Aphex Twin unveils a new NFT with digital artist Weirdcore

Aphex Twin has dropped a new NFT, alongside the anonymous digital artist (and longtime visual collaborator) Weirdcore. Titled “/afx\/weirdcore\<blockscanner>”, the piece comprises sound by the musician and a glitchy animation of his face — a ubiquitous theme throughout his career — produced by Weirdcore, with technical input from Freeka Tet.

The relationship between the artists is well-established. Weirdcore has been creating digital worlds for Aphex Twin (AKA Richard D James) since 2009, as well as working with the likes of M.I.A., Mos Def, and Oneohtrix Point Never.

James announced that “/afx\/weirdcore\<blockscanner>” was going up for auction on Foundation, a platform that also hosts NFTs from Pussy Riot and a Nyan Cat GIF that famously sold for more than $500,000 last month.

Announcing the new NFT via Twitter, Aphex Twin has also seemingly addressed concerns about the massive carbon footprint of crypto-art, as a result of the processes required to “mint” new artworks. “We will spend a portion of the money on planting trees,” he writes, “and either donating to permaculture projects or setting them up ourselves, depending on how much we get.”

At the time of writing, that amount stands at almost $100,000 (or 52.77 Ether), with the one-day auction set to end on March 15.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have truly taken off over the last month. Grimes has also auctioned off pieces of original crypto art with accompanying music, bringing in almost $6 million, while MF DOOM’s augmented reality masks have gone on sale in tribute to the late rapper.

So far, the record for the most expensive NFT (and third most expensive artwork by a living artist) goes to the digital artist Beeple, who sold the NFT artwork “Everyday: The First 5000 Days” (2021) for an eye-watering $69.3 million earlier this month.

In January this year, Weirdcore also debuted a new, head-melting digital exhibition titled ORIENT FLUX. Aphex Twin’s most recent new music came in the form of six tracks released via Soundcloud, under the name user18081971.