Selected Ambient Works  85—92 - Aphex Twin

Widely considered a major inspiration (or copypasta) for Radiohead’s Kid A, by an artist who doesn’t like Radiohead. I feel kind of justified in my, shall we say, infinite confusion about the near-universal love of Kid A after hearing this album. It’s superior and came earlier. It’s original. It’s unpretentious. It’s smart. It’s perfect for deep focus on something else or deep introspective listening. Ambient music isn’t even my favorite - I have a pretty low hit rate even among the greats of the genre. But this is something else entirely, and I’m happy to say I’ve found ambient electronic music I actually enjoy. IDM, the genre Aphex Twin helped pioneer, is appropriately named based on this excellent example - Intelligent Dance Music. 

I think there are different ways to show intelligence through music. Some might think it means to overcomplicate things, to make crazy 13/5 time signatures and confuse the hell out of people, obscuring the point of the music so much that they can claim “you’re just not smart enough to get it” when there’s really nothing to get. Others might turn to wild concepts that require a companion novel and an astrophysics degree to understand. But Aphex Twin’s music is intelligent because it’s understandable, yet still keeps you guessing at every turn. It twists the everyday sounds into something totally warped yet cohesive, like an alien with a different grasp of physics. It doesn’t need to rely on gimmicks or wacky concepts or lyrical obtuseness. And for that, this gets my vote for the most “I” of the IDM I’ve heard so far.

Jams

• “Xtal”

• “Ageispolis”

From the roundup Jamwise #40 - Best Albums of 1992, pt. 2.