Aphex Twin ·· Come to Daddy





	In 1997, the world was a remarkably different place. Back then the Internet, which we dialed into, had arrived but had not yet taken hold. Computers were everywhere but the future, and whatever glories it held, was still something in the distance. Television was, and still is, the most prominent technological force in our houses. From it comes most of our culture, easily packaged, and delivered with a flickering intensity. Television keeps our mornings and evenings set in a near-robotic routine. But while the television is a good clock, in 2007 it struggles to set the time. The ever-expanding Internet and its World Wide Web is now the more active source of our culture. We interact through these "tubes" and cables in ways that are both electric and vital. We are the ghosts in our machines, sending e-mails to each other and chatting online. Its nature as a Richard D. James piss-take aside, Chris Cunningham's "Come to Daddy" is, as it was ten years ago, the story of technology and how we are becoming it. In the video, the faces of Aphex Twin chuckle at us with the same soullessness that occupies the man in the television. When he is borne of that television, we discover him to be a product of his environment: a vaporless void, a mere reflection. He has no soul, and he wants ours. And he is asking us to gather 'round and worship him. And to that end we have little choice. We are already worshipping him, the void of technology. We are writing to each other and having sex with each other. We are uploading our past while chronicling our present. We are buying gadgets which are both growing in capacity and shrinking in size. How we connect, and who we connect with is, more and more, determined by which gadget or website we use. Given all of this media, is it difficult to imagine a future where our souls and our technology will not be collectively hard-wired? As the technology spreads to cover every aspect of our lives like an omniscient, if not omnipresent grey goo, what are our alternatives but to bow down and come to daddy? Come to Daddy is available on Chris' Directors Label DVD. It is also available on Come to Viddy, Warp's initial VHS release. Download a 50MB Divx copy here. Excerpt from Treatment Bathed in noise and static an amorphous shape with Aphex's features stretches out onto the pavement. As it rears itself up it screams like an injured animal being born, still somehow retaining an insane grin. It stands 7 foot tall now and its mouth is stretched wide open. It whips its head around and screams full blast into the face of the nearest bystander, which happens to be an old granny. As the scream seems to go on forever so does the scene. With each intake of breath the scream becomes more intense and the camera moves closer. The Aphex thing screams right into the granny's face, almost touching it. We would film the old lady's face in a wind tunnel so that her face and mouth would distort from the blast of air. We cut between the two screaming faces as her wig flies off (the scream in the track made me think of Man Bites Dog.) Awards France's MCM Video Festival .. Grand Prix Prize 1998 Music Week CAD Awards Best Video of 1997 Best Dance Video Best Cinematography in a Video .. Simon Chaudoir Best Editing in a Video .. Gary Knight 1998 D&AD Awards Silver .. Pop Promos .. Best Direction Silver .. Pop Promos .. Individual Budget Under £40,000 Nominations 1998 MVPA Awards Video of the Year Best Direction of a Music Video Best Dance Video 1998 MTV Video Music Awards Best Special Effects Come to Daddy was named the #3 best video of all time in a January 2005 Guardian poll. As of 2003, the Warp releases of Come to Daddy and Windowlicker together sold 90,000 copies.