Music / Selected Ambient Works Volume II

"For his second try at ambience, [James] ditched beats in general and decided to go into a softer, minimalistic, more easy listening direction, or as I call it, the 'Brian Eno Way.' Unlike Mr. Eno, though, this record isn't so much soothing as it is nail-bitingly creepy. I'll be honest. This is a scary album. Not scary as in jump out and shout 'Boo!' scary, but scary as in slow, mood setting pieces with subtle noises that would frighten you to death if you were out alone instead of at home where it's safe. Basically, this is a soundtrack for a haunted house."

— Sputnikmusic review

Selected Ambient Works Volume II is the second studio album of electronic musician Richard D. James under the alias Aphex Twin, released in 1994. It is the direct sequel to his debut studio album, the influential Selected Ambient Works 85–92.

In contrast to its predecessor, whose tracks were mainly uptempo and beat-driven ambient/acid techno, Volume II is strictly traditional ambient music, relying exclusively on long, textured electronic compositions with minimal use of percussion and vocal samples. James once described the album as being "like standing in a power station on acid," and cited having synesthesia and experiences with lucid dreaming as influences on the album's production.

Curiously, none but a single track on the album ("Blue Calx") were ever given official names. Instead of an ordinary tracklist, James' then-girlfriend Sam took photographs of various everyday objects to be placed in six pie charts, designed to correspond to each track on each of the six vinyl sides, to be read clockwise beginning from the upper right. The different pie-section sizes implied the tracks' respective lengths, and the objects depicted in the photos implied the track names. Greg Eden, a fan of James' music on an electronic mailing list, created unofficial track names based on the pictures that have since grown in popularity to become the de facto "official" names. For the sake of simplicity and recognition, these names will be listed in the tracklist given below.

Although the album is James' only major release not featuring energetic, percussion-heavy rhythms, and initial reception to it from critics was somewhat mixed, Volume II has since been Vindicated by History and received as a classic in the ambient genre. Its tracklist's inventive use of Audience Participation was respected by Pitchfork as "a very early example of a record being anticipated, experienced, and, ultimately, analyzed in minute detail through online communication," and several tracks from the album (including "Rhubarb", "Stone in Focus" and "Lichen") have also gone on to become some of James' most acclaimed songs.

This album was released on vinyl, cassette, and compact disc. The former two formats contain all 25 tracks, while the CD version is missing "Stone in Focus" due to technical constraints. The Sire (US) CD release, for some unknown reason, also omits "Hankie". All digital versions will still omit "Stone in Focus," and all songs are numbered in the order that they appear, rather than featuring the unofficial titles; this includes "Blue Calx", which is now called "#13".

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Tracklist

Sides A-C

Side A

1. "Cliffs" (7:27)
2. "Radiator" (6:34)
3. "Rhubarb" (7:44)
4. "Hankie" (4:39)

Side B

1. "Grass" (8:55)
2. "Mould" (3:31)
3. "Curtains" (8:51)
4. "Blur" (5:08)

Side C

1. "Weathered Stone" (6:54)
2. "Tree" (9:58)
3. "Domino" (7:18)
4. "White Blur 1" (2:43)

Sides D-F

Side D

1. "Blue Calx" (7:20)
2. "Parallel Stripes" (8:00)
3. "Shiny Metal Rods" (5:33)
4. "Grey Stripe" (4:45)
5. "Z Twig" (2:05)

Side E

1. "Windowsill" (7:16)
2. "Stone in Focus" (10:11)
3. "Hexagon" (5:58)
4. "Lichen" (4:15)

Side F

1. "Spots" (7:09)
2. "Tassels" (7:30)
3. "White Blur 2" (11:27)
4. "Matchsticks" (5:41)

Bonus track

1. "th1 [evnslower]" (11:07)

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Shiny Metal Tropes:

• Ambient: Needless to say. Unlike its predecessor, however, this album is much closer in sound and feel to traditional ambient music.
• Broken Record: Many songs consist of one melody repeated, perhaps with some variation later on.
• Chronological Album Title: The second (and final, at least officially) in the Ambient Works series, and named as such.
• Cross-Referenced Titles: These only apply in Fanon, since the tracks don't have official titles.
  • Disc 1 has "Weathered Stone" while Disc 2 has "Stone in Focus".
  • Disc 1's closing track is "White Blur 1," and Disc 2's penultimate track is "White Blur 2."
  • The one track that does have an official title is "Blue Calx". Other Aphex Twin releases have also included "Yellow Calx", Red Calx" and "Green Calx".
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to SAW 85-92.
• Drone of Dread: Many tracks. "Stone in Focus", however, is a rare example that sounds more wistful than dreadful.
• Epic Rocking: Out of 25 total tracks, only six run shorter than 5 minutes. The longest, "White Blur 2", clocks in at 11:27.
• Fade Out: How most songs end.
• Idiosyncratic Song Naming: An Aphex Twin staple, of course, but a method unique to this album; all but one of the track "names" are photographs of objects, linked to specific tracks by pie charts in which the photos are set.
• Miniscule Rocking: In an album full of Epic Rocking, the 2-minute "Z Twig" feels like this, although it's of an adequate and only slightly short length.
• Mood Whiplash: All over the place. The tracks can go from relatively pleasant, such as "Weathered Stone", to decidedly unnerving, such as "Tree".
• New Sound Album: Because most of its tracks are devoid of any percussion, this album is considered a departure from Aphex Twin's usual beat-driven style.
• No Title: None of the tracks have official titles (except "Blue Calx", which isn't named on this album, but on another compilation on which it appears).
  • In some CD editions, it is labeled, however.
• Spoken Word in Music: During several songs:
  • "Mould" contains a repeated sample of what seems to be a child saying "twin" over and over again.
  • "White Blur 1" clearly contains vocal samples, but they are both too sped up and too echoed to be decipherable.
• Tastes Like Purple: James claims to have natural synaesthesia, and that this helped him during the album's production.

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