''London 19.08.2023'' is an

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

by the

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

artist and producer Richard D. James, released under the alias of Aphex Twin. It was released on 19 August 2023 through

Warp Warp, warped or warping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books and comics * WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher * ''Warp'' (First Comics), comic book series published by First Comics based on the play ''Warp!'' * Warp (comics), a D ...

, to coincide with James' performance at the Field Day 2023 festival. The EP was released only as a

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, ...

. Both songs on side A were previously released on James'

Bleep Bleep may refer to: * Bleep sound, a noise, generally of a single tone, often generated by a machine ** Bleep censor, the replacement of offensive language (swear words) or personal details with a beep sound ** Bleep techno, a Yorkshire-born subgen ...

store, under the name "Korg Trax+Tunings for falling asleep", which was credited to the alias AFX.

Background

On 24 January 2023 it was announced that James would be a headliner for the Field Day 2023 festival. This was James' first performance after a five year hiatus from both live performances and music releases. James was scheduled to perform on 19 August 2023. As the festival started and the

merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...

stall opened, it was revealed that a screen printed version of the record would be sold only at Field Day, which was limited to 100 copies. However, attendees could also purchase a card with a redemption code on it if they did not wish to carry the record with them. Records that were purchased with these code cards carried a non-screen printed cover, with 450 of these being available.

Release

Both versions of the record were priced at £5 and were sold out extremely quickly, before James had even started his performance. After the festival ended, many fans were outraged due to the presence of scalpers purchasing the record and reselling it on online marketplaces for large amounts. They were able to do this as the venue had no limits on how many records an attendee could purchase. On 2 September 2023, as a part of James' performance at Forwards Festival in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, ''London 19.08.2023s track list was combined onto a limited

cassette tape The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

, ''Bristol 02.09.23''. This cassette was limited to 500 copies and also included another limited release's track list, ''Barcelona 16.06.2023''. This release included two songs and was only available at Sónar 2023, where James had previously played. On 28 November 2023, three months after Field Day 2023,

announced that ''London 19.08.2023'' along with other Aphex Twin merchandise would be sold in limited amounts through James' Bleep store. All of the merchandise including the record sold out quickly after the announcement. On 17 December 2024 the tracks of ''London 19.08.2023'' were re-released onto streaming platforms as part of a new compilation album, ''

Music from the Merch Desk (2016–2023) ''Music from the Merch Desk (2016–2023)'' is a compilation album by British electronic music artist and producer Richard D. James, released under the alias of Aphex Twin. The album was released without announcement on 17 December 2024 through ...

''.

Track listing

All tracks written by Richard D. James.

References

{{Authority control 2023 EPs Aphex Twin EPs Warp Records EPs