Awesome Music / Aphex Twin

• Selected Ambient Works 85-92:
  • James' debut album is his most fan- and critically acclaimed work to date, with Allmusic calling it "a watershed of ambient music," and Warp Records stating it to be "the birthplace and benchmark of modern electronic music," and that "every home should have a copy." Just take listen to the opening track "Xtal"!
  • The energetic "Tha" is a fun and upbeat track which lasts for nine minutes!
  • "Heliosphan", particularly due to the dreamy synths and the drumming.
• Selected Ambient Works Volume II:
  • "Rhubarb" is not only one of the most respected tracks James has ever recorded, but has been regularly deemed one of the greatest ambient songs of all time. For a song off an album that was admittedly an Out-of-Genre Experience for James, that's a hell of an accomplishment.
  • "Lichen" and "Stone in Focus" are two very beautiful tracks.
  • Despite its short length, "Z-Twig" is a simple yet lovely tune, and it appeared on the soundtrack for Grand Theft Auto IV.
• Combined with its stop motion video, the title track for the EP On looks and sounds like something Salvador Dalí would've been proud of.
• ...I Care Because You Do:
  • The opening track to the album, "Acrid Avid Jam Shred", is really catchy and funky.
  • "Alberto Balsalm" is a fan favorite, with its pleasant melodies and creative percussion samples.
  • The infamous "Ventolin" mixes ear-splitting harsh pitches and blaring industrial beats to create one of the most heavy sounding tracks Richard has ever made.
  • The closing track, "Next Heap With". Take a listen to it, and try NOT feeling like a badass, with those swelling horns.
• Richard D. James Album:
  • The opening track, "4", a very upbeat song to begin the album.
  • The Sweet Dreams Fuel track "Fingerbib" earns a spot here, mainly due to its beautiful melody.
  • "Girl/Boy Song". Much like the rest of the album, it mixes fast-paced breaks with an innocent sounding and upbeat melody.
  • "Milkman" (from the Girl/Boy EP and US copies of the aforementioned album); at least, if you look past its questionable lyrics and the true meaning of the modulated gibberish at the start.
• Come to Daddy EP:
  • Even the Nightmare Fuel-rific "Come to Daddy" wholly deserves a spot here, one of Richard D James' most famous tracks.
  • "Flim" is pure bliss, and has often been cited as Skrillex's favourite song of all time.
  • "Bucephalus Bouncing Ball" is one of Richard's most rhythmically compelling pieces, especially when the "bouncing ball" beat comes in three minutes into the track.
  • The upbeat and melodic "IZ-US", the closing track for the EP. Stop making that big face!
• The 1999 single "Windowlicker" was so highly acclaimed that when Warp Records assembled a 20th anniversary box set and let fans vote on the top 10 songs the label had ever released as part of it, "Windowlicker" won the #1 spot with more than twice the votes of the #2 song, "Roygbiv" by Boards of Canada. And are you a fan of Aphex Twin and of Grand Theft Auto? Rejoice. "Windowlicker" is on GTA V!
• drukQs:
  • Richard, as a kid, used to play with his family's piano from the inside, which explains why all of the piano tracks from the album (especially "Avril 14th", "Jynweythek Ylow" and "Nanou2") are awesome.
  • "Omgyjya-Switch7" combines whip cracking samples and fast paced drum beats into one, and the results of it are truly remarkable.
  • The Epic Rocking "Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels Mount" as a whole is epic in all ways, particularly the ending, where it gets to the melody.
• "At the Heart of It All", Richard D. James' contribution to Further Down the Spiral (the remix album of Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral) that happens to be the only track on a NIN album not produced with the involvement of frontman Trent Reznor and one of the only original tracks on the album (Richard also contributed with half of another track, "The Beauty of Being Numb"). It begins with a spine-chillingly industrial and mechanical drum loop and gets even creepier when a sea of juxtaposed horns (the more orchestral and blissful horns trail over the guttural, growling low ones) swoops over repeatedly. As a whole, the song perfectly captures the dark atmosphere that Downward Spiral had. The most awesome part? Richard made that song without listening to the original album.

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