The publisher of my Aphex Twin book, 33 1/3, an imprint of Bloomsbury, has invited me to write blog posts this week to note the book’s official publication on Thursday, February 13. The [first](http://333sound.com/2014/02/10/aphex-twin-week-the-aphex-twin-book-i-didnt-write/) of these five posts is up today: [“The Aphex Twin Book I Did(n’t) Write.”](http://333sound.com/2014/02/10/aphex-twin-week-the-aphex-twin-book-i-didnt-write/)
These are the first three paragraphs of the piece, about a third of the piece’s total length:
>It is fitting that I wrote a book about “Volume II”of something, because I wrote the book twice.
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>When I proposed writing a book for the 33 1/3 series about _Selected Ambient Works Volume II_, the landmark 1994 album by the British electronic musician Aphex Twin (aka Richard D. James, above), I knew the sort of book that I wanted to publish. I also knew the sort of book that I didn’t want to publish. And because this was to be my first book, and I was very much finding my way in the process, I ended up also writing the book that I didn’t want to write, just to get it out of my head. Doing so probably wasn’t the best use of time in a practical sense, but it proved very satisfying, and even a little useful.
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>The Book I Didn’t Want to Write involved working through the album track by track, each of its 25 individual pieces of music in a row. By mentioning this disinclination of mine, I don’t intend to offend any other authors in this series — or in similar pursuits — who have taken this track-by-track approach. I simply had little interest in taking the opportunity to publish a book with 33 1/3 only to simply guide the listener/reader through the record one song at a time, like a docent on a walking tour of some historic cemetery. That approach didn’t seem true to the ambiguity inherent in this record, with its nearly vocal-less content, all but one of the tracks lacking words for a title (utilizing pictures instead), the whole thing intended as much for deep background playing as for attentive listening. It’s an album to get lost in, not to be be provided a Star Map for.
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Read the full piece at [333sound.com](http://333sound.com/2014/02/10/aphex-twin-week-the-aphex-twin-book-i-didnt-write/).