UPDATE: Warp have announced an expanded edition of SAWII, featuring two additional tracks in x4LP vinyl format, double cassette, triple CD and digital as well as a limited edition box set.
Over the weekend, Warp teased fans with posts hinting at an imminent repress of Aphex Twin‘s highly lauded second album ‘Selected Ambient Works Volume II‘.
Originally released in 1994 on triple vinyl LP and double CD, ‘SAWII‘ contains some of Richard D. James’s most famed ambient productions, including tracks ‘Stone In Focus‘ and ‘Blue Calx‘.
Legend has it that Aphex Twin produced SAWII whilst living in a bank in Elephant & Castle, experimenting with sleep deprivation, in order to slip into a lucid dream state, the act of being aware of and controlling your dreams, that would enable him to recreate music he had dreamt. Whether this is true remains a mystery.
The long out of print album was most recently repressed on vinyl format in 2017 by American label 1972, however this edition is considered a bootleg as it was not authorised by Warp and does not feature the tracks ‘Stone In Focus‘ or ‘Hankie‘. It is also said to be mastered from the CD edition of the album.
Regardless, 30 years is an awful long time to wait, whatever the deal Aphex and Warp have made, we are ecstatic to see this masterpiece be reissued. Buy from Inverted Audio Record Store.
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