Tess Faces the Music

welcome to the first installment of album of the week—volume ii! this week i want to talk about an electronic classic, which aphex twin has made many of, but this is one i consider one of his masterpieces (also it is pure coincidence that i chose something called “volume ii” for volume 2 of aotw, but i love that it worked out this way).

review

how can i introduce once of the most significant electronic producers to date? richard d. james, aka aphex twin, is a household name at this point. my introduction to him came through aggressive breakbeat tunes like “come to daddy” or “afx237 v.7” (and the rubber johnny music video alongside it), but getting to hear how much nuance this man can create in his discography has been so, so rewarding.

selected ambient works vol. ii seems to serve as a sequel to selected ambient works 85–92. the elements of minimalism and repetition are shared among the two albums, but the second installment i think has a better sense of atmosphere. this double album contains a whopping 24 tracks across 2 sides, and the range of moods it evokes range from calming and serene to unsettling and possibly disturbing. god forbid you listen to the laughing sample in track 23 in a dark room after midnight, but you’ll probably feel like you’re in a state of zen with track 3. the sounds on this record range from industrial to this wash of electronic beauty i think he must’ve pioneered. seriously, #3 is one of my favorite aphex twin songs i’ve ever heard. i could only dream of making something as beautiful and so previously undiscovered as that.

now, ambient music is a bit of a new thing for me to talk about. i’ve been familiar with it for a while, but i’ve never really sat down to analyze one before. my first experiences with it were subconsciously noticing it in video games until i listened to Ghosts I–IV by nine inch nails. this music really isn’t exactly meant to be focused on but rather serve as a companion to some larger purpose. you may think a lot of this album would fit in a silent hill game or an outer space simulation. i feel like this record challenges my “music for the sake of music” mindset, that all music can be appreciated or judged on its own merits even if it acts as a companion piece to something else. how much can you say that for music that seems to only be able to be fully appreciated as a backdrop?

i’ve listened to this album several times throughout the past week or two. most of the time, i’ve been listening to it while playing minecraft. when this happened and i tried to look to see what track i was on, i kinda realized i was just replacing the in-game music with my own. it’s really a tall task to be able to recognize all 24 tracks of this ambient album, so let me put into words my thoughts on this album as the companion piece it’s probably meant to be.

selected ambient works vol. ii is a quiet rollercoaster that takes you on an ethereal journey to someplace you’ve never heard of. whether you’re exploring a ghost town, the edges of space, or perhaps simply in your bedroom in media res, you are guaranteed to be transported somewhere, and you will be entranced by what you find.

aphex twin succeeds in taking you somewhere unfamiliar and subtly slips you every flavor of the emotional palette in one meal.

tracks to track

• #1 aka cliffs sets the tone great for the album
• #3 aka rhubarb is iconic; it’s one of the most serene and calming songs i’ve ever heard
• #4 aka hankie is kinda horrifying? definitely sounds like a scene in an artsy horror movie
• #9 aka weathered stone and #15 aka shiny metal rods are perhaps some of the most timely tracks here, yet despite the metallic, industrial nature of it, they still haven’t rusted much with time
• #20 aka hexagon is the most streamed track on the second side on Spotify, and i can see why; similar to #3, it’s calming and sweet
• #21 aka lichen reminds me of when i found out about the “paulstretch” effect in audacity… this may have been one of the earliest examples of this technique but i’m not sure
• #22 aka tassels just sounds like a spaceship; not the most evocative but it does stick
• #23 aka white blur 2 is fucking creepy, it has a laughing sample throughout and gives off vibes of some of the lower-key nine inch nails tracks around this time
• oh, and the rerelease had two bonus tracks i forgot to mention (and that also screw with the track numbers but w/e)
  • the one called stone in focus is just the height of the tranquility that’s present in some of the album
  • and i don’t have many thoughts on th1 [evnslower] besides it just also being good

take a listen!

thanks for reading my first aotw entry! i hope you find something neat about this album. i haven’t prepared any future entries yet as of writing this, but i hope that as the blog goes on, i get to share a quick hint as to the next week’s album at the end of each post. either way, i’ve been tess, and i hope you enjoy this aphex twin album!