The producer and former Crack Magazine cover star has shared a cryptic website suggesting a forthcoming performance at the London festival.
Yesterday, the URL 190823.co.uk appeared online linked to Aphex Twin. The website’s address coincides with the date – 19 August – that Field Day 2023 is happening in Victoria Park, London and the website features the word ‘London’ with the artist’s logo inside the letter Os.
Also included on the page is an email sign-up link and a tagline at the bottom about receiving upcoming news which mentions Waxarch Limited – a company involved in Field Day. Last year marked 15 years of the festival, which started out back in 2007 at Victoria Park in Tower Hamlets where it was held for its first decade before a relocation to Herne Hill’s Brockwell Park and then north London’s Meridian Waters. The 2021 edition saw Field Day return once again to its original home.
Richard James – aka Aphex Twin – has previously played Field Day. In 2017 he headlined the festival, closing out that year’s edition with a highly anticipated set on the Barn stage. The full set was broadcast live by NTS Radio and featured tracks from the likes of Kamixlo, Lorenzo Senni, Squarepusher and Shapednoise. You can listen back to a playlist of the 2017 set here.
The last time Aphex Twin played London was at Printworks back in 2019 as part of the first London edition of Red Bull Music Festival. We caught the show – which marked his first London club outing in a decade – describing it as “a masterclass in rave”.
Last September, Aphex Twin launched a free sample matching software called Samplebrain. Designed by James and built by engineer Dave Griffiths, the pair has been working on Samplebrain for the past two decades. In a detailed blog post, James explained that the idea for the sound design software came to him “when mp3s started to become a thing” and was inspired by Shazam.
Read: Aphex Twin’s Mask Collapses.