RECORDS / Rock: Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works '85-92 (Apollo AMB 3922 CD)

Aphex Twin's real name is Richard James. He comes from Cornwall and is only 21 - which makes the earliest of these 'ambient works' extremely precocious efforts. Best known up to now for his speedy singles 'Analog Bubblebath' and 'Didgeridoo', the leisurely pace of most of this material comes as a welcome surprise; as, given house music's ever-accelerating conceptual turnover, does the fact that it sounds so much of a piece. There is a sense of mystery and invention in this music that transcends the hokey techno-classicism of titles like 'Green Calx' and 'Ageisopolis'. Much of it is pure and invigorating enough to be Kraftwerk.