Aphex Twin - Alberto Balsalm (guitar cover)

Gretsch Electromatic G5122 Tech21 SansAmp Oxford MXR carbon copy
CGCFCE

[@kurtdewittphoto]

Aphex Twin melodies sound like they're made from notes that shouldn't be able to go together. I love it.

[@hunivox]

just like jazz

[@Wiser51]

Those are called dissonant notes!! When they sound like they’re not supposed to go together but go together really well, AT does that in A LOT of songs

[@kurtdewittphoto]

@@Wiser51 Oh thanks!

[@jeremyphillips3087]

Thats what you get when youre a self taught prodigy.

[@timofy2641]

@@Wiser51 they arent dissonant at all lol. You don't know what dissonant is

[@NTidelius]

Stupidly good. You start to realize what a musical genius Aphex Twin is when you hear something like this. Perfect execution, so much emotion shines through from your strings. Absolutely great

[@yikeda2008]

I heavily agree 7 year old comment

[@underwearpete6409]

I also heavily agree, 7 year old comment

[@plank3543]

I too heavily agree, 7 year old comment.

[@crumbmoment]

I, as well, agree 7 year old comment

[@xtrawarp]

I hardly agree 7 year old comment

[@Larotian]

I dont know what made me cry more. The beautiful guitar cover of this song, or Occurences’s comment.

[@gabrielflorinrobciuc2772]

Probably both, I think.

[@SquareOstrich]

Nah that dude sounds creepy and attention-seeking

[@johngood5383]

What a haunting lullaby I want to play this to my children and read them Calvin and Hobbes

[@JMRDWHO]

calvin and hobbes is the best comic in the world !

[@Xprimentyl]

Wow, that IS the perfect Calvin & Hobbes theme.

[@neilh237]

What a haunting yet playful comment

[@holliswilliams8426]

I listened to Aphex Twin and read Calvin and Hobbes as a child :)

[@spootybeans]

The magic of Aphex Twin is how the emotion can just be switched through so many different instrument types. Most songs get lost when translated through different mediums. But god damn. Every song. I just want to play these when I have a shit day, wallow in depression, and remember tomorrow can always be better...as I slowly sip a cold beer.

[@Are_Pee_Gee]

So fucking true.

[@bartuomyej]

this cover is great, but the melody barely resembles (except for the lick part) original Alberto Balsalm, so i don't really get your point about not being lost in translation

[@robotcocks]

alcoholism confirmed

[@boomser911]

Keep your powder dry and your beer cold.

[@Djellowman]

Cringiest comment on youtube

[@nemopanpete]

magicbodylessguitarplayinghands

[@ApoorvaDoctor]

Exactly!

[@PaulA-lc1pn]

thank you

[@goatse3504]

cant unsee

[@akittu]

holy shit

[@gypsymyth7]

:)

[@Ssssssnakeisone]

I may be deceased in the near future, so it's important for me to let you know that out of twelve years of KZbin, this is my only liked video. Wherever you are, thanks for filtering god out of gold.

[@youtubefan5027]

You there?

[@Ssssssnakeisone]

@@youtubefan5027 I was here, as they say.

[@randy5375]

you still good?

[@Ssssssnakeisone]

For anyone curious, to save you the question, it's health issues and not a Clams Casino situation. Also, because you might be wondering "Why has this person only liked this one video in twelve years?", I'm going to summarize some relevant details. I'm from Memphis, TN. Grew up with music all around, because my parents were community radio DJ's for several years and played porch guitar themselves. I was pushing 15 before AOL got into full swing, so I got to have a semi-adult life before internet culture took over. On top of that we didn't even own a TV until I was about 9, but did have a pretty big library. So I used to read, a book a day lots of months. That part's relevant because at the point YT came on the radar, I was 26 and had pre-established opinions about the internet that did not include leaving my digital crumbs everywhere. Ironically, here's this comment. This would have also been through the days of audiogalaxy, napster, and so on. I played in two bands in my teens, as a drummer. Was getting decent enough to take things seriously and intended to one day become a studio drummer, when my kit was stolen by my bandmate and pawned. $2500 pearl/zildjian 10-piece... couldn't afford to replace it. Elizabeth Harris, Josh Summit, and Chris...Hodges (?) know who did it, because we were all in a band beforehand with the guy. This caused me to turn back to guitar, which by that point I had taken lessons for, albeit not long. But before I could make inroads on that, my long-time girlfriend started scouting where she wanted to attend college. It ended up being Eugene, OR at UO. We visited with her family in '99 or '00 and enjoyed everything, talked, decided I would come out too because at that point we had lived together for years, been in very passionate, tumultuous love, and were seemingly on a path to eventual marriage. Her mother gave me a ring to give to her daughter, was how serious that was. Love you, Rebekah. I had to leave because work was iffy and she was living on campus, meaning paying for an apartment was on me. Even as small as Eugene was back then, it was still about a 250% uptick in living cost because Memphis was, is, and likely always will be a dirty, bloody pile of abandoned rubble. When I came back to Eugene, I found out the hard way that she had become addicted to heroin. It ended badly after I offered help and she offered extortion at knifepoint. So I ended up in Portland, which is another story. Then back to Memphis, where my lifelong friend Zach Johnston got me work. We had been inseparable as children. Whole weekends at each other's houses, sporadic short visits through the week. Used to live on the same street, and he was the person who introduced me to the world, because he had a "normal" life, and I did not. I was home schooled, had one friend (Zach) and was reading at high school levels when I was 5. He went to public school and met people. I actually helped teach him how to read with a copy of the AD&D player's handbook and the Games Workshop board game Talisman in 1986. We were both 5 at the time. Zach is where this song comes in, sort of; I hadn't heard it at all, but he put me on to "Windowlicker" because he had MTV. He also brought Autechre and Squarepusher into my life. This is when we were in our early teens, after his father died spending his last days on my family's couch, sick with lung cancer in part due to agent orange exposure in Vietnam. Zach liked this music because he got into the rave culture in the mid-nineties, and the rave culture turned out to be full of drugs, and that's why when he got me work in Memphis in late 2005 I ended up finding out later the hard way that he was addicted to methamphetamine. His own mother was going to have him arrested because he wouldn't stop drugging OR leave her house where he stayed rent-free, so I offered him a spot at my place, in the house next door to my parents' house, which my grandmother had bought just before she died of bone and lung cancer in Baton Rouge, LA. She intended for me to have it but it didn't end up that way because my parents needed rent money to stay afloat. Love you, Opal. So Zach came to the house and immediately started inviting over his sketchy hook-ups, and I told him that wasn't why he was there and not to do it. And for the first time in twenty years, this man I loved, this 6'2", 200lb of muscle guy he had become, threatened physical violence on me; loomed over me, fists clenched, irrationally shouting that "I don't tell him what to do!" And I actually feared he was going to attack, because the meth was too strong for him to remember who we had been. So I said he was going to have to leave. He refused, and I went next door, informed my parents, and got to see my mother utter the words "By the love I have held for you since you were a child, Zach, you must go," as if there were an exorcism taking place. And he left. I think he's clean now, but we haven't talked in a very long time. Love you, Zach. Here we are at the house. My best friend Matthew Aaron Hughes lives there with me, brother of Leverett Byron. They were my brothers too then. Lev and I were in a band once, and creative powerhouses, and best friends. Then he started drinking all the time, doing cocaine, and just... drifted off. I don't remember when we lost touch, but I'll never forget a lot of what we did together. Thanks to him I grew into a love of extreme music, because he was always researching it. OLD, Merzbow, Pan-Thy-Monium, Blood Duster, Reed Q. Ghazala, Mr. Bungle, and on and on. Hundreds of artists. Still no Alberto Balsalm, but we're getting there. Love you, Lev. After Lev was preoccupied, somehow Matt and I ended up getting closer. I had told him by 2005 how much better Portland was. We decided to tour Europe though, and went for six months, landing in London on March 1st. That's another story too, with things to tell every step of the way. Suffice it to say we basically lived out of a tent for 4 3/4 months of that and bicycled 800 miles across Germany and Holland while I street performed as a technical juggler. "Ein straßenkünstler". We also lived on the side of Montjuic in Barcelona for several weeks. After hearing Lev had been stabbed in the throat almost to death, Matt started wanting to come back stateside, and we wound up back where we started, where all the stuff I just mentioned happened, and where, sometime into 2006, I ended up going to a restaurant with (IIRC) Matt Young, the only guy I've poked in the butt and an all-around good person. That's important because I have a well-developed sense of irony, and because while we were there, the expo noticed me as she brought my food because I was wearing the wrongest shoes to be in this fairly posh establishment, and she happened to be the kind of person who respected that. As it so happened, she was also a friend of Lev's (who got around) and wound up at his house, where we crossed paths again. Or maybe that happened before the meal, but either way, since I thought this young woman was extraordinarily beautiful and had a mystery of soul that I found incredibly appealing, I contrived to continue speaking with her. I don't remember how it happened, but I got permission to visit this elusive lady's apartment. A little about her: Half Persian, Half Italian. Short, with curly brown hair and olive skin. Perversely prone to avoiding people, interested in interesting things, and lived alone except a white cat named Snowball that would grant headbutts from the kitchen countertop to its mistress, and eventually me. This woman's name was Manijeh Feizkhah, and we fell in love. For the first time since the big explosion of '97-'04 relationship, I felt deeply connected in ways that could have lasted a lifetime. Short aside here: I've had plenty of sex. Had sex in Europe for two glorious weeks. Made plenty of love. Gorgeous, pretty, plain, ugly. When I say above that there was a connection, it's not about that. If you're wise, you've already figured out sex isn't the best basis. Somehow, against the odds, this fey creature had taken me into her life. To the extent that she said she'd like to live together. Now, Matt had been off in Gulfport or somesuch, helping security detail after hurricane Katrina, and I can't recall what happened when he got back, but he was out of the house by this point. It coincided. So, yes, I said. Why not? Who wouldn't? And she wanted someplace in a nicer part of town, a full-on house. It was $900 a month, which back then was almost 2x a 1-bed apartment. Definitely 2x MY rent, but I sucked it up, because I had been working my ass off and saw no reason I couldn't continue. Money would be tight, but we could make it work. She had a decent job. It'd be ok. I don't think she was there a month before she moved out. Left me holding the year lease, no roommates, no clue what had gone wrong. She eventually said "You're so angry". I don't remember being angry, but I don't remember even more her once trying to have a discussion about it beforehand. No precursory "I don't like your temper" or "please don't yell" or any such thing. If I ever did, it certainly wasn't directed at her, because she never did anything to me. So now we at last come to the relevant moment, which is that moment when she had spoken to me by phone many days later and said that she loved and missed me. And knowing how memory can play a person false, I suspect the next part has equal chance of truth or fiction, but it's as I've chosen to remember it, so it's as I'll tell it to you. We ended up at her old apartment, which she had arranged to keep some way or another, and were talking until late hours. And during that time, at some point a song was playing that I recognized having heard at her place before, something with a soothing, intriguing sound. And this time, I checked her laptop to see who it was, and it was Aphex Twin - Alberto Balsalm. Love you, Manijeh.

[@Ssssssnakeisone]

And so just of the barest bits I have given you here, the tiniest fragments of tale tellable by me in this moment of a life that has encompassed far more than anything just mentioned, I hope it becomes clear when I say that this video, of two disembodied hands skillfully creating an interpretation of something that has its own haunting poignancy even without having been attached to one's affairs, is perhaps the closest representation of my soul that exists on film. I am also sometimes just a pair of hands. I have held a guitar. My intellect appreciates translation, creativity, and craft. My heart calls for pure tones, rich warmth, and cradling; to be used appropriately. Richard D. James is a mythological figure, and I too have been a small power in the world. This set of hands is aloof. It has made something, given it to the world, and seemingly walked away. They wear black. I too have sometimes worn black and walked away. This video tells a story to me about things embedded so deeply that they are no longer foreign bodies. I am them, in part. Always was some. I made it as short as I could. Cried a few times. That's probably healthy. This snippet is 1/1000000 of a true experience. The people are real, you can find them if you search. I used to be an egomaniacal dramatist. Now I'm a ghostly set of hands.

[@Rolandistico]

Best guitar cover of Alberto Balsam so far

[@mindciller]

Too fast. Felt rushed

[@Meshuggapeth]

Rolan Gonzalez Do a slower one yourself then

[@cuarto_piso]

have you seen the one with the chair tho

[@gizka6816]

that hammer-on/pull-off at 1:59 is so insanely slick

[@malcolmbeckett9802]

Just listened to 1.59, beautiful

[@IvanVukusicslothyaa]

Why did u stop making videos? I really love this. Found it like years ago and still listen to it every once in a while.

[@StudioNostalgik]

Wow. It transcends technology, and flows through any other instrument.

[@AWafer]

Still amazing after so many years.

[@KRONOS115]

1:59 just needed to say that sounded awesome

[@Pinpadprompts]

Harmonic at 1:07 was perfect.

[@jack2785229SH]

my thought exactly aftet watching this for the first time in some years

[@oxygenwestfall]

Find myself playing, and replaying this clip. Haunting and yet, oddly soothing. Thanks for the experience.

[@stevoofd]

This, together with the steel drum version, proves that the composition of this song sounds great regardless the instrument. Well played my friend, this is one of my all time favourite songs, one I keep coming back to in its many forms :)

[@Vas1]

Your version is incredibly beautiful!

[@mrstud1691]

This is the most beautiful piece I've ever heard. Thank you

[@ARMONUMENTAL]

Aphex Twin sounding like The Durutti Column!!

[@jamesonjaksch4883]

Nice to see someone referencing The Durutti Column. Incredibly underrated.

[@thespecialbru]

I thought the same thing! I wish I could download this cover.

[@AtleticodeRafaela]

@@thespecialbru Google some youtube to mp3 converter.

[@andyz9793]

dude definitely

[@andyz9793]

now i wanna hear sketch for summer as an aphex song

[@GreggyP100]

Holy Crap! It's a floating pair of hands playing an amazing rendition of Aphex on the guitar... ....brilliant

[@PaxMundi118]

This is one of the best covers I have heard in my life.

[@quantifygg]

This is hauntingly pretty

[@Hchris101]

This is really good. Feels almost like an entirely new song yet so familiar in feel

[@crabgod4249]

i love the original, didnt think it could translate well acoustically, but WOWWW... this cover is just magic

[@haydenowens1854]

Brilliant cover, makes me feel sad about the past, but positive for the future! Loving it!

[@Kriswixx]

Perfect man. Thank you for this. Tears.

[@lilyjordy1203]

OH MY GOODNESS. I have so many goosebumps listening to this. Im gonna go and (try to) decipher and learn this right now

[@haldern]

.75 speed makes is sound so good

[@iamtherobotofpop]

This.

[@skippityblippity8656]

Right

[@arsen4435]

YES!

[@TheLeon1032]

oh shit your so bang on, nice one

[@KetamineDroog]

muito obrigado, querido THIS IS F-ING PERFECT!!!!

[@kjah4201]

Man. Those floating hands can really groove some Aphex Twin!

[@stenskallen]

Been listening to this for years. You absolutely get it. Thanks man

[@jairlaiter6679]

Man that is outstanding. The beauty of the song remains notwithstanding the complexity of the transcription. Super!

[@nebsounds]

simply the best version on youtube. always come back to this one.... Great job!!

[@MojoRisingTV]

I listen to this 200 times over.. and over..

[@meindlig]

This made me cry. In a good way. Thank you.

[@ДжонБэйлтон]

The only RDJ disliked for the chair-sound absence.

[@cc-hl9yo]

Ammo crate =)

[@jameshutchinson5433]

It's actually the sound of a sticky door

[@lukec1471]

It’s a grand piano being moved

[@charonme]

I miss the scissors

[@lovelessgaze7325]

I thought it was a dinosaur

[@jeremywills104]

This is the purest thing on KZbin! I don't know how else to describe it. Let it never be taken down!

[@MisterLex]

What a lovely cover !

[@oldscratch2506]

I just continuously restarted the video after it ended. I just found this today and listening to this is honestly the best I've felt in weeks.

[@EmceeAlex]

Could I PLEASE have a tab to this! Favorite A Twin song by far!!!

[@igkgigoh]

I hope this will get the same attention like Maxence Cyrin's piano version of Where is my Mind, it's as haunting as this incredible piece

[@ClassicGoldCigarettes]

Well, that was fucking unexpectedly great. Thank you.

[@graysonwing2946]

This video just gave me an Alberto Balgasm.

[@dambo8822]

I wish I could see more of this guy.

[@huntersandell859]

gorgeous, this is one of my top 5 Aphx songs

[@RageJimm]

First words, "OH THAT IS BEAUTIFUL!" Seriously inspired to learn this after your amazing version. My favourite AT song and I'm so happy to hear it in this form. Thank you for your services!

[@tmanmatt213]

Something about this track always gives me butterflies

[@ImperiousIndustry]

...Wow! It has such a 'warm' feeling.

[@ming.o]

Still one of my faves after all these years :-)

[@Akhin]

This is so amazing. Fantastic rendition. Im gonna try to learn this. Beautiful and very inspiring. 💖💖💖

[@josuezacahua8331]

i fucking love your cover man, it's incredible...

[@JakeSoffer]

I can't stop watching this. Brilliant arrangement. I love how the MXR Carbon Copy delay adds so much warmth to the piece without sacrificing any clarity. A truly artful, hauntingly beautiful song. Bravo!

[@gobelgo]

I don't care about the effects used. You have skills and you totaly nailed Alberto. Respect. From a humble bass player.

[@AlbertoBalsamm]

I wholeheartedly aprove of this beautiful cover! All hail Richard D. James!

[@jamespalfreyman8778]

Keeps getting better the more I listen to it. Amazing arrangement and flawless playing. If nothing else, you've made me pick up my guitar again :)

[@vladi_ag]

best aphex twin cover on youtube!

[@delario80]

The track is amazing as it is...but this....well, this just blows me away....could listen to it all night long!

[@signormaiale8139]

I always come back to this video after hearing the original one..u nailed it man

[@sothic23]

Absolutely wonderful playing...! This is definitely one of my favorite AT songs and your beautiful cover just makes me happy- and moved :) Thank you!!

[@RetroPlus]

This is a gorgeous cover, you translated this song to guitar perfectly

[@warbwarb]

I could listen to this forever.

[@ZeldaNirvanaSpirit]

This is so beautiful, I can’t put it into words.

[@appalling22]

It’s amazing to hear this and remember that an interviewer once seriously asked him ‘aphex twin...tune, tune...aphex twin...ever met?’

[@keithklassen5320]

I want this comment to make sense. But here we are.

[@JordanMoffitt]

I listen to this every day

[@vonjager]

This is simply amazing.... well done! Thanks for sharing this with the world.

[@blink55667]

I'm actually crying. This is absolutely beautiful.

[@icetusk]

I don't know why but I felt very compelled to leave a comment. Something about this cover is just so stunning. It almost doesn't sound like a cover, but an entire work of its own. I can't explain why it is so entrancing to me, it just is. You are an amazing guitarist and I truly do wish you would upload more, I can't get enough of your work.

[@bambergurbuz1415]

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC.And short enough to make you wanna listen to it again n again.;-)

[@kianschmeer2574]

So beautiful. One of the best covers of, in my opinion, Aphex Twin’s best ever song

[@nicos4818]

This combined with JD Beck on drums would be so good

[@kimbarsegyan]

Goosebumps all over...

[@pearsem]

Excellent. One of the best Aphex Twin covers on KZbin.

[@RayOddname]

I almost cried, this is one of my favorites AFX song, and you made it, if possible, even better.

[@sinatra555666]

BRAVO!!! Your guitar sounds sooo great! I wish you could do more stuff like this with electronic music trakcs... maybe more from Aphex Twin or something from Boards of canada, Amon Tobin... It would be a pleasure to listen to :)

[@Jay-sw9bi]

I'm so happy that my dream was made into reality 😍 alberto balsam is so beautiful

[@junbug1love]

Love it!!

[@ArpLaszlo]

So, so good.

[@MattHoram]

M E S M E R I S I N G

[@ArpLaszlo]

Matt Horam Hey yoooyooomaaa I need an mp3 of this to use as my alarm :)

[@MattHoram]

That's easily done...Use Audacity to record it, trim it and export as mp3?

[@ArpLaszlo]

Matt Horam True that - any idea what bit rate KZbin audio plays at, or is it dependent on the uploaded video?

[@MattHoram]

Arp Laszlo I am oblivious, sorry.

[@myronbarber1710]

This is true greatness. Ive spent hours trying to play Alberto Balsalm and you killed it.

[@AFX_______]

Just imagine what those hands would be capable of attached to a body.

[@MisterGrooves]

I listen to this so often. it's so beautiful.

[@StrafingMoose]

those hands with no player attached to them are very talented, and awesome song.

[@akhttkn]

This is great sound,beautiful sound.

[@benighted2665]

Out of this world, easily best cover I've heard in years. Thanks!

[@colbsta776]

this is completely stunning

[@CalumCarlyle]

Wow! Really interesting hearing such a faithful translation of this onto guitar. Lovely guitar to play it on as well.

[@szymonpodolski9004]

Man the original track send my friend into a badtrip we was on two tabs... great memories tho XD nice cover

[@user-vg5rv5xf4u]

That was so fucking cool ...Great work.

[@51Jagman]

Way sick! More twin covers plz!

[@tehpr0lol]

That Gretsch sounds gorgeous.

[@ShyanTheLegend]

ridiculously good now I have to learn this thanks for giving the tuning

[@boinghd]

seems rudimentary, but beautifully played. Picking style and your intonation were just perfect, dude-- pure and simple. Great video!

[@sparkstron73]

Love the original and the steel band cover but this blew me away. Beautiful sounding. Would like to use this recording in one of my future figure videos. Not sure which right now but it sounds like it would fit well with a western theme. Midnight cowboy or no country for old men type of thing. Great job:)

[@VIVITROrpg]

that's so beautiful..... omg

[@boyanlilov2531]

Absolutely amazing!

[@BrettsProstate]

I'd pay for a tab of this

[@tylerdurden1526]

I thought you were talking about acid, until I remembered tablature

[@Owiko7]

@@tylerdurden1526 Hi, I'd like to pay for a tab of Lisbon Acid, oh and do you have any Halibut on hand... Halibut acid?

[@tylerdurden1526]

@@Owiko7 Go away

[@Owiko7]

@@tylerdurden1526 Why you gotta take the joke the wrong way?

[@ceef8688]

Police here... We got a call of a domestic dispute!

[@gastonnovelo9634]

Uffff.... increíble versión. Te felicito hermano!!

[@lukejohnson9229]

Beautiful. You've truly captured the sound of AFX.

[@TyphonBaalHammon]

Wasn't convinced at first, but you made it sound awesome.

[@aenielana123]

Wow that was absolutely perfect! Very very well done

[@SandroMassarani]

This is magical.

[@michaelsnow7252]

this is fucking awesome, makes an exellent guitar piece