Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994)

August 23, 2023

I have a lot of nostalgia around Selected Ambient Works Volume II. I spent many an hour staring at the CD insert trying to figure out what each of the song titles meant, knowing full well that it was what, 2003 or 2004 at this point and I could have easily just looked it up on the internet.

Going back to SAWV2 though, for the purposes of this review, I attributed my feelings of love and nostalgia towards it to the first few tracks, some of which appear rather frequently in certain online animations and also on BBC programs and documentaries. Outside of this however, I found by tracks 5 or so onwards, that I had no real love or attachment to these songs. They are fantastic, excellent, introspective pieces of work, and I think they are brilliant, but I was surprised that my personal attachment to this thing did not extend past about half of disc 1.

Therefore, I must admit, I think I prefer the first volume, which has much more “go” in it, and the later studio albums from RDJ. That is not to say of course, that this is in any way a terrible release.