Novation and Aphex Twin (AKA Richard D. James) have a bit of form together - the electronic music titan previously collaborated with the company on an update for its Bass Station II synth. Now it seems like the pair have something else cooking, and it looks like it’ll be announced later this month.
The first clue to a potential collaboration appeared back in July, at the London Design Museum’s exhibition celebrating the art and culture around electronic music. One of the exhibitors was Aphex Twin’s frequent visual collaborator Weirdcore, and sitting at the top right of his display was a mysterious piece of artwork.
This visual - which appears to show the Aphex Twin logo laid over something else - has since evolved, first in the window display of London record store Phonica and then on posters that appeared at Moritzplatz in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district.
Finally, the complete artwork - which shows the Aphex insignia over what looks like a circuit board - was revealed in Bristol’s Turbo Island, and has now appeared on a billboard in LA. A shot of this was shared on Novation’s Instagram account, along with the promise of more information on 20 October.
What to make of all that, then? This looks like a carefully orchestrated launch campaign for something, with everything pointing to the announcement of a piece of Novation hardware that’s been created with Aphex Twin’s involvement. Our best guess would obviously be some kind of electronic instrument, but who knows?
We’re led to believe that there’ll be more cryptic clues over the next couple of weeks, after which all - we’re assuming - will become clear...
