A rare test pressing of Richard D. James (Aphex Twin), working under his ‘Caustic Window’ moniker, has sold for $46,300 on eBay.
Back in 1994, James had plans to release an LP as Caustic Windows on his label, Rephlex Records. 4 test pressings were reportedly made, of which this LP is one.
The seller notes that “No rights of duplication, public performance or distribution are given or implied. This is simply the sale of a very rare, very famous second-hand record for private consumption.”
The music from the album is not currently available, but you can stream the Caustic Window LP via YouTube.
$46000…….
Wow.
$46,300 equals eight or nine modest but very capable project studios. Dropping it on a pop artifact of any kind should come with a requirement that the buyer take 20 whacks on the arse with a heavy carpet whisk. I have some real respect for the Aphex Twin world and its influence on so many of us, but you must have pudding for brains to blow such money that way. If you drop large coin on a fancy synth because you’re going to really use it, that’s an actual tool, but just to own a limited edition LP? I believe the term here would be “bollocks.” I wouldn’t drop $46k on one of Janis Joplin’s old bras and I LIKE Janis. Too goofy! 😛
It was purchased by Notch, author of the video game Minecraft. He’s mad rich. =P
Ah, that’s interesting. Yeah, money is relative and it’s all make believe anyways. Plus, it doesn’t vanish when it gets used, so it’s not like this is a “waste” of money. The money will circulate elsewhere, as it’s meant to. Maybe even be used to build a project studio 😉
Pretty sure this was purchased by a group of individuals from the WATMM forums as a crowdsourcing campaign in order to secure individualized duplication rights for all backers of $16 or more. This amount purchased the right to copy the digitized audio as many times as there were backers. So, FWIW, one person did not drop nearly $50k on one record.
Nope. It was for sale on discogs. People at watmm organized a kickstarter which gathered more money than this (almost 70k, I believe). Like 9k of it went toward purchasing the vinyl from the discogs seller, the rest went to the record label/professional digital recording of the vinyl.
Then after they distributed digital copies with permission from the record label, they put the vinyl on this ebay auction. Here, it sold to an individual for 46k, of which half goes to Doctors without Borders and half to Richard James. In fact, according to his twitter, that individual who bid 46k is Notch, the creator of Minecraft.
Fine, I’ll listen to it. But I want the $46K in *cash*.
$46,300? That’s like a million dollars.
Hipster trust fun candy.
what!?!!? Man, i’ve got a 12″ Caustic Window vinyl, that came in a big cardboard cover. anyone want that for $1000?
Damn it sold? I was just about to go bid 47,000 on it
I understand aphex twin is quite legendary, but i much rather spend that kind of money on a prophet 5, a yamaha CS-80, a Roland Jupiter 8, a Minimoog model d, an Arp 2600, an oberheim two-voice, and maybe a nice dinner with some friends, if i have a few bucks left over.
On the plus side half the money raised will go to charity. Based in the votes over at WATMM, Doctors without Borders is the likely recipient.
46K??? The fools…dont they realise they can stream it on YouTube now 😉
Not bad for music that can be made in five minutes on an iPad air:)
It is pretty interesting to hear some of these tracks that sound like a lot of the noodlers on YouTube playing around with their hobby gear (no hate, I’m a noodler). Obviously RDJ is one of the people who defined that sound and making it happen was way harder back then, but it’s funny how easy it is to replicate now that the tools have become affordable and easier to use.
this is the most retarded comment I’ve read on the internet in weeks.
and bought by Richard D James! 😀