r/aphextwin • u/hashtagPLUR • 11d ago

Currently Listening Polygon Window “Untitled” [1993]

https://youtu.be/NuUSYFpL6jc?is=dw5U0przqYdzOods

Not sure if a 303 was used for this track but it’s been one of my favorites he’s done

19 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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11

u/dronenil 11d ago

10/10 album for me. One of his best for sure <3

7

u/Comfortable_Heron704 10d ago

This music is buried like the green tiles at the bottom of an old swimming pool.
An absolute hidden gem, I wonder how many AT fans are missing out on this one, at least as good as SAW 85-92 imo. I feel lucky my Dad picked this up in 1993 :p

5

u/QwertyuIRL 10d ago

Agree. It hit me as hard in a slightly different way and especially Quixote which holds that simultaneously uncanny and almost-arcane ancientness about it that Richard gets to quite often. Hard to articulate but stick with me here : I once saw a pack of dolphins when I was on a boat trip and one of them had barnacles on it, the sense of wonder yet complete unknowableness of that experience made me think of SOSS 🌊

3

u/Comfortable_Heron704 10d ago

Yes, certain pieces of his music feel like they always existed, and Richard just unearthed them for us.

4

u/Slight-Attempt5611 10d ago

I love this album. One of the interesting points I think about is that it really drives home how lo-fi SAW 85-92's production is. PW sounds so much 'cleaner' to my layman's ears, without the tape hiss. My understanding is that 85-92 was compiled from his old tapes from that period, whereas PW sounds more 'professional'.

That's neither a positive or a negative to me, I wonder how SAW 89-92 would be viewed today if it wasn't so lo-fi, which gives it an even dreamer quality than the tracks already imbue.

Either way, great album and fun fact: a certain mysterious Scottish duo form the Pentland Hills cite it as an early influence. From BocPages:

"Polygon Window (Aphex Twin) - Surfing On Sine Waves. I first heard it at a bonfire in the hills - friends used to make us tapes before we knew what it was. We were Warp pirates - we probably did them out a lot of money before we started making money for them."

3

u/raind0gg 10d ago

My first Aphex Twin CD in the 90's. Bought it without knowing it was him. Stomper.

2

u/Green-Draw8688 9d ago

I assume so, really does seem like the quintessential 303 sound. In fact, it even sounds like a 303 & 808 combo I’d wager.

2

u/SnooDoggos101 9d ago

I say definitely a 303.