1. First off, Aphex Twin is really nice; he was polite, he laughed at bad jokes, and he called back when the line cut out.
2. The oldest track on Syro was recorded six or seven years ago, but there are a lot of newer compositions on there, too. "I’d stockpiled up so much stuff and you can kind of have to draw a line under it somewhere," he said. "By banging something out it, it’s like the end of the chapter. It properly draws a line under it and allows you to move on."
3. He buys a shedload of new music everyday, mainly from the UK-based online music store Juno. "I buy ridiculous amounts of files," he told us. "I always go to that thing, 'Listen to the last eight weeks of whatever.' And it’s all those billions of genres, like Scouse house. There’s actually better music now than ever, that’s ever existed before in my life. It’s all kind of good listening stuff—stuff to play in the car—[but] not so much kicking stuff out there."
4. Music takes up all of his spare time, too: “I’m a serial killer for sounds,” he said with an audible Cheshire cat grin. “I collect sounds from other records so I have to know where they come from and how they’re made. I bought every old sampler in existence and bought all the sample libraries. Like a serial killer, basically. I’ve gone through all of the sounds and worked out where everyone got all their sounds from.”
5. And finally, he confirmed Syro wouldn't be a one-off—it's got him "kicked into gear" for a new period of output.
Buy the vinyl while you enjoy the mp3s.
