Customer Reviews

Selected Ambient Works Volume 2

5 star:		(153)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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?) that they are prone to ridicule it with knee jerk 1-star reviews -- 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.

Listening to Select Ambient Works Volume II is without a doubt an un-earthly experience. If you have ever wondered what aliens listen to in their lesure time, purchase this cd and you will know. The soft, weightless, flow of some of the tracks leave you in an almost traqualized state. The fluidly sequenced rhythms and beats, along with the unexplainable voices and alienesque sounds are at times a bit erie. This is definitely music to relax, study, write, or sleep to. When I first purchased this album, I was a bit displeased, but after a week or two it began to grow on me. This cd is very theraputic and at times can leave you feeling druged and numb. If you are stressed, depressed, angry, or sad, this cd can make everything dissapear. If you ever feel like drifting away, just slip this cd in and your mind will travel to far off places, where aliens lurk in the shadows, studying your every move. Richard D. James is by far the most talented, versital, mind-blowing knob twiddler in the electronic/ambient genre. Every Richard D. James cd I have purchased, whether its Aphex Twin, Caustic/Polygon Window, or Afx, he never ceises to amaze me. He will always continue to be #1 on my electronic music roster.

Again, there are no beats.

There is nothing resembling a beat. Nor song structure. Nor anything you've heard before....

I've read that James put together this album as something of a joke on critics and people who thought that the first volume of this was as minimalist as things some. Together with Autechre's Tri Repeatae++, this is the most inhuman music that I've ever heard. It is out of this world different, and that is a good thing.

You want to dance to this, you'd better have some good... This is chill out, meditational, semi-holy music good for periods of lucidity. Its like rocks talking to you, it is like a space probe from genius coming down to Indiana....

it takes time. Don't buy this if you're not going to give it a chance, don't buy it if you're not willing to let it settle. YOU WILL HAVE WASTED YOUR MONEY! If all of these conditions are fulfilled, get used to it and let yourself fall half asleep. It will change you.

Once in a while, once in a very rare while, you hear something that forever changes the way you understand music. Buried amongst Aphex Twin's array of brilliant releases waits this little time bomb. The first time I listened to this in entirety, I was first incredulous, but it went on and on, pulling me deeper into this strange world it wove. By the time the last track had ended, I awoke on the floor, the computer humming in the distance. For the first time I noticed the musical way the fan grated in its casing. I am not sure if I cried; I am not sure if I slept; all that I really knew was that I had found music. Everything up until that point in time had been a prelude for this precise moment, this set of vast sounds.

I spent years chasing the sound. I purchased every Aphex Twin album I could get my hands on, tore into a world of experimental sound that I hadn't even known existed. In the years since then and now, I have found (and continue to find) a wonderful, vast stage of sonic exploration. I have been everywhere from Merzbow's exploding aeroplanes to the lowercase sound of barely audible whistling kettles and 16khz frequencies -- but I have yet to find anything even remotely on the same level of raw emotional power that Selected Ambient Works 2 has somehow bottled up and caged like some wild beast in a slumber.

Where will this take you? Well, that is why it is so potent. It will take you as deep as you mentally and emotionally can. For some, this will be a spiritual experience, for others, a cold terror, or a stolen tear. Others still might find all of the above and more. Do not expect anything, and for goodness sakes do not expect a miracle. At best, you'll get a nightmare.

I bought this album not knowing what it was. I had just gotten into several other Aphex Twin albums and thought this would be another of his noisy masterpieces. It is not noisy, but a masterpiece nonetheless. It was my first true introduction to ambient music and it has remained my favorite ambient record ever since.

SAWII is a true listening experience. Only a couple tracks (out of twenty-four) contain beats. There are no vocals except for a few muted, muffled samples. The record consists of long, slow repeating electronic tones, bells, piano, static, and odd noises. Each listener has his/her own experience. Like other reviewers before me, I suggest listening to it alone and with good speakers or headphones. I would not say that it is driving music, unless you are driving alone in the mountains in the middle of the night.

Put the record on, close your eyes and see the images that the music creates in your head. The music is at times eerie, beautiful, achingly sad, and downright scary. I visualize vast imagery when playing this record: alien landscapes, endless droning machinery, the dark depths of oceanic caves, beautiful mountain sunrises, and sometimes imagery that cannot even be put into words. There is no comparison. Five out of five stars.

...they would turn out like this, quite possibly. This is perhaps not only one of Richard James's finest shining moments, but one of the best recordings of ambient music. No...not 'ambient techno', but _ambient_ as in the same spirit as Brian Eno et al. Best listening volume for this, like all good ambient, is very low and off in the background. Sadly, the candyravers didn't get this album at all, expecting it was going to be something probably like Polygon Window V.whatever. Well...no. Beats are largely missing, replaced with an occasional pulse more akin to minimalist music. That acid squawp that everyone who picked up the early Rephlex 12"s is looking for is also missing, replaced there with an atmospheric, accomplished electronic sound. In short, this is a truly amazing work by someone who, at the time it was conceived, was really trying to push the boundaries of where electronic music was going in the 90s. It's too damned bad the kids didn't pick up on it, and wound up pissing RDJ off by dumping on this fantastic work so that he never went back to such fascinating territory. One other note, for those completists out there: the US CD release of this is missing two tracks, the UK CD is missing one, which can be found on the original Warp 3-LP vinyl version.

Richard D James aka Aphex Twin is one of the greatest musical geniuses of modern times. With great albums like "Selected Ambient Works 85-92", "Drukqs", and my personal favorite, "I Care Because You Do", "Selected Ambient Works, Volume 2" doesn't fit in with these others. However, that is not a bad thing as this is a unique album in itself. Yes, there are no beats (for the most part) on this double album, but James makes it work like no one else could. The first disc has the more experimental stuff and weird stuff on it. Track #4 will scare you out of your wits while Track #9 sounds like it should have been a part of "The Shining" (Kubrick's version) soundtrack. Track #11 sounds like an alien autopsy. Disc 2 has the more beautiful tracks including the only really "named" track (all of the tracks are nameless but have pictures except this one) in "Blue Calx". The most beautiful of them all is the last one or the "b+w stripes II". Whenever I hear this track, I think of myself flying.

This is a great album but it takes patience to listen to. Don't give up on it after one, two, or even three listens. Also, make sure that you have plenty of time to kill in listening to this and preferably on headphones. If you are new to Aphex Twin, I would not recommend this album; however, if you enjoy the music of Richard James, then you will have to pick this album up eventually. And you will not be sorry in doing so.

I'll try to be the voice of reason regarding this album. By today's standards (2001) SAW2 maybe a little too minimalistic and repetitive for most buyer's ears who have become used to the idea that 'ambient' music encompasses the likes of Air and Groove Armada. Try to think of this collection as pure atmosphere burnt onto two CDs, some pleasant and some eerie and gently disturbing.
Read the two wildly varying review excerpts below and decide whether a two disk album that can conjure such mixed emotions is worth your hard earned cash.

From the 'Love It' stable:

"...Described as unearthly, this is music on a cosmological order, linking us to the unending boundaries of space and time, to the power of our dreams, the inherent conflict of existence, and our struggles with isolation and absurdity. It also embraces the value of the moment, glints of sunlight, the sublime and redemptive qualities of love..."

From the 'Hate It' stable:

"...For those expecting this CD to contain beautiful, harmonious music - you will be sadly disappointed. The best I can say is that it's like a movie soundtrack to a bizarre horror movie..."

So there you have it. The love theme from a David Lynch movie.

Aphex Twin, is certainly an artist that doesn't like to be 'pigeon-holed'. Creating tooth-loosening, Drill-n-bass albums, one minute, then unleashing sublimely original abstract Electronica the next. Here, he changes tack again, by releasing a continuation of his previous 'Selected Ambient Works', with this, (volume 2) a double disk edition.

Disk 1, is truly faithful to true Ambient music, with less of the sublime scuffed beats and Electronic hums & rhythms that characterised the first selected Ambient works volume. This is a truly ambient disk, so as opposed to delivering downtempo ambient Electronica/Techno, this has far more in common with "Brian Eno's" exceptional set of ambient albums or "Global Communication's" unbeatable "76:14" album. As this disk focuses squarely on "Atmosphere", Renasonce, gentlee sounds, and constantly evolving soundscapes. To truly deliver the feeling of a soothing & ethereal experience....and although the tracks are all individual tracks in their own right, there seems to be a level of continuity to the disk as a whole, with no, one track a stylistic or radical departure, thus not interrupting or sufferring jarring shifts in sounds (this might explain why the track names are listed as [Untitled]). Those new to Ambient music may find this a little tough going to begin, with...because with no rhythms or musical hooks to latch onto, this could possibly become frustrating, with long passages of music (most tracks run into 7-8 minutes), with seemingly nothing really happening. But.....stick with it, and preferably listen to this under perfect circumstances (late at night, with minimal noise/distraction), and you'll notice the music take on a level of hushed subtly, that you previously missed, and from there the very subtle changes in the sound become noticeable, as you drift (so to speak) into the music. Aphex Twin's level of mastery of sound & Space is truly extraordinary, and the temptation to layer the sound with drum beats or Electronic samples has been resisted and thus incredibly impressive, instead preferring to rely on rhythmless washes of sound and harmonics & spacial overtones, to complete this extraordinary disk.

Disk 2 has an approach far more in common with the first 'Selected Ambient Works', with some tracks including subtle Industrial sounds, rhythmic drums, muted samples & Ambient techno, to flesh this ambient electronic/techno sounding album, the more techno-industrial sounding tracks are sometimes followed by proper ambient tracks. The first two track's [untitled] 1 & 2, still adhere to the ambience of the first disk, but by track# 3 elements of industrial are introduced, and it feels like a very welcome shot in the arm. More of a very low key moody industrial wasteland, It's throbs with a (ever so) slightly menacing feel, and marks a shift in approach for the remainder of this disk. [Untitled] track#5 is a truly gorgeous track, and reverts back to segments of the first disk, although it's far too brief (more like an interlude). later tracks see a combination of slight rhythm-led ambient-techno tracks and softer ambient flourshies that are mixed up in their running order, and all are fantastically realised tracks (especially the captivating tribal drums of [Untitled] track#9).

Aphex Twin has not only crafted a truly worthy album, that confirms beyond any doubt that he truly is a master of the electronic form, as this album is a tremendous shot in the arm for those (like me), that frequently listen to ambient albums, but more importantly he's made an album accessible enough for those that possibly, are new to the genre or have only ever sampled a couple ambient albums. For those that want a superb introduction to ambient music, Disk 1, is a truly stunning effort that actually manages to stay faithful to the form of ambient music, and at a running time of just over 75 minutes, there a lot of exceptional material to digest here. And for those that find the first disk a little hard going, the second disk will be a welcome resbite (after all, two 70+ minute disks of ambient music would be a little tough going), so the more beat/rhythm oriented tracks will suit those that find the first disk a little hard to digest, as this disk pitches its tent in hypnotic rhythms, subtle sounds & mesmerising patterns. this album is unquestionably a 5 star album, because it's beautifully complex and Cerebral, yet offers enough accessibility for anyone to enjoy......Highly reccommended

There is little I can say about this album that has not been said before, so I thought I would describe each track individually as well as how they made me feel whenever appropriate, in an attempt to get the feel of the album across.

Disc 1

1. Snippets of undecipherable speech bubble over Richard's mountain range of synth. A good, interesting start to the album, setting the tone with relaxing, mysterious haunting melodies which build, then thin out over the course of the track.

2. Mysterious, simple melody which sounds to me like a very relaxed alarm. Shifts in pitch a few times, creates a pretty motionless soundscape. Another three note melody joins it in time, a hint at a beat works its way in as if it's just hanging out on the track because it doesn't have anything better to do. Massive reverb and delay as on most tracks.

3. An absolutely beautiful, ethereal melody is the basis of this track. It sounds like the soundtrack to Christ's ascension, the death of an angel, or Dumbledore's funeral. It's a track to think back on your life moments before your death to or to look out over the Grand canyon at midnight. A life-enriching track.

4. A sinister distorted synthscape, like being alone in a forest at night.

5. Tribal rhythmic drums with oh so soft synth pads behind it. Eventually what sounds like hugely processed vocal sounds join it, but they sound like synth anyway.

6. A processed softened voice kind of hums the intro to this track, with a synth line accompanying it in a few seconds. A bassline adds a bit of depth momentarily. The voice stops, and the rest of the music carries on for a while before the voice is re-introduced. For some reason it sounds great as it fades back in.

7. A soft intro melody which sounds like background music in a cheap mystery film. Other gentle melodies eventually accompany it. This plods on and on, lulling the listener. The sound gently warps and changes slightly over the course of the track.

8. Gently percussive sounds, sounds like a being in another dimension bouncing a collection of different bouncy balls at midnight, in a desert. Layers of synth fade in and establish a melody.

9. More tribal beats open out onto a fun, deranged melody, like a accordion singing a lullaby to baby accordions whilst the father of the baby accordions sings along to his favourite TV show's theme music very pleasant and light-hearted sounding.

10. Frightening synth that sounds to me like being accidentally locked in a pyramid on another planet at night and slowly realising you're not alone...

11. Plonk plonk synth, like a very very soft glockenspiel. Sounds to me like a huge musical combination to an ancient lock on a cage which is only now being reopened to release Richard d. James' subconscious, at midnight by hundreds of children with Richard's face and the Aphex logo tattooed on their forehead.

12. With dreamy chimes, sped up and processed voices and other sounds which seem to replicate the sensation of being half asleep, so that both the actual world and the dream world have access to your consciousness. A modern day lullaby.

Disk 2

1. To quote another review website, this track opens with `Percussive effects that sound like single water drops down the deepest well on the planet' then synth comes in which sounds like someone found the well and it was so beautiful they wrote music about it. A constant clicking keeps track of time and beat. Having listened to this track a few times, I now realise it really is quite beautiful, and creates the image of the first, delicate little flower germinating and growing in the wake of a nuclear holocaust.

2. Sounds very calm, with a hum like some kind of laboratory, on the moon, where a scientist is working diligently to create the most perfectly white light in existence.

3. A change of pace. A clear beat, with a lot of noise to which various noises are added. Faster and clearer than anything before preceding it on this record.

4. Sounds like a very, very fast lift taking you to the top of a huge glass spire on an alien world.

5. Uplifting optimistic synthy bubbles. Sounds like a computer singing about how great it is to be a computer. It sounds very much sound like red spheres rolling around.

6. Flutey sounds open up and tom-tom drums join it. Other little snippets of sound join over the course of the track. The flute changes about half way through to a different melody.

7. Nice track. More structure than the rest of the tracks. A solid beat, but still relaxing, still with dancing little melodies. Then a weird sound like a bike chain sped up fades in and out.

8. Smooth soft and very cool. Like floating on a cool lake on a warm summer evening.

9. Echoing inaudible speech booms around you - whispering, mingled with a synthy feedback. The whole thing sounds like exploring a cavernous cathedral built to worship the Aphex Twin logo.

10. An endless loop of radio feedback. Reminds me of the computer game myst, with the static in the blue and red books. Desolate synth waves wash over the static's spiky texture. Very electro and buzzy.

11. Haunting track which is evocative of waking up one morning and finding that no-one else in the house is around, you cant find them anywhere, they have left no note, and although its 1pm its still very dark outside. You try the TV and radio but every channel and station is broadcasting this track; SAW2 CD2 Track 11.

12. A fitting and ethereal end to the album, golden undulating synthy chords. Hard to describe, but it works well.