Aphex Twin - Windowlicker

"Windowlicker."

Album:
Genre: Dance, IDM
Recorded:
Release: March 22nd 1999
Length: 6:05
Producer: Aphex Twin
Vocalist: Aphex Twin
Label: Warp Records

Music Video

Charts, Streams & Sales

UK (singles): #16
Spotify: Over 30 million
YouTube Music: Over 25 million
NME Single of the Year 1999: Winner
Pitchfork's Top 200 Tracks of the 90s: #12

Instruments

Details

• 'Windowlicker' is a strangely sexual, mash-up of styles that dominated MTV in the late nineties. Then, most people hadn't seen anything like it, and even today it stands out as a song a few decades ahead of its time. From the beginning, its syncopated rhythms indicate something unfamiliar, and by the end of it's six minute rollercoaster runtime, the listener has been transported through a surreal landscape of noise, drum & bass, breakbeat and genre's that hadn't even been invented yet.
  
  'Windowlicker' is a hugely influential song that served as a precursor to both glitch hop and dubstep.
  
  
• 'Licking the window' in French means to pick up women, while in English the phrase is an insult for a mentally-ill person. The music video clearly incorporates elements of both meanings.
  
• Aphex Twin started making electronic music as an attempt to get away from his sisters Jesus and Mary Chain albums.
  
• The music video was directed by Chris Cunningham.
  

Artwork