The only thing about Aphex Twin that I can say with certainty is
that he's either a compulsive liar or good at marketing. Either
way, he only gives joke answers in interviews, leaving everything
about him shrouded in mystery. It's therefore probably quite sensible
to assume that he's just an ordinary person who happens to be a
talented composer of electronic music, and move on.
As far as his music is concerned, it's hit and miss. Some of it
seems to be very clever but isn't, some of it seems to be very clever
and is, and some of it may or may not be clever but it's so
idiosyncratic that no one outside of his cult of followers cares.
At any rate, he's capable of making very beautiful music when he
wants to. This is why it's such a shame that he doesn't seem to
care about what anyone else wants to hear, verging on attempts to
downright annoy everyone.
All in all, he's very good at making background drones and loud
noises, but only rarely puts in the effort to make anything in
between, such as actual music. This is why whenever you buy an Aphex
Twin album, it is vitally important that you get a receipt.
Selected Discography
Most artists start out making amateur music that's enthusiastic and
original yet lacks polish, then slowly creep closer and closer towards
making glossy, technically correct music that isn't innovative
anymore. Aphex Twin isn't like that at all. He started off making
strange music, and each subsequent album got even further removed
from what everybody else was doing, as his lonely island suffered
further continental drift.
I'd therefore recommend you check out his earliest albums first. If
you don't like those, there's little chance you'll be able to stomach
his later releases.
Selected Ambient Works 85-92 One of the definitive ambient techno
albums.
Selected Ambient Works Volume II Truly ambient music, spanning the
emotional spectrum from beautiful to scary. This is the one you
should listen to while having a bath, having a stroll around an
abandoned power station at night, or having an epiphany.