Irish-British musician Aphex Twin has released a new augmented reality (AR) app named ‘YXBoZXh0d2lu’, which translates to ‘aphextwin’ after decoding it with a Base64 binary-to-text encoding. The free app offers an ‘alternate world’ of interactive AR that merges artwork, AFX videos and music in a 3D experience that feels real and interactive.
Made by a Japanese company called KALKUL, this AR app also includes work from Aphex Twin’s longtime collaborator Weirdcore, and his music company called Warp.
YXBoZXh0d2lu includes various AR scenes with each one providing music from Aphex Twin’s newest project in five years, ‘Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760,’ which he just put out on July 28th through Warp.
A reactive immersive experience
The immersive experience is also reactive to landscapes. Users can simply point their phone’s camera at the cover of AFX’s new release – it can be the front cover, the CD, or the front of a vinyl record and the inside sleeves will reveal more 3D visuals.
When used with the trifold ‘anamorphic diorama’ inside Aphex Twin’s new EP vinyl edition, the app opens up four separate AR experiences, each matching a track, with Weirdcore’s cool visuals making it immersive.
Just recently, Weirdcore partnered with Houghton Festival as part of the festival’s partnership deal with sound tech company d&b audiotechnik at The Warehouse Stage. Together, they mixed Weirdcore’s visuals with a sound system that makes audio come from different places.
AFX on the other hand, dedicated his newest release to his late parents, both of whom passed away in recent years. A note at the end of the video reads, “Dedicated to Lorna James and Derek James.”
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
