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Just hours before the US election polls open to the public, pioneering electronic artist Aphex Twin broke his standard social media silence with the release of a politically charged promo video ridiculing the US Presidential Election.
The Windowlicker artist put up the video ahead of his upcoming performance at Day For Night Festival in Houston, Texas on December 17th
– his first US show in over eight years. Joking that the world might not still exist then if Donald Trump gets access to the nuclear codes.
Comically referencing presidential candidate endorsed television adverts, the video is titled, “an approved message from Aphex Twin” and bears a bizarre, yet somewhat unsettling message for its viewers.
Designed by Weirdcore, a company who have previously worked with the likes of Tame Impala and Radiohead, the 42-second video features clips of both Trump and Hilary Clinton speaking at the recent presidential debates.
Using classic Aphex Twin imagery, both candidates’ faces are distorted by the familiar face squish seen on previous Aphex Twin projects.
Speaking in pitched-up voices, Clinton and Trump bicker over the enormous responsibility of bearing nuclear weapons as Clinton warns the American people that Trump should not be allowed “his fingers anywhere the nuclear codes”.
Clocking up 3.1Million views upon it’s release – you can watch the video here:
Although he doesn’t reveal his support for any particular candidate, the video also includes footage of a Trump supporter berating Clinton’s apparently erratic hormones, lampooning Trump’s continuous degrading views on women.
Wrapping it up with a distressing depiction of global nuclear annihilation, the video concludes with an Aphex Twin steered nuclear missile hurtling towards the location of his scheduled festival gig.
Certainly a topical yet poignant promotional stunt, Aphex Twin aptly reminds us of his innovative methods of gaining our attention.
Known for his eccentric views having previously declared his beliefs that 9/11 was “absolutely” an inside job, Aphex Twin has often voiced his disillusionment with politics.
In a 2014 interview with Q Magazine, he was asked to define his politics, to which he responded, “Oh, where do you start? The whole world is totally f**ked, basically.”
Now that Donald Trump has risen to the top of the pile as the next potential leader of the free world, we doubt his opinions will have altered much for the better.