![]() On a practical level, Selected Ambient Works Volume II was a discombobulating experience. "They got Volume II, plus it was this double record, and people were like, 'Oh my god, are you kidding?'" ![]() "Obviously, everyone in our office had the first Selected Ambient Works, and that's what they were expecting," Risa Morley-Medina, who signed James to Sire, told Marc Widenbaum for his entry into the 33⅓ series. Soon, the title track's Jarvis Cocker-directed video was on MTV, and anticipation for the album was building. It was also the first record to come out on Sire, the subsidiary of Warner Music that had just signed Aphex Twin in the US. A few months before Selected Ambient Works Volume II hit the shelves, Warp released On, a four-track EP of rabid and melodic techno that many assumed was the first single for the new LP. He was better known for furious rave bangers, such as "Polynomial-C," or the tender, yet still ravey, techno and IDM of his debut album. At that point, only one of 30 or so Aphex Twin tracks could be considered ambient-"I" on SAW 85-92. In the midst of such mayhem, out came a 25-track ambient LP, a record that, by all accounts, no one was expecting. In March 1994, while James was living in Stoke Newington, Warp Records released his second album, Selected Ambient Works Volume II. They just wanted him and his friends to turn the music down, or else they'd keep calling the council and throwing rocks through their windows. In fact, his neighbours couldn't have cared less about his newfound success. Back at home, some fans were so obsessed they'd started stalking him. A few years previously, he'd played his first live shows on the road, performing in clubs like Tresor in Berlin and joining Moby and Orbital on tour across the US. James was an established artist by then, thanks to a string of well-received tracks ("Analogue Bubblebath," "Digeridoo" etc.) and a groundbreaking debut album, Selected Ambient Works 85-92. ![]() James, AKA Aphex Twin, lived in a shared house in Stoke Newington, London.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2022
Categories |