Description

Richard D. James made himself into his own logo. The cover of his fourth album as Aphex Twin is a high-contrast close-up of his face against a blinding white background, grinning straight at the viewer. A Vice writer described the effect precisely: "His smile is more sinister, his crow's feet more shadowy, his pores more gaping," a grin "more Cheshire Cat than villainous hedge fund founder." Once seen, the face is hard to forget.

The image grew out of play. Johnny Clayton, a friend of James and one of the design figures behind Warp Records, taught him Photoshop, and James began experimenting with his own self-image, stretching and distorting photographs of himself. "I taught him how to use Photoshop, and he started playing around with his own self-image," Clayton said, adding that this work "led to that cover." He insisted the credit belonged to the artist: "It definitely came from Richard." On the sleeve, James credited himself simply as "Me."

The album, released by Warp on 4 November 1996, mixed fast drum programming with childlike melodies, and the grinning face fit that combination of sweet and menacing. Early copies even came with a small plastic sachet containing James's hair. The face went on to haunt the videos for "Come to Daddy" and "Windowlicker", pasted onto children and dancers, and became one of the most recognisable images in electronic music.

Credit

Sleeve by Richard D. James and Johnny Clayton