Although I'm also fond of his more spastic, "drill 'n bass" work, Selected Ambient Works 85-92 is with little doubt my favorite album by Aphex Twin. Listening to this is like going to a different world, and it really puts me into a trance of sorts. As such this is also probably the best album to study/sleep/listen passively to, and that may sound like a bad thing, but ambient music doesn't get much better. I don't care if this isn't true ambient music. The fact that it has beats and is slightly danceable is probably what keeps it interesting. The other thing about this album is that even, though it's over an hour long, it's not at all a taxing listen. Again, I mean that in the best way possible. Choosing highlights is a hard task, but my favorites are probably the opener, Xtal and Ageispolis. The weak points, well there really are none. Is this ambient or electronica? Who cares? It's good music, and should appeal to fans of either genre, though most of them probably heard this long ago.
By: MoeHartman