Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2 CD

Very occasionally in music, something will come at you from so far out on the left field, that not only do you not note its immediate import, you scarcely recognize it as music at all. This is the record that cemented the media's fascination with Richard James, a Cornwall bedroom DJ. Selected Ambient Works is not an entirely representative recording, as these are essentially mood pieces, unlike the more instantaneous, dancefloor-targeted material that originally brought him to the nation's attention. Nevertheless if you are prepared to make the journey, and can see past the album's intimidating length and its lack of linear framework, there are some exquisite moments - ranging in texture from melodic delirium to sweeping melancholy.

The songs on SELECTED AMBIENT WORKS VOL. 2 have no titles.

Live Recording

Aphex Twin: Richard James (various instruments).Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.79) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's."
Rolling Stone (6/30/94, p.72) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...it's the absence of beats that makes the music so strange and haunting, and when the beats do surface, they serve to accent a tone rather than sustain a tempo..."
Spin (9/99, p.148) - Ranked #56 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."
Spin (3/94, p.76) - "...undeniable proof that techno was blossoming into a new form of electronic composition...it's the restraint of James' music that paradoxically induces such an unrestrained emotional response in the listener...it's like he's playing acoustic instruments from the distant future or an alien civilization..."
Q (1/94, p.84) - Included in Q's list of `The 50 Best Albums Of 1993' - "...[a] brilliant collection of experiments...always fascinating and somehow other-worldly, this is music as enjoyable as it is innovative and of its time..."
Alternative Press (5/02, p.104) - Included in AP's '10 Essential Pioneering Electronic Albums'.
Option (8/94, p.90) - "...His accomplishment here is monumental; this solo electronic album is so unusual that it needs to be stated up front that it sounds like no other recording in the genre, ever..."
Melody Maker (1/1/94, p.76) - Ranked #10 in Melody Maker's list of the `Albums Of The Year' for 1993 - "...Creating a soundscape like a vast, depopulated techno world, the Twin's scurrying swathes of electronics recall Eno, Kraftwerk, Terry Riley--none of whom he'd heard of until years after this stuff. Awesome...."