artist: Aphex Twin country of origin: UK style(s): Ambient techno essential releases: Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (1993, R&S/Warp) Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994, Sire/Warp)

The mischievous, enigmatic Englishman Richard James is the sole author of these two strange, compelling excursions in ambient techno. While his roots lie at the hardcore and industrial end of the dance spectrum - a style to which he has since returned - his popularity among dance boffins was enough to send Selected Ambient Works Volume II into the UK Top Twenty on its release in 1994. On that album particularly, the minimalist ethic of composers like Eno is clearly at work with James cunningly developing his pieces so that subtle changes become like major events (mind you, a few dance critics misunderstood the second album's understatement as some kind of sick joke).  At his most accessible on these releases shows an engaging sense of harmony with billowing, delicate wafts of synthesisers and extremely fragile melodies. At his most challenging, he wraps atonal techno bleeps and burps around muted percussion with such insistent repetition that you'll find yourself either hypnotised or running screaming from the room. But hey, who says ambient has to be relaxing?

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