Aphex Twin's _Selected Ambient Works Volume II_ is ten years old

Mine too!!

For whatever reason, SAW II has never done much for me. I've always been puzzled by how underwhelming I've found it, considering how much music in this vein I listen to, and how much this record means to people whose taste overlaps with mine. I think SAW II sounds better scuffed up by majic markers and run through the ovalprocess.

I've been listening to Black Dog too!

Beautiful but so ephemeral that it slips my notice most times when I am looking for something like this to listen to.

By Aphex, I mean.

This album is so good I don't think 10 years matters much. Vol. 1 sounds dated, this one doesn't and probably won't.

My selected coincidence is yesterday being puzzled by this Allmusic synopsis -- now you take a look:

Despite James' appearance on the pop charts, his following album Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2 appeared to be a joke on the ambient-techno community. So minimal as to be barely conscious, the quadruple-album left most of the beats behind, with only tape loops of unsettling ambient noise remaining. The album mostly struck out with critics, but hit number 11 on the British charts and earned James a major-label American contract with Sire soon after.

I'd say joke on the pop chart community, home run with critics, and WTF to tape loops? This ain't Strafe F.R.

i can't overstate how much i love this piece. (as a side note cddb now calls it "rhubarb," which seems a bit odd...are these the unofficial titles people puzzled out from the pics in the liner notes?) it marks the only time i've ever used a repeat function on a cd player. i wanted to listen to it a few times and accidentally left it on for at least an hour or two late at night. it must be tapped into my personal resonant frequency or something.

it seems strange to me that this and nirvana were happening coincidentally, on virtually opposite sides of the world. i experienced them sequentially but they've coincidentally both drifted back into my life- i just added saw II to itunes finally, and it and nevermind keep cropping up on random play.

I've managed to lose about 4 copies of the thing during the last 10 years, and I've always gone straight back out and replaced it. Much as I love Richard's later stuff, SAW II is a unique thing of wonder.

And where would BBC2 documentary Producers be without it?

I remember listening to it a lot and being thoroughly terrified by a couple of tracks. I found it as scary as Rosemary's baby.

Dummy
Second Coming
Vulvaland
Protection
Hex
D.I. Go Pop
Snivilisation
Ill Communication
Grace
Amber
Parklife
Music For The Gilted Generation
Crooked Rain Crooked Crooked Rain
Definitely Maybe
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
Independancy
Weezer
Illmatic

1994 seems like a very ILM-friendly year.

yes.

what a fubny questoin. does one need anny rock beynod white ligt white heat and in teh court of the crismon king?

That is the funniest thing I've read in a while. I want to try that some day.

We had a fine thread on recommended ambient records a while back. I'd add me some fine releases from the Improvised Music from Japan label and the Necks' Drive-By.

It's not April 5th yet!

so warp’s instagram has been posting some cryptic SAW II things and people are speculating that maybe it will be getting an anniversary reissue of some kind

!

Can we get a damn SAW III to follow it up too? Is that too much to ask for, Richard?!

you were right

Expanded edition coming in October. 3 CDs, 4 LPs, a super fancy box version.

dammit 2xCassette sold out! Great medium for this tbh

sadly i dont have £299 for an oak box

any indication of the regular vinyl getting wide release?

I'm confused, are there really only two bonus tracks?

you can preorder the regular 4xLP for $50, pretty good deal imo. I was on the fence about preordering since the Aphex vinyl that's in print is fairly available but SAW II has always been a pretty special/sought after thing so who knows. hopefully this means a drukqs reissue is in the works someday too

xp Looks like,yeah. And one of them is the 2017 digital bonus track. Plus #19 being available across formats finally (previously UK vinyl - and web digital - only). These would necessitate the extra CD but be a bit skimpy for an extra LP. Sides on the original are a bit long though so it looks to be rejigged, shown by the "tracklist" (several circles now have three images - before, every side had at least 4).

thanks, that was what I thought but wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything

pitchfork all "check out the track list below"

said track list:

01 #1
02 #2
03 #3
04 #4
05 #5
06 #6
07 #7
08 #8
...

(it gets more interesting later but...)

my original cd has the rot and the outer tracks won't play (luckily i took a copy before it got bad). i meant to buy another copy when it came out in that fancy case (super jewel it appears to be called) but never did... perhaps now is the time...

Minidisc copy, I hope.

Wow $300 for the boxset. The normal vinyl at $50 is a good offer. I still don’t know if I’d buy… used to listen to this one fairly frequently and I think only about 1/3 would be of any use to me nowadays.

If it's only 3 tracks the bonus CD should be one of those 3" ones.

I burned a 3CD-R that follows the vinyl track list awhile back…I will buy this on CD

still have my cds, but if i didn't, lugging out a giant wooden box and then flipping all of those lps every 20mins or so seems like a uniquely awful way to experience this particular album

otm, this was made for long CDs

Check this:

https://www.oakfurnituresuperstore.co.uk/products/york-150cm-solid-oak-dining-table?gad_source=1

300 quid, and REAL SOLID OAK! I may get this to put my laptop on so as I can stream it.

I preordered it. I actually bought the repressing years ago, but heard some distortion and it was likely my turntable or stylus so I returned it (oops).

Now it goes for bloody ~$200 on discogs. And that version lacked Stone in Focus, which this will have (yay!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uho04jJzxjs

I did the pre order on CD, as I’d never owned this before!

No bonus tracks we haven’t heard before? Lame.

Can’t believe they still haven’t adopted the fan-made names as the official song titles after all these years. I still think the album is better listened to with the songs in alphabetical order from “Blue Calx” to “Z-Twig”.

What a great record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHzuygQd3do

Thanks, I just matched this sample!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyCRiyMg2ik

“Blue Calx” is the ultimate

The CD of SAW II I bought in a charity shop years ago was bronzed. It has somehow persevered but now you can see actual rot on the outer edges. Time to buy it again I think.

Exactly what koogs said

yeah, it didn't help that they were long CDs and the data went right to the edges

I bought SAW II on CD back in 2004 and didn’t know stone in focus existed until last year, was a bit of a trip to discover one of the best songs by one of your favourite artists just hiding in a cupboard. It’s probably the closest I’ve come to realizing my recurring dream where I’m watching TV and a season 4/5 Simpsons episode I’ve never seen suddenly comes on.

have you looked into the soundcloud dump?

they should color the new release cds bronze just to fuck with people

(Saw 2 was one of the releases misprinted by Philips / Dupont in the UK. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_disc_bronzing )

tha1 (slo) is a bonus track right? that was part of the SoundCloud dump

yep, th1, th1 (slo) and this one, which is still online : https://soundcloud.com/user18081971/th1-evnslower
(he has been adding to that dump every now and then ever since, btw, most recent track was 10 months ago)

Right th1, not tha1, my bad

xp whoa, thanks

nice, I am 1 hour 45 mins behind on these tracks, listening now

i only just realized his soundcloud username is not just a random string of numbers

ohhhhhhh

Dispatched: 1 October 2024, 14:53 UTC

Aphex Twin
Selected Ambient Works Volume II (Expanded Edition)
CD (3×CD)

I got that email earlier today too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3Ii9Q5YMeM

worth clicking through for the top couple comments

Despite owning this on multiple formats over the years, I'm still waiting-by-the-mailbox eager to receive my copy of the 3xCD reissue. Few albums from my youth have the kind of enduring power over me that this one does. And I say that despite still preferring SAW 1!

Dan Weiss has a great new piece up about a particular angle on the release/anniversary -- namely, a dive into how it was actually marketed and sold here in the US:

https://riotriot.substack.com/p/red-white-and-blue-calx-the-story

A lot of detail, including comparisons to other acts under the Warner umbrella and how they were marketed etc.

Well, the first part of the article seems interesting.