Spotify playlist: 25 tracks for 25 years of ‘Selected Ambient Works 85 – 92’
No one does it quite like Aphex Twin
Richard D. James is an eccentric weirdo hailing from a small village in Cornwall. He’s also one of the most important figures in the history of electronic music.
Few other artists can hold a torch to the influence of the Aphex Twin. Since 1991 he’s been consistently blowing minds, making and releasing music that pushes the boundaries of experimentalism.
His discography traverses cuts of harsh, glitched-out noise, such as ‘Ventolin (Salbutamol Mix)’, through to some of the most beautiful, transcendental and introspective music ever made, like ‘Xtal’, the opening cut to his debut album ‘Selected Ambient Works 85 – 92’.
That seminal release celebrates its 25th anniversary this weekend, and over the course of the past quarter-century hasn’t lost a grain of its breath-taking impact, remaining on regular rotation on record players and in headphones across the world (read our ode to it here).
To mark the occasion, we’ve compiled a playlist containing 25 of Aphex Twin’s finest releases. For more playlists, follow us on Spotify here.
Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Staff Writer, follow him on Twitter