The sad news of Gene Wilders death this week reminded me of this track on which his voice is sampled.

Selected Ambient works 85-92 is Aphex Twins earliest studio record and it sounds fairly lo-fi in today’s standards of digital production. A large amount of the production was recorded on cassette tape, which causes the synthesisers and drum machines to wow and flutter throughout. This slight wobble in pitch and speed really gives the work a sense of place and a character that is still really unique. Add exelent melodies, brilliant ambient sound design and the lofi production methods become a stylistic strengh rahter than a weakness.

Although this doesn’t show Richard James at his most technically competent the fourteen tracks show him in an era of youthful creativity. Tracks are diverse but exemplify the creativity of electronic music. Rooting themselves as one of the foundations to modern electronic music today. Selected Ambient works 85-92 is a great introduction to both Aphex Twin and electronic music as a whole and should be heard by anyone with an interest in modern music as we know it:

 
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