i came at the aphex twin from a different angle. i do wonder if he's ever bothered to listen to a nine inch nails record, all these years later. but, reznor was a hell of a gateway to a fifteen year old in the mid 90s, and the aphex twin wasn't the first thing i delved into - it actually came at me via a roundabout way, through the skinny puppy side project called download, which is what really branched me out into the warp sound. i was initially more attracted to the more chaotic reaches of industrial music - i was a punk. and, as a "rock fan", i largely self-segregated myself from music in the electronic sphere. so, it took several years of easing into it before i could handle listening to "techno music". these mental shackles did of course eventually lift themselves, and i am certainly better off for it.
anybody coming from a multidisciplinary background and claiming rdj as an influence is going to be expected to point mostly to the breakbeats, and there's a few in there, but he was actually just as much of a compositional influence for me, as i moved on. i think we share a big influence from coil in that respect - although he's got about ten years on me. but, the orchestrated soft synths coming from rdj are what really defines him differently, and something i've made various attempts to emulate.
(relevant tracks: on sexual confusion in adolescence, clarity, the time machine, untitled; pretty much everything from 1998 on)
