent. In July 2012, Spin was sold to Buzzmedia, which renamed itself SpinMedia; the September/October 2012 issue of Spin was the magazine's last print edition. In December 2016, Eldridge Industries acquired SpinMedia via the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group for an undisclosed amount. In 1995, Spin produced its first book, entitled Spin Alternative Record Guide, it compiled writings by 64 music critics on recording artists and bands relevant to the alternative music movement, with each artist's entry featuring their discography and albums reviewed and rated a score between one and ten.
According to Pitchfork Media's Matthew Perpetua, the book featured "the best and brightest writers of the 80s and 90s, many of whom started off in zines but have since become major figures in music criticism," including Rob Sheffield, Byron Coley, Ann Powers, Simon Reynolds, Alex Ross. Although the book was not a sales success, "it inspired a disproportionate number of young readers to pursue music criticism." After the book was published, its entry on 1960s folk artist John Fahey, written by Byron Coley, helped renew interest in Fahey's music, leading to interest from record labels and the alternative music scene. Contributors to Spin have included: SPIN began compiling year-end lists in 1990. Note: The 2000 album of the year was awarded to "your hard drive", acknowledging the impact that filesharing had on the music listening experience in 2000. Kid A was listed as the highest ranking given to an actual album. 1994 roadside attack on Spin magazine journalists Anon.. "Bibliography". In Ray, Michael.
Alternative, Hip-Hop and More: Music from the 1980s to Today. Britannica Educational Publishing. ISBN 1615309101. Mazmanian, Adam. "Library Journal". In White, William. Buyer's Guide. Bowker. Johnston, Maura. "Never Mind The Anglophilia, Here's The Queens Brothers". Idolator. Retrieved Jul
Coil (band)
Coil were an English experimental music group, founded in 1982 by John Balance in London. Envisioned as a solo project by singer and songwriter Balance while he was in the band Psychic TV, Coil evolved into a full-time project with the addition of Peter Christopherson, a former member of pioneering industrial group Throbbing Gristle who became Balance's creative and personal partner. Throughout the group's existence and Christopherson were the only constant members. After the release of their 1984 debut EP How to Destroy Angels, Coil joined Some Bizzare Records, through which they released two full-length albums and Horse Rotorvator. After departing from Some Bizzare, Coil had established their own record label, Threshold House, through which they produced and released Love's Secret Domain, which saw the duo incorporate the influence of the UK acid house scene. Financial difficulties slowed the group’s work in the early 1990s before they returned to the project on releases such as Astral Disaster, the Musick to Play in the Dark series composed of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, as well as releasing several projects under aliases.
In 1985, the group began working on a series of soundtracks, among them music for the first Hellraiser movie based on the novel The Hellbound Heart by their acquaintance at that time, Clive Barker, although they were rejected. The group's first live performance in 16 years occurred in 1999, began a series of mini-tours that would last until 2004. Following the death of John Balance on 13 November 2004, Christopherson announced via their official record label website Threshold House that Coil as an entity had ceased to exist, after working on the record's content to his extent ended the Coil discography with The Ape of Naples. In 1978, John Balance was a teenage zine journalist, writing—along with his schoolmate Tom Craig, a grandson of Edward Carrick and grand-grandson of Edward Gordon Craig—under a moniker Stabmental, through which he published the articles on UK underground artists, including seminal industrial bands Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. A Throbbing Gristle fan, Balance had contacted them via mail, thus befriended the Throbbing Gristle frontman Genesis P-Orridge.
In February 1980, Balance had attended a Throbbing Gristle gig recorded and released as Heathen Earth, where he had first met P-Orridge's bandmate Peter Christopherson and befriended him as well. Following the dissolution of Throbbing Gristle in 1981, P-Orridge and Alex Fergusson went on to form the new project, titled Psychic TV, along with the accompanying fellowship titled Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth. Balance, who had attended the University of Sussex for a short time and participated in Brian Williams' Lustmord project, returned in London to live with Christopherson—with whom a romantic partnership had begun; as a Psychic TV member, Balance participated in the recording of the single "Just Drifting" and, the following year, of the album Dreams Less Sweet. Having an experience of performing and recording previous to his tenure in Psychic TV, Balance went on to use the name Coil in 1982 envisioned for a solo project. In 1983, Balance wrote a manifesto titled The Price Of Existence Is Eternal Warfare and sent a tape of the song "On Balance", dated 5 May 1982, to Gary Levermore's label Third Mind Records for an inclusion on a compilation album Rising From The Red Sand.
Despite this, Balance had recorded three more new tracks—"S for Sleep", "Red Weather", "Here to Here"—on 11 May 1983. On 4 August 1983, Coil—as the duo of Balance and Christopherson—had played its first gig in London at the Magenta Club, during a screening of films by Cerith Wyn Evans and Derek Jarman. Since Christopherson's commitments for Psychic TV—in which he had become disillusioned due to growing conflict with P-Orridge—still limited his participation in Coil, Balance approached John Gosling—also Psychic TV member who fronted his own project Zos Kia—to work with. Balance's and Gosling's collaboration resulted in the next three gigs during 1983, with the last one being performed in December on Berlin Atonal festival, where Balance participated as both Psychic TV and Coil member; the recordings from aforementioned gigs, as well as "On Balance", were included on Zos Kia/Coil split album Transparent, released in February 1984 by Austrian label Nekrophile Records. Since January 1984, Balance and Christopherson had departed from Psychic TV and the Temple of Psychic Youth, in order to make Coil as a full-time concern.
The band's official recording debut, an extended play titled How to Destroy Angels, was released on the Good Friday of 1984 by a Belgian-based label L. A. Y. L. A. H. Antirecords. Recorded on 19 February 1984 at Britannia Row Studios, the album was dedicated to Mars as the god of spring and war, using predominantly iron and steel instruments. Shortly after in May 1984, Coil went on to record their first full-length studio album titled Scatology, approaching JG Thirlwell as a co-producer and co-composer. Scatology’s themes echoed those of How to Destroy Angels, while focusing on alchemy as an idea of transforming matter. Scatology was released in early 1985 with a 1984 copyright date by the band's own label, Force & Form, K.422 (a Som
Multitrack recording
Multitrack recording —also known as multitracking, double tracking, or tracking—is a method of sound recording developed in 1955 that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources or of sound sources recorded at different times to create a cohesive whole. Multitracking became possible in the mid-1950s when the idea of recording different audio channels to separate discrete "tracks" on the same reel-to-reel tape was developed. A "track" was a different channel recorded to its own discrete area on the tape whereby their relative sequence of recorded events would be preserved, playback would be simultaneous or synchronized. Prior to the development of multitracking, the sound recording process required all of the singers, band instrumentalists, and/or orchestra accompanists to perform at the same time in the same space. Multitrack recording was a significant technical improvement as it allowed studio engineers to record all of the instruments and vocals for a piece of music separately.
Multitracking allowed the engineer to adjust the levels and tone of each individual track, if necessary, redo certain tracks or overdub parts of the track to correct errors or get a better "take." As well, different electronic effects such as reverb could be applied to specific tracks, such as the lead vocals, while not being applied to other tracks where this effect would not be desirable. Multitrack recording was much more than a technical innovation. In the 1980s and 1990s, computers provided means by which both sound recording and reproduction could be digitized, revolutionizing audio recording and distribution. In the 2000s, multitracking hardware and software for computers was of sufficient quality to be used for high-end audio recordings by both professional sound engineers and by bands recording without studios using available programs, which can be used on a high-end laptop computer. Though magnetic tape has not been replaced as a recording medium, the advantages of non-linear editing and recording have resulted in digital systems superseding tape.
In the 2010s, with digital multitracking being the dominant technology, the original word "track" is still used by audio engineers. Multi-tracking can be achieved with analogue recording, tape-based equipment, digital equipment that relies on tape storage of recorded digital data and hard disk-based systems employing a computer and audio recording software. Multi-track recording devices vary in their specifications, such as the number of simultaneous tracks available for recording at any one time. With the introduction of SMPTE timecode in the early 1970s, engineers began to use computers to synchronize separate audio and video playback, or multiple audio tape machines. In this system, one track of each machine carried the timecode signal, while the remaining tracks were available for sound recording; some large studios were able to link multiple 24-track machines together. An extreme example of this occurred in 1982, when the rock group Toto recorded parts of Toto IV on three synchronized 24-track machines.
This setup theoretically provided for up to 69 audio tracks, far more than necessary for most recording projects. For computer-based systems, the trend in the 2000s is towards unlimited numbers of record/playback tracks, although issues such as RAM memory and CPU available do limit this from machine to machine. Moreover, on computer-based systems, the number of available recording tracks is limited by the number of sound card discrete analog or digital inputs; when recording, audio engineers can select which track on the device will be used for each instrument, voice, or other input and can blend one track with two instruments to vary the music and sound options available. At any given point on the tape, any of the tracks on the recording device can be recording or playing back using sel-sync or Selective Synchronous recording; this allows an artist to be able to record onto track 2 and listen to track 1, 3 and 7, allowing them to sing or to play an accompaniment to the performance recorded on these tracks.
They might record an alternate version on track 4 while listening to the other tracks. All the tracks can be played back in perfect synchrony, as if they had been played and recorded together; this can be repeated until all of the available tracks have been in some cases, reused. During mix down a separate set of playback heads with higher fidelity are used. Before all tracks are filled, any number of existing tracks can be "bounced" into one or two tracks, the original tracks erased, making more room for more tracks to be reused for fresh recording. In 1963, The Beatles were using twin track for Please Please Me; the Beatles' producer George Martin used this technique extensively to achieve multiple track results, while still being limited to using only multiple four-track machines, until an eight-track machine became available during the recording of the Beatles' White Album. The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds made innovative use of multitracking with 8-tra
Aphex Twin
Richard David James, best known by the stage name Aphex Twin, is a British musician. He is best known for his influential and idiosyncratic work in styles such as ambient techno and intelligent dance music during the 1990s, he is among the most acclaimed figures in contemporary electronic music. Raised in Cornwall, James began releasing acid techno records in the early 1990s under aliases such as AFX and Polygon Window, co-founded the independent label Rephlex Records in 1991, he first received widespread acclaim for his 1992 debut album Selected Ambient Works 85–92. He signed to UK electronic label Warp the following year, rose to mainstream popularity with the charting singles "Come to Daddy" and "Windowlicker" along with their music videos, both directed by Chris Cunningham. After releasing the studio album Drukqs in 2001, James went into a period of inactivity as Aphex Twin but continued to issue new music under other aliases, including the Analord EP series in 2005 as AFX, a pair of releases in 2007 as The Tuss, an unreleased 1994 LP in 2014 as Caustic Window.
James returned as Aphex Twin in 2014 with the album Syro, which won a Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album. James was born on 18 August 1971 in the son of Welsh parents, he grew up in Lanner, with two older sisters, in a "very happy" childhood during which they "were pretty much left to do what wanted". He enjoyed feeling apart from nearby cities and the rest of the world; some of his earliest musical experiments as a child involved James playing with the strings inside his family's piano, similar to composer John Cage's prepared piano experiments. At age nine he began purchasing tapes and tape recorders, began recording as a refuge from the "bloody awful" Jesus and Mary Chain albums played by his sister. James attended Redruth School in Redruth and claimed to have produced sound on a Sinclair ZX81 at age 11: According to musician Benjamin Middleton, James began producing music the following year. At age twelve, he bought his first synthesiser, which he reassembled himself: "I started off modifying analogue synths and junk that I bought, got addicted to making noises.
That was the buzz for me. At that point, I'd never listened to music." As a teenager he was a disc jockey at the Shire Horse Inn in St Ives, with Tom Middleton at the Bowgie Inn in Crantock and along the beaches around Cornwall. James studied at Cornwall College from 1988 to 1990 for a National Diploma in engineering. About his studies, he said "music and electronics went hand in hand". James graduated from college. In 1989, James befriended Grant Wilson-Claridge when they were working alternating weeks as a DJ at the Bowgie pub near Newquay. Wilson-Claridge was intrigued by his sets, when he discovered that James was playing tapes of his own music he suggested that they make records. At first, putting Aphex Twin's recordings on vinyl was a way of making music the duo's friends wanted to hear. James' first release as Aphex Twin changed to AFX, was the 1991 12-inch EP Analogue Bubblebath on Mighty Force Records; the track "En Trance to Exit" was recorded with Tom Middleton known as Schizophrenia.
The EP made the playlist of Kiss FM, an influential London radio station, which helped it become successful. In 1991, James and Wilson-Claridge founded Rephlex Records to promote "innovation in the dynamics of Acid – a much-loved and misunderstood genre of house music forgotten by some and indeed new to others in Britain". From 1991 to 1993 James released two Analogue Bubblebath EPs and an EP, Bradley's Beat, as Bradley Strider. Although he moved to London to take an electronics course at Kingston Polytechnic, he admitted to David Toop that his electronics studies were being evacuated as he pursued a career in the techno genre. After leaving the Polytechnic, James remained in London, releasing albums and EPs on Warp Records and other labels under a number of aliases. Although he lived on the roundabout in Elephant and Castle, South London, during his early years in the city, he lived in a nearby unoccupied bank; the first full-length Aphex Twin album, Selected Ambient Works 85–92, was released in 1992 on R&S Records to critical acclaim.
In 2002 Rolling Stone said about the album, "Aphex Twin expanded way beyond the ambient music of Brian Eno by fusing lush soundscapes with oceanic beats and bass lines." Pitchfork called it "among the most interesting music created with a keyboard and a computer". However, critics noted that the songs were recorded on cassette and their sound quality was poor. In 1992 James released the Digeridoo and Xylem Tube EP as Aphex Twin, the Pac-Man EP as Power-Pill, two of his four Joyrex EPs as Caustic Window. "Digeridoo" reached #55 on the UK Singles Chart, was described by Rolling Stone as foreshadowing drum and bass. He wrote "Digeridoo" to clear up his audience after a rave; these early releases were on Mighty Force of Exeter and R&S Records of Belgium. In 1993 James released Analogue Bubblebath 3.
JG Thirlwell
James George Thirlwell – known as JG Thirlwell, Clint Ruin, Frank Want, Foetus, among other names, is an Australian singer and record producer. He is known for juxtaposing a variety of different musical styles. Thirlwell was born in Australia, he studied Fine Art at Melbourne State College before moving to London, England in 1978, where he played with the post-punk band prag VEC and formed the first of his numerous musical projects, Foetus. In the 1980s, under the pseudonyms Clint Ruin and Frank Want, he contributed to various releases by Nurse With Wound, Marc Almond, The The and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, he co-wrote "Wings Off Flies" on From Her to the first Bad Seeds album. Longtime Nick Cave associate Mick Harvey would report that Thirlwell's time in the band was cut short, in part, by a clash between Thirlwell's structured studio routine as contrasted with Cave's at-the-time habit of "shambling through it" while recording. Thirlwell released his first 7" single, OKFM/Spite Your Face, in 1981, on his own Self-Immolation record label in his first incarnation as Foetus.
Over the next few years, he would release two more singles, a 12" EP, four full-length albums, Ache and Nail. After visiting the United States during a live stint with the Immaculate Consumptive Thirlwell settled in New York City, where he is still based. Since his move he has released several singles, fourteen EPs, seventeen full-length albums. In addition to being a prolific artist in his own right, Thirlwell has remixed and produced numerous pieces for artists including Faith No More, Nine Inch Nails, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The The, Zola Jesus and Swans, he has done voice-over work for MTV and other entities. Since 2000 Thirlwell has become more active as a composer, having written commissions for Bang on a Can, League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots, the Kronos Quartet, scoring cartoons The Venture Bros. for Adult Swim and Archer for FX. He revived his primary instrumental project, Steroid Maximus, initiated a more experimental instrumental project in Manorexia, he continues to write and perform as a solo artist and with various ensembles.
He is a member of the freq_out sound art collective, has created solo sound installations in Kaliningrad and Vienna. Throughout the span of his career, Thirlwell has toyed with his own identity by releasing music in the guise of numerous alter egos. During the earliest phases of his recording, Thirlwell's "groups" were composed of a plethora of fictional characters: Foetus Under Glass consisted of Frank Want, Phillip Toss and two Brazilian statistics collectors. Furthering the confusion, Thirlwell adopted these personas outside of his own recordings. Thirlwell's persona of Clint Ruin was notable. During the mid-1980s and early-1990s Thirlwell went by this pseudonym conducting interviews as Ruin; as Ruin, Thirlwell was a member of Wiseblood with Flesh Volcano with Marc Almond. He recorded two collaborative EPs with Lydia Lunch, starred in and scored films of Richard Kern under the Ruin alias. Ruin is credited on numerous releases for a variety of roles with Boss Hog, Fur Bible, Annie Hogan, Nurse With Wound, Sonic Youth and others.
This practice seems to have been discontinued since 1995, "JG Thirlwell" is credited on all subsequent musical recordings. Thirlwell's music—released under his various project names of Foetus, Steroid Maximus, Baby Zizanie and others—includes elements of 20th century classical music, big band, jazz, punk rock and Cuban percussion, epic/horror film soundtracks. Much of Thirlwell's aural output is built on a percussive, rock music-type structure, though to call it rock music would be inaccurate, his music employs elements of many genres: with an frenzied aesthetic, Thirlwell's music combines percussion, distortion, electric guitars, electronic sounds and voice. Recurring lyrical themes include destruction, anxiety, incest, angst, self-destruction, self-abuse, prejudice, murder and machismo expressed using American colloquialism and black humour. Foetus: Thirlwell's main project. From 1981's single'OKFM' until 2013's'Soak', most Foetus songs featured lead vocals. Though popularly known as "Foetus", Thirlwell released albums under diverse variations of the name, including: Foetus Art Terrorism.
Steroid Maximus: Primary instrumental project. Manorexia: Experimental instrumental project. Wiseblood: Collaboration with Roli Mosimann. Flesh Volcano: Collaboration with Marc Almond. Baby Zizanie: Collaboration with Jim Coleman. Hydroze Plus: Collaboration with Electronicat. Garage Monsters: Collaboration with skater artist the P!zz. The Immaculate Consumptive: Touring ensemble with Lydia Lunch, Nick Cave, Marc Almond The Venture Bros.: Musical score by Thirlwell. Archer: Musical score b
