By Derek Howie
What you are about to read began 7 years ago, as my collection of Aphex Twin releases had pretty much maxed out. Aside from dropping my RDJ ball in 2004/5, aside from the Analord series there weren't many gaps remaining. As an incessant collector, I had an idea based around his 26 Mixes For Cash compilation album.
Most of the tracks on 26 Mixes For Cash, or as I’ll now refer to it as 26MFC, were commissioned by other artists and record labels to feature on standalone releases. First, I investigated the cost of some of these as a plausible collecting idea and surprisingly, the exorbitant prices attributed to Richard David James’ own releases were devoid in this market! What piqued this project further was being a devout Aphex Twin fan since 1992, I had already bought a number of these releases solely for the work RDJ.
Meat Beat Manifesto “Mindstream” 12” features an Aphex Twin remix of the title track, while Jesus Jones “Zeroes and Ones” single has 2 separate Aphex Twin mixes, although only one featured on the 26MFC album. It would be interesting to discover what other remixes didn’t make it to the 2006 Warp compilation.
What I also had first surfaced in 2001. “2 Remixes by AFX” as the name suggests includes 808 State “Coma Flow (Remix by AFX)” and DJ Pierre “Box Energy (Remix by AFX)”, it was the debut release of the Rephlex sister label MEN Records. I must have played the song listed as “SAW2 CD1 Trk2 (Original Mix)” a hundred times. It’s more commonly referred to as “Radiator" and is on both my triple brown vinyl and double CD copies of Selected Ambient Works: Volume II. Nine Inch Nails’ remix album “Further Down The Spiral” that featured “At The Heart Of It All [Created by Aphex Twin]" was previously purchased.
Meat Beat Manifesto – Mindstream 12”, Jesus Jones – Zeroes and Ones 12” [2018 RSD reissue] and AFX – 2 Remixes by AFX|Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works: Volume II, Nine Inch Nail – Further Down The Spiral CD-albums.
So, this fleeting idea became an active reality when I got my search off to a flyer with a VG+ copy of Curve’s “Falling Free (Remix)” 12”, an awesome track in itself and one of the bigger ticket items in the tracklist and I ticked it off for half of what I expected to pay. It was quickly followed by the Saint Etienne “Hobart Paving / Who Do You Think You Are” 12” for less than £5. “Who Do You Think You Are (Quex-rd)” doesn’t feature on 26MFC compilation!
The first additions in my quest for Mixes For Cash
Like many of us I am absorbed by vinyl, but CD-collecting is equally as fun and the market is equally affordable, even for promotional copies. Obviously connected to this project was the Radio Promo 4 track sampler for the 26MFC release. The inclusion of the “Windowlicker (Acid Edit)” and the Philip Glass “Heroes (Aphex Twin Remix)” as well as the remixes for synth pop acts Saint Etienne and DMX Krew indicates a more mainstream market. Another promo CD I found was Gavin Bryars “Raising The Titanic (The Aphex Twin Mixes)”, which includes the 26MFC featured full length mix and an edited version. The anomaly of finding an Aphex Twin remix on an indie rock single of Philip Boa “Love Me Like an Alien” is so typical of Richard D. James. The “Deep In Velvet (Turnips Mix)” is an unusual fit on this 4-song release.
35-minutes of actual, physical, touchy feely Aphex Twin material for a £15, as well as a gateway into some other artists
The older of us may remember the Mescalinum United “We Have Arrived (Remixes By Aphex Twin & The Mover)” release from 1992. Both remixes also appeared on the R&S Records compilation “Classics", while only the “We Have Arrived (Aphex Twin QQT Mix)” featured on 26MFC. Unknown to me were the different coloured releases, I received a blue labelled one today, but the Purple and Magenta shades are now a minor desire! There are far more important items required beforehand, especially within this quest, like the next item. Online digging to me is much like the real thing, put in the time through lists and list of items, zooming in scrutinising photos, to hovering on the timer page to see no-one else was interested in Wagon Christ “Redone EP" for £4, one of the cheapest Aphex-connected vinyl I have ever bought; That is what we used to pay for a 12” single in the 1990s!
Early remixes on R&S and Rising High Records
After a small break from scrolling over and over different listings, I was quickly on it again with this double buy from Germany, but with the issues around Covid and Brexit ongoing it meant a wait of a couple of months before they arrived. Both CDs have 2 remixes each by Rich! With these latest purchases, Nav Katze “Never Mind The Distortion”, an album of remixes and Seefeel’s renowned “Pure, Impure” EP, I am more than halfway through the task to obtain all the 26MFC.
2 more, 14 down, just 12 more to go!
Following my purchases from Germany, the next addition were in fact German. Hip-hop act Die Fantastischen Vier, who rap auf Deutsch, on their double-CD ‘Liveunddirekt’. This combo of live performances on “Live” CD1, with CD2 featuring a series of remixes, “Direkt”. This rife mixture of artists and genres on 26MFC continued with this 10-track, Japan-only issued Buck-Tick album, housed in a lavish 25cm x 25cm hardback book. There’s a serious array of big-name remixers sitting alongside Richard D. James, including Spicelab (Oliver Lieb), and Hardfloor on this collection of reworked songs.
Remixers Of The World Unite
I have more 12” singles than any other format in my collection, here are another two. Kinesthesia ‘Empathy Box Remixes’, contains the inner circle of unpronounceable acts together on this 4 track EP. Cylob, µ-Ziq, and Autechre also have their hands in the last release under the Kinesthesia banner. Mike Flowers Pops is the oddest collaboration of all the 26MFC, a 1960s inspired, easy listening, vocal and swing artist, who had a UK Singles Chart #2 in 1995, meets 20th century RDJ, who incidentally did score a UK Album #11 with his SAWII album a year earlier in ‘94. MFP/The Mellowtrons, Luke Vibert and Funki Porcini fill out the berths, who were let loose to reproduce 4 versions "Freebase".
The 12” single Is a cherished format.
Whole albums of additional material accompany the few tracks I am seeking. “You Can’t Hide Your Love (Aphex Twin Mix)” featured on the Rephlex released album, DMX Krew “Ffressshh!”. Electro/synth pop anyone? As well as one you may think you’ve seen this one before and you’d be kind of right. Only a few of the North American versions of NIN’s “Further Down The Spiral” featured both Aphex Twin tracks, “At The Head Of It All” and “The Beauty Of Being Numb”. Another Japanese artist included on 26MFC, is Nobukazu Takemura. His “Child’s View REMIX” CD is quite scarce, as it was only available in Japan or Germany.
I’ve had to buy full albums for just 1 or 2 tracks.
Into the final stretch of this labour of love for the work of Richard David James, with only a handful of items to find. Next up was a local record store find, featuring one of the best tracks on the whole compilation, “Normal (Helston Flora Remix by AFX)” on this Baby Ford 12”. James’ label Rephlex certainly had an odd roster on their books back in their heyday, no more so than The Gentle People, who were categorised as a downtempo/easy listening group. Their debut CD EP “Journey” featured a 10-minute “Aphex Twin Care Mix” alongside 30-minutes of laid-back vibes.
Nearing Totality!
As any collector will testify, completism is a curse, as the euphoria of totality is seldom felt! However, today I added the final two additions to my cache of 26MFC. The arrival of Philip Glass “Heroes” and The Beatniks “Another High Exit” created an awesome exhilaration. I tracked this overseas parcel from Japan, as these 2 vastly different releases were unique to that country, but obviously connected by one thing, the sought after Aphex Twin remix. Rich’s connection to classical composer Glass is well documented, but lesser known is his affiliation to Japanese music, however, working through the tracklist on 26MFC, you’ll quite clearly see it. Plus, even after 40-years of buying records and CDs this order includes another first for me, my initial 3” mini-CD.
The final pieces
What started out as just a cool, throwaway idea as an avid collector, turned out into an epic campaign, which towards the end, it did begin to feel like a chore. While seeking out all 26MFC, I have collected a total of 136 different tracks along the way, including 4 exclusive Aphex Twin mixes that didn’t appear on original double CD compilation.
My guide: 26 Mixes For Cash inlay panel
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