A Physical Fraction

The dizzying electronic rhythms on Kid A and Amnesiac were largely inspired by Thom Yorkes fondness for Warp Records and its maverick techno artists like Boards Of Canada, Squarepusher, and Aphex Twin, in particular. “One of my absolute favourite pieces of music ever is ‘Freeman Hardy and Willis Acid’,” he says. “It’s an Aphex Twin instrumental which has this frantic hi-hat thing going all the way through it and then at some point everything switches tonally and it all goes out of phase and then carries on. And the first time I heard it, it was like someone had just reached over and switched a switch in my head and I never, ever saw anything the same again. I was completely straight, I was just driving along the road, driving home, whatever, and I had to stop the car.”