The new expanded edition of Aphex Twin’s ‘Selected Ambient Works Volume II’ will be played at a listening party at the Tate Modern later this month.
The event has been announced by Warp Records and will take place from 6pm on October 25 at the gallery’s Blavatnik Building. It will be a free event with no tickets required and will be part of the Tate Modern Lates series.
The album has just received the deluxe reissue treatment from Warp, featuring a fold-out poster, sticker sheet and booklet with artwork development sketches by Paul Nicholson. Each copy is unique and made to order, complete with a hinged oak case and etched copper plate, and was released on October 4. The reissue is also available as a 4-LP set, a 3-DC set and a deluxe 4-LP box set.
One of the new inclusions on the reissue is ‘th1 [evnslower]’, an 11-minute haunting, eerie track that was released for the first time last month, and which you can listen to above.
The record was originally released in March 1994 as a follow-up to his debut album ‘Selected Ambient Works 85–92’. It differed from Aphex Twin’s previous work, with its sound being predominantly beatless, representing the DJ’s shift toward darker ambient music. Upon its release, the album reached the Number 11 spot on the UK Albums Chart.
In other Aphex Twin news, he once again clarified his stance on vaccines earlier this year, after an old note of his resurfaced that seemed to promote conspiracy theories.
A Reddit user came across an ID3 tag apparently written by the electronic musician, real name Richard D. James, in 2014. It read: “vaccines are poisonous, mercury, aluminum can+ autism, cancer”, while also referencing other conspiracies involving 9/11, chemtrails and others.
Responding to the tag, James took to Soundcloud to shed some light on the matter. “Hello, got a few messages regarding some txt I apparently put in an id3 tag,” he began.
“My thoughts on vaccines for what it’s worth is that I’m not against them in principle but you should look at them on a case by case basis, see what’s in them, do your research and decide if it’s right for you or your loved ones, it’s up to the individual whether you have them or not.”
Elsewhere, Aphex Twin released his latest EP ‘Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760’ in July last year, his first new music in five years. The EP’s lead track was later included on NME’s 50 Best Songs of 2023. The EP also spawned its own augmented reality app.
