{
  "slug": "aphex-twin",
  "name": "Aphex Twin",
  "description": "Aphex Twin appears 8 times in our IDM, Ambient, The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred, and Warp lists, placing as high as No. 1. Hand-curated, with a reason for every pick.",
  "updated": "2026-08-29",
  "url": "https://waxonia.com/artist/aphex-twin/",
  "appearanceCount": 8,
  "distinctRecordings": 4,
  "years": {
    "first": 1992,
    "last": 1999
  },
  "highestPlacing": {
    "rank": 1,
    "list": "IDM"
  },
  "appearsOn": [
    {
      "kind": "genre",
      "slug": "idm",
      "name": "IDM",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/",
      "entries": 2
    },
    {
      "kind": "genre",
      "slug": "ambient",
      "name": "Ambient",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/",
      "entries": 2
    },
    {
      "kind": "curator",
      "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
      "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/",
      "entries": 2
    },
    {
      "kind": "curator",
      "slug": "warp",
      "name": "Warp",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/",
      "entries": 2
    }
  ],
  "tracks": [
    {
      "trackKey": "aphex-twin--didgeridoo",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--didgeridoo/",
      "title": "Didgeridoo",
      "year": 1992,
      "label": "R&S",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Made, by his account, to clear a rave floor of people who would not go home. It is far too fast and far too hostile, and it announced that this music was going to be about one person's judgement.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Didgeridoo",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=AAkFBQ6sIcc",
          "exact": true
        }
      },
      "rank": 1,
      "on": {
        "kind": "genre",
        "slug": "idm",
        "name": "IDM",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/"
      },
      "artist": "Aphex Twin"
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "aphex-twin--xtal",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--xtal/",
      "title": "Xtal",
      "year": 1992,
      "label": "Apollo / R&S",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A wordless vocal loop over a soft breakbeat, made by a teenager on home-built equipment. Ambient music discovering it could have a pulse without losing its stillness.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Xtal",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sWcLccMuCA8",
          "exact": true
        }
      },
      "rank": 2,
      "on": {
        "kind": "genre",
        "slug": "ambient",
        "name": "Ambient",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/"
      },
      "artist": "Aphex Twin"
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "aphex-twin--windowlicker",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--windowlicker/",
      "title": "Windowlicker",
      "year": 1999,
      "label": "Warp",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "An R&B pastiche with the vocal processed into something inhuman, sold as a pop single. James proves he can do the thing he is refusing to do, which is the only way that refusal is worth anything.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "warp",
          "name": "Warp",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Windowlicker",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=go6-MliYCAs",
          "exact": true
        }
      },
      "rank": 4,
      "on": {
        "kind": "genre",
        "slug": "idm",
        "name": "IDM",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/"
      },
      "artist": "Aphex Twin"
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "aphex-twin--rhubarb",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--rhubarb/",
      "title": "Rhubarb",
      "year": 1994,
      "label": "Warp",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "One chord sequence, endlessly cycling, warm as a heat haze. The most covered, sampled and imitated piece of ambient music of the last thirty years, and still untouchable.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "warp",
          "name": "Warp",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Rhubarb",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=75O11W5EZAU",
          "exact": true
        }
      },
      "rank": 9,
      "on": {
        "kind": "genre",
        "slug": "ambient",
        "name": "Ambient",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/"
      },
      "artist": "Aphex Twin"
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "aphex-twin--windowlicker",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--windowlicker/",
      "title": "Windowlicker",
      "year": 1999,
      "label": "Warp",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "An R&B pastiche processed into something inhuman and sold as a pop single. Proof that he could do the thing he spent a career refusing to do.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "idm",
          "name": "IDM",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "warp",
          "name": "Warp",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Windowlicker",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=go6-MliYCAs",
          "exact": true
        }
      },
      "rank": null,
      "on": {
        "kind": "curator",
        "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
        "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
      },
      "artist": "Aphex Twin"
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "aphex-twin--xtal",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--xtal/",
      "title": "Xtal",
      "year": 1992,
      "label": "Apollo / R&S",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A wordless vocal over a break that has been degraded until it sounds remembered rather than played. Ambient's most-loved record by someone who denies making ambient.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "ambient",
          "name": "Ambient",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Xtal",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sWcLccMuCA8",
          "exact": true
        }
      },
      "rank": null,
      "on": {
        "kind": "curator",
        "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
        "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
      },
      "artist": "Aphex Twin"
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "aphex-twin--rhubarb",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--rhubarb/",
      "title": "Rhubarb",
      "year": 1994,
      "label": "Warp",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Selected Ambient Works Volume II is where the label stops being a dance label without announcing it. Four minutes with no drums at all, released by the people who had just sold a lot of records made entirely of drums.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "ambient",
          "name": "Ambient",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Rhubarb",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=75O11W5EZAU",
          "exact": true
        }
      },
      "rank": null,
      "on": {
        "kind": "curator",
        "slug": "warp",
        "name": "Warp",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/"
      },
      "artist": "Aphex Twin"
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "aphex-twin--windowlicker",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--windowlicker/",
      "title": "Windowlicker",
      "year": 1999,
      "label": "Warp",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A genuine pop single, with a Chris Cunningham video on daytime rotation, made by the artist least interested in being one. The label's tenth year, and it is still signing off on things nobody could have planned for.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "idm",
          "name": "IDM",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Windowlicker",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=go6-MliYCAs",
          "exact": true
        }
      },
      "rank": null,
      "on": {
        "kind": "curator",
        "slug": "warp",
        "name": "Warp",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/"
      },
      "artist": "Aphex Twin"
    }
  ],
  "curates": null
}