Aphex Twin – Analog Bubblebath Vol 2

I remember receiving this in my shop in 1991 and was blown away by it. Then a few months later techno legend Damon Wild told me there was this artist R&S was signing that was considered the Jimi Hendrix of Techno called Aphex Twin. When I received the highly anticipated R&S promo of Digeridoo from my record distributor (Watts Music)(Thank you Harry The Bastard!) I was shocked to find it was the Rabbit City cut that I had already been playing. It was a nice feeling to be a head of the curve!

DJ (Partick) Kash in Antwerp managed to get a stamped Rabbit City copy from Renaat Vandepapeliere office when he wasn't watching while I've catched the two first and few Caustic Window EPs during a London trip were I later met Grant Wilson-Claridge who, later, gave me a taste of VJing at Megatripolis. We thought we were hallucinating listening to these mysterious AFX release coming "from the sky" and it redefined the way we envisioned Techno as we normally rooted the genre with Detroit or the Koln School. Cornwall came on map ;-)

Quick history lesson (from what Richard said himself although I don't have the exact wording handy):

Richard made the Digeridoo track for the Digeridoo ep, which he was paid a 1000 pound flat rate for (by the guy running R&S Records). Richard considered it a bit of a ripoff but it would be his 2nd release so he didn't have much bargaining leverage. But there was nothing in the contract about it being exclusive, so he negotiated with another record company (Rabbit City) to release an ep that also had Digeridoo on it (to get paid twice for the same song). This one came out first (being a white label and having no cover art allowed them to rush it into stores). When the guy from R&S found out he got mad and went around trying to buy up every copy of the Rabbit City release he could (it was limited to 1000 copies, all white labels). The few that are in the wild are the ones he missed or the ones that sold before he found out.

Another fun fact: the 1991 printing of the first Analogue Bubblebath album doesn't say the album title on it. It gives the band name as Aphex Twin, then lists the tracks. So some people were calling it "The Aphex Twin ep" and I've seen recent claims that the 1993 reprint was the first time they claimed it was part of the Analogue Bubblebath series (to go with vol 3 which came out that year). But wait, THIS release came out 1991, was never reprinted, and claims to be Analogue Bubblebath vol 2. So clearly Richard considered the previous ep to be Volume 1 even if it wasn't written on the record (it probably WAS written on the order form stores used to order the album from the record company).

The last track on side 2 was recently released in digital form on Aphex Twin's soundcloud account (user18081971, a reference to his birth date). That version had a few extra seconds on the end and had a track title for the first time, "Alien Fanny Farts".

I bought this for £2 from Fat Cat records in 91. They had one promo and, despite being techno heads, they didn't like it. Happy me!

Can you believe I passed this one up when offered at my local shop (World Beats in Wolverton, near MK). Maybe I had a headache and didn't fancy these three full on bangers. I bought a copy of ABB1 - The Mighty Force version - that had come in the same day - principally for the soft and squidgy title track.
Some time soon I need to invest the £20+ to finally own those last 2 tracks from this missed opportunity.

b2 is called alien fanny farts

Nice thing about this version is that it was pressed at 45. This was a favourite afterparty track played slowed down to 33 - really superior this way in my opinion and takes you someplace else.

Amazing. Just when I start hoping that I have grown out of childish behavioral patterns, Digeridoo catches me off guard and throws me back to the good old days of early elementary school - when I was still small and young enough to jump all over bed!
Simply put, this where a lot of things concerning electronic music started for me. Furiously scattered broken beats, deviant digeridoo sequences with thick and sick 303 leads. Unlike anything I've heard until then. Very forceful, and truth be said, one of the most memorable electronic music pieces of the last decade. You hear it once and it sticks forever. Hate it until you meet your maker, but there is no way those haunting aboriginal sounds will ever leak out of your head again.
The flip side has two hard bangers, with huge drum kicks and loads of screeching noises. Though I have never really caught up on all the Aphex Twin hype, the day I first played this, I though I could jump high enough to tear the moon to shreds.

Love it or loathe it, at the time of it's release Digeridoo was unlike pretty much anything that had gone before. It was one of those tracks that made you stop and listen, take it in and in my case, be amazed.
The word 'groundbreaking' is used too often, in my opinion, when used to describe tracks that are different from the norm, but I feel it definitely applies in this case.
Whenever I hear it, I think of a party at a gravel pit in Alton, 10K rig on a truck, 2 strobes and 80 tripped out people going mental.
Aaaaaah, those are the days I miss most.

I remember hearing this on the Radio and went out the very next day to purchase. Even then I wasn't sure if I liked it or not, as I hated most breakbeat inspired style/productions of the time ... However all these years on it's one of the most intense electronic work outs released on vinyl and it's still original..or should that be (Ab)original?! .¬)