An extremely rare vinyl copy of “Caustic Window”, an Aphex Twin album once thought lost, has been sold on eBay to Markus “Notch” Persson for $46,300. The Swedish Persson is best known as the creator of the ridiculously addictive open world construction game Minecraft.
As Music Feeds previously reported, Richard James, the man behind Aphex Twin, abandoned the “Caustic Window” project twenty years ago, leaving only test-pressings of the album in the hands of just four people. Earlier this year, a copy of the highly sought-after album surfaced on record-hunter website Discogs.
A group of fans led by James Thomas used Kickstarter to raise money to buy and then digitally release the album, striking a one-time deal with Aphex Twin and label Rephlex Records. They then put the physical copy of the album up for auction, which FACT now reports was purchased by Persson.
“My daughter was blown away that the guy who made the game she endlessly plays bought a record off her dad for 46K,” wrote Thomas, under the screen name Joyrex, on the We are the Music Makers forum. The $46,300 Persson spent on the album will now be divided between the artist and Rephlex as royalty, the 4,124 Kickstarter backers and a charity decided on by the forum.
In a recent Rolling Stone profile, Persson discussed his love of electronic music. “It’s a very stupid way to spend money. But why not?” said Persson, who regularly throws massive EDM parties. “People say, ‘You should invest it.’ So I can get more money to put in a pile? At least if you spend it, it goes back and does something, maybe.”
