アイロニカルな多様性が全て詰まったエイフェックス・ツイン入門推奨アルバム。

1990年から1994年の間に制作され楽曲をまとめ、1995年にリリースされた＜WARP＞移籍後2枚目となるアルバム。初期のアンビエントやIDM、ハードコア・テクノを踏襲しながら、アシッドやノイズ、"ドリルンベース"とも形容される破綻したビートを搭載するなどエイフェックス・ツイン二面性や多様性を網羅する一枚。強烈なインダストリアル・ダウンテンポが炸裂したシングル「Ventolin」や、「Xtal」と並べて語られる名曲「Alberto Balsalm」を含む全12曲を収録。

180g重量盤、DLコード付き

発売・販売元 提供資料 （2017/06/30）

Rolling Stone (5/4/95, pp.65-68) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...as a truly singular artist working by his own self-generated rules, [Aphex Twin] is making some of the most engaging and important music of our time..." Spin (7/95, pp.74-75) - 8 - Very Good - "...cutting the middle out of [techno]'s kitchen-sink aesthetic without sacrificing melody, coherence or rhythm....The idea of keeping all sounds distinct from each other persists throughout, while the sounds themselves summon wholly different climates..." Entertainment Weekly (6/2/95, pp.54-55) - "...[Richard] James creates sounds that are simultaneously comforting and scary--a fitting metaphor for the contemporary clash of technology and the humans befuddled by it..." - Rating: A- Q (5/95, p.99) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...quite fabulous....point[s] to a future of some distinction for British techno's potential equivalent of an Eno, Nyman or Glass." Alternative Press (8/95, pp.76-78) - "...Much of the album places impossibly complex, spastic beats in your face while morose synth figures of menacing, otherworldly beauty swell in the distance....It's totally alien but infectious all the same--much like the perverse Mr. James himself." Melody Maker (4/22/95, p.33) - "...his difficult third album....I became enthralled by the tiny house piano during `Mookid', the Venusian reggae of `Cud', the wondrous juggling of metal-bashing with jazz-funk in `Alberto Balsam' and the sublime [Philip] Glassian symphony of `Next Heap With'..." Musician (7/95, p.106) - "...Aphex's music is...accessible because of its adherence to conventional ideas of groove and melody. While he spins eerie clouds with minimalist, single-note melodies, it's the grooves that do the work here. The beats shatter-shake..." Q (Magazine) (p.124) - "[H]ere it all came together in an astonishing rush, from 'Icct Hedral''s cinematic orchestration and thumping beats to 'Ventolin''s industrial squeal..."

Rovi