From Christopher Miller Sent Sat, May 23rd 1998, 21:01
From Christopher Miller Sent Sat, May 23rd 1998, 21:01
T H E D I C E M A N
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THE DICEMAN is the alias used for a project by Colin James. Colin James is
also known as Jolly James, and Greg Retch (of ex-MEAT BEAT MANIFESTO), and
has also done remixes/production under the pseudonym of Sound Defence
Policy. Other guises he works under are L.M.N.O., BOB AND IAN, SOLACE,
MUSICAL DIRECTOR, and EMANON (which all have releases on the Vivatonal
label).
All releases by THE DICEMAN have been mistaken as being by Richard James
(of THE APHEX TWIN), even though they sound absolutely nothing like
anything like he has ever put out. This misconception is mainly due in
part because he had released a track on the "Artificial Intelligence"
compilation under the alias of THE DICE MAN (notice the differential
separation of `Dice' and `Man'). This however is the only song he has
released using this name, and after finding out about the `other' DICEMAN
he was forced to retire this alias.
In addition, the THE DICEMAN releases (on Vivatonal) give credit to "Jolly
James", "C. James", and "S. James". The last name of `James' seemed to
have mislead a lot of people. And, although "S. James" (Scott James) is
not the same person as Colin James, he is neither Richard James.
This is from the "Info Freako" section out of _New Music Express_ (March
1995 issue):
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"Aural Exciter,
I've seen a compilation CD called "Vivatonal" featuring tracks by The
Diceman. I know that this is one of the pseudonyms by Richard D. James of
Aphex Twin fame, but I've never come across any of these titles before.
Can you shed any light on this? (...)
- Angus Bryant, Rugby
Richard James, aka Aphex Twin, Polygon Window, AFX, and several
thousand other names, has only released one track as The Diceman, the
confusingly entitled "Polygon Window" on Warp Records' 1992 "Artificial
Intelligence" compilation (LP/CD, WARPLP/CD 6). He was subsequently
forced to drop this name when a previously existing Diceman took umbrage,
and it's this Diceman who appears on the "Vivatonal" collection (Vivatonal
CD, VTTCD 01). The original Diceman is, to add further confusion, an
unrelated Colin James. "Vivatonal", which feature mixes by Kris Needs, The
Sabres Of Paradise, and Spooky, is actually entirely the work of Colin
James working under no less than five pseudonyms. (...)"
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For discographical information on Colin James/Greg Retch check out this
address:
http://www.brainwashed.com/mbm/meat.html
(click on `Audio', and the `Greg Retch')
Most likely, both Richard James and Colin James got the idea for their
pseudonyms from a 1972 novel by Luke Rhinehart entitled _The Diceman_. It
deals with chance, ego loss, sex, religion, psychoanalysis - and how to
fuck up, big time. The novel's protagonist is a successful but bored
doctor who decides to stir things up a bit by using dice for every decision
he has to make. Soon he has a large die-casting following and mayhem
ensues. Apparently it caused somewhat of a controversy among
psychoanalysts and other therapy types at the time. Very seventies, a bit
too focused on sex at times, but pretty funny.
Ten years later, Rhinehart published a "sequel" called _Adventures Of Wim_,
a far less pretentious book about a small Indian boy who's in search of the
Ultimate Truth and has to save his tribe. Good read, very funny. In 1993
he published a real sequel, _In Search Of The Dice Man_, which sucks
terribly. Like the Sex Pistols reforming and trying to write new songs.
Bad idea.
>From the back cover:
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LET THE DICE DECIDE!
If the dice has a 'one' face up, I thought, I'm going downstairs to rape
Arlene. "If it's a one, I'll rape Arlene" kept blinking on and off in my
mind like a huge neon light and my terror increased. But when I thought if
it's not a one I'll go to bed, the terror evaporated and excitement swept
over me: a one means rape, the other numbers mean bed, the die is cast.
Who am I to question the dice?
So Luke Rhinehart, novelist, autobiographer and bored psychiatrist, makes
his first dice decision and begins to live dice life in earnest. With
every move he makes determined by the throw of the dice, he rampages from
one outrage to the next, from uninhibited promiscuity to murder...
The Dice Man is vastly entertaining - unashamedly sexy, painfully funny and
terrifying by turns. It is also the most subversive and revolutionary
novel of the decade.
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For more information on _The Dice Man_ by Luke Rhinehart check this page:
http://www.peak.org/~mckeej/diceman/index.html
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| This FAQ was written by Christopher Miller <xxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx> |
| and Maarten D. Schermer <xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xx> between |
| September 4, 1995 and May 23, 1998. |
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