View Larger
Rate it!
Avg: 4.0 (107 ratings)
- Date Released: November 1, 1992
- Genre: Electronic
- Style: Dance
- Label: Warp Records
One of precious few perfect electronic music albums
-
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.
“ The indie iTunes — Hardcore music fans are migrating to eMusic, the iTunes Music Store's cheaper, cooler cousin.”
Rolling Stone
eMusic Tip
Paid downloads are counted towards an album discount but free downloads are not.
COMPLETE FOR FREE!
You can download the rest of the tracks from this album for free! Just click the Complete Album button.
We’re sorry this album can only be downloaded using paid subscription download credits.
We recommend you Save it for Later by clicking the Save for Later button shown just above this message. For a list of related albums you can download right now, check out these recommendations.
We'll give you 11 additional free credits to download this album and start your paid subscription.
Get 11 bonus credits on us if you download this album. Sweet!
| 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
Loading...
Playlists If you like Polygon Window, check out these member playlists
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
Choose from over 7 million
music downloadseMusic features legendary and emerging artists in every genre: classic rock to classical,indie to international, soundtracks to spiritual, jazz to country and many more.
MP3 downloads work on any digital media player
With eMusic, you OWN your music without any restrictions. Burn music to a CD, play it on your computer, mobile phone or any digital media player - including iPod®, Zune® and Walkman®.
Songs available for 50¢ or less
eMusic subscriptions start at just $11.99 a month for 24 downloads - that's just 50¢ per song! And it gets better from there - our plans go as low as 42¢ per song!
Music Discovery
eMusic is about discovery. We make finding new music fun again with music recommendations from our award-winning team of music experts, member playlists and new music features.
Cancel anytime
With all the great music and site features we're pretty sure you will love eMusic. If not, no problem. You can cancel at any time and keep the music you have downloaded.
© 1992 - 2009 All Media Guide, LLC