On the surface, you might think British techno animal Aphex Twin and Tokyo rock anarchists Bossston Cruising Mania have little in common. I mean, the one twiddles knobs while the other bunch plucks strings. But you'd be wrong. Take these four things off the top of my head: 1) they have no respect for musical conventions; 2) they make a lot of noise; 3) they occupy the borderline territory between genius and insanity where most great artists emerge; and 4) they're damn ugly and dress like bums. All in all, a wonderful steaming caldron of nonconformity. And nonconformists shape the future of music and always will. Sitting on the fence rarely makes great records; diving headfirst over the edge does.
But the best reason for me dragging Aphex Twin into this Bossston Cruising Mania story is because I wanna tell two amusing stories that sum up both these artists' reckless experimental attitude to their art.
You may have heard the one about Aphex Twin: A few years back a record company executive came round to his house to collect a remix of a Lemonheads track he was contracted to do. Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) had forgotten all about it so he reached into a stack of DATS of original recordings he'd made, randomly pulled one out and handed it to the dude. He was paid handsomely even though the track had absolutely nothing to do with the original song.