An event run by Kyiv-hailing, London-based label ШЩЦ had named Caustic Window as a performer for its Thursday evening Braindance party, which was an early alias of Richard D. James.
Aphex Twin is not playing in London this week. A mysterious flyer for a London event taking place tonight, Thursday, 1 August, had hinted he would be playing a live set at the night.
Run by Kyiv-originating, London-based label and party ШЩЦ, the line-up featured a live set from Caustic Window, which was an alias of Richard D. James, a.k.a. Aphex Twin, from the 90s. It was scheduled place at intimate Peckham venue The Carpet Shop from 6pm until 11:30pm, and also features sets from Andriy Kyrychenko, Bodya Konakov, hk jockey and Shh Shh. No other information was been given.
Now, The Carpet Shop has confirmed that Aphex Twin will not be playing in a statement on Instagram stories. It read: “We’ve had a lot of messages and seen lots of speculation online about the identity of Caustic Window who is listed to play tomorrow night. As a venue we’d like to state that it’s purely speculation and we have been told that Aphex Twin is not playing.
“Due to the misleading nature of tomorrow’s Braindance line-up and confusion about who may or may not be appearing we have taken the decision to cancel the event,” it continued.
“As a venue we have had no part to play in the line-up, promotion or marketing of the event and we do not approve of the methods used. We have been asking the promoters to make a statement – which we are still yet to see – but on behalf of The Carpet Shop we would like to apologise for all of the confusion surrounding this event. We now feel the best course of action is to cancel the event entirely and for the promoters to refund everyone their tickets.”
Fans had been questioning whether the Caustic Window announced on the line-up is indeed James, with one account commenting on the post: “It better be him or I’ll move mental in there.”
Caustic Window is an LP that was originally recorded by James in the early 90s and planned for release in 1996. However, only a tiny number of test pressings were ever produced and it never received a full release, the reasons for which are still unknown. The album was eventually reissued digitally in 2014 after an old pressing was listed for sale on Discogs for $13,500 (£8,050), and a Kickstarter raised $67,424 (£39,920) to purchase it, rip the music from the pressing and then distribute it.
Crack has reached out to the organisers of ШЩЦ for comment, with none provided yet at the time of publication.
Revisit our 2018 cover story with Aphex Twin here.
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This story was updated on 1 August, after The Carpet Shop released a statement confirming Aphex Twin would not be playing at the venue.