Friday, January 21, 2000

Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Works II" got a bit of a bum deal. "SAW I" got a great deal more attention, likely because Aphex's material was so hard to come by at the time. SAW I makes for a great listen, but it's MOR Aphex Twin, not too abrasive, not too experimental, not too ambient, not too bonkers, and not too intense. SAW II is all of those things in spades, which makes it far less accessible. Not too many folks enjoy the feeling of "standing in a power station for two hours on acid". Still, that exact feeling, enacted so powerfully on SAW II, is far stronger than anything evoked on SAW I.