Avril 14th

Album: Drukqs (2001)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Avril 14th" is a piece by electronic musician Aphex Twin, released on the album Drukqs, released October 22, 2001. The album reached #22 in the UK Albums chart and #6 in the US Dance Albums chart.

    Unlike the majority of James' electronic tracks, "Avril 14th" consists singularly of a tender two-part piano piece.
  • The track is used in Kanye West's "Blame Game." Richard D. James claims that West tried to get away with not paying, his reps saying, "It's not yours, it's ours."

    The piano part sounds like it could be re-recorded by West rather than directly sampled. In the liner notes for its album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, it states that "Blame Game" "contains elements of Avril 14 by Richard James."
  • The track has been used in film soundtracks, including Marie Antoinette (2006) and at the end of Chris Morris' Four Lions (2010).
  • An alternate version, titled "avril altdelay," was included in Aphex Twin's SoundCloud dump as user18081971. Though it remains mostly unchanged, it is in a different key and is slightly more rough in its recording quality - featuring the echo from the room, as opposed to the dryness of the original.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat WorldSongwriter Interviews

Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.

Song Titles That Inspired Movies

Song Titles That Inspired MoviesSong Writing

Famous songs that lent their titles - and in some cases storylines - to movies.

Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds

Jim McCarty of The YardbirdsSongwriter Interviews

The Yardbirds drummer explains how they created their sound and talks about working with their famous guitarists.

Ian Gillan of Deep Purple

Ian Gillan of Deep PurpleSongwriter Interviews

Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan explains the "few red lights" in "Smoke On The Water" and talks about songs from their 2020 album Whoosh!

Superman in Song

Superman in SongSong Writing

Not everyone can be a superhero, but that hasn't stopped generations of musicians from trying to be Superman.

Rick Astley

Rick AstleySongwriter Interviews

Rick Astley on "Never Gonna Give You Up," "Cry For Help," and his remarkable resurgence that gave him another #1 UK album.