The Original inspiration for this song was given to Richard James by a crazed fan made the comment "I Want Your Soul".

The song was recorded in a bank vault in Central London which was bought (The entire Bank) by Richard for the purpose of recording and living in.

The Official Unofficial Aphex Twin FAQ

This song was recently covered by the Dillinger Escape Plan. It features Mike Patton on vocals, and is available on the EP Irony is a Dead Scene. The EP was released on Epitaph Records in 2002.

The cover is surprisingly straight forward. The song structure, lyrics and manic pace remains unchanged. The main riff of the original is being played by the rhythm distortion guitar, while Dillinger's lead guitarist peppers the scene with appropriately spooky guitar effects, as well as joining the first guitar during the screaming build-up halfway through for some unexpected counter-melody.

The thing most people remember from the song, apart from the insane video, is the rhythm. The achingly complex drum rhythm of the original, which featured lots of double-beats, 16th note rolls on the snare, and seemingly impossible syncopations, which all in all qualifies it as one of the most schizophrenic high-powered electronic rhythms within the realm of breakbeat, is convincingly reproduced by Dillinger's one-man (!) powerhouse of a drummer. The drum track was evidently recorded in one sitting (!!), and he deftly takes on and reproduces the snare fills and broken beats as if it were second nature. Which, I suspect, it probably is for him.

Mike Patton's vocals are appropriately distorted, as were the originals, but not to the same ear-splitting degree. Mike Patton is widely recognized as the vessel for one of rock music's most talented vocal chords, but his range isn't exactly explored in great detail on this track - owing largely to the limited vocal exercises of the original. Nevertheless, his voice is appropriately akin to Richard D. James' original nasal performance, and his voice blends in to act more as a part of the instrument onslaught than an actual song.

"Come to Daddy" is a strange choice for a cover song, but Dillinger Escape Plan pull it off admirably. In truth, I doubt if any other band have the technical abilities, appropriate insanity level and the flair for diversity to attempt anything similar. And Patton's involvement is just icing on the cake.

EP: Come to Daddy
Artist: Aphex Twin
Label: Warp Records
Released: 1997
Summary: Sometimes beautiful, sometimes bizarre. Very complex rhythms.

This mini album is probably a good introduction - and warning - to anyone who wants to give Aphex Twin's music a listen. It combines the two Come to Daddy singles onto a single CD or double record (even though it looks like it would have fit on a single record), providing a diverse mixture of Aphex Twin's work.

The first track, Come to Daddy, Pappy Mix, sounds more like Atari Teenage Riot than anyone else. I can only describe it as someone shouting disturbing phrases again and again, set to the sound of a complex and constantly changing breakbeat, someone playing distorted fifth chords on a synthesiser and someone else making balloon animals. In case that was too friendly sounding, the bridge is made up of a tortured scream. Yet somehow, this song is actually catchy and fun.

It's more than likely poking fun at songs like The Prodigy's Firestarter, but sounds as if it could just as easily be a sincere attempt at writing a song in the same kind of style. Either way, it works well as a noisy yet catchy song in its own right.

After the opening song, your ears are thankfully given a rest. Flim combines a beautiful melody and arpeggios with another complex drumbeat that must have been painstakingly programmed in. Strings then fade in to complete the mix, making it somehow even better. The percussion sometimes sounds like it was influenced by a geiger counter, but all the parts of this piece of music work together brilliantly.

The next song is clearly not a remix at all (none of the so-called Come to Daddy remixes are remotely alike). Come to Daddy, Little Lord Faulteroy Mix, is the first funny song on the disc, although whether it's funny as in humorous or just plain weird is up to the listener to decide. It starts off with an buzzing noise, presumably just to annoy the listener, which soon gives way to actual music. A playful drumbeat and slightly odd melody accompany what sounds like a kid insulting someone and making croaking noises with his voice. The song in general is either a funny or scary oddity, depending on your point of view.

Bucephalus Bouncing Ball is the kind of original thinking that probably got Aphex Twin the respect he has today. To start with, it's just a rhythm played on various morphing timbres, but it's an unusual rhythm that manages to sustain interest on its own and features such unfamiliar sounds that I can't even imagine what equipment it could possibly have been composed or performed on. Presumably it makes use of a modular synthesiser, because I can't imagine much else that offers a musician the freedom to make such unconventional electronic music.

A minute and a half later, melodies and harmonies join the mix. These bring the listener slightly closer to the familiar territory of contemporary music, but not much closer. This is the kind of music that you hate at first, but which slowly grows on you.

After another minute and a half, Bucephalus Bouncing Ball completely loses it, degenerating into what sounds like Aphex Twin mucking around with dials, interspersed with noise. There's a good reason why Aphex Twin may be the first commercial artist to sneak a picture into a piece of his music using Fourier transforms: his music is so off-the-wall that he can occasionally include a snippet of raw data without it sticking out like a sore thumb.

To Cure a Weakling Child, Contour Regard is very loosely based on the original To Cure a Weakling Child, from the (slightly shorter) Richard D. James Album. It doesn't really contain anything interesting in my opinion, and even the original song wasn't exactly the best one on the album.

Funny Little Man is the other funny song. It has an odd backing, and someone taunting a "funny little man" in between making weird noises with his voice. It's more like listening to Eric Cartman from South Park than listening to an actual song.

Come to Daddy, Mummy Mix, starts off with Aphex Twin's mother talking to him, accompanied by more complex, synthetic percussion. Her voice soon gets mutilated before the music turns sinister and features what sounds like a baby trying to talk, only pitched. Most of this piece of music lacks rhythm, melody and harmony enough to count as noise in my book, occasionally interspersed with even harsher noise or the occasional tune. On the bright side, anyone who manages to listen to it all the way through is applauded for their efforts, until the applause's resolution or sample frequency is reduced so much that it also degenerates into noise.

It is with great relief that the last track, IZ-US, turns out to center around a bittersweet melody, backed up by pads for the most part, and featuring slightly less elaborate rhythms. In my opinion this is one of the pieces of music with which Aphex Twin gets the balance just right, still standing out above most contemporary electronic music yet also being accessible.

In all, this mini album is a good example of the versatility of Aphex Twin's work: it includes the loud yet catchy (Come to Daddy), the beautiful (Flim and IZ-US), the original (Bucephalus Bouncing Ball), the downright weird and the just plain noise.

Still, I can't help thinking that just Come to Daddy, Flim and IZ-US would have made a very nice single.

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