Polygon Window :: Surfing On Sine Waves (Expanded Edition) (Warp)

In the early ’90s, a barely twenty-something Richard D. James was already warping rave culture from the inside out—releasing visionary records across multiple aliases, founding labels, and laying foundations that still rumble through electronic music more than three decades later.

Aphex Twin’s early genius unboxed

The 1990s were an amazing time for electronics. Between 1992 and 1994, Richard. D. James’ output still demands to be heard. In terms of both productivity and quality, the twenty odd year old Aphex Twin was years ahead. He had already signed to Warp and set up Rephlex with Grant Wilson-Claridge, not to mention his releases for R&S and his growing array of aliases. Under monikers like AFX and Caustic Window, the Cornish artist was rewiring machines and music for a burgeoning rave generation.

1992 saw the release of the seminal Selected Ambient Works 85-92, 1994 brought the groundbreaking Selected Ambient Works Vol. II. An album released in 1993 was the crossing point of these atmospheric excursions. Under a short-lived pseudonym, James premiered Polygon Window with an EP and album. Now, more than thirty years later, both Quoth and Surfing On Sine Waves have been collected and remastered for first time.

The eponymous title track is immersive, steeped in the trademark analogue textures and cold currents that permeate the album. Hi-hats drizzle over bending oscillations of melody, percussive rolls pushing a palpable intensity with the physicality of the tape recording adding its own bends and flexes. Darker moods begin to eclipse. “Audax Powder” balances raver paranoia with ambient warmth as rhythmic patterns race. “Quoth” appears in the guise of the straight-up late night warehouse destroyer. Fierce and unrelenting, this beat behemoth is primal. Two parts organic to one part industrial, the inflamed kick is further sharpened by metallic clank and echo. A track that has been igniting floors for thirty plus years.

The single of Quoth is the extra 12” of this expanded pack. The “Wooden Thump Mix” is cut from the same speaker bleeding cloth, hammer and pound resonating in the empty forest. “Iketa” is a completely different animal. Somewhere between a slamming glowstick jam and a haunted soundtrack, this is jittery and break-filled with a spread of ideas swirling. The excellent, and deceptively titled, “Bike Pump Meets Bucket” is the final offering from the original 1993 single. Clean snapping drums support chugging lines, jazzy key flourishes smudged by dubby notes.

Two more pieces accompany this expansion on the 1994 album. “Portreath Harbor” and “Redruth School” fit uncomfortably from an earlier reissue of the CD in the 2006. “Portreath Harbor” is an unsettling piece, staggered snares punctuating an off-kilter carnival style tune. “Redruth School” is minimalist and unnerving, child-like xylophone sounds folding in one another.

This expansion is a welcome addition to the re-issue. It is also welcome that they occupy their own individual vinyl. This allows the original release of Surfing On Sine Waves to be appreciated in its 1993 format, where the track selection richly enhances the album experience and gives both clarity and cohesion.

The moody and unsettling “If It Really Is Me” follows “Quoth.” The ferocity of battering beats is replaced by nervous percussion and fragile piano keys, a class classic sample circling. From this point, the album begins to veer in its own directions. “Supremacy II” speeds, yet the ghostly reverb acts as a brake on galloping rhythms.  An uneasiness takes hold, penetrating the proceedings without ever leaning into the sinister. Instead, there is a suggestion of menace. Distorted squelch is compressed against robotic spoken word in “UT1-Dot,” ambient tones blending with mechanical abstraction.

Polygon Window: Rave future forged ::

“Untitled” is a masterpiece of techno. Simple and superbly executed, a throbbing drum is coiled in squalid acid. This stalking squawk is relentless, bellowing against into the fog of a stark beat in this stripped down, paranoid pounder. “Quixote” is cut from the same cloth as “Supremacy II.” Quick, breathless drums are slowed and spooked by wraith-like pads and spectral shifts. “Quino Phec” leads out. A piece written in the exact same vein as Selected Ambient Works Vol II, this close shows what was to come. Cold, glacial tones are warmed by distant drums, a morning sea breeze gliding over the stones.

There is a question hanging over this re-issue. Why now? Thirty two years after it first appeared, Warp have decided to bring out this expanded edition. Thirty two years; not exactly an anniversary that is celebrated. Whatever the reasons, the triple LP is a joy. The pressing is top quality, as is the reproduction of the sleeve and artwork.

But the true joy is the music. Polygon Window was the beginning of something very special, a career that defined and re-defined electronic music. Surfing on Sine Waves still holds all the magic and mystery it had three decades ago. Brave and brilliant tracks that still carry the same spice and wit that made Aphex Twin the world renowned artist he is.

Surfing On Sine Waves (Expanded Edition) is available on Warp. [Bandcamp | Bleep]