CAT023 (thing)

CAT023 is the catalog number (and the unofficial name) for the perhaps most sought-after Richard D. James recording ever. It was printed in the early nineties on only 4 copies of vinyl, three of which were given to friends of Richard D. James. Thus, the persons in posession of this record are: Mike Paradinas (µ-Ziq), Chris Jeffs (Cylob), Grant Wilson-Claridge (co-founder of Rephlex Records) and Richard D. James (Aphex Twin)

The tracklisting is unknown, but an interview with a certain Bowgie (rumors say that this is actually Mike Paradinas - he did post on the messageboard there for a period around 2000), performed at www.joyrex.com on September 14, 1999 tells us a bit about the album. I have reproduced the entries as-is (including typos from the original source). According to Bowgie, the labels are handwritten with black marker.

• Side A
  Label: "CAUSTIC WINDOW LP 33 1/3 SIDE A REPHLEX"
  Run-out groove: "CAT 023-A1 A PORKY PRIME CUT"
  • A1: Untitled
    "[Track 1] is a subtle melodic grower, with hi q's; pianoish DX sounds & woodwind type synths.nice but not very immediate."
  • A2: Untitled
    "Track 2 is *much* more like it: Industrial type drums straight out of J5 and the catchiest afx acid line (not 303). Builds and builds with pad sounds & percessive held chords in a spooky fashion."
  
  
  
• Side B
  Label: "CAUSTIC WINDOW LP 33 1/3 SIDE B REPHLEX"
  Run-out groove: "CAT 023-L1 A PORKY PRIME CUT"
  • B1: Muttley
    "called "muttley" by Richard.It features samples from "dastardly & Muttley"(Wacky Races Cartoon) starting off with Dastardly shouting "Muttley!" then Muttley the dog going "RashingFrashingWrarraFrarraWrash". Other samples: A girl speaking: "You know I don't even know why you bother talking" and the track ends with "what an utterly fantastical journey" (unknown sample) As regards to the music, it starts with a monophonic synth line doing a percussive riff up 4 notes, joined by another sound a few bars later. Then the drums kick in. Bass and snare from Phloam, sort of metallic guiro and clangs from Schottkey. Halfway through an orchestral string chords sample comes in, and the girl speaking sample appears. It's a great track, very SAW85-92 in period."
  • B2: Untitled
    "Happy,jolly little track with high pitched bell-like hihats acid sounds and long square wave bass note. Random dat glitches spice up the percussion. The melody comes from the interplay of tuned bass drum & tuned metal hihats."
  • B3: Untitled
    "Wow!This is a treat for fans of SOSW. Starts with Roland R8 hihats,then a marimba melody & the BD Kikkz in with an acidicish line.marimba fades in again. Then a BB1 DX pad in 5ths (lots of reverb) makes it fuckin lush. Drum break then the track restarts with stabs from Audax powder, then acid & marimba. Track ends wth drums."
  • B4: Untitled
    "My favourite: Noisey drum loops (Tuned white noise?) acid pokes. Bass drum from Hedphelym or the B-sides to ABB2. Also odd bell like High melodies & metallic sampled melodies! very odd track."
  • B5: Untitled
    "Tribal bongos, Quoth Bd kik & "a,aphex-a,aphex"samples. About 1 min. long."
  
  
  
• Side C
  Label: "CW LP side C"
  Run-out groove: "THIRD REICH VETERANS WILL NOT JOIN VICTORY WAR PARADE. CAT 023 -01"
  • C1: Untitled
    "Very simple synth melody & 4/4 kik drum / snare joined later by emotional sounding soft detuned string notes. Hihats and hi Q's join later and lo-bandwidth metallic samples."
  • C2: Untitled
    "A very early track.One of the 1st he did. Childish squeaky acid line. Crap piano riff. Redeemed by lush strings & reverb on certain drum sounds,which might have indicated Here was a future talent."
  • C3: Untitled
    "Square wave bassline, melodic held acid line, R8 drums. Simple lovely very Aphex."
  • C4: Untitled
    "Jazz fusion aphex! Drum sounds similar to Gak. Sounds like Gak in fact except for a low farting bass and muted jazzy piano riff & overlaid solos."
  
  
  
• Side D
  Label: "CAUSTIC WINDOW LP . side D"
  Run-out groove: "CAT 023 - G1 A PORKY PRIME CUT"
  • D1: Untitled
    "An ambient track. This was a reject from SAW85-92 and is unspeakably lovely. A monophonic synth weaves around soft flutes to devastating effect. The synth filter opens & closes to emphasise the riff at certain times, & the flute goes freestyle towards the end. Metallic percussion invades the song at times complementing the groovy momentum gathered by the main riff."
  • D2: Phlaps
    "This is Phlaps off the criminal justice bill comp."
  • D3: Cunt
    "This is Cunt off TEX 3"
  • D4: Untitled
    "This is a phone call between Mixmaster Morris & Scanner. Richard got 2 phones, rang them both (one to Morris, one to Scanner) and luckily they both answered simultaneously. What follows is very funny. Both Morris & Robin think each other has initiated the call and confusion reigns. This increases as a third voice enters the fray (RDJ). Eventually they recognise him as Richard: "If you put the phone down your gonna die.."
  • D5: Untitled
    Same trick between Chris Jeffs & Mike Paradinas. This time Cylob figures it out straight away but the funniest bit is where he says "I think Richard wants us to talk to each other", to which Mike replies "Oh great..." track (& album) ends."

No release date has been set for this record.