Aphex Twin - Rare Stuff, Part 1

Before I start this post, I'd like to say R.I.P. to Jim Carroll. Only 60? Damn.

So I'm following through with the threat, and posting some Aphex Twin rarities. This is the first of three posts, all of which will appear this week. The second will be a continuation of this Rare Stuff post and the third will be an unreleased Aphex album. There is a lot of additional Aphex stuff that I could share, but it's really difficult to determine the facts about some of the releases. I may post that stuff eventually, but for now I'm limiting it to these three posts. Hope you enjoy!


Aphex Twin - Rare Stuff: Disc 1
Part One
Part Two

01 Analog Bubblebath 2, Track 2
02 Analog Bubblebath 2, Track 3
These two tracks are from the unreleased Analog Bubblebath 2 12". The first track on it is listed as Digeridoo (Aboriginal Mix), although it doesn't appear to be different from the standard version of that track, so I didn't bother posting it. By the way, I have spelled Analog how it's spelled on the release, although I'm sure it's supposed to be Analogue.

03 Q-Chastic - CAT 002
04 Soit-P.P. - n.IASP
These two are from The Philosophy Of Sound and Machine compilation which was released on Richard's label, Rephlex. Q-Chastic has a long, confusing history among Richard's fans, mostly because a lot of people suspected these tracks were him initially but it was a long time before it was confirmed. On top of that, there is supposedly a Q-Chastic double 7" EP that remains unreleased and does not feature the track listed above. People have claimed that EP has leaked but it most certainly HAS NOT.

05 Caustic Window - Popcorn
06 Caustic Window - R2D2
These tracks were released on the initial Caustic Window EPs but were not reissued on the Caustic Window compilation. This is most likely due to copyright issues from sampling, as Popcorn samples a recording of the synthesizer tune of the same name, and R2D2 features samples of R2D2. You can find more about them here and here.

07 Power-Pill - Pac-Man
Yes, this is definitely Richard. If you think about it, it's not a huge stretch for him to record something like this. There is an EP of remixes of the track, but this version and a slightly shorter edit are the only ones Richard produced. Makes you wonder how he can put this out but can't get clearance for a small sample of R2D2.

08 AFX - Analogue Bubblebath 3
This track brings up an awful lot of understandable confusion. It is not on any of the Analogue Bubblebath releases and has nothing in common with any of the tracks from the third release. Instead, this dark ambient track appeared on the Trance Europe Express compilation. Nice and spooky, which goes well with the next tracks because...

09 SAW2, TRK4 (Hankie)
10 SAW2, TRK19 (Stone In Focus)
Both of these tracks are from Selected Ambient Works II. "Hankie" didn't appear on the US release of SAW2 but is available on all imported copies. As for "Stone In Focus", it is the missing track from most versions of SAW2. The only versions of the album upon which it appears are the vinyl and cassette editions. The only other place this saw release was on a compilation named Excursions In Ambience: The Third Dimension, which is also the only digital release of the track.

11 Words (Processed)
This is the final track on an American promotional release named Words & Music. It features tracks from SAW2 and brief interview clips with Richard. For the most part, it's not terribly interesting, especially since the interview bits are so short, but the last track is a new recording created from the interview bits. It's safe to call this ambient, and it's excellent!

12 Aphex Airlines
Okay, this one has a crazy story behind it. Virgin Airlines commissioned Richard to make a soundtrack for one of their commercials. This is what he turned in. It sounds like a plane crashing and burning! Virgin, having paid for the track fair and square, issued it on their Ambient 4: Isolationism compilation. I don't know if this story is completely true, but that's the beauty of Aphex. So many stories, so many of them crazy and unbelievable, but you never know!


Make sure you come back tomorrow for Part 2!