presentation
I'm doing my music business presentation tomorrow on Aphex Twin. I'm going to show the Rubber Johnny video to my class. Some of the students will probably be disturbed. One can only hope! If you haven't seen the video yet, go to youtube or google videos and search for Rubber Johnny. It's yet another amazing video by Chris Cunningham for an Aphex Twin track. Here's a really cool quote from Aphex Twin:
"In Seattle, all the public toilets didn't have any doors on them. It was well strange. What's that all about? I had to take a shit, and they're was like twenty people in a row going for a shit, and I was like, "uh." So after about ten minutes, I thought it was quite wicked actually. I was quite into the idea of it."
Things get, well, very scatalogical and eschatological at this point. During the round of press on the album, I Care Because You Do, much was made of Aphex's use of lucid dreaming to compose music. I was confused at the time, cause I wasn't quite sure what was meant by the term "lucid dreaming." Is it actually dreaming or just daydreaming, I ask. "Well, both really. But what I meant was when you're asleep, like making sounds in your head, and trying to work out songs. I used to do it. I don't do it anymore. Like I had a dream on the bus the other day, and I had this tune in my head, and I couldn't remember it when I woke up. It takes a lot of practice to remember it when you're awake." How do you train? "Well, for about a year. The training is to remember it basically. Because most of the time, I have a dream and know that I've dreamt up a wicked tune, or sound, or idea, and when I wake up all I can remember is the fact that it was really wicked, so that's really irritating." Most people can't control their dreams, I tell him. "Yeah, I can change it. Not all the time. But most of the time -- 75%. That's why I love sleeping. For me, there's different degrees of control. There's ones that are like a movie, where you're in the movie, and you can control yourself, and those are the best ones. And then there's ones where you control everything, and that's really boring, because nothing happens."
It seems to me that breaking things is a very natural human impulse. I find it curious, in this regard, watching children. I say this in reference to one of the rare dreams I could remember controlling. I thought it was really funny to think that, knowing I could do anything, I decided to go a hardware store and smash a bunch of shit up. "Yeah, I've done that. I've smashed everything up, fucked everyone, blown everything up, burnt everything, done everything. I used to dream I was invisible when I was young. Those were one of my favorites. Now, I like eating in dreams -- smelling and eating are what I do now." I'm amazed, cause I've never smelled anything in a dream. "I've just worked out how to do it. It's really weird. It's like sound as well. Because it's not real, but it's like in your imagination. But when I eat food, it can be really vivid. I quite like looking in mirrors as well."
I tell him about when I go to bed drunk without drinking any water. In my dreams, I drink soft drink after soft drink trying to quench my thirst. Says Aphex, "Oh yeah, yeah, I do that as well. It's worse, if you piss yourself as well. I've done that about three times, when I've been drunk. You want to go to the toilet so much, but you're drunk, so you just dream it. And then when you wake up, you go, "Ah fucking hell, I've pissed myself.' You've never done that?" Actually, no. I haven't pissed my bed since I was a kid. Some people say if you piss in dreams, then you'll piss in real life, but I don't think that's true. "Yeah, not always," agrees Aphex. "Like I usually start pissing in a dream, and then realize it's a dream, and wake myself up. But when you're drunk, I don't control anything. I hate drunk dreams. They're fucking shit. They just go in loops, and repeat over and over again. And I'll remember things in the night, and they'll just loop over and over again. So I have to wake myself up, and go back to sleep ...
The rest of this brilliant interview can be found HERE at space-age-bachelor.com.
Enjoy.
"In Seattle, all the public toilets didn't have any doors on them. It was well strange. What's that all about? I had to take a shit, and they're was like twenty people in a row going for a shit, and I was like, "uh." So after about ten minutes, I thought it was quite wicked actually. I was quite into the idea of it."
Things get, well, very scatalogical and eschatological at this point. During the round of press on the album, I Care Because You Do, much was made of Aphex's use of lucid dreaming to compose music. I was confused at the time, cause I wasn't quite sure what was meant by the term "lucid dreaming." Is it actually dreaming or just daydreaming, I ask. "Well, both really. But what I meant was when you're asleep, like making sounds in your head, and trying to work out songs. I used to do it. I don't do it anymore. Like I had a dream on the bus the other day, and I had this tune in my head, and I couldn't remember it when I woke up. It takes a lot of practice to remember it when you're awake." How do you train? "Well, for about a year. The training is to remember it basically. Because most of the time, I have a dream and know that I've dreamt up a wicked tune, or sound, or idea, and when I wake up all I can remember is the fact that it was really wicked, so that's really irritating." Most people can't control their dreams, I tell him. "Yeah, I can change it. Not all the time. But most of the time -- 75%. That's why I love sleeping. For me, there's different degrees of control. There's ones that are like a movie, where you're in the movie, and you can control yourself, and those are the best ones. And then there's ones where you control everything, and that's really boring, because nothing happens."
It seems to me that breaking things is a very natural human impulse. I find it curious, in this regard, watching children. I say this in reference to one of the rare dreams I could remember controlling. I thought it was really funny to think that, knowing I could do anything, I decided to go a hardware store and smash a bunch of shit up. "Yeah, I've done that. I've smashed everything up, fucked everyone, blown everything up, burnt everything, done everything. I used to dream I was invisible when I was young. Those were one of my favorites. Now, I like eating in dreams -- smelling and eating are what I do now." I'm amazed, cause I've never smelled anything in a dream. "I've just worked out how to do it. It's really weird. It's like sound as well. Because it's not real, but it's like in your imagination. But when I eat food, it can be really vivid. I quite like looking in mirrors as well."
I tell him about when I go to bed drunk without drinking any water. In my dreams, I drink soft drink after soft drink trying to quench my thirst. Says Aphex, "Oh yeah, yeah, I do that as well. It's worse, if you piss yourself as well. I've done that about three times, when I've been drunk. You want to go to the toilet so much, but you're drunk, so you just dream it. And then when you wake up, you go, "Ah fucking hell, I've pissed myself.' You've never done that?" Actually, no. I haven't pissed my bed since I was a kid. Some people say if you piss in dreams, then you'll piss in real life, but I don't think that's true. "Yeah, not always," agrees Aphex. "Like I usually start pissing in a dream, and then realize it's a dream, and wake myself up. But when you're drunk, I don't control anything. I hate drunk dreams. They're fucking shit. They just go in loops, and repeat over and over again. And I'll remember things in the night, and they'll just loop over and over again. So I have to wake myself up, and go back to sleep ...
The rest of this brilliant interview can be found HERE at space-age-bachelor.com.
Enjoy.