Aphex Twin's _Selected Ambient Works Volume II_ is ten years old

Fortunately, I realized that I had forgotten about the shoebox and my copy was safely tucked away in my girlfriends apartment. You have to give the man respect; there are very few records in my collection that I would get upset about not having. SAWII is one of them.

I also figured out last night that Shutov Assembly by Eno is a vastly under-rated ambient album. Ambient music rules and I hope it comes back with a vengance.

Hmm, I ought to really, oughtn't I?

The trouble is it reminds me of the decade-long passage of time in a less positive way - i.e. in 1994 Laura was here and it seemed as if we had 50 or 60 more years ahead of us as a couple. So, like a lot of music I love but don't write about on my blog, SAWII came under the category of "our music," that is music which belonged to Laura and me, not just to me.

And there are so many memories, sights, sounds and feelings which the record conjures up for me - it got played all the time, everywhere, in God knows how many different locations and situations - so I'm not averse to writing something about it on my blog, it's just that I have to get it right. There will be a lot of arcane references which no one could possibly get apart from Laura and myself (yes, I know, cue Maja readers' cry of "no change there then") but it's the only way that I can write about it and feel fulfilled.

It might be the most personal thing I've ever written, and probably will turn out to be the longest and most abstruse thing I've ever written (yes OK there's plenty of competition) - but yes it is ten years and I must think about it. And also SAWII remains one of my big ten in terms of records I would wish to be buried with.

He should stick to what he does best. And spend time on doing that.

To play favourites, I absolutely adore 'Stone In Focus' and 'Blue Calx'. The latter makes me think of water, godly celestial beings of scifi, slow peaceful death (relief) through suffocation, drowning, peacefulness. 'Curtains' will always bring me back to the halcyon days of my school years, where friends and I would go to the nearby botanical gardens and smoke dope and tell each other what the music made us think about - one of the happiest times of my life thus far.

There have been very few other artists who've been able to even approach James' attention to texture as exhibited on this release. The subtle distortions and (aforementioned) microtonal deviations are what makes this album so effective. In the three weeks before my end-of-highschool exams I listened to this whole album every morning before getting out of bed. I maintain that it was more than somewhat responsible for my excellent marks.

if the Richard D. James Album isn't beautiful, I'll eat my Windowlicker CDs.

Agreed. Anybody who can listen to 'fingerbib' or 'Yellow Calx' and not feel moved is an emotional simpleton. I also adore much of Drukqs - most notably Meltphace 6 (which I believe to be James' best work ever) which brought me to tears both times I saw him play live.

Okay, okay. I love RDJ.

Of course, this shouldn't put me off RDJ but coming back to him I realise that he isn't "all that". Druqks played a big part in this I think. Sure it had some "decent bits" here and there, but nothing that merited six years of waiting around for a musical genius to release his tour-de-force.

Tracks that once sounded all at once beautiful, alien and unique such as "Alberto Balsam" now don't do it for me and I can't even see what the appeal was originally. Nowadays I feel Autechre are more interesting, BoC more ambient and moody, Plaid more beautiful and all are better produced and better accomplished musically. By comparison Aphex tracks sound like rough sketches, simple repetitive beats (even the drill stuff sounds a little flat these days).

Of course I don't hate RDJ, in fact I still regard him very very highly and the acts I compare him to released their best works well after Aphex's peak so I supppose the comparison is a touch unfair. Also the initial "wow" factor is going to have disappeared five or six years after hearing Bouncing Bucephalus Ball for instance.

Anyway, I'm not going to be an apologist for other peoples tastes. I've always felt that RDJ's real talent lies in his melodies/harmonies. While I really adore much of his drill'n'bass work, it's the underlying melodies of those tunes that really pushes me along. (in 'Meltphace 6', for one) When it comes to insane production skills and amazing break cutups I turn to Squarepusher who is purely virtuosic in his talents.

Err, why? I heard he did it to get out of contractual obligations.

That's the kind of pressure I meant. Sorry if I was unclear.

Still in debt to this thread for finally getting into this record; it's a belter.

SAW II is the only album that i have perfectly heard while sleeping, which is scary. I think is one of the greatest recording of the (past) century. Volume 1 come very close.

OTM, I still feel that the best way to listen to SAW II is while lying down in the dark at night.

that's one of my favourites too robin. i like how after a couple of tracks that are more about creating a creepy atmosphere, a really simple, childlike melody appears out of nowhere. it's what makes the album such a gripping listen.

(The second one I found too ambient - maybe be strange with me - of all people - missing a beat, but I did in the case of that one)

"Cliffs"? "Radiator"? "Hexagon"? "Shiny Metal Rods"?

I stil remember the first time I heard this record. My friend Sean and I were dropping off a gorgeous friend of ours who had just started seeing a sleazy Scandiweigan guy named Sven who lived is a megahuge loft in Brooklyn and did lots of drugs. We'd been imploring with our friend all day not to date this guy, but she was smitten (he later knocked her up and abandoned her -- went back to whatever Nordic rockpile he climbed out from under, but I digress...) In any case, we pulled up to the guy's building -- in a then-desolate area of Brooklyn (not so anymore), and decided to escort our friend inside. On the way up the stairs, there was this HUGE, sound emanating from the floors above....just bizarre and otherwordly. We walked into Sven's huge, cavernous loft, and it was like a scene out of "Excalibur". Just weird shit all over the place, incense burning, really dim lights and candles everywhere, and this intensely beautiful but somewhat disconcertingly foreboding music playing. Sean and I stayed for a few moments. Our friend immediately vanished into a back area somewhere, no goodbyes or anything. I was too busy being creeped out/intrigued by the music. Before I could ask Sven (who hadn't gottten up when we came in, sitting at a long wooden table in a bizarre stupor) what was playing, Sean had grabbed my arm and was pulling me to the door. We left feeling hugely weirded out.

A couple of days later, I got a package from Sire records (I was writing for a few periodicals at the time, and used to be on several labels' mailing lists). At the time, I'd never heard of the Aphex Twin, but the cover art to this strange looking album looked like some ancient artefact prized from some interdimensional time capsule. I slipped the disc into my player and hit play, and intstantly knew what this was.....and it instantly gave me the same sort've creeps. It still does. And I love it.

I've known this since I first got the CD! They got most of the titles wrong, though.

I think the reason this cd goes for a lot of money is that Warp originally used a cheap cd manufacturer to print this as a double-cd and a lot of copies (mine included) will have started oxidising about 5 years ago.

I was just reading Ned's review of a Black Tape for a Blue Girl album today; I would like to talk some ambient with him.

If he's listening, I would ask: I love my Aphex Twin SAWII, and I am in love with 'Tired Sounds of the Stars of the Lid," what should be next in that haunting, gorgeous vein?

OTM. I remember losing my SAWII and DLing it and crying when it didn't have Stone in Focus. All is better now.

Err. Have they fixed this? I'm ordering some junk from Warp soon, and I was going to do SAW II because for some damn reason the US track is missing "Stone in Focus," but if this is true I might just get it from Bleep...