Artist Aphex Twin Album Title Selected Ambient Works 85-92 Date of Release 1993 inprint AMG Rating ***** Selected Ambient Works is a desperately sparse album: thin percussion and several haunted-synth lines are the only components on most songs, and Richard D. James added only one vocal sample on the entire album ("We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams"). Also, the sound quality is relatively poor; it was recorded direct to cassette tape and reportedly suffered a mangling job by a cat. All this belies the status of Selected Ambient Works as a watershed of ambient music. It reveals no influences and sounds unlike anything that preceded it, due in large part to the effects James managed to wrangle from his supply of home-manufactured contraptions. - John Bush 1. Xtal (James/prd) - 4:51 2. Tha (James/prd) - 9:01 3. Pulsewidth (James/prd) - 3:47 4. Ageispolis (James/prd) - 5:21 5. I (James/prd) - 1:13 6. Green Calx (James/prd) - 6:02 7. Heliospan (James/prd) - 4:51 8. We Are the Music Makers (James/prd) - 7:42 9. Schottkey 7th Path (James/prd) - 5:07 10. Ptolemy (James/prd) - 7:12 11. Hedphelym (James/prd) - 6:02 12. Delphium (James/prd) - 5:36 13. Actium (James/prd) - 7:35 Album Title Drukqs Date of Release Oct 2001 AMG Rating *** Despite threatening retirement several times, in 2001 Richard D. James finally released another Aphex Twin record. But for all this record tells us, he may still be in retirement. Spreading 30 tracks (most with unpronounceable titles) across two discs, Drukqs sounds less like a major new statement from electronica's best producer than the results of a Sunday afternoon's trawl through his hard drive for files he hasn't released before. Many songs here evoke the feel of recordings long since past, from the quiet ambient-techno of his breakthrough Selected Ambient Works 85-92 to the demonically extroverted programming of Richard D. James Album and the Come to Daddy EP. Stylistically, the record leans toward the later recordings, with many tracks here reprising the off-key melodies and overloaded drum programming of "Come to Daddy" or "Windowlicker." There's also little rhyme or reason to the program; James veers directly from a drill'n'bass firestorm ("Cock/Ver 10") to a delicate piano piece ?la Erik Satie ("Avril 14th") to an acid-techno burner ("Mt. Saint Michel Mix") with barely a glance backward for transition. Of course, aside from all the criticism, the previously unreleased musings of Aphex Twin are still far more intriguing and solid than most producers' best releases. The opener "Jynweythek Ylow" and "Ruglen Holon" are brilliant, inscrutable pieces reminiscent of a rusty, bygone music box or the gamelan music of Indonesia. And a few of the second-disc highlights, "Meltphace 6" and "Taking Control," chart a middle-ground between the emotional ambience of early Aphex Twin and the wracked hysteria of his later work. Drukqs is a sprawling album that defies listeners to understand or enjoy it as a whole ? it would've made a much better fan-only release than the long-awaited return of the techno vanguard's favorite producer. - John Bush 1. Jynweythek Ylow (James) - 2:23 2. Vordhosbn (James) - 4:51 3. Kladfvgbung Micshk (James) - 2:06 4. Omgyjya Switch 7 (James) - 4:52 5. Strotha Tynhe (James) - 2:12 6. Gwely Mernans (James) - 5:08 7. Bbydhyonchord (James) - 2:33 8. Cock/Ver 10 (James) - 5:18 9. Avril 14th (James) - 2:05 10. Mt. Saint Michel Mix+St. Michaels Mount (James) - 8:10 11. Gwarek 2 (James) - 6:46 12. Orban Eq Trx 4 (James) - 1:35 13. Aussois (James) - 0:13 14. Hy a Scullyas Lyf a Dhagrow (James) - 2:14 15. Kesson Daslef (James) - 1:21 16. 54 Cymru Beats (James) - 6:06 17. Btoum-Roumada (James) - 1:58 18. Lornaderek (James) - 0:31 19. Penty Harmonium (James) - 1:27 20. Meltphace 6 (James) - 6:24 21. Bit 4 (James) - 0:25 22. Prep Gwarlek 3B (James) - 1:19 23. Father (James) - 0:57 24. Taking Control (James) - 7:13 25. Petiatil Cx Htdui (James) - 2:11 26. Ruglen Holon (James) - 1:49 27. Afx237 V7 (James) - 4:23 28. Ziggomatic V17 (James) - 8:35 29. Beskhu3epnm (James) - 2:10 30. Nanou 2 (James) - 3:25