Selected Ambient Works Volume II

About

Richard D. Jame, aka Aphex Twin, always seems to make music with a wry grin on his face. When he released Aphex Twin’s seminal collection <i>Selected Ambient Works Volume II</i> in 1994, he declined to name any of the album’s 24 track. Instead, he simply numbered them from 1 through 24, giving <i>Selected Ambient Works Volume II</i> an air of mystery—as though someone had found a spare mix CD on the ground, and distributed it through Britain’s most influential indie label, Warp. Dedicated fans eventually decided to assign their own track title, based on the album’s artwork—a move that speaks to the devotion and discussion that <i>Volume II</i> has inspired over the past few decade. It’s a classic of the ambient genre, one that James famously—and perhaps with a winking facetiousness—claimed was inspired by the sounds in his lucid dream. He set out to recreate what he was hearing in his sleep, and the result was less like the organic new wave coming out of Japan, and more like minimalist industrial music. Instead of focusing on harmoniou, naturalistic sound, James crafted something more metallic and tonal: “Track #2 (Radiator)” softly bubble, like someone’s playing on the pipes of an abandoned factory with a marimba mallet. “Track #15 (Shiny Metal Rods)” has a dark electric crackle—it’s techno by way of Brian Eno. .

via Apple Music

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