Chosen Words: X is for Xylem Tube

Xylem Tube was an EP by Aphex Twin and was the first single on which he used his distinctive logo.

The Cornish ambient electronic musican is arguably the most influential of his kind. Other Cornwall musicians include Tori Amos, Mick Fleetwood, Luke Vibert and Norwegian rock band Lordi (assuming Norway is in Cornwall; I'm pretty sure it is).

His music has been described as 'Cornish Acid', and several track titles on his Drukqs album are in the native language. Jynweythek Ylow means Electronic Machine Music, while Hy A Scullyas Lyf A Dhagrow is a reference to spilling a pint. I once spilled MC Tunes' pint, and I wish I'd known Cornish at the time.

The success of Aphex Twin begat a generation of bleep-heads. Boards of Canada reflect Aphex's ambience, Plaid have the melody, while the spikey beats have been developed by Venetian Snares, μ-Ziq and jazzy drum-mangler Squarepusher.

There has been much speculation as to the release of a new Aphex Twin album. Many suspect he has been busy secretly posing as James Blunt in a musical experiment on the shocking scale of Milli Vanilli.

Top five recommended Aphex Twin aliases:

- Polygon Window
- AFX
- The Tuss
- Caustic Window
- Bradley Strider

Chosen Words: A is for Autechre

a.k.a. World Cup Distraction Exercise: Fat Roland's A-Z guide to the most important words or phrases in electronica and associated "facts"

Autechre is an electronic music band from Manchester, UK.

To many techno fans, they represent the purest expression of computer music. They shun presets on synthesisers; instead, every Autechre note you hear has been lovingly crafted from scratch.

In their long history away from the mainstream, they steadfastly refuse to repeat any bars and phrases. In fact, they have never repeated a single sound even when playing the same track at different gigs. They don't even use the same word twice when speaking.

It is easy to hold Autechre in high esteem, but it's important to remember that the duo that front the band, Sean Booth and Rob Brown, do not play any of the notes themselves. They are very much the Milli Vanilli of intelligent dance music. Their music is automatically generated from an audio synthesis stream of energy released from the gases of Jupiter.

Next time you hear Granz Graf, their most well-known track, just think of the big planet and it's burping juices.

Top five unpronounceable Autechre tracks:

- Cep puiqMX
- Outh9X
- Rsdio
- SonDEremawe
- Yulquen

2020 update: this text has been adapted for the A-Z Guide To Electronic Music video series. Have a look:

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