Condition: New
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II
Label: 1972
if11
Format: 3 × Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue
New
Includes an 11.5" by 11.5" semi-glossy single-sided paper insert.
Country: US
Released: 08 May 2012
Genre: Electronic
Style: Abstract, Experimental, Ambient
Tracklist
A1 Untitled
A2 Untitled
A3 Untitled
B1 Untitled
B2 Untitled
B3 Untitled
B4 Untitled
C1 Untitled
C2 Untitled
C3 Untitled
C4 Untitled
D1 Blue Calx
D2 Untitled
D3 Untitled
D4 Untitled
D5 Untitled
E1 Untitled
E2 Untitled
E3 Untitled
F1 Untitled
F2 Untitled
F3 Untitled
F4 Untitled
Reissue of the tracks on the US CD version, hence A4 and E2 aka 'Stone In Focus', originally released on WARPLP21 in 1994, are not included.
The artwork on the back cover with divided circles are meant to represent the album tracks, but is faulty due to these two missing tracks.
Track D1 was previously released under the name Blue Calx, but has no apparent title here.
Sticker on front cover reads:
"a landmark of the Ambient genre: Richard D. James' soulful, electronic holy music continues to bewilder nearly two decades later. if11"
Companies etc
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Sire Records Company
Copyright (c) – Sire Records Company
Manufactured By – Rhino Entertainment Company
Marketed By – International Feel LLC
Designed At – Prototype 21
Credits
Producer, Written-by, Photography By, Sleeve Notes [This Writing] – Richard.d. James
It is a very beautiful, yet dark album, but it is extremely long and the songs are lengthy. Most of them have a depressing/haunting sound, but some are more uplifting or dreamy. I kind of group the album into 3 parts - Dark, Dreamy, and Melancholy.
As when this collection was released in 1994, SELECTED AMBIENT WORKS VOL. II continues to confound techno fans and musicologists alike. Richard James working under his most famous guise, Aphex Twin, released this collection which is still one of the most significant electronic albums ever released and, yes, RDJ is both a genius and a calculated, smart-arsed iconoclast, but a con-artist he ain't. Many people appear to be so outraged by this album (what no song titles? where are the hum-along melodies? where are the dance beats?)
-- you can almost visualize the terror in their eyes when their notions of music have been turned upside-down by this album. Frequently devoid of percussion, the musicscapes and tone poems found here are a mix of the profoundly beautiful, terrifying and dissonant.
This album is for anyone with enough musical sense to look beyond standard pop music structure and dance beats and a willingness to explore darker, abstract and frequently microtonal electronic music like you've never heard before. If you can appreciate Xenakis, John Cage, Brian Eno, Stockhausen and other early electronic/ambient/avant-garde pioneers then this album is a must. Granted, a few tracks are downright grating, but even they have their place on this album. Now that electronica is a bonafide genre choked with literally thousands of subpar artists and compilations, this album stands as a rare, mind-altering jewel ... now more than ever.
Aphex Twin - Blue Calx
soooo relaxing. this is the music you can listen to in the middle of an extremely busy city and watch all the people go by as you stand in silence.
aphex twin - lichen
music by aphex twin, from selected ambient works 2.
photos by workingsux.
Richard was heavily influenced by Eno during his youth.
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II Review.
brilliant album none the less. In my mind, it completed the transformation of ambient master from Eno to James
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