~music Listening Club 25 - 1992
On the second week of the new format, we're going to try out themes based on periods of time, this time being the year of 1992. Themes, both years like this one or whatever else you think would work well for the listening club, can be suggested in this thread or if you join the unofficial Tildes Discord server in the #listening-club channel.
Essential Album: Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 - Listen!
While a lot of excellent and long-lasting work was released in 1992, Selected Ambient Works 85-92 stands out as one of the most influential and has stood the test of time as well as any of them. As much as everyone hates the label of "Intelligent Dance Music" (IDM), there's no doubt that SAW is one of the cornerstone records of that genre that has an impact in the world of music at large that can't be ignored.
Selected Ambient Works 85–92 is the debut studio album by the English electronic musician Richard D. James under the pseudonym of Aphex Twin, released as a very limited import in late November 1992 by Apollo Records, an imprint of the more prominent label R&S Records, and later widely in February 1993. The 1992 LP was James' third release overall, and collected tracks dating back as early as 1985. An analogue remaster was released in 2006, and a digital remaster in 2008.
Selected Ambient Works 85–92 received widespread acclaim and has been characterised as a landmark of electronica, ambient music, and IDM. It was followed by Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994). On the week ending 27 September 2014, the album entered at #30 in the UK Dance Albums Chart after the release of his 2014 album Syro.
Widely regarded by critics as one of the pioneering works in early IDM and modern electronic music, retrospective reviews mention its influence on electronic artists. Warp Records refers to it as "the birthplace and the benchmark of modern electronic music" and has stated that "every home should have a copy." In 2003, the album was placed #92 in "NME's 100 Best Albums" poll. Nine years later, it was named the greatest album of the 1990s by FACT Magazine. The album was also featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Minor Album: Divine Styler - Spiral Walls Containing Autumns of Light - Listen!
This is a strange one, possibly the strangest hip hop album released as of 1992. It's so disjointed and all over the place that instead of describing it myself, I'll steal the descriptors from RateYourMusic: "Islamic, psychedelic, anxious, cryptic, conscious, abstract, introspective, surreal, eclectic, male vocals, avant-garde, noisy, spiritual."
Spiral Walls Containing Autumns of Light is the second album by hip hop artist Divine Styler, released in 1992 on Giant Records. This album marked a significant change in Divine Styler's musical direction, incorporating a much broader range of styles and influences than 1989's Word Power. Despite the album's unusual style, it was actually released by a major label but, perhaps inevitably, failed to sell as well as record executives expected. Although the album was largely regarded as a commercial failure, it has since developed a large cult following. Styler was signed to Giant because of Ice-T’s relationship with Warner Bros. Records.
The album is notoriously experimental—Allmusic referred to the album as being like '"The Residents meets Funkadelic"—and takes influence from a wide variety of music genres such as hip hop, rock, electronic, funk and even elements of spoken word and noise.
The majority of the album was produced and arranged by Divine Styler himself, which included him performing and processing all of the vocals, playing the guitar, drums (and drum programming), and keyboards, among other instruments. Due to the artist's dominance over the album's direction, it is generally regarded as a very introspective and personal album.
Here's the place to discuss your thoughts on the records, your history with them, the artists, or music in 1992 in general and basically talk about whatever you want to that goes along with Selected Ambient Works 85-92 and Spiral Walls Containing Autumns of Light! Remember that this is intended to be a slow moving thing, feel free to take your time and comment at any point in the week!
Again, if you'd like to stream or buy the albums, they can be found on most platforms here (Selected Ambient Works 85-92) and here (Spiral Walls Containing Autumns of Light).
I took this opportunity to give SAW 85-92 another go around and I found that I enjoyed it a bit more than I did before. I don't know, my relationship with Aphex Twin work is very shaky depending on the album. I've never really been a huge fan of works like drukqs or SAW II, but RDJ Album has gone back and forth from being mind-blowing to really really annoying to me, and SAW 85-92 feels like it's been slow-creeping into the things I enjoy for a very long time. I used to not even really care about Xtal or We Are the Music Makers or any of the other fan favorites on this, but I think recently something changed and I've started to at least think most of the material on it is pleasant rather than something I put on and then forget that is on. Stuff like Xtal, We Are the Music Makers, Green Calx, Delphium, and a couple of others have managed to finally worm their way into my head and make me go "Hey, that's actually really cool and I think that I can appreciate this a bit more now." I wouldn't say that I think it's one of the most amazing things I've ever heard but I think I can start saying I get why some people give it that praise.
I didn't, unfortunately. I absolutely love AFX/Aphex Twin but I much prefer his latter glitch/experimental works. The only two tracks from SAW 85-92 I somewhat enjoy are Ageispolis (although I think Die Antwoord took the sample and made it forever theirs in my mind) and Heliosphan, which has hints of his "better" stuff in it.
And by "better" I mean pretty much everything he has ever done since SAW 85-92 and SAW Vol II. Come to Daddy is absolute genius, as is Drukqs, as is Analord 1-11, as is Korg Trax+Tunings for falling asleep, etc. etc. etc. The Analogue Bubblebath volumes are a bit hit or miss with me, but I still overall much prefer most of those tracks to anything on the SAWs.
p.s. I have absolutely no idea what to make of Divine Styler - Spiral Walls Containing Autumns of Light. It was so fucking bizarre... but I kinda loved it. :P Once I get a chance to listen to it again in full so I can properly sort my thoughts out about it, I will write a comment specifically on it. But I highly recommend people give it a listen since it's truly something unique.
Okay, so I finally had a chance to listen to Divine Styler - Spiral Walls Containing Autumns of Light again... and on second listen actually appreciated it even more than the first time. It's a really goddamn bizarre album and thoroughly experimental but it somehow managed to feel like it wasn't that way "just for the sake of it" like so many experimental albums do, and instead comes across as much more thoughtfully composed than most. It's still undeniably "out there", all over the place tonally, compositionally and even pacing/genre-wise (e.g. the strangely relaxed folk/psychedelic rock track, Width In My Depth), but there is a genuine hint of genius to it all.
It also managed to fall into the ultra-rare category of albums that were actually able to significantly affect my mental state while listening to them. It's truly hypnotic and at times honestly made me feel like I was tripping on something, particularly during Love, Lies and Lifetime's Cries, which is also probably my favorite track on the album.
I have no idea how this ever managed to get published by a major label but I'm sure glad it was, because I love it. What a remarkably strange, truly unique and surprisingly delightful album.