Music / Selected Ambient Works 85-92

"We are the music makers,
and we are the dreamers of dreams."

Selected Ambient Works 85-92 is the debut studio album by British electronic musician Richard D. James under the name Aphex Twin. Released in 1992 through R&S Records, it compiles seven years of recordings made by James between the years 1985 and 1992 (which means he would have been around 13-14 years old when he started making this album).

Fusing the four-to-the-floor beats of techno and acid house with the ambient textural design of Brian Eno to create a futuristic, atmospheric sound never before heard in electronic music, Selected Ambient Works received much adulation upon its release, and is considered by many as a watershed moment in the evolution of Electronic Music during The '90s as both an art form and a viable mainstream movement.

The album's acclaim led to James signing with Warp Records, where he remains a vital part of their roster to this day.

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Tracklist:

Side One

1. "Xtal" (4:54)
2. "Tha" (9:06)
3. "Pulsewidth" (3:46)

Side Two

1. "Ageispolis" (5:23)
2. "i" (1:17)
3. "Green Calx" (6:05)
4. "Heliosphan" (4:51)

Side Three

1. "We Are the Music Makers" (7:43)
2. "Schottkey 7th Path" (5:08)
3. "Ptolemy" (7:10)

Side Four

1. "Hedphelym" (6:00)
2. "Delphium" (5:26)
3. "Actium" (7:32)

Selected Ambient Tropes:

• Early-Installment Weirdness: Subverted: this album is often considered the most 'normal' release James has put out as Aphex Twin, compared to his later ventures into dark ambient and IDM, which got progressively weirder and more eccentric. In a way, the fact that it's more normal than Aphex Twin's other works is what makes it weird in the eyes of some fans.
• Epic Rocking: "Tha" is a nine-minute track, with "Green Calx", "We Are the Music Makers", "Ptolemy", "Hedphelym" and "Actium" also being above the six-minute mark.
• Miniscule Rocking: "i" is the only track that is less than three minutes, going for just over a minute.
• One-Word Title: Every track title (barring "Green Calx", "We Are the Music Makers" and "Schottkey 7th Path") is one word.
• Sampling:
  • "We Are the Music Makers" comes from a line in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory which is heard throughout the song. Said line was in turn from Arthur O'Shaughnessy's 19th century poem "Ode."
  • The female vocals heard in "Xtal" are lifted from a library music record entitled Evil at Play.
  • "Green Calx" contains a sample of the ED-209 robot from RoboCop, as well as a faint snippet of "Fodderstompf" by Public Image Ltd..
• Shout-Out:
  • The "Schottkey" in "Schottkey 7th Path" is likely referring to the Schottky transistor, named for its inventor, Walter H. Schottky.
  • "Ptolemy" borrows its name from the Egyptian philosopher Claudius Ptolemy.
• Trope Codifier: For the ambient techno genre.
• Tuckerization: "Tha" gets its name from Richard's (at-the-time) girlfriend, Sam (AKA, Saman-tha).

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