SELECTED AMBIENT WORKS 8592 [VINYL]

Product Information

Manufactured by Rhino Entertainment Company, a Warner Music Group Company. All Rights Reserved. Made in the U.S.A. Marketed by International Feel LLC. RDJ spent most of the noughties occupied with the Analord series, and this first edition is as good as any that followed. Created entirely on the notoriously complex Roland MC-4, the EP features four lysergic electro bangers, including the standout ‘Where’s Your Girlfriend?’, punctuated by a couple of tasty acid interludes perfect for cleansing the palate. Although the versions reprinted by "1972" are commonly believed to be counterfeits they were in fact licenced from Sire records (the US distributor of the album) without the knowledge of WARP Records (the original distributor) or Aphex Twin. I know how RDJ is in some rarified of untouchability, so please, don't take it the wrong way, please. This is a forum for open discussions and I am not criticizing the quality of the material, which is great, but I am prefacing this because I can already see the RDJ fans coming with the pitchforks and torches. If you disagree, fine, but then prove me wrong. While this album's predecessor gained extreme notoriety and remains the better Aphex entry point for its contrast of beautiful, layered soundscapes with James's inventive rhythms, this album showcases just how beautiful and layered those soundscapes are, presenting 24 of them without any sort of accompaniment. James would never do anything like this again, flirting with atonality on ...I Care Because You Do before pairing pristine textures like these with impossibly dense beats on the Richard D. James Album. And yet, because of its length and unrelenting adherence to its concept these ambient compositions feel like James's most fleshed-out concept, the one he most fully realized.

a landmark of the Ambient genre: Richard D. James' soulful, electronic holy music continues to bewilder nearly two decades later. if11" This 2007 Rephlex release by The Tuss, a duo comprising of the fictitious musicians Brian and Karen Tregaskin, prompted a wave of speculation over the true identity of the producer. Naturally obtuse, James has remained tight lipped on the matter to this day, but the legion of Aphex Twin fanatics have assembled an almost irrefutable case that this is the man himself. As his last known release, could this collection of hyper speed electro and fizzing acid techno provide a hint as to what Syro holds in store? Your guess is as good as mine.Save your pennies and buy one of the official pressings, its not worth the risk of burning a hundred odd quid if you get one of the crap copies.

Monolithic. Perhaps no other album in the history of music invites that description more than this; at over 150 minutes of pure texture, with barely any rhythm or momentum to speak of, SAW2 looms, towers where other albums get in and get out, expand, chug, dance, play around. This isn't to suggest that it's not expansive, or engaging, or anything else, just that it begins as this monumental, huge, immersive experience and never comes out of it. No time to ease in, no time to get your footing. Soothing, pastoral, haunting, smoke-like: right from the beginning. Minimalism taken to the most extreme degree, minimalism to the point of gigantism.

Aphex Twin

The first work released under one of Aphex Twin’s many monikers to make an appearance on the list, Polygon Window’s “Surfing On Sine Waves” came out on Warp in 93 and showed a striking thematic progression from the previous year’s SAW. The ear catching melodies were still there, but this time round the soundscape pulsed with rhythmic sequences as James explored the outer dimensions of space age techno. As well suited to the bedroom as the club, “Surfing On Sine Waves” became a classic in the emerging IDM movement. The rules here are very simple. Drink the vicous brew that they serve you. Don´t leave the ward. Stay in bed as much as possible. Give the nurses whatever they want - measurements or samples, blood or urine. Don´t be cheap. And do the strange tests that they want you to do, when you have to watch flashing letters and numbers and pictures, while you, dazed and confused, are hysterically pressing buttons on a computer. Do all this, and whatever else they tell you to do, and you will receive an assload of money.

Of course, being James, it was both, the first curveball from an artist whose career would be full of them. Along with Selected Ambient Works 85-92, it remains his defining release, a record so beloved and influential it would end up altering the course of electronic music. Perhaps its most striking feature is its dominant mood. Ambient fans used to the bright and feel-good haze of Brian Eno were presented with an LP that was, for the most part, anything but: dark, tense, foreboding. Approaching this as a techno album is a mistake many initially made, myself included; it was the height of the cd age, so it was also much easier to get caught off guard, and the Internet was too fresh to be of much help to music fans. Many of those people got to experiance ambient music for the first time via this album, and hearing an up and coming star techno focus their energy in such a different and rewarding direction was a rare treat at the time. AP would never make an album quite like this again, and it would really be pointless if he did, as this record's depth, size, and style would be hard to follow up creatively without changing in some drastic form; it covers that much ground.

Rewind is a review series on RA that dips into electronic music's archives to dust off music from decades past. The days here are surreal. I´m comatozed and cozy. I´m all warm inside. Fuzzy. And everybody here is so nice to me, and they show a seldomly seen interest in my urine. Tall white coats are standing next to my bed, telling me that I´m being good when I´m doing absolutely nothing but lying down. To add a little info to go along with such praise, to make reading this review more worthy than just another gush on RDJ's prodigious talents. Xtal, one of the highlights of this LP, samples the vocal from 'Evil At Play' found here: