Surfing on Sine Waves is better than Selected Ambient Works 85-92

I <3 Audax Powder

Could Audax Powder be part of the Calx series? Calx = powder, sorta. No idea what colour audax is. Nvm. lol

Nah, although I prefer Classics to both so what do I know.

I probably like the music on saw85-92 better but the recording and mixing on SOSW sounds a lot crisper and more professional to my ears.

Maybe it was just a stronger mastering job, since it was also recorded on tapes, wasn't it?

Couldn't disagree more. SAW 85-92 is like the sun to me at this point. It's just there. A natural fact of life; any criticism of it is redundant. Someone talking about something else being 'better' might as well say that something is better than the sea. It is illogical.

And so am I.

I'm glad I heard 85-92 before Surfing on Sine Waves.

First being lured in by Xtal then being 1inch death punched and passing out in a blur by Tha and recovering and being fired up again upon the sublime breeze of Heliosphan is something I still remember.

I think Surfing on Sine Waves wallowed in my drawer for a few years before I had the 'lightbulb' moment. But that lightbulb moment was so perfect and brilliant I still remember that too.

If I had to choose one for a desert island disc it would definitely be SOSW. Those albums that always take time too sink in seem to be the best in the long run.

  On 8/14/2015 at 5:48 PM, jchgf said:

I probably like the music on saw85-92 better but the recording and mixing on SOSW sounds a lot crisper and more professional to my ears.

Maybe it was just a stronger mastering job, since it was also recorded on tapes, wasn't it?

It's the orange juice.

Love both & always have done since they were released.

My only one slight niggle with SOSW, is that Quoth (4/4 dancefloor pounder) should have just appeared on the EP, I would tend to skip it these days if listening to the cd. 'Hidden Mix' should have made it to the vinyl ep also.

Could have freed up some room for Iketa / Bike Pump / Redruth School to appear on the lp maybe.

Portreath Harbour should have definitely been on the original album, so woozy lush.

No way.

SAW 85-92 is sublime. SoSW can get a little obnoxious.

sosw is definitely my favourite rdj album and my favourite 90s album as well, as a matter of fact. it could also be my favourite electronic album ever. sometimes i jokingly say to myself that rdj should have released only sosw.

of course, saw85-92 is also epic, just as all rdj albums are, needless to say. i still remember the first time i listened to the polygon window track back in 2005 and how amazing and advanced it sounded to me. and also the untitled track. almost 10 years later and this music sounds even greater. sometimes i like to think about what would it be like if sosw was released at the time when it was recorded (1989). then again, when music is as good as this, it doesn't really matter whether it's released a couple of years before or later.

to me, saw85-92 sounds more like a painting, and sosw like a photograph, and i am not just saying this because of the sosw artwork, but because of the music and the sounds themselves. sosw sounds sharper and more precise, and one could also say that this album is (almost) photographic depiction of rocky cornish coast, cloudy/rainy cornish/uk weather and the sea. artwork really fits the music perfectly.

also one of the reasons why i prefer sosw over saw85-92 is it's dark/depressive mood (although again it's all kind of subjective, but i still think that sosw should be listened to during the cloudy/rainy weather - it just seems to fit perfectly then). dark afx tracks are actually my favourite afx tracks, and i prefer in particular his early to mid-90s tracks. i enjoy the sosw as a whole, but the tracks that I enjoy the most are polygon window, supremacy ii, ut1-dot, untitled and quixote. they make a perfect dark whole. among these five, my two definite favourites are polygon window and untitled. untitled transcends space and time. its intro sound alone is just incredible and perfectly sets the stage for the rest of the track.

in short, sosw is the reason why i like rain.

ok like, whatever floats yer boat man

  On 8/4/2009 at 7:12 AM, ieafs said:

yeah i like it more too, though SAW85-92 has been a slow grower ever since i got it 7 years ago or whatever... my first aphex record and i only really liked xtal and green calx to begin with but slowly now i really like all of it minus the last two songs. so give it a few more years and i'll even like actium probably.

6 years have passed...

what's say thee now?

I absolutely love delphium

  On 8/17/2015 at 11:30 AM, Freak of the week said:

could also say that this album is (almost) photographic depiction of rocky cornish coast, cloudy/rainy cornish/uk weather and the sea. artwork really fits the music perfectly.

 

also one of the reasons why i prefer sosw over saw85-92 is it's dark/depressive mood (although again it's all kind of subjective, but i still think that sosw should be listened to during the cloudy/rainy weather - it just seems to fit perfectly then). dark afx tracks are actually my favourite afx tracks

 

in short, sosw is the reason why i like rain.

Yep, it's darker for sure, dangerous acidic undercurrent riptides waiting just beneath the surface.

SOSW =

SAW 85-92 (apart from Schottkey 7th Path & Hedphelym) =

I value composition above anything else, especially mixing and recording styles, so it doesn't bother me. Mixing doesn't really mean anything at all in music, anyway. If anything, a fancy mix just makes the song sound worse by distracting from what really matters.

  On 8/19/2015 at 10:50 PM, gh0st said:

 

 

Yep, it's darker for sure, dangerous acidic undercurrent riptides waiting just beneath the surface.

 

SOSW =

 

 

SAW 85-92 (apart from Schottkey 7th Path & Hedphelym) =

 

 

perfectly put ghOst

Audax Powder and Ageispolis were created in another dimension. I like both albums.

great visualization, ghOst.

lol I totally forgot about this thread. wtf who necro'd this?

im one of those shitty aphex twin fans who never got into either album that much. I think Surfing on Sine Waves was the first RDJ work I heard that I overtly disliked even after giving it a full listen.

Something about Surfing sounds to me (and i could be 100% wrong about this theory) like RDJ was placed in a studio with high quality recording equipment and multi tracking and told to go at it with his normal kit list but with the help of an engineer. something about the album just sounds jarringly clean and sterile to me compared to virtually everything else he's done. Anyone else get weird sterility from Surfing? In a way it makes sense to make it 'match' with the sound and style of the other Warp releases from the time but something about it just feels off to me. Like Incunabula feels more organic to me as Autechre's Warp debut even though the style is entirely different from what they did later. I think the songs on Surfing on Sine Waves are perfectly fine, if they were recorded a little different with some nasty distortion on some of the drums and stuff like that i think id have a totally different opinoon

Since SAW 85-92 seems like it has the more raw feeling aphex production I definitely prefer it

Stop talking shit lol.

  On 8/19/2015 at 10:50 PM, gh0st said:

 

  On 8/17/2015 at 11:30 AM, Freak of the week said:

could also say that this album is (almost) photographic depiction of rocky cornish coast, cloudy/rainy cornish/uk weather and the sea. artwork really fits the music perfectly.

 

also one of the reasons why i prefer sosw over saw85-92 is it's dark/depressive mood (although again it's all kind of subjective, but i still think that sosw should be listened to during the cloudy/rainy weather - it just seems to fit perfectly then). dark afx tracks are actually my favourite afx tracks

 

in short, sosw is the reason why i like rain.

 

Yep, it's darker for sure, dangerous acidic undercurrent riptides waiting just beneath the surface.

 

SOSW =

 

 

SAW 85-92 (apart from Schottkey 7th Path & Hedphelym) =

 

 

This is accurate.

I personally prefer SOSW though. Just the darkness and mood it holds, despite being rather varied in sound and style, it just resonates with me more. Plus, SAW 85-92 reeks of its era and is a touch dated at moments, as well as running a bit long in the tooth, imo. The last 3 or so tracks on SAW could've been trimmed a bit in each's length, or perhaps one or two of them left off; they just tend to blur together to me, they're so very cut from the same cloth. Nothing wrong with them, but I find myself zoning out and losing interest especially after how strong the first 2/3rds of the album is.

It's his best album behind SAW2. Supremacy II is unbelievable. I've always found it delightfully suspenseful. Too bad he can't make music like this anymore