Earlier today, reports started circling of an Aphex Twin-branded blimp flying over East London’s Oval Space venue. “2014″ can be seen on one side of the green blimp, and the classic Aphex Twin logo can be seen on the other side. Nothing has been confirmed as of yet, but speculation is already rampant. Earlier this year Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin, released a “lost” album entitled Caustic Window, but he hasn’t released a full-length album of new material since 2001′s Drukqs. Could this be a sign of a new release due this year? Or is it just someone with a lot of money being really mean?
Nothing is concrete at the time of writing, but according to Jack Cooper on Twitter, Warp Records have said they have something going on at the Oval Space venue today. Take this all with a grain of salt, however, as Oval Space and Warp Records have yet to confirm or deny anything. @BrickBakken on Twitter also tweeted a picture of an Aphex Twin logo stenciled in front of Radio City NYC yesterday, leading us to believe this could all be part of a larger campaign of sorts.
Warp Records did something similar last year with the absolutely bonkers release of Boards of Canada’s Tomorrow’s Harvest, in which ultra-rare vinyls with obscure clues led to the announcement of the album. In 2010, Richard mentioned he had six albums completed, so here’s hoping the blimp has something to do with at least one of those albums seeing the light of day. If more information pops up, we’ll keep you updated.
UPDATE 08/18/14: So nothing happened with that blimp, and Aphex didn’t turn up at the venue to perform like many suspected. But, the mystery just got all the weirder. Around an hour ago, his long-dormant twitter posted this link: http://syro2eznzea2xbpi.onion
The mystery website, which is only accessible with a Tor browser leads to the page seen in the screenshot below. There is also this version of the site, accessible from any browser, that has the track names and title crossed out.
Pitchfork are confirming that this is indeed the announcement of a new album, titled SYRO, alongside the names of its 12 tracks.The mystery website is indeed registered to Warp Records, as confirmed through whois here.
You’re officially allowed to get excited about a new Aphex Twin album now.
