Wiki
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Release Date
3 November 1996
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Length
10 tracks
Richard D. James Album is the eponymous fourth studio album by British electronic musician Richard D. James, under his pseudonym Aphex Twin. In the United Kingdom, the album was released on 4 November 1996 through Warp. In the United States, it was released on 28 January 1997 by Sire Records, with the Girl/Boy EP included as bonus tracks. A reissue on vinyl was released on 18 September 2012.
Richard D. James Album was composed by James on his Macintosh computer, and took longer to complete than his previous efforts. The album features faster breakbeats and intricate drum programming which draw influence from jungle and drum and bass, combined with lush string arrangements, unstable time signatures, and slow ambient melodies reminiscent of James' earlier work, as well as modulated vocals by James.
Richard D. James Album was less successful in the United Kingdom than James' two previous albums Selected Ambient Works Volume II and ...I Care Because You Do. However, the album still charted in the UK, peaking at number 62 on the UK Albums Chart for one week. It also peaked at number 20 in the US Top Heatseekers list, becoming James' first to do so. The album received acclaim from music critics, and NME listed it as the 20th best album of the year.
In 1995, Richard James released the two Hangable Auto Bulb EPs under his AFX moniker, experimenting with exaggerated rhythms inspired by drum and bass in a style that came to be called "drill 'n' bass". In the following year, James released the Aphex Twin EP Girl/Boy. This faster style of drum programming was inspired by James' friend Luke Vibert, who recorded in this style as Plug. James stated that while he worked with triplets and complicated beats in the past, that Vibert "got me into doing it a faster pace. He gave me the spark to do it faster, but now I'm trying to take it to all extremes". James also noted the influence of his friend Tom Jenkinson (aka Squarepusher). He had said Jenkinson and Vibert were the "only two people around who are musically consistent enough for me".
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