Aphex Twin's _Selected Ambient Works Volume II

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (583 of them)

It sounds like someone's bad car ignition in the desert 20 miles away from you.

― Suzy Creemcheese (SuzyCreemcheese), Friday, 24 February 2006 02:11 (twenty years ago)

I'm with Suzy. The click sound in "Stone In Focus" needs to go. It's like your constantly on the verge of a dreamlike reverie, but your neighbor keeps tapping on the wall and distracting you.

I'm thinking of using a wav editor and making a CD-length version of just the parts of SIF that don't have the click. It would be perfect for so many situations. The super-extended treatment would work well with a lot of the SAWII tracks, actually.

― A. Lingbert (A. Lingbert), Monday, 27 February 2006 02:14 (twenty years ago)

please do, and post it here!

― toby (tsg20), Monday, 27 February 2006 12:01 (twenty years ago)

SAW II is all about the clicks, mister.

― Raw, Uncompromising, and Noodly (noodle vague), Monday, 27 February 2006 12:14 (twenty years ago)

yeah i quite like the clicks, but an hour of stone in focus would be great, anyway.

― toby (tsg20), Monday, 27 February 2006 14:18 (twenty years ago)

an hour+ of stone in focus = the tired sounds of stars of the lid

― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 27 February 2006 14:22 (twenty years ago)

Those little gritty imperfections that you don't notice immediately are key to the album's longevity. It seems such an obvious trick, flawed beauty, but it's key to RDJ's work. I love how sections of SAW II get distorted, or create sub-melodies of wheezing dissonance like the music's asthmatic or slightly senile. Agreed that stretching the tracks out would be great, I just think that the album wouldn't be so loved if it wasn't so idiosyncratically shonky.

― Raw, Uncompromising, and Noodly (noodle vague), Monday, 27 February 2006 14:27 (twenty years ago)

"Those little gritty imperfections that you don't notice immediately are key to the album's longevity. It seems such an obvious trick, flawed beauty, but it's key to RDJ's work. I love how sections of SAW II get distorted, or create sub-melodies of wheezing dissonance like the music's asthmatic or slightly senile. Agreed that stretching the tracks out would be great, I just think that the album wouldn't be so loved if it wasn't so idiosyncratically shonky."

OTM ... except for the clicks on Stone in Focus. Wouldn't hurt to excise dem clicks.

― Suzy Creemcheese (SuzyCreemcheese), Monday, 27 February 2006 16:15 (twenty years ago)

Suzy OTM. I totally agree with you, noodle vague, about the album in general, but Stone In Focus in particular oughtta be click-less.

toby, if I can ever be not lazy enough to actually make an extended, clickless SIF, I'll post it here.

― A. Lingbert (A. Lingbert), Monday, 27 February 2006 18:05 (twenty years ago)

I'm with Curtis, I love the click on that song.

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Monday, 27 February 2006 20:02 (twenty years ago)

people who don't love clicks can never truly love themselves

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 27 February 2006 20:04 (twenty years ago)

(x-post) thanks!

― toby (tsg20), Monday, 27 February 2006 21:58 (twenty years ago)

DON'T LET THE CLICK RUIN WHAT WE HAVE!!!!!!1

― Suzy Creemcheese (SuzyCreemcheese), Monday, 27 February 2006 22:29 (twenty years ago)

i didn't realise there was a track missing from the CD. i wonder if this could be about to settle a strange and bewildering argument between me and a friend?

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 00:56 (twenty years ago)

I like the click. If it was out of time, or not euphonious then maybe you could have issue with it. But it's perfectly on time and innocuous.

― jimnaseum (jimnaseum), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 00:58 (twenty years ago)

a a aaah ... yes, this could be it. yes. after all these years!

fucking hell.

this is like rediscovering something that you only had a vague inkling you'd lost.

thank you for the YSI.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 01:05 (twenty years ago)

But do you like the click? is the important question.

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 02:28 (twenty years ago)

The click just mocks you, saying, "Sleep, little child, sleep ... CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK sleep, little child ..."

And if you're a part of the pro-child-eating/anti-sleep camp, then maybe you're into that. BUT I'M NOT.

― Suzy Creemcheese (SuzyCreemcheese), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 02:35 (twenty years ago)

I don't know, jimnaseum, the click seems to go at different speeds depending on the part of the song. I know for sure it has longer intervals at the end of the track. But maybe I'm just blinded by my HATRED FOR THE CLICK to be able to make realistic observations.

― Lingbertt, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 02:38 (twenty years ago)

I think, and I'm sure someone may correct me on this, both the click and the track as a whole change tempo but the click is always in time. Either that or after about 8 minutes my brain starts lying to me and makes me think things have just slown down and then reverted to their original speed.

― jimnaseum (jimnaseum), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 02:48 (twenty years ago)

And music as trippy as this will do those kind of things to me.

― jimnaseum (jimnaseum), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 02:49 (twenty 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?

Wait, I don't think I ever answered this. Er, did the links above from others help?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 03:02 (twenty years ago)

(I will say that I find Lull's Cold Summer essential, addictive listening.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 03:03 (twenty years ago)

Things are so smooth and blissful once the click drops out of the track, and it's such an unwelcome guest when it comes back. The fact that it comes in at different intervals (even if those intervals are regular during that part of the song) makes it even more unwelcome. I shit on the click.

― Lingbertt, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 03:12 (twenty years ago)

I'm going to check out Lull's Cold Summer because of you, Ned Raggett

― Lingbertt, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 03:13 (twenty years ago)

Right, I'm actually agreeing with you about the click now. Earlier on through my speakers, with the bass booming and all, the click was really inconsequential. Through headphones, pre-slumber, the click is like a total hangnail on the hand of joy.

― jimnaseum (jimnaseum), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 03:16 (twenty years ago)

It's good to know you aren't part of the pro-child-eating/anti-sleep camp, jim.

― Lingbertt, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 03:19 (twenty years ago)

psshh, you guys just haven't had 'em cooked right. THE CLICK IS A TEST AND YOU'RE FAILING.

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 03:24 (twenty years ago)

Ned, Cold Summer often makes me feel like I should be playing Silent Hill 2, but it's pretty great. I'm glad you mentioned it.

― A. Lingbert (A. Lingbert), Friday, 10 March 2006 10:10 (twenty years ago)

Yer welcome. A dark gem, that one.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 10 March 2006 13:35 (twenty years ago)

five years pass...

Digging this out -- I'm finding that I'm a bigger fan of the pretty, Eno-esque/"An Ending (Ascent)"-style stuff more than the "I WAS LUCID DREAMING IN FRONT OF A POWER STATION, YO" stuff, which I do feel has maybe lost a bit of its luster in the intervening 17 years.

― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 12 June 2011 19:48 (fifteen years ago)

hey, power station translates to 'kraftwerk' in german -- and i lucid dream to kraftwerk all the time

― geeta, Sunday, 12 June 2011 20:01 (fifteen years ago)

Fair enough.

― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 12 June 2011 20:07 (fifteen years ago)

Blue Calx!

― corey, Sunday, 12 June 2011 20:17 (fifteen years ago)

That's one of 'em...

― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 12 June 2011 20:20 (fifteen years ago)

More electronic/synthesizer power station connections:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtbqFNxIHyI

― Actual LOL Tolhurst (Doran), Sunday, 12 June 2011 20:20 (fifteen years ago)

the "I WAS LUCID DREAMING IN FRONT OF A POWER STATION, YO" stuff, which I do feel has maybe lost a bit of its luster in the intervening 17 years.

no way man. the sounds on this album are still fucking incredible to me.

― The best solid love doll Candysteen (absolutely clean glasses), Sunday, 12 June 2011 20:28 (fifteen years ago)

more references to power stations in electronic music--

louis and bebe barron's 'krell shuttle and power station' from the forbidden planet soundtrack, circa 1956

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djpJd5RmQxk

― geeta, Sunday, 12 June 2011 20:34 (fifteen years ago)

also the legendary techno club berghain, in berlin, is inside of an abandoned power station

― geeta, Sunday, 12 June 2011 20:36 (fifteen years ago)

"Power Station" in Cornish is "tredanva". Surprisingly, there isn't an Aphex Twin tune of that name. That we know about, at least.

― Karen D. Tregaskin, Sunday, 12 June 2011 22:04 (fifteen years ago)

Karen D. Tredanvaskin

― The best solid love doll Candysteen (absolutely clean glasses), Sunday, 12 June 2011 22:05 (fifteen years ago)

'tredanva' is a nice name--i approve

oh! i just remembered another reference to power stations in electronic music! the power plant, the legendary club in chicago in the 1980s, one of the early birthplaces of chicago house

and i just pulled out a classic strictly rhythm 12" from '91, photon inc - 'generate power'--i have not listened to this in forever

― geeta, Sunday, 12 June 2011 22:13 (fifteen years ago)

XP: There's a windfarm at Goonhilly Downs, which I'm guessing has nothing to do with Goon Gumpas.

― Actual LOL Tolhurst (Doran), Sunday, 12 June 2011 22:16 (fifteen years ago)

Actually OMD did a track called Sealand which is a much better fit.

― Actual LOL Tolhurst (Doran), Sunday, 12 June 2011 22:17 (fifteen years ago)

Wow, it just hit me that I haven't listened to this record in at least three years, despite considering it one of my favorite records ever... I need to change that right away. Each track is its own strange little room, and I find it an almost frighteningly transportive experience to listen through them all.

― Clarke B., Sunday, 12 June 2011 22:32 (fifteen years ago)

I listen to this album every morning at work. I like it a lot.

― Mr. Snrub, Sunday, 12 June 2011 22:40 (fifteen years ago)

I love it, but I'd be a mess if I listened to it every day.

― Huey "Keytar" Smith (WmC), Sunday, 12 June 2011 22:41 (fifteen years ago)

How long have you been doing this for Mr Snrub?

― Actual LOL Tolhurst (Doran), Sunday, 12 June 2011 22:48 (fifteen years ago)

about a year now. i've tried getting into other "classic" ambient albums, like "74:16" by global communication and "the orb's adventures beyond the ultraworld" and "another green world" and "music for films," but none of them even come close to the same effect

― Mr. Snrub, Sunday, 12 June 2011 22:52 (fifteen years ago)

Skipping 483 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.

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