Extravagantly opaque; willfully vaporous - Aphex Twins Selected Ambient Works Volume II; released by the estimable British label Warp Records in 1994; rejuvenated ambient music for the Internet Age that was just dawning. In the United States; it was Richard D. Jamess first full length on Sire Records (home to Madonna and Depeche Mode) under the moniker Aphex Twin; Sire helped usher him in as a major force in music; electronic or otherwise.Faithful to Brian Enos definition of ambient music; Selected Ambient Works Volume II was intentionally functional: it furnished chill out rooms; the sanctuaries amid intense raves. Choreographers and film directors began to employ it to their own ends; and in the intervening decades this background music came to the fore; adapted by classical composers who reverse-engineered its fragile textures for performance on acoustic instruments. Simultaneously; "ambientrdquo; has moved from esoteric sound art to central tenet of online culture. This book contends that despite a reputation for being beatless; the album exudes percussive curiosity; providing a sonic metaphor for our technologically mediated era of countless synchronized nanosecond metronomes.
#1548517 in eBooks 2014-01-10 2014-01-10File Name: B00I9HQ4KG
Review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. InvaluableBy GutviolinistI absolutely love this book. It is packed with revealing observations and insights into the works and their creation; and has been indespensable to me as performer and occasional writer. I also must give a shout-out to the Kindle edition; which includes all of the musical examples. Other books about music on Kindle either do not include the examples; which is infuriating and renders them practically useless; or are insanely expensive. (Or both!) So I didnt LOVE paying $15; but it is worth it to have this book everywhere I go. :)*The Kindle edition also has an index; but it gives page numbers; which are of course pretty irrelevant without the physical book. I should probably reduce my rating to 4 stars because of this but I cant bring myself to.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. I generally do not enjoy books where I mostly find description of what can ...By StepanI was not so excited about this book. I generally do not enjoy books where I mostly find description of what can be found in the score. For a player it is basically useless. For teoretician it is way too brief and superficial. The whole introduction about the string quartets evolution is quite interesting though.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Thanks!!By dnguyen437Im learning from this right now thanks!! It is in-depth and perfect for my class.
