Windowlicker
Encyclopedia
"Windowlicker" is a song by British electronic music
artist Richard D. James (Aphex Twin
), released as a single
in 1999 on Warp Records. The single peaked at #16 on the UK Singles Chart
, becoming his highest-charting song on the chart. The song was later voted, by fans, as Warp Records' most popular song, for its Warp20 compilation.
The name of the song comes from the derogatory British term "windowlicker", which refers to a mentally handicapped person. The term is also a direct English translation of the French term faire du lèche-vitrine, meaning "window shopper", a second meaning played up in the song's music video.
The artwork for the single was created by Chris Cunningham
, with additional work by The Designers Republic
. Cunningham also directed the song's music video.
"Windowlicker" consists of James' voice modulated on computer, mixed with his trademark breakbeat
snare rush
es, drum samples
, and mixed choir
-like singing, resulting in a smooth yet erratic song, its last minute escalating into an extremely distorted wall of bass. Also included is a sample of James' French
then-girlfriend speaking in her native tongue saying J'aime faire des croquettes au chien, translating to "I like to make dog food."
The effect was achieved through use of the Mac-based program MetaSynth. This program allows the user to insert a digital image as the spectrogram. MetaSynth will then convert the spectrogram to digital sound and "play" the picture. According to an article on the website Wired News
, photographs run through the program tend to produce "a kind of discordant, metallic scratching".
It is one of a few instances of musicians "embedding" images into their music. Electro-industrial band Interlace embedded an image of either a human embryo or a DNA Helix in their song "Tetragrammaton B" from their album Innuendo; British band Plaid
embedded a series of interlocked 3's into their song "3 Recurring" from their album Rest Proof Clockwork
; Canadian breakcore producer Venetian Snares
embedded several images of his cats into his song "Look" from Songs About My Cats
; industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails
embedded an image of "The Presence" into two songs from their album Year Zero
, "The Warning" and "My Violent Heart."
sound. Track three, "Nannou", dedicated to his then-girlfriend, is made up of wind-up music box samples.
Viewing a spectrogram
of track two, with the frequency axis in a logarithmic scale, reveals hidden images of James' face that were apparently synthesized as sound by Aphex Twin for the express purpose of being discovered in this manner.
' s Single of the Year 1999 in its year-end charts. James sent NME the following missive in acceptance:
In September 2010, Pitchfork Media
included the song at number 12 on their list Top 200 Tracks of the 90s.
for "Windowlicker" was directed by Chris Cunningham
, who had also directed Aphex Twin's previous music video, "Come to Daddy
". It is a ten-minute long parody
of contemporary American
gangsta
hip-hop
music videos. In the video, two foul-mouthed
young men (a Latino
and an African American
) in Los Angeles
are window shopping for prostitutes (referred to in the end credits as "hoochies"); the French term for window shopping is faire du lèche-vitrine, which literally translates to "licking the windows". Suddenly, a ridiculously long white limousine
(38 windows in length, including driver's window, which takes 20 seconds to fully display) crashes into the two men's black Mazda Miata NA (MX5) convertible
, and a "pimped-out
" Richard D. James, displaying a surreal amount of wealth and power, emerges with his signature fixed grin. The two women, among others, accompany James in his limousine while their faces morph
into James' own likeness, and are later joined by a woman with a horrifically ugly, buck-toothed, deformed face, which is a likeness of a sketch by Swiss artist H. R. Giger
titled "The Windowlickers".
The cast for the dialogue intro of the clip are Marcus Morris, Gary Cruz, Marcy Turner and Chiquita Martin. Filming was done in the Los Angeles
area. The locations are as follows:
There are 127 uses of profanity
in the dialogue segment of the video (which is under 4 minutes), including 44 uses of the word fuck
. This averages to more than one use of profanity every two seconds. The video was released as a VHS single, containing both uncut and censored versions (the latter being referred to as the "Bleep Version"). It was also nominated for the Best Video award at the BRIT Awards
2000, alongside videos by Supergrass
, The Chemical Brothers
, Fatboy Slim
, and eventual winner Robbie Williams
.
The full "Windowlicker" video is restricted to being broadcast only during the nighttime on most music television
channel
s. A bleeped-out
version of the video exists, and MTV Two even made a daytime version, with all the opening dialogue removed (the censored version starts with the arrival of the limousine) and some of the video's more shocking images are also removed. In 2008, MTV Networks Europe
was fined by media regulator Ofcom
for several breaches of its broadcasting code, including airing the uncensored version of the "Windowlicker" video before the 9pm watershed
.
. The original single was released on 12-inch
, two separate CD
s, a special edition Japanese CD and VHS.
style, entitled "Windowlicker, Acid Edit", is available on the remix compilation 26 Mixes for Cash
. Another remix of "Windowlicker", entitled "WINDuckyQuaCKer", appears on V/VM
's HelpAphexTwin/1.0 (2001) and HelpAphexTwin 4.0 (2003). A remix entitled "it's a richJAMs World" appears on V/VM's HelpAphexTwin 4.0 (2003). Musician Run Jeremy also made his own remix of "Windowlicker".
Miss Kittin
performed Run Jeremy's remix of "Windowlicker live" at the Sónar
festival and included it on her album Live at Sónar
. Elements of "Windowlicker", including its heavily distorted outro, were sampled by American musician Girl Talk
on his track "Get It Get It", from his 2010 album All Day.
Samples of "ΔMi−1 = −αΣn=1NDi[n][Σj∈C[i]Fji[n − 1] + Fextin−1" can be heard on the song "54 Cymru Beats" from Aphex Twin's 2001 album Drukqs
.
television series Top Gear, for a segment featuring the Lamborghini Murcielago.
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
artist Richard D. James (Aphex Twin
Aphex Twin
Richard David James , best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music"...
), released as a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
in 1999 on Warp Records. The single peaked at #16 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, becoming his highest-charting song on the chart. The song was later voted, by fans, as Warp Records' most popular song, for its Warp20 compilation.
The name of the song comes from the derogatory British term "windowlicker", which refers to a mentally handicapped person. The term is also a direct English translation of the French term faire du lèche-vitrine, meaning "window shopper", a second meaning played up in the song's music video.
The artwork for the single was created by Chris Cunningham
Chris Cunningham
Chris Cunningham is an English music video film director and video artist. He was born in Reading, Berkshire in 1970 and grew up in Lakenheath, Suffolk....
, with additional work by The Designers Republic
The Designers Republic
The Designers Republic was a graphic design studio, founded on 14 July 1986 by Ian Anderson, and based in Sheffield, England. It was known for its anti-establishment aesthetics, while simultaneously embracing brash consumerism and the uniform style of corporate brands, such as Orange and Coca-Cola...
. Cunningham also directed the song's music video.
Background
Breakbeat
In 1992, a new style called "jungalistic hardcore" emerged, and for many ravers it was too funky to dance to. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that the breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave" because the ever changing drumbeat patterns of breakbeat music didn't allow for the same zoned out,...
snare rush
Snare rush
Snare rush is a term often used in intelligent dance music culture to refer to impossibly fast rolls. A snare rush can vary in tempo considerably, from 16th notes to even 2048th notes. At that sort of speed, the effect is a buzzing sound, but with a detectable pitch, so some artists vary the repeat...
es, drum samples
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
, and mixed choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
-like singing, resulting in a smooth yet erratic song, its last minute escalating into an extremely distorted wall of bass. Also included is a sample of James' French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
then-girlfriend speaking in her native tongue saying J'aime faire des croquettes au chien, translating to "I like to make dog food."
Hidden images
A spectrogram of "Windowlicker" reveals a spiral at the end of the song. This spiral is more impressive when viewed with an X-Y scatter graph, X and Y being the amplitudes of the L and R channels, which shows expanding and contracting concentric circles and spirals.The effect was achieved through use of the Mac-based program MetaSynth. This program allows the user to insert a digital image as the spectrogram. MetaSynth will then convert the spectrogram to digital sound and "play" the picture. According to an article on the website Wired News
Wired News
Wired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...
, photographs run through the program tend to produce "a kind of discordant, metallic scratching".
It is one of a few instances of musicians "embedding" images into their music. Electro-industrial band Interlace embedded an image of either a human embryo or a DNA Helix in their song "Tetragrammaton B" from their album Innuendo; British band Plaid
Plaid (band)
Plaid is a London-based British electronic music duo comprising Andy Turner and Ed Handley. They are former members of The Black Dog and used many other names, such as Atypic and Balil , before settling on Plaid...
embedded a series of interlocked 3's into their song "3 Recurring" from their album Rest Proof Clockwork
Rest Proof Clockwork
-External links:* at the Warp Records website...
; Canadian breakcore producer Venetian Snares
Venetian Snares
Venetian Snares is the main performing alias of Canadian electronic musician Aaron Funk .From Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Funk is known for making electronic music often in odd numbered time signatures...
embedded several images of his cats into his song "Look" from Songs About My Cats
Songs About My Cats
Songs About My Cats is a 2001 glitchcore album by Venetian Snares. It is also his first solo album on the Planet Mu label ....
; industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
embedded an image of "The Presence" into two songs from their album Year Zero
Year Zero (album)
Year Zero is the fifth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on April 17, 2007, by Interscope Records. Frontman Trent Reznor wrote the album's music and lyrics while touring in support of the group's previous release, With Teeth...
, "The Warning" and "My Violent Heart."
Single release
The "Windowlicker" single contains its titular track and two B-sides. Track two, commonly known as "[Formula]" or "[Equation]" due to its actual title being a complex mathematical formula (ΔMī¹=αΣDi[n][ΣFij[n-1]+Fexti[n̄¹]]), has a very experimentalExperimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
sound. Track three, "Nannou", dedicated to his then-girlfriend, is made up of wind-up music box samples.
Viewing a spectrogram
Spectrogram
A spectrogram is a time-varying spectral representation that shows how the spectral density of a signal varies with time. Also known as spectral waterfalls, sonograms, voiceprints, or voicegrams, spectrograms are used to identify phonetic sounds, to analyse the cries of animals; they were also...
of track two, with the frequency axis in a logarithmic scale, reveals hidden images of James' face that were apparently synthesized as sound by Aphex Twin for the express purpose of being discovered in this manner.
Reception
"Windowlicker" received positive reviews from critics. Allmusic gave the single 4 out of a maximum 5 stars. The single was named NMENME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
Smart! Thank you very much for voting for my track/s. I've had a very good year as usual, although it was very intense, getting on a really big roll, writing new stuff constantly, really looking forward to isolating myself next year even more! Hope everyone has a totally boring New Year's party, overdoses on everything and chokes on their own vomit on the bathroom floor, make sure you lie face down just before you pass out!
Signed, Pritchad.g.kraymes.
In September 2010, Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
included the song at number 12 on their list Top 200 Tracks of the 90s.
Music video
The music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for "Windowlicker" was directed by Chris Cunningham
Chris Cunningham
Chris Cunningham is an English music video film director and video artist. He was born in Reading, Berkshire in 1970 and grew up in Lakenheath, Suffolk....
, who had also directed Aphex Twin's previous music video, "Come to Daddy
Come to Daddy
Come to Daddy is a 1997 EP by electronic music artist Richard D. James, commonly known as Aphex Twin. "Come to Daddy [Pappy Mix]" — often simply called "Come to Daddy" — is one of Aphex Twin's best-known songs; it peaked at #36 on the UK Singles Chart...
". It is a ten-minute long parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of contemporary American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
gangsta
Gangsta rap
Gangsta Rap is a subgenre of hip hop music that evolved from hardcore hip hop and purports to reflect urban crime and the violent lifestyles of inner-city youths. Lyrics in gangsta rap have varied from accurate reflections to fictionalized accounts. Gangsta is a non-rhotic pronunciation of the word...
hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
music videos. In the video, two foul-mouthed
Obscenity
An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious...
young men (a Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
and an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
) in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
are window shopping for prostitutes (referred to in the end credits as "hoochies"); the French term for window shopping is faire du lèche-vitrine, which literally translates to "licking the windows". Suddenly, a ridiculously long white limousine
Limousine
A limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....
(38 windows in length, including driver's window, which takes 20 seconds to fully display) crashes into the two men's black Mazda Miata NA (MX5) convertible
Convertible
A convertible is a type of automobile in which the roof can retract and fold away having windows which wind-down inside the doors, converting it from an enclosed to an open-air vehicle...
, and a "pimped-out
Pimp
A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
" Richard D. James, displaying a surreal amount of wealth and power, emerges with his signature fixed grin. The two women, among others, accompany James in his limousine while their faces morph
Morphing
Morphing is a special effect in motion pictures and animations that changes one image into another through a seamless transition. Most often it is used to depict one person turning into another through technological means or as part of a fantasy or surreal sequence. Traditionally such a depiction...
into James' own likeness, and are later joined by a woman with a horrifically ugly, buck-toothed, deformed face, which is a likeness of a sketch by Swiss artist H. R. Giger
H. R. Giger
Hans Rudolf "Ruedi" Giger is a Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor, and set designer. He won an Academy Award for Best Achievement for Visual Effects for his design work on the film Alien.-Early life:...
titled "The Windowlickers".
The cast for the dialogue intro of the clip are Marcus Morris, Gary Cruz, Marcy Turner and Chiquita Martin. Filming was done in the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
area. The locations are as follows:
- Intro sequence – East 1st Street (bridge over railroad tracks)
- Aphex Twin dance sequence – Corner of Ducommun Street and North Vignes Street
- Limo ride externals – Beverly Boulevard
- Final dance sequence – Santa Monica Beach (Barnard Way and Ocean Park Boulevard)
There are 127 uses of profanity
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
in the dialogue segment of the video (which is under 4 minutes), including 44 uses of the word fuck
Fuck
"Fuck" is an English word that is generally considered obscene which, in its most literal meaning, refers to the act of sexual intercourse. By extension it may be used to negatively characterize anything that can be dismissed, disdained, defiled, or destroyed."Fuck" can be used as a verb, adverb,...
. This averages to more than one use of profanity every two seconds. The video was released as a VHS single, containing both uncut and censored versions (the latter being referred to as the "Bleep Version"). It was also nominated for the Best Video award at the BRIT Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...
2000, alongside videos by Supergrass
Supergrass
Supergrass was an English alternative rock band from Oxford. The band consisted of brothers Gaz and Rob Coombes , Mick Quinn and Danny Goffey ....
, The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers are a British electronic music duo comprising Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons. Originating in Manchester in 1991, along with The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method, and fellow acts, they were pioneers at bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture.- Background...
, Fatboy Slim
Fatboy Slim
Norman Quentin Cook better known by his former stage name Fatboy Slim, is a British DJ, electronic dance music musician, and record producer. He is a pioneer of the big beat genre that achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s...
, and eventual winner Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...
.
The full "Windowlicker" video is restricted to being broadcast only during the nighttime on most music television
Music television
Music television is a type of television programming which focuses predominantly on playing music videos from bands, usually on dedicated television channels broadcasting on satellite or cable. Music TVs may host their own shows charts, award prizes. Examples are VIVA, Scuzz, MTV, JBTV, MuchMusic,...
channel
Television channel
A television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and...
s. A bleeped-out
Bleep censor
A bleep censor is the replacement of profanity or classified information with a beep sound , in television or radio...
version of the video exists, and MTV Two even made a daytime version, with all the opening dialogue removed (the censored version starts with the arrival of the limousine) and some of the video's more shocking images are also removed. In 2008, MTV Networks Europe
MTV Networks Europe
MTV Networks Europe is a division of Viacom International Media Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom.MTV Networks Europe includes the multimedia entertainment brands: MTV, VH1, TMF, VIVA, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and Nick Jr...
was fined by media regulator Ofcom
Ofcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
for several breaches of its broadcasting code, including airing the uncensored version of the "Windowlicker" video before the 9pm watershed
Watershed (television)
In television, the term watershed denotes the time period in a television schedule during which programs with adult content can air....
.
Track listing
All tracks written, produced and engineered by Richard D. JamesAphex Twin
Richard David James , best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music"...
. The original single was released on 12-inch
12-inch single
The 12-inch single is a type of gramophone record that has wider groove spacing compared to other types of records. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the cutting engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality...
, two separate CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
s, a special edition Japanese CD and VHS.
CD1 and 12-inch vinyl
CD2
- The "Windowlicker" video is also included in QuickTimeQuickTimeQuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
format.
Japanese version
Remixes and samples
A remix of "Windowlicker" in the acid technoAcid techno
Acid techno is the term used to describe a style of techno that developed out of late 1980s Chicago Acid house. Acid house was essentially house music made with a specific sound, obtained by using very distinctive instruments created mainly by Roland, such as the TB-303 for bass and lead sounds,...
style, entitled "Windowlicker, Acid Edit", is available on the remix compilation 26 Mixes for Cash
26 Mixes for Cash
26 Mixes for Cash is a compilation album of remixes produced by Richard D. James for various artists, plus four original tracks. It was released on 24 March 2003 by Warp Records...
. Another remix of "Windowlicker", entitled "WINDuckyQuaCKer", appears on V/VM
V/Vm
V/Vm is the experimental music and sound collage project of James Leyland Kirby, from Stockport, England. Although starting out mainly in the style of noise music, Kirby is also a composer of original electronic music and remixes. His vast output is released primarily on his own V/Vm Test Records...
's HelpAphexTwin/1.0 (2001) and HelpAphexTwin 4.0 (2003). A remix entitled "it's a richJAMs World" appears on V/VM's HelpAphexTwin 4.0 (2003). Musician Run Jeremy also made his own remix of "Windowlicker".
Miss Kittin
Miss Kittin
Miss Kittin is an electronic music DJ, vocalist, and songwriter. Since rising to prominence in 1998 for her singles "1982" and "Frank Sinatra" with The Hacker, she has worked with other musicians such as Chicks on Speed, Felix da Housecat and Golden Boy...
performed Run Jeremy's remix of "Windowlicker live" at the Sónar
Sónar
Sónar is an annual three-day music festival held in Barcelona, Spain. It is described officially as a festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art. Music is by far the main aspect of the festival....
festival and included it on her album Live at Sónar
Live at Sónar
Live at Sónar is the first live DJ mix album by Miss Kittin. For the Sónar festival, Miss Kittin provided impromptu new vocals to her classic catalogue...
. Elements of "Windowlicker", including its heavily distorted outro, were sampled by American musician Girl Talk
Girl Talk (musician)
Gregg Michael Gillis , better known by his stage name Girl Talk, is an American musician specializing in mashups and digital sampling. Gillis has released five LPs on the record label Illegal Art and EPs on 333 and 12 Apostles....
on his track "Get It Get It", from his 2010 album All Day.
Samples of "ΔMi−1 = −αΣn=1NDi[n][Σj∈C[i]Fji[n − 1] + Fextin−1" can be heard on the song "54 Cymru Beats" from Aphex Twin's 2001 album Drukqs
Drukqs
Drukqs is a 2001 double album by electronic musician Richard D. James, released under his most frequently used pseudonym, Aphex Twin...
.
Use in media
"Windowlicker" was featured in the 2006 film Grandma's Boy and in an episode of the BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television series Top Gear, for a segment featuring the Lamborghini Murcielago.
External links
- "Windowlicker" at the Warp Records website
- The "Windowlicker" video
- "Face the music" - from The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
Friday Review, 5 March 1999 - Spectrogram analysis of track 2 (The Aphex Face)