Aphex Twin

What albums do you recommend?
I picked up Come To Daddy. Quite enjoyed it and am part way through listening to Drukqs.

 

My favs would be

1 Richard D James
2 Come to daddy ep
3 I care because you do

 

I agree with Django's choices, but I'll add that if you're in the mood for a mellower listen, check out 'Selected Ambient Works Vol II' as it is very good.

I also enjoy 'Windowlicker.'

 

For some of his early work, I recommend Aphex Twin Classics (a tongue-in-cheek title) and Selected Ambient Works I (which isn't so "ambiental" in fact, it's more like downtempo).

Oh, and also Chosen Lords.

 

Richard D James
I Care Because You Do
Select Ambient Works I and II

all essential AFX.

 

1. I Care Because You Do
2. Richard D. James
3. Come To Daddy (EP)
4. Windowlicker (EP)
5. Selected Ambient Works 85-92

 

Like the OP, all I have are Drukqs and Come to Daddy. Ambient Works has been on my 'Oh yeah, I should buy' list for awhile now.
I like Come to Daddy more for some reason...

 

Definitely get The Richard D. James Album. I think it's his most accessible record. Can't wait for the new one. I already pre-ordered the 3xLP set.

 

SAW II is my favourite electronic album of all time and one of my most played discs of any genre. Absolutely mind blowing, edgy ambient.

SAW I is pretty nice downbeat stuff. A lot less ambient and a lot less edgy.

I don't like any other Aphex Twin. But, SAW II... my God, words fail me. Incredible. Nothing else on the planet sounds anything like those two discs.

 

I'd go with:

26 Mixes for Cash A remix comp, but most of these are more like original productions than remixes, and I love a lot of the stuff on this long set. It's a great listen. Aside from the Bowie remix, ha.
Richard D. James This is probably his most tuneful stuff.
Selected Ambient Works Vol. I Classic, on the mellower side.
Selected Ambient Works Vol. II This one uses purely ambient sounds, totally beatless and pretty out there, it's great.


Drukqs is also great, but it's kind of a bizarre mix of really abrasive drill-and-bass type stuff, and some really beautiful piano pieces. A lot of really good stuff on there but the sequencing is a bit jarring, depending on what mood you're in. If you like that analogue synth/acid sound, the Analogue Bubblebath series (esp. 3 and 4) and Analord/Chosen Lords are good. Also, the earlier dance stuff compiled on Classics is good, it's got that really early rave-y sound, but with his unmistakeable style.

I guess there's something to recommend about all of his stuff, it largely depends what kind of sound you like.

 

Surfing On Sine Waves is fantastic...Polygon Window alias.

 

...and, with that, you've now been recommended every one of his core releases. That's how these threads always turn out.

I second 26 Mixes, SAW 85-92, and Surfing. But I love them all.

 

Windowlicker is a classic
I love this track from the chosen lords compilation. If satan made electronic music it might sound like this:

 

Could never finish SAW Vol II honestly.

 

Track 6, disc 2 on 26 mixes for cash........oh yeah.

 

He was born in Limerick. Can we claim him as irish?

 

Ha ha, yeah, there's no accounting for taste, I guess.

I've heard a lot of people say that they find it dull or boring. Personally, I wish it were a 50CD set like Merzbox or something.

Like I said above, nothing else I've heard sounds anything like Selected Ambient Works Vol. II. Leaving me with just ~160 mins of this amazing sound

 

Another vote here for Selected Ambient Works Vol.II -- simply one of the greatest ambient/electronic albums of all time.

Take note, however, that it's probably his most atypical album... none of his other stuff sounds anything like SAW2.

 

It's getting harder to find, but the AFX Analogue Bubblebath series of EPs are all great (Vol. 1 appears in part on Classics).

For me, his greatest release ever is the Hangable Auto Bulb series (compiled on one CD). Set the standard for the drum programming tours-de-force on subsequent albums and singles.

 

This is my favorite album. I was lucky to meet RDJ in Dallas in the late 90's and he signed this for me. The autograph looks exactly like what you'd expect from him lol...

 

I would choose:

SAW vol 1.
Classics
Richard D James.
Windowlicker EP.
I Care Because You Do
Hangable Auto Bulb (In my view his best work)
Analords (or Chosen Lords if you just want a sampler of the series)
The Tuss

Sit back and enjoy

 

I've been a fan since the late 90s and got into him through his early 90s works, which I still feel are the best things he's ever done. If you're more accustomed to the frantic, "processed" sounds of his later stuff, it will probably sound like an entirely different artist to you. I do enjoy most of what he's done, but the earlier works are what I return to the most.

That said, here is what I recommend:

Selected Ambient Works 85-92
Surfing on Sinewaves (under the Polygon Window alias)
On e.p.
Analogue Bubblebath vol. 1 and vol. 3 (under AFX alias)

 

The consensus answer to your question seems to be "all of them," which feels correct to me!

I would add his releases as The Tuss, particularly "Rushup Edge."

 

SAWII is a great album to go to sleep to: mind-altering stuff that infects your dreams. Have the extra tracks from the original triple vinyl ever been released on CD?

And for something completely different: 'Didgeridoo.' One of the greatest dance singles of the 90s.

 

There was a story going around in the 90s (and it seems to be occasionally true, from the aural evidence of this collection) that James would happily accept all the remix offers that came his way, send them back an unreleased track of his own that had no connection to the song allegedly undergoing the remix, and cash the cheque, and that he generally got better paid for those commissions than for his own releases!

I like the Bowie remix, even though it's sort of ridiculous, if only because it's such a ludicrous collaboration (Bowie + Glass + Aphex Twin, none of them anywhere the same place at the same time) and because, when I first heard the orchestral version I wondered just what it would sound like with Bowie's vocals layered over the top, and James is probably the only person insane enough to make it happen.