YouTuber explains why Aphex Twin evokes nostalgia across generations, including those who weren’t alive during his heydayIn his latest video, content creator Meditations for the anxious mind dives into why Aphex Twin has become a symbol of nostalgia across multiple generations, including Gen Z, who weren’t alive when he released his seminal albums: Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (1992), Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994), or …I Care Because You Do (1995).
“Aphex Twin doesn’t evoke nostalgia for a bygone past, but rather for a future that never arrived,” Frankie McNamara says.

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McNamara begins the video from the perspective of those who were around during Aphex Twin’s – real name Richard David James – heyday. Specifically, “cool dads”, who he says now play with their kids where they once took acid while listening to Aphex Twin.
“Clinging on to the last crumbs of their cultural capital, they proudly wear their Selected Ambient Works merch as a quiet mating ritual to alert other dads who don’t have time to take pingers anymore, and work as brand strategists with pension funds, hustling hard for a midsize startup that pretends to love the environment,” McNamara says alongside several men who look to be in their 40s or older.
Then, McNamara shifts to Gen Z, claiming they long to live with the techno-optimism James provided and that those “cool dads” were able to enjoy when they were growing up:
“Gen-Z, disillusioned from the culture they grew up with and unable to define the present moment, have become nostalgic for a past they weren’t even a part of. A past where the future seemed possible. Where subcultures were based in identities rather than hashtags and aesthetics.”
McNamara goes on to comment on James’ music specifically:  “When music wasn’t made to be a trending TikTok sound on a ‘Get Ready with Me’ video, but to melt your sense of time and space in a field somewhere.”
James’ music champions obscurity and rejection of the mainstream, which McNamara connects to his observations about Gen-Z, who grew up with their entire lives on display in corporate social media applications. He contends that the entire generation longs to be “hidden,” anonymous to all except those with whom they can relate on aspects like a love of Aphex Twin.
“Aphex Twin’s weird, unbranded aesthetic offers an escape from hypervisibility,” McNamara says.
But even someone as rebellious and groundbreaking as James still performs at the occasional mega-fest like Coachella or Field Day. As leftfield as Aphex Twin is, the music still serves as a means of unity. As long as people are uniting through their values, culture will persist and advance.

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