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Selected Ambient Works 85-92

Aphex Twin

9/10

Selected Ambient Works 85-92 is a critically acclaimed album by producer Aphex Twin, which was profound in that it convinced a wider audience that electronic music can be taken seriously as an evocative medium of music, instead of the thrilling albeit uninspiring EDM babble of the time. The title - however - is as bit misleading, considering barely anything in this album qualifies as ambient (apart from the track 'i').

I first discovered this album when I was around 12 upon hearing the track 'Heliosphan'. The simple yet soothing melody played on whatever synth he used at the time (Was it a DX7?) felt lullaby-ish and I kept coming back to it.

Nearly every track on this album felt wholly different in elements, yet each one an equally amazing journey. Though all of them ooze with the early style of AFX, I could spend a while pin-pointing different aspects of each track I could've never expected on my first listening - such as the tasteful vocal sampling of 'Xtal', the booming bass of 'We Are The Music Makers' or the plucky, stumbling yet addictive lead of 'Ageispolis'. A lot of the tracks on this record have an addictive quality to them, from the amazing, creative melodies and each songs' unique soundscape.

Though every track is melodically genius and evocative, I feel some of the later ones on this release (Hedphelym, Delphium, Actium) were sort of forgettable (though still pleasant to hear). They're great, but overshadowed by the amazingly-crafted techno earworms of the previous tracks.

This release was produced during Aphex Twin's youth, which is evident at points. First of all - the sound quality is quite bad (though the tape distortion really adds to some of the tracks) and a lot of the songs feel very jam-y and less polished than his later works. Though it could be irratating for some, the sounds of young Aphex Twin clearly messing around with the knobs (such as at the end of 'Green Calx') are quite entertaining and help avoid making the tracks too repetitive. Plus - it's quite impressive anyways that he made this album on such ancient gear when he was (allegedly) a very young teenager.

My favourite track could - maybe - be 'Ageispolis' for the amazing reverberated (which a lot of the album is drenched in tastefully) melody and awesome bassline. Of course it's hard to choose with nearly every track on this release being so easy to fall in love with. I especially love 'i', the only real 'ambient' track of the album - it has no clear chord progression as far as I can tell, and has a very surreal melody - but it truly feels like it was arranged from the soul, which is maybe why he gave it that title. It's short, contemplative, beautiful, and makes me feel a lot of emotions in such a short amount of time. I may even say it rivals some of his best tracks from the follow-up to this album, 'Selected Ambient Works Volume II'. It's very touching. My least favourite probably has to be 'Delphium'. It's a nice groove, but like I mentioned earlier, it's pretty forgettable. Sorry.