Polygon Window, Surfing on Sine Waves
Featured Album
One of precious few perfect electronic music albums
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.
