"Ventolin" is a 1995 EP by Aphex Twin, the alias of Richard D. James. It is noted for its harsh, abrasive sound. James recorded numerous versions of the piece under his Aphex Twin alias. The piece is named after a trade name for the drug salbutamol, which is prescribed for the treatment of

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, co ...

. A reported

side effect In medicine, a side effect is an effect, whether therapeutic or adverse, that is secondary to the one intended; although the term is predominantly employed to describe adverse effects, it can also apply to beneficial, but unintended, consequence ...

of this drug is

tinnitus Tinnitus is the perception of sound when no corresponding external sound is present. Nearly everyone experiences a faint "normal tinnitus" in a completely quiet room; but it is of concern only if it is bothersome, interferes with normal hearin ...

, a high pitched ringing in the ears. James utilised this effect in "Ventolin", incorporating a piercing high-pitched ringing sound throughout the track. The music also incorporates heavily distorted

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

beats. The resulting effect has been cited as "one of the harshest singles ever recorded". The song is sampled by the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

band

Front Line Assembly Front Line Assembly (FLA) is a Canadian electro-industrial band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy. FLA has developed its own sound incorporating elements of electronic body music and electro-industrial. The band's members ...

in the song "Retribution" on their 1999 album '' Implode''.

Album/video version

The first recording of "Ventolin" (the "video version") appeared on a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

produced to accompany the track. The video consists of a woman being trapped in an elevator with other industrial images interspersed. The "video version" of the track was released a month later on the 1995 Aphex Twin album '' ...I Care Because You Do''.

Single releases

In 1995,

Warp Records Warp Records (or simply Warp) is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon.Southern, Richard (2003) "Label of Love: WARP", X-RAY, ...

released "Ventolin" as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in the United Kingdom, on

12-inch vinyl The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

and CD in two parts, ''Ventolin'' and ''Ventolin Remixes''. Between them, these EPs have a further 12 versions of "Ventolin". (The United States release, by

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehre ...

, collects all of the tracks on a single CD.) Designed by Dan Parkes (who also designed the artwork for '' On''), the single's artwork has

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

-style anatomical drawings of a human head and upper torso, together with an asthma

inhaler An inhaler (also known as a puffer, pump or allergy spray) is a medical device used for delivering medicines into the lungs through the work of a person's breathing. This allows medicines to be delivered to and absorbed in the lungs, which prov ...

and the Aphex Twin logo.

Notes on the various "remixes"

Whilst all twelve versions of "Ventolin" on these singles are labelled as ostensible remixes, in many cases they appear to be almost entirely new pieces of music, bearing only nominal relation to the original. The "Wheeze" mix is the only remix that utilises the high-pitched ringing and sounds from the original "Ventolin". *The "Salbutamol Mix" is an extended version of the "video version". *Several of the apparently bizarre remix names are actually Cornish place names: Praze-An-Beeble, Marazanvose,Map
/ref> Carharrack and Probus are all Cornish villages. There is a

Coppice Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeate ...

Inn in the village of Lanner, near Redruth. Plain-An-Gwarry is an area within Redruth and also the generic name for a Cornish medieval amphitheatre used for the performance of mystery plays and sports. *Other mix names refer to the medicinal Ventolin: "

beats", "

wheeze A wheeze is a continuous, coarse, whistling sound produced in the respiratory airways during breathing. For wheezes to occur, some part of the respiratory tree must be narrowed or obstructed (for example narrowing of the lower respiratory tract ...

" (a symptom of asthma) and Salbutamol. *The "Praze-An-Beeble mix" ends with manipulated samples of James' mother Lorna laughing, whilst the "Marazanvose mix" ends with a child counting in

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

mixed with manipulated animal sounds. *"Crowsmengegus mix" closes with a

speech synthesizer Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal languag ...

(

MacinTalk PlainTalk is the collective name for several speech synthesis (MacinTalk) and speech recognition technologies developed by Apple Inc. In 1990, Apple invested a lot of work and money in speech recognition technology, hiring many researchers in th ...

"Whisper") intoning an MC's toast to a list of names ("Respect going out to..."), almost all of whom were collaborators with James. This was later issued as a separate track on '' 51/13 Aphex Singles Collection'', named "Respect List". *The "Plain-An-Gwarry Mix" was partly used in the making of the song "Cow Cud Is a Twin" from the ''

…I Care Because You Do ''...I Care Because You Do'' is the third studio album by electronic musician Richard D. James under the alias Aphex Twin, released on 24 April 1995 by Warp. Containing material recorded between 1990 and 1994, the album marked James's return to ...

'' album. They have very similar drum beats and similar infrequent bass lines.

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 1995 EPs Aphex Twin EPs Elektra Records EPs 1995 remix albums Elektra Records remix albums Remix EPs Sire Records remix albums Sire Records EPs