Selected Ambient Works 85–92 is the debut studio album by Aphex Twin, the pseudonym of British electronic musician Richard D. James. It was released on 9 November 1992 through Apollo Records, a subsidiary of Belgian label R&S Records. The album consists of ambient techno tracks recorded onto cassette reputedly dating as far back as 1985, when James was thirteen to fourteen years old. Upon release it received widespread acclaim. It entered the UK Dance Albums Chart at No.6 on 26December 1992.
In 2012, Selected Ambient Works 85–92 was named the greatest album of the 1990s by Fact. It re-entered the dance chart just after the release of Aphex Twin's 2014 album Syro. James followed up the album in 1994 with the more traditionally ambient Selected Ambient Works Volume II.
Background
James began experimenting with musical instruments, such as his family's piano, at an early age. He subsequently created music using a ZX Spectrum and a sampler, and also began reassembling and modifying his own synthesizers. James said he composed ambient music the following year. In an interview with Q magazine in 2014, James stated that the ambient track "i" emerged from those early recordings. As a teenager James gained a cult following as a DJ at the Shire Horse Inn in St Ives, with Tom Middleton at the Bowgie Inn in Crantock and on the beaches around Cornwall. He studied at Cornwall College from 1988 to 1990 for a National Diploma in engineering. About his studies, he said "music and electronics went hand in hand".
James' first release, under the alias Aphex Twin, was the 1991 12-inch EP Analogue Bubblebath on Mighty Force Records. In 1991, James and Grant Wilson-Claridge founded Rephlex Records to promote "innovation in the dynamics of acid — a much-loved and misunderstood genre of house music forgotten by some and indeed new to others, especially in Britain". He wrote "Digeridoo" to clear up his audience after a rave. Although he moved to London to take an electronics course at Kingston Polytechnic, he admitted to David Toop that his electronics studies were being abandoned as he pursued a career in the techno genre. While performing at clubs and with a small underground following, James went on to release SAW 85–92, which was mostly recorded before he started DJing and consisted of instrumental songs that were mostly beat-oriented. James later stated that the songs on his debut "were just tracks that my mates [selected], ones that they like to chill out to."
Music
Selected Ambient Works was reputedly recorded between 1985 and 1992 (beginning when James was fourteen) using homemade equipment constructed from standard synthesisers, as well as drum machines. The recording's sound quality has been described as poor due to it being recorded onto a cassette damaged by a cat.
AllMusic noted that the album draws from the club rhythms of techno and acid house, but adds melodic elements "of great subtlety, beauty, and atmospheric texture." DJ Mag noted its synthesis of elements from techno, house, hip-hop, hardcore, and ambient, describing the album as a "somnambulist dreamscape that melted heavenly shoe-gaze melodies into slow-burn beats and ice-clear techno, often with a suggestion of menace lurking at the peripheries." Record Collector stated that the album "demonstrated a mysterious, calmer side" of James's music in contrast to his abrasive earlier releases, calling attention to the presence of "unearthly, gorgeous melodies" on much of the album. Barney Hoskyns noted that the album demonstrates a "schizoid mix of sonic assault and melodic melancholia". Rolling Stone described the album as "fusing lush soundscapes with oceanic beats and bass lines." Jon Savage stated that the album "trashed the boundaries between acid, techno, ambient, and psychedelic."
Pitchfork stated that "despite the simplicity of his equipment and approach, the songs here are both interesting and varied, ranging from the dancefloor-friendly beats of 'Pulsewidth' to the industrial clanks and whirs of 'Green Calx.'" DJ Mag noted that the "fuzzy melodies and blurred female vocal" of opening track "Xtal" places the track "in a zone similar to contemporaneous shoegaze artists Seefeel and My Bloody Valentine (albeit with the guitars stripped out)." Geeta Dayal of The Guardian wrote that "Ageispolis" progresses in a "grand, cinematic sweep". Simon Reynolds described its melody as "Satie-esque", upon an "incongruously strident, unrelenting beat". "Tha" features a "murk[y]" beat and "underwater" sound according to Dayal. Slant noted the use of "diffusive synth chords" throughout the album, and called attention to James's "pop sensibility" on tracks such as "Pulsewidth" and "Ptolemy".