Album:    Selected Ambient Works 85-92
Artist:   Aphex Twin
Label:    Distance (R&S Records)
Released: 1992-11-01
Summary:  Great to relax to, but may cause headaches.

Aphex Twin has built up a bit of a reputation for composing pieces
of music that are inspirational to other musicians.  In their original,
raw form, however, these pieces are so unorthodox as to barely be
recognisable as music.  In that context, this early album of his
scarcely seems to have been written by the same person as the almost
mythical Aphex Twin.  It is simple, catchy, and - most surprisingly
- accessible.

The album's title seems a bit misleading to me.  The music isn't
ambient in the Brian Eno sense of the word - for that, you'd be
better off with Aphex Twin's later release Selected Ambient Works
Volume II.  A far cry from beatless music that envelopes you, this
is driven by a drum machine and is bass heavy enough to cause listening
fatigue.  In short, it's ambient techno, not ambient.  Having said
that, both are very nice genres.  It's just nice to be prepared for
what you're about to listen to.

So this is an ambient techno album, with two exceptions: the track
named i (yes, a lower case letter "I") is beatless and floaty,
although it only lasts just over a minute.  The track after it, Green
Calx, is at the opposite end of the spectrum: it is noisy and abrasive,
and in my opinion has no place being on an album with the word
"ambient" in the title.  As a piece of music it's not Aphex Twin's
best work, and when put in the context of the whole album it's just
annoying.  Unless you're fanatically devoted to Aphex Twin, you'd
probably be best off leaving it off your playlist.

Other pieces of music to be wary of are Schottkey 7th Path and
Hedphelym; while they're ambient techno, they can also be pretty
scary.  Whether you want to avoid them or not is up to you, but if
you leave Green Calx, Schottkey 7th Path and Hedphelym out, you end
up with a very pleasant album.

Three tracks aside, this is actually very nice music to listen to.
In general it is relaxing and contemplative.  I'll admit that when
I first bought this album, I didn't really get the point of combining
a generally laid back and relaxing soundscape with loud and dominating
drumbeats, but after listening to it a few times the idea has grown
on me, and I've since bought similar albums by other artists (more
on those later).

One of my favourite tracks is Ageispolis: It starts off with a very
simple periodic waveform, drenched in reverb, which is soon joined
by a very loud Roland TR-808 and a suitably ethereal pad, envoking
the feelings of both warmth and otherworldliness.  Another simple
waveform is then added.  I suspect it's a sine wave, but even with
an oscilloscope I can't really tell: the TR-808 hogs all the visible
activity.  This second waveform mainly provides a deep sub-bass,
occasionally moving up a few octaves, which works well when it's not
clashing with the TR-808's kick drum.  By the time the rain sound
effect appears, you're so absorbed in the melodies and rhythm that
you hardly notice it.  This piece of music is wonderful, except for
the listening fatigue you're bound to get from listening to it all
the time.

Pulsewidth is in a similar vein to Ageispolis, but generally catchier
and more down to Earth.  Ptolemy and Delphium are even further in
this direction, and wouldn't be too amiss on the dancefloor, while
still being good to unwind to.

Albums like B12's Electro-Soma and Autechre's Incunabula are similar
in style to Selected Ambient Works 85-92's better moments, the former
laid back yet good to dance to, and the latter sharing its otherworldly
vibe.  It's a safe bet that even during this early period in Aphex
Twin's career, he was already influencing other musicians.

In summary, this is a very good album for the most part, only let
down slightly by three main problems: its production (in my opinion,
Aphex Twin should swallow his pride and hire a producer to help
remaster this album so that the kick drum doesn't interfere with the
sub-bass, for instance); Aphex Twin's sometimes unusual choice of
scary or downright loud music; and the listening fatigue and ensuing
headaches that some of the tracks can cause.
