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Avg: 4.0 (108 ratings)
- Date Released: November 1, 1992
- Genre: Electronic
- Style: Dance
- Label: Warp Records
One of precious few perfect electronic music albums
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We Say...
There are very few perfect electronic music albums, but Surfing on Sine Waves, the sole full length from Polygon Window (AKA Aphex Twin, AKA Richard D. James), comes mighty close. Surfing was the first in the short-lived Artificial Intelligence series of artist albums released by Warp, a group of records meant to further the sound put forth by the imprint's compilation of the same name. On it, you can hear a brilliant realization of the AI aesthetic: the most potent tracks are psychedelic, ready to engage the brain as well as your feet.
"Polygon Window" is the first and perhaps most accessible track. It glides along, holding competing melodies in hand with a pounding beat. But while the track is indelible, it's hardly hummable. Most of Surfing works by keeping a careful balance between rhythm and melody, rarely privileging one over the other. "Supremacy II" drops a frenetic gabber-speed beat up against slow-moving, desiccated synths while the haunted acid track "Untitled," pairs moaning neo-classical drones with the snaking synthesizer made popular by Chicago producers in the late '80s.
In fact, the only real issue with Surfing is the sound quality. Aside from the crystal-clear "If It Really Is Me," all of the tracks sound like they've been recorded to cassette, dropped in the water and fished out weeks later. It may have been unintended, of course, but it lends the album the further sense of the otherworldly. Distant, unreachable and a little bit imperfect. -
They Say...
Call it ironic that the Aphex Twin's first U.S. album release was under a pseudonym, but given the many names Mr. James has used over the course of his career, perhaps it's just as well. Regardless of name or intent, on Surfing on Sine Waves he serves up a great collection of abstract electronic/dance madness, caught somewhere between the driftiness of his more ambient works at the time and the rave-minded nuttiness of "Digeridoo." The opening track, "Polygon Window," plants its feet firmly in both camps, with a brisk series of beats playing against the slightly dark, slightly quirky keyboard sounds with which the Twin first made his name. It's a good harbinger for the rest of Surfing on Sine Waves, which satisfies, if not always astonishes, like Aphex does at his best. "Quoth," the single from the album, is a great dancefloor pounder; though not as exultant and slowly building as "Digeridoo," it does makes its point with bluntness and power, consisting nearly solely of drums and percussion samples. "Quino Phec" is the album-ending counterpart; it's a mostly calm composition with only slight drums low in a mix that floats along inoffensively enough. The trademark wiggy humor of the Twin crops up at points as well, with the distorted video game robot voice on "UT1 - Dot" intoning something about "electronic techno music" being one of the more noticeable examples. Surfing on Sine Waves is more a diversion in the end than anything else, not quite Aphex-by-numbers but not one of his great leaps forward either. Newcomers would do better with the Classics and Selected Ambient Works 85-92 compilations first, when it comes to recordings from this time period.
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| 01. |  |
Polygon Window |
5:27 |
|
| 02. | |
Audax Powder |
4:40 |
|
| 03. | |
Quoth |
5:36 |
|
| 04. | |
If It Really Is Me |
7:03 |
|
| 05. | |
Supremacy II |
4:07 |
|
| 06. | |
UT1-Dot |
5:20 |
|
| 07. | |
[Untitled Track] |
6:25 |
|
| 08. | |
Quixote |
6:03 |
|
| 09. | |
Portreath Harbour |
4:44 |
|
| 10. | |
Redruth School |
2:43 |
|
| 11. | |
Quino-Phec |
4:43 |
|
11 Total Tracks, 56:51 Total Length
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Credits
- Polygon Window - Main Performer // Aphex Twin - Synthesizer // Aphex Twin - Main Performer // Richard D. James - Arranger // Richard D. James - Programming // Richard D. James - Recorder // Richard D. James - Producer // Richard D. James - Engineer // Samantha Robinson - Photography
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