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

the pictures also remind me of those Ask the Family "familiar object from an unfamiliar angle" questions where the camera wd slowly pan back until the identity of the object was blindingly obvious

the sound of SAWII is often like lying on the ground in a quiet spot staring at something mundane until you don't recognise it any more

I don't get it, Jed. It's like... Mr D.James makes set of ambient tracks which are fuzzy, indistinct, distorted, blurred and that makes him a genius expressing a deliberate aesthetic. Mr D.James makes set of photographs which are fuzzy, indistinct, distorted and blurred with which to express the ambience of said tracks without the use of words - and that makes them rubbish he spent maybe 20 minutes on?

I've taken some great pics that took me all of 20 mins to take, total!

He may well have spent 20 minutes on them TBF, doesn't make them a wind-up. And yes, some of the things RDJ has got up to could well be considered a wind-up (thinking things like the Jesus Jones remix etc). But it's his prankster reputation that lends him a lot of ears. No one's saying he's not a great musician without a considerable amount of ideas, but he is also a jester who will wilfully take the piss to a degree. The difference is, he's one of the few artists I can think of for whom it never feels like the listener is being duped necessarily. Like, he could if he wanted to, release a single consisting of three particularly fruity fart noises and know that it would sell. But he's never done that. Even at his most irreverant, RDJ's music manages to be worthy in some fashion.

'worthy' is an awful word, but yeah.

SAW Vol. 2 is actually the only Aphex record I actively love, and I'd always wished he'd done more like it. The Biosphere recommendation above is a great call... I also forgot to mention Roedelius as a precursor to this stuff, but the more lo-fi records like Selbstportraits I and II.

See, this is one reason I like not knowing everything about music: There are still worlds undiscovered that I can explore when I get ennui about the stuff I own.

Thing is, I've just bought 'myself' (with some birthday funds from both sets of parents, mine and my wife's), a Technics 1220Mk2 turntable, and have since discovered that those records I thought I'd worn out bass frequencies on, tuen out to be 'not the case', maybe this different stylus is touching new parts of the groove.

So, am rediscovering all sorts of vinyl from within!

Although, our alice asks "can you play some Beatles?" at which pont I went, oh OK.. and stuck on Revolver as I nipped around the shops.

Anyhow, she wants to take the "School's Out" album to school to show her teacher, and the 'cool' way it folds out into a desk...

Anyway, back to the ambient masterwork...

I don't get it, Jed. It's like... Mr D.James makes set of ambient tracks which are fuzzy, indistinct, distorted, blurred and that makes him a genius expressing a deliberate aesthetic. Mr D.James makes set of photographs which are fuzzy, indistinct, distorted and blurred with which to express the ambience of said tracks without the use of words - and that makes them rubbish he spent maybe 20 minutes on?

― Karen D. Tregaskin, Monday, 13 June 2011 14:17 (1 hour ago) Bookmark

eh this isn't what i'm saying. this is what you think i'm saying.

there's clearly a qualitative difference between these photos and these tracks. i don't think they express the tracks well. i like the concept i just think the execution is poor. you're perfectly entitled to think they're great.

i agree that they're not exactly amazing photographs, especially not compare dto the music, no. Certainly not what I think of when I hear these songs. But the concept is good - I like the way each picture is a different size according to length of track.

match sticks

Tredanva-wyns.

wind farm? I could see that — one 500 years from now in a posthuman world

Tredanvayow-wyns a wra gul tros hevelep ilow dhe Afeks Twyn. Pur deg yw!

(I have no idea what "ambient" is yn Kernewek, will have to ask my teacher. I'm guessing "ambyennek" or something like that?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goDd02TTxBA

OMG why am i just finding out now that there is finally a 3LP repress out?!??

"stone in focus" not included though -.-

http://www.discogs.com/Aphex-Twin-Selected-Ambient-Works-Volume-II/release/3577040

shit pressing unfortunately ):

... both of which i found out to my cost this week. smh :(

What exactly constitutes a shit pressing of a record full of ambient noises and drones?

loud scratches and distortion

the original pressing was shit as well.

Why would anyone even want a vinyl version of an ambient album?

i read this thread & full of nostalgia popped this out of filing for a listen & i found it hugely insubstantial. like a bad roedelius album. thomas köner's first few were contemporaneous w/ this & infinitely preferable to my ears. don't get me wrong, I love SAW1, & that fusiony new tuss stuff - i think he's a good but imperfect composer. lionising this heap of shit (SAW2)is simple hero-worship, wish fulfilment, & nostalgic longing, IMO

lionising this heap of shit (SAW2)is simple hero-worship, wish fulfilment, & nostalgic longing, IMO

― iglu ferrignu, Tuesday, June 5, 2012 1:52 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ouch! What about those of us who don't love that much of Aphex's stuff outside of this particular record? Early Koner is on a very different wavelength too, I think.

lionising this heap of shit (SAW2)is simple hero-worship, wish fulfilment, & nostalgic longing, IMO

fuck you.

1) I heard to SAWII for the first time in like 2003; it's not "nostalgic longing"
2) I don't give a shit about the rest of RDJ's career; it's not "hero-worship"
3) SAW2 is one of the most intricate, moving albums of all time; it's not a "heap of shit"
4) fuck you

anyone with a dissenting opinion on Aphex Twin get the FUCK off ILM

it's not that; it's just that I'm going to give anyone who shits on my favorite album & its fans a hearty "fuck off."

crüt otm

haha. you fanboys !

Also, FUCK YOU.

And it's "phangirl" thank you very much.

I mean I wouldn't call it a "heap of shit" but I can't help but wonder what kind of person is listening to this all at once

lionising this heap of shit (SAW2)is simple hero-worship, wish fulfilment, & nostalgic longing, IMO

Heh. I feel that way about a lot of shit ILM talks about, but this is the only Aphex Twin album I like, so it's not hero worship at all for me.

well, OK, so I might have conflated the nigh-on rabid fanaticism that aphex seems to inspire in some (BUT NOT ALL) of his audience (both male and female) with my disappointment at how this album no longer holds my interest, so i'm projecting that arbitrarily onto an external strawman, and making crass generalisations, to boot.
my mistake.
'pologies there.
but my, aren't you all so fucking touchy !

I mean I wouldn't call it a "heap of shit" but I can't help but wonder what kind of person is listening to this all at once

― frogbs, Tuesday, June 5, 2012 11:11 AM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

idk, someone with some time on their hands who likes this album? what a bizarre post.

i mean, its a lot to take in at once, but you wonder "what kind of person," really?

i am just wondering whose brain is still being stimulated by the 100th minute of static ambient music. like you can use it to calm yourself, but I'm always there by track 3. if you sleep to it, you're asleep by track 1. if you're just chilling out, I dunno it's awfully long. yes I want to know what kind of person.

satan worshippers

but my, aren't you all so fucking touchy !

I've noticed repeatedly that people are really touchy about their music around here, especially on threads discussing canonical albums or albums where there's some ILM consensus. If you drop a line saying "this album is awesome!!" then it's all good, but if you write "I don't like this," or "I think this album is terrible," then people get all outraged and act like you've just murdered their children. it gets really personal, and it's weird. of course, your comment kind of says that the people who like this are stupid, rather than saying the album is stupid, but nevertheless, I've seen my observation hold in both circumstances.

yes I want to know what kind of person.

A person who enjoys it as working music, for one. It puts me in a very productive state when I'm working on assembly of long documents.

i have nothing against its length, or static ambient music in general, but maybe IN MY OPINION (i'm sure it's fucking brilliant and i just fail to understand) it lacks any sense of development or ambiguity. horror/sci-fi track - remains horror sci-fi in one key and then ends. slow techno track remains slow techno and then ends. something through a delay device does that for a bit and then ends. i think we've got one or two nursery rhyme ABAB.. structures - i think i remember finding those ones tolerable, perhaps even agreeable - whoa.. what a hypocrite i am ! but it sounds like mister james messing with faders & knobs (or not) throughout, because IN MY OPINION (i'm sure it's fucking brilliant and i just fail to understand) the music's not strong enough FOR ME to suspend MY sense of disbelief.
of course i will love this album once i rid myself of these accursed expectations that it should be any better (how did i ever accrue such sorry barnacles?)

expectation is a prison, etc

black iron prison, tell me about it !

hey iglu-- check out "Blue Calx" again. I'd like to hear your criticisms of that particular track.

Why would anyone even want a vinyl version of an ambient album?

― Tuomas, Monday, June 4, 2012 9:48 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no CD player, computer speakers sound bad.

there have always been people here who thought this album was BS, its not untouchable ILX canon.

boner in focus