Sluncho's Top 5: Richard D. James recordings

1. Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85–92:

A beautiful and incredibly varied compilation of works recorded by James in his youth, SAW collects 13 tracks of mostly ambient music ripped from James' personal cassette collection. While these recordings date all the way back to his early teen years, this is easily the most mature and nuanced Aphex release. With layered beats that don't get too cluttered, beautiful vocal textures and warm analogue hums, James manages to strike a good balance between the percussion-oriented electronica of the era with classic ambient's soundscapes to form the foundation for which the rest of his long and unpredictable career is built. The nine-minute long "Tha" repeats a simple percussion loop over a shimmering, almost violin like synth pad and eerie echoed recordings of people speaking, while the frantic "Green Calx" draws on vocal samples from Public Image Ltd's "Fodderstompf" and noises from classic 80s flicks Robocop and The Thing to add extra kick to the thudding tribal percussion. 

Choice track: "Xtal", the album opener. It provides a great balance of beauty and intensity to perfectly sum up all of the early Aphex material.

2. Aphex Twin - Ventolin + Remixes:

Punishing beyond punishing, the title track of this pair of EPs is almost unrivaled in its pure sonic assault. Named for an asthma drug capable of causing tinnitus as a side-effect, "Ventolin (Salbutamol Mix)" is just short of six minutes and consists almost entirely of throbbing percussion and an ear-piercing hiss (as a sufferer of tinnitus, I can say this sound is a pretty accurate recreation). The remixes, on the flipside, focus almost entirely on gorgeous trance melodies. "Crowsmengegus Mix" starts off with a strange rush of percussion, almost like an oncoming train blasting through a subway tunnel, and then shifts into a Philip Glass-esque series of arpeggiated chords with a simple hi-hat beat.

"Carharrack Mix" has this really uneasy sort of woozy feel to it, echoing notes shifting up and down in pitch over a broken keyboard phrase, the volume of the drums rising and fading as the song drags on. "Probus Mix" feels at home with early Aphex works, dancelike drums with analogue synth drones and little clusters of notes trading back and forth. The final track, "Asthma Beats Mix", has a stomping drum pattern over this strange twisting bass tone and melancholy piano. It is the shortest track on the album, but I find myself drawn to it. It feels so different from everything else.

Choice track: "Crowsmengegus Mix", it captures two different moods with totally different sounds, evolving the remix into something about as far removed from the original track as possible. The second section is one of my favourite Aphex moments of all time.

3. AFX - Analogue Bubblebath 5:

Recorded in the mid-90s and only released to a handful of people via an unannounced mail-order during the Analord era, AB 5 is the final (as of the current date) part of James' Analogue Bubblebath series of EPs. This series consisted primarily of acid house recordings that James didn't use on albums or release as independent singles, usually with bizarre song titles. This final disc is entirely untitled, identified only by side and track number (this was a vinyl-only release, like much of James' works have been in the past five or six years).

Despite being part of the sequence and recorded around the same time as the others, AB 5 is largely a step in a different direction, consisting mostly of abstract and ambient pieces as opposed to anything remotely conventional. The entire disc has a very relaxed, dreamlike feel. Personally, I've been a big fan of listening to it when extremely tired. The tracks all bleed together and form this one uniform soundscape, with a multitude of instruments samples (everything from the usual piano to an absolutely amazing bit of synthesized horns) and very discrete tonal shifts.

Choice track: "Side A, track 2". The best representation of the album's hallucinatory beauty, it slowly builds in volume and eventually even acquires an almost danceable quality in its last minute or so.

4. Aphex Twin - 26 Mixes for Cash:

One of James' most infamous personality quirks is that he often refuses to do conventional remix work, accepting offers from many different artists but almost always turning in totally unrelated mix instead. This compilation samples the best of his work for other artists, with everyone from obscure J-poppers Nav Katze to indeterminist composer Gavin Bryars. While rarely retaining much of the original piece, James does not simply destroy the song, in fact, in a few cases (dare I say it?) he manages to improve it. He takes Japan's ridiculous cock-rockers Buck-Tick and turns them into piano-driven minimalism, British genre-blenders Jesus Jones go from rock with mild hip-hop sensibilities to sparse and dark ambient. James doesn't remix so much as re-imagine songs.

There are also a handful of entirely original pieces, two remixes of his own tracks and a pair of ambient works he did for a Nine Inch Nails EP (James seemed to be disinterested in Trent Reznor's music at the time, but has since sampled his work and claims to have interest in doing a tour with him). "The Beauty of Being Numb, Section B" (one of the Reznor-comissioned tracks) has always been one of my favourite Aphex pieces. A simple clarinet/piano jam, locking into a tight, relaxed groove. Laid overtop, what sounds like a computer malfunctioning during an earthquake. The extreme contrast between these sides somehow does not detract from the beauty, if anything, the natural-sounding melody and the fragmented, decaying electronic sounds work together perfectly.

Choice track: "Heroes", a mix of David Bowie's original song with Philip Glass' orchestral rendition. Bowie's excellent vocals soar into the stratosphere, alternating between crooning and shrieking over the ocean wave-like wall of violins.

5. Mike & Rich - Expert Knob Twiddlers:

A straight collaboration with Mike "µ-ziq" Paradinas, Mike & Rich is a surprisingly jazzy and relatively conventional project. Allegedly recorded during a relatively short period of time while both parties were incredibly high, Expert Knob Twiddlers showcases James' ability to step outside his usual playing field and still write excellent melodies. The first track, "Mr. Frosty", is irresistible electro-funk with tight beats that pretty much force you to your feet. "Jelly Fish" propels itself along on an unconventional but excellent guitar sample. The double bass-driven "Eggy Toast" finds itself at the crossroads between jazz and electronica with spacey synths over the slow finger-plucked bass line.

The entire disc's instrumental samples, especially shocking for James, are almost entirely undistorted and have a very crisp, real sound to them. If it wasn't for the fact I knew of the previous works of the two musicians involved, I would quite easily believe this was all newly recorded instrumentation. Paradinas' work is what brings the real jazz influence, though, as his solo material (quite oddly for the British electronica scene) has a profound jazz-funk influence. "Winner Takes All" showcases Paradinas' jazz love with a real simple percussive buildup to a massive blast of horns reminiscent of the jazzier side of the trip-hop scene. Cut it up a bit and slap in a Q-Tip verse and you've got yourself a long-lost A Tribe Called Quest track.

Choice track: "Winner Takes All", it really stands out as the album's most unique track and probably the most radically out of character piece in the entirety of James' discography.