Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II

Greetings everyone! Quick disclaimer, this will be a long post, so grab yourself some tea while you read. Anyway, today I will be reviewing Aphex Twin's second album, Selected Ambient Works Volume II. After the amazing EP that was 85-92, I had high hopes for this album. With that being said, let's get straight into the review.

Right off the bat, Cliffs (I will be referring to the fan names) was a great start to the album, it's main motif being a woman's vocals being repeated constantly over the soothing ambient chords. I could hear the woman say "песня"(pesnya), which means song in Russian.

Then suddenly, Radiator was a pretty creepy song, with a repeating melody that sounded like a stock phone alarm for some reason. Even though it had some very eerie chords, it was overall a pretty enjoyable track.

But then, after the song had ended, Rhubarb's calm, welcoming chords started playing, giving me a comforting feel and was overall just a super chill, meditative song. Definitely one of my favourites!

Hankie was much more ominous in tone, and it's breathy, brass-like melody added to this eerie feel. It sounded like a siren trying to sing.

Grass had much more distant melody, accompanied by the first actual beat in the whole album. Another eerie song, to say the least, though a bit nicer than Hankie.

Mold had these repeating vocal samples saying "twom". The

accompanying melody was also pretty sweet. It had a nice bass-like background melody. 

Now, don't ask why, but the main melody of Curtains gave me some real Vietnam flashbacks to the time I listened to Everywhere at The End of Time. It had this 1920s ballroom music feel to it.

Even though Grass had a beat, it wasn't quite in the spotlight, meanwhile Blur was mainly beat driven. It also had a background melody that played every set of beats. It was pretty nice song, if you ask me.

Weathered Stone reminded me of "...I Care Because You Do", being mostly beat driven, though also having an equally as powerful melody, something you'd hear around the end of the earlier mentioned album.

Tree. Nope. To spooky for me. Cool song. But nope. To spooky.

Domino didn't really have anything to special to it, apart from being another creepy song.

Now, White Blur 1 had a bunch of weird vocals mashed together, with some loud wind chimes accompanying it. A pretty ominous track if you ask me.

And with Blue Calx, we conclude the first disc of album. With it's distant melody and slow beat, it felt very comforting, and the synth reminded me a lot of songs from 85-92, adding up to an overall great track.

Moving on, Parralel Stripes was pretty similiar to Blue Calx, featuring a distant melody, but this time sprinkling in some vocal samples.

Shiny Metal Rod was mainly beat oriented, alongside some weird, electric-like noises. Sounded a lot like something you'd hear on "...I Care Because You Do".

Grey Stripe was just some wind sounds and other noise samples put together. However, given the simplicity of this track, it was fairly nice to listen to.

Z Twig had a simple, but catchy melody, sounding a lot like an in-game Minecraft disc. Definetly one of my favourites.

Window Sill started off rather odd, but quickly turned into a fun, beat oriented track, with hints of tribal percussion.

Hexagon was another simple, yet really cool track. Featuring a soft beat and a calm melody, it was just an overall really cool track.

Now, Lichen had a soothing melody, similiar to Rhubarb. It just so calming and cozy...

Until Spots. creepy. ruined my meditative vibe. uncool.

Tassels had some weird noises and an odd melody, and yet was still quite enjoyable.

White Blur was just... no. It's bone-chilling melody was uncomfortable, and the repeating vocals and laughing made the track even more unnerving.

Matchsticks, was probably Tree's little brother, because this song was straight up nightmare fuel. I legit felt uncomfortable listening to these... Great job, Mr. James!

And finally, Stone In Focus. it featured some powerful synth chords and ambiental chords. Was a really conol track, very ominous and powerful.

So, final thoughts on this album. Absolute masterpiece of an album, and even though it had it's fair-share of oddities, they were overpowered by the number of cool songs this EP has to offer!

Score: 9/10