Disquiet

I am going to do this track-by-track countdown to the release, on February 13, 2014, the day prior to Valentine’s Day, of my book in the estimable 33 1/3 series. It is a love letter to Aphex Twin’s album Selected Ambient Works Volume II, which will mark its 20th anniversary this year, less than a month after my book’s publication. More on my Aphex Twin book at [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/Aphex-Twins-Selected-Ambient-Volume/dp/1623568900/) and [Bloomsbury.com](http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/aphex-twins-selected-ambient-works-volume-ii-9781623567637/). The plan is to do this countdown in the reverse order, from last track to first. For reference, [an early draft of the introduction is online](https://disquiet.com/2012/08/31/saw2for33third/), as is [the book’s seven-chapter table of contents](https://disquiet.com/2013/11/14/aphex-twin-chapter-titles/). The book’s publisher posted [an interview with me](http://333sound.com/2012/12/04/the-33-13-author-qa-marc-weidenbaum/) when I was midway through the writing process.

*There is some irony to doing this countdown since the book is already shipping to folks who pre-ordered it via an online retailer such as [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Aphex-Twins-Selected-Ambient-Volume/dp/1623568900/), but the official date stands, and that’s the target — the end date — of this countdown, February 13. And for what it’s worth, while the physical copies are mailing now from retailers, the Kindle version won’t turn on until February 13. Still, the digital version costs less.*

*As I’ve noted on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/disquiet/status/427970434294751232), this track-a-day approach is exactly the opposite of the book’s approach, which is a collection of interrelated, reporting-based essays.*

*I am enjoying seeing the book pop up in people’s Twitter and Instagram feeds:*

The beauty of this track comes down to one single note. When the track starts, the short melodic phrase that defines it is two notes, the second of them held, followed by three notes. At some point along the way, this becomes three notes followed by three notes. From a compositional standpoint, that is the only change in the song. Everything else is sound design.

There is no track on which I did more research that didn’t end up in the book than this one. In addition to the extensive description of and rumination on this beautiful, simple piece of music in the book, I conducted two detailed interviews I did with two different guitar players who separately transcribed the work for solo guitar and uploaded their versions, one of which you can hear here:

Here is a remix by Wisp, whom I talk about in the book:

And here it is reversed:

More on my Aphex Twin _Selected Ambient Works Volume II_ book at [amazon.com](www.amazon.com/Aphex-Twins-Selected-Ambient-Volume/dp/1623568900/) and [Bloomsbury.com](http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/aphex-twins-selected-ambient-works-volume-ii-9781623567637/).

Thanks to boondesign.com for the sequential grid treatment of the album cover.

I am going to do this track-by-track countdown to the release, on February 13, 2014, the day prior to Valentine’s Day, of my book in the estimable 33 1/3 series. It is a love letter to Aphex Twin’s album Selected Ambient Works Volume II, which will mark its 20th anniversary this year, less than a month after my book’s publication. More on my Aphex Twin book at [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/Aphex-Twins-Selected-Ambient-Volume/dp/1623568900/) and [Bloomsbury.com](http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/aphex-twins-selected-ambient-works-volume-ii-9781623567637/). The plan is to do this countdown in the reverse order, from last track to first. For reference, [an early draft of the introduction is online](https://disquiet.com/2012/08/31/saw2for33third/), as is [the book’s seven-chapter table of contents](https://disquiet.com/2013/11/14/aphex-twin-chapter-titles/). The book’s publisher posted [an interview with me](http://333sound.com/2012/12/04/the-33-13-author-qa-marc-weidenbaum/) when I was midway through the writing process.

*There is some irony to doing this countdown since the book is already shipping to folks who pre-ordered it via an online retailer such as [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Aphex-Twins-Selected-Ambient-Volume/dp/1623568900/), but the official date stands, and that’s the target — the end date — of this countdown, February 13. And for what it’s worth, while the physical copies are mailing now from retailers, the Kindle version won’t turn on until February 13. Still, the digital version costs less.*

*As I’ve noted on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/disquiet/status/427970434294751232), this track-a-day approach is exactly the opposite of the book’s approach, which is a collection of interrelated, reporting-based essays.*

*I am enjoying seeing the book pop up in people’s Twitter and Instagram feeds:*

Nice, Selected Ambient Works volume II by Marc Weidenbaum came in #disquiet @disquiet pic.twitter.com/7CEEdLHOcu

— Michel Banabila (@Banabila) February 10, 2014

Half-way through Marc Weidenbaum's book on Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Work Volume 2 which arrived Friday. pic.twitter.com/fMj5kCKyGg

— Larry Johnson (@LAJ1953) February 10, 2014

And Mark Rushton, of Iowa City, managed to get his library to purchase a copy. He posted more images on his [website](http://markrushton.com/selected-ambient-works-volume-ii-marc-weidenbaum/):

The second most rare of the two rare tracks on the album, “Hankie” is one of the pieces that truly sounds like the sound design of an interstellar horror movie, and that’s on a record where just about everything could serve such a purpose. What would be more difficult to attribute to it is ease, which much of the record is often associated with, despite the darker underpinning.

It opens with a blood-in-the-ear swell, and proceeds to play host to these shimmery motifs, synthesized violins that seek the common ground between dramatic score and sound effect. The pace of that string section is, shortly after the mid-point, considerably quicker than the underlying pulse, and the whole thing can get stomach-churning at the correct volume.

This is the track that is on copies of the record with 24 but not 25 songs (the other rare piece being “Stone in Focus”).

And here it is reversed:

More on my Aphex Twin _Selected Ambient Works Volume II_ book at [amazon.com](www.amazon.com/Aphex-Twins-Selected-Ambient-Volume/dp/1623568900/) and [Bloomsbury.com](http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/aphex-twins-selected-ambient-works-volume-ii-9781623567637/).

Thanks to boondesign.com for the sequential grid treatment of the album cover.

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.
>
>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.
>
>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.
>
> …

Read the full piece at [333sound.com](http://333sound.com/2014/02/10/aphex-twin-week-the-aphex-twin-book-i-didnt-write/).

**Updated 2014.02.17:** If you’re reading this web page, it’s likely because you read the very last sentence on the very last page of my book in the 33 1/3 series, Selected Ambient Works Volume II, about the 1994 album of that name by Aphex Twin. On that page I provided the URL disquiet.com/saw2for33third for future “Annotations and supplements to this book.” That URL will stand as a repository of the main secondary materials related to the book. Below are essential such posts. A full, list of posts that relate to the book can be accessed via this site’s [#saw2for33third](https://disquiet.com/tag/saw2for33third/) tag.

**Where to Get the Book:** You could always order it through (or locate it at) your local bookstore, for example those (such as [City Lights in San Francisco](http://www.citylights.com/info/?fa=event&event_id=2009) and [Powell’s in Portland](http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9781623568900-0)) that are graciously hosting me reading from it. The book is available to purchase at [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/Aphex-Twins-Selected-Ambient-Volume/dp/1623568900) (paperback and Kindle-digital), the [Google Play store](https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Marc_Weidenbaum_Aphex_Twin_s_Selected_Ambient_Work?id=VHSnAgAAQBAJ) (digital), and [bloomsbury.com](http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/aphex-twins-selected-ambient-works-volume-ii-9781623568900/) (paperback, epub, PDF).

**Social Reading:** Also, there’s a [goodreads.com](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17933882-aphex-twin-s-selected-ambient-works-volume-ii) page and a [librarything.com](http://www.librarything.com/work/14724126) page, and it’s at [Google Books](http://books.google.com/books?id=f-WnAgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA77&ots=uFSM8jO4NJ&dq=%22Selected%20ambient%20works%22%20itunes&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false), which contains the full first chapter.

**Errata:** And, yes, I know about the typo (a single letter, but an important one) on page 4. One good thing about having lots of friends who’ve published books is their experience. Said one in commiseration, when informed of this error, “That’s how you know it’s a real book.”

**The Essential Related Disquiet.com Posts:**

**[Aphex Twin Interview (1996)](https://disquiet.com/1997/04/15/eponymous-rex/)**
The full text of my 1996 interview with Aphex Twin, published in early 1997

**[Track by Track](https://disquiet.com/2014/02/17/track-by-track-aphex-twins-selected-ambient-works-volume-ii/)**
Index of full audio and brief analysis of all 25 songs on *Selected Ambient Works Volume II*

**[SAW2 for 33 1/3](https://disquiet.com/2012/08/31/saw2for33third/)**
This is the post in which I announced the book project after signing my contract with my publisher.

**[March 20 Talk/Concert at City Lights](https://disquiet.com/2014/01/14/aphex-twin-33-13-march-20-city-lights/)**
Announcement of me reading in San Francisco, with help from musician friends

**[Q&A at the 33 1/3 Blog](https://disquiet.com/2012/12/23/33-13-aphex-twin-interview/)**
I was interviewed by my publisher when the book was still being written.

**[Aphex Twin SAW2 Countdown: Track 25 (“Matchsticks”)](https://disquiet.com/2014/01/20/aphex-twin-saw2-countdown-track-25-matchsticks/)**
The first in a daily series of track analysis, leading up to the February 13, 2014, release of the book. When the full 25 are done I’ll do a post linking to all of them.

**[Cornish for Jungle](https://disquiet.com/1997/04/20/cornish-for-jungle/)**
Full transcript of my mid-1990s interview with Aphex Twin’s fellow Cornwall native Luke Vibert (aka Wagon Christ, aka Plug)