Selected Ambient Works 85-92

Richard recorded this on a modified, piece-of-shit home tape machine that hissed like a snake. The Apollo pressings usually clean that up, but you lose the texture that made the original tape buzz. It’s not 'ambient' in the Eno sense — it’s house music played by a machine that was falling apart in his bedroom. Hearing 'Xtal' live is a unicorn sighting for a reason, though the Kenwood KD-2070 actually does a decent job of pulling those low-end frequencies out of the grooves without the turntable skipping all over the place. You’ve got fifteen records from the '90s, and this one is the anchor for the rest of your electronic intake. You don't have enough R&S or Warp stuff on your shelves yet. This album is the bedrock for everything that came after it, but people treat it like wallpaper. Stop listening to it while you're working and actually listen to the drums. They're sloppy, they're swinging, and they’re the reason every bedroom producer since '92 has been chasing his ghost.

source: the clerk