Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works, Vol II

Today, I awkwardly touch down at the first actual music 'review' and, as foreseen, it is of an album that is probably older than most of the people that tend to read music blogs.  With this in mind, consider it a history lesson, or more likely the sentimental ramblings of a has-been that never really was anything to begin with.

So, this gem came out in 1994, back when I was a wee nipper and wasn't even aware who Richard D James was, mainly because I was too busy screaming and playing with toy dinosaurs.  It would take a further 10 years for me to be introduced to the wonders that resided on my friend's copy of the album.  I have to be honest I wasn't initially impressed with its incredibly sedate and dreamlike vibe, mainly because I was very much into heavy metal at the time and considered most other music a 'useless waste'; oh Sam, you fucking moron.

Fast-forward to 2008, where I had outgrown both the long hair and narrow-minded attitude of my teen years and was willing to give S.A.W II another try.  Suffice to say I was more enthusiastic about it that time around, possibly because I was quite hungover at the time and the repetitive soundscapes served to soothe me somewhat, whilst at the same time fringing on unsettling at points.  I used to listen to it regularly, usually in the evenings, when I wasn't going out and punishing my liver, that is. After a while it sunk into the background of my musical listening habits, possibly to make way for the increasing influx of new artists that I was subjecting myself to.

It wasn't until the other week, when I decided to put the album on purely because I had forgotten about it for so long; almost like a 'guilt-play' of sorts, that I finally came to appreciate it.  The album is quite long, as it spans 2 discs and contains barely any percussive elements, save for a couple of tracks, but even then said elements are muted significantly, leaving more an echo or suggestion of a drumbeat.  It was a long train journey so I had time to listen to every single second of audio that it had to offer.  It had me drifting off into my own imagination for most of the journey; I also recall feeling rather Zen and at-ease despite all the madness that had occurred the weekend just gone (no, I really cannot be arsed to visit that avenue of explanation).

Near the end of my journey, around halfway through the penultimate song 'White Blur 2', the only track I initially didn't like that much (mainly because of the deeply unsettling laughter sample that keeps coming back to haunt the listener during its 11 minute runtime), I realised that the album never once feels boring or drawn-out.  This is a strange thought to have, because all of the songs are quite long and revolve around a repetitive loop with some fleeting samples eased in every now and then; in a normal scenario that is the very definition of 'drawn-out'.  It is hard to explain what makes it so engaging, but Richard had somehow managed to give it the right amount of atmosphere without it sounding too self-indulgent, avoiding the usual tropes of waves crashing, distant traffic noises and nature.  Suffice to say I didn't once switch-off whilst listening to it, in fact it could be said that I did quite the opposite.

The artist has claimed in numerous interviews that the album was inspired by his ability to lucid dream, and that the songs were as close as he could get to replicating his dreams in an audio format.  Who knows how much truth there is to this, as he is also infamous for 'trolling' the press, but regardless of its authenticity, each track does feel very much like it was scooped right out from someone's subconscious and plopped right onto the disc.  It is something of a mind-bender that he managed to make such otherworldly and indefinable sounds from early-nineties hardware, but then again this is the same man who allegedly made a computer, that lacked the ability to emit audio, do just that when he was 11 years old.

The face of bizarre genius. (source)

 Credit where its due and all that; he made an ambient record from his dreams that didn't send the listeners to sleep.  To end on a sentimental note, the opening track of disc 1 entitled 'Cliffs' is easily my favourite piece of ambient music; entire worlds have been created by my imagination with the aid of seven-and-a-half minutes of aural brain-stimulation.

 - Sam