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151. STONE IN FOCUS
Artist: Aphex Twin
From: Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2
Label: WARP
Released: 1994
Everything you need to know about Richard D James can be summed up by the fact that perhaps his most beautiful creation, Stone in Focus, was removed from the CD version of SAW 2 due to the time constraints of the format, and as such, was virtually unknown to most listeners until relatively recently. Even today it remains absent from most streaming services, and this inaccessibility has only served to enhance its legendary status.
Like Blue Calx, before it, this is a radically minimal work. Just 3 chords played on something like a church organ, the slow tick of a failing metronome and the quiet chime of a celeste. It seems so simple, so rudimentary even, but there is poetry here that defies notation. Something in the timbral qualities of the tune, all the hiss and reverb and tape noise, the tiny hints of dissonance in the blurred harmonics, the subtle contours of its voicing, its loose, faltering tempo.
As this wonderful analysis of Rhubarb demonstrates there is probably a shit-ton of stuff going on musically here that I will never understand, and I’m not even sure if I would want to, because Stone in Focus is all about emotion. Contentment, exhaustion, acceptance, resignation, sadness, nostalgia, catharsis, love, hope & hopelessness. All of these feelings entangled and distilled and channelled into 10 minutes of sublime grace. It is the relentless march of time, the rage at the dying of the light and the acceptance of the transience of all things. It’s the saddest poem, the longest hug, the gateless gate, the dewdrop world. It is solemnity and austerity, comfort and contentment. It’s the distant sound of children’s laughter carried to a graveside by the wind, the newborn baby asleep on its mother’s breast. It’s the slow ticking of eternity’s clock at the end of all things. It’s the snow monkey in the hot springs…
This may all seem a touch hyperbolic, but I am far from alone in my regard for Stone In Focus, as this selection of remarkable comments from the various YouTube videos of the track demonstrates:
If life was a videogame, this would be its main menu theme
– Чунга Чанга
I can see all of their smiles. I feel the warmth of the sun outside, and the wind blowing across my face. There are birds floating above my head, and an aeroplane soaring in the distance. And I’m sitting at home, watching everything by the window. I haven’t left this house in several days, in fact, I almost never leave anymore. And yet, there’s this hole in my heart that yearns for whatever’s out there.
– Tallon
This piece was carved out of rock a billion years ago. This is what the universe sounds like when you can’t die from time.
– Jamie Mackie
When I was in utero my dad would play aphex twin and place headphones on my mum’s stomach. He used to wake me at dawn and bundle me in his arms as we strolled to the crisp Cornish beach to catch the sunrise listening to ambient works. When I was older he’d wake me up on nights where his insomnia was particularly bad and we’d stroll to the beach arm in arm watching the stars. I came across this as I’m sat in a daze alone in my bedroom. I’m 24 now, just under four years ago I woke to find my dads body after he took his own life. He requested #3 Ambient works as one of the songs for his funeral. I can’t listen to that album anymore without feeling deep turmoil, but this song gives me some will to fight. I feel as if my silhouette is a lightbulb and I could shatter at any moment but even still, there’s something in me willing to find the light.
– Maia Champion
this song makes me think such crazy things. Drifting in space and not being able to die. What would I see. How far would I go? Never being hungry. Never being thirsty. Just floating in space till I hit nothing… crazy things go through my head with this song…
– TheMrboogieman82
This song feels like it’s giving me a hug and telling me everything is going to be okay. So simple, yet so soothing and tranquil. It really is beautiful.
– Thomas N.C.
14 is when I started listening to Aphex Twin and now I’m 32. I’ve never had a close friend who also loved his music. Now I’m a year in with a girlfriend who I showed this and the other tranquil beautiful songs to. We listened to Stone In Focus for the moon rising over the ocean last year and I played Lichen for her the first time I wanted to open up more deeply with her……. and last night was the first time I told her I love her. Just wanted to share that
– Noah Jones
This sounds like all of eternity condensed into a single moment.
– Dan Lidholm
I played this for my father today who is 94… he sat with his eyes closed listening, meditating on it and every two or three minutes saying ‘wow’.
– dardardome
This piece is simultaneously so warm and so cold, so calm and content, or melancholy and aching. We write ourselves onto it. But it’s almost like audible cosmic background radiation. Apathetic to us in a way, existing long before and long after us, Woven into the fabric of all that exists.
– Elliot Nicklin Music
It’s amazing how a piece of music can sound like it is expressing the truth.
– Jesse
I remember last year I was in a really dark place, got left with no one and felt utterly alone. I was waiting for someone or something to hold me back from doing anything stupid and this song came on randomly from a playlist. I layed on my bed looking at the ceiling with my window open and I felt as if maybe I wasn’t alone
– Sophie
Am i dead now?
– Zlatko Igric
I miss you. I miss you every day. And I can’t stop trying to bring back a past that will never show its face again, always drifting further away. Even then it all felt out of reach. To be close, to feel at peace, as alien as the future that has today become all too clear. But when I sit and listen, I can hear you. The ecstasy of running from police, and the incomparable joy when we weren’t caught. The warmth of your body against mine in a summer night’s meadow, pressing against each other while the world watched on in silence. Your hands, like cloth, drying tears before they could meet the ground. To remember you is to be closer to the pace of a universe. To pierce its cruel rhythms and let time wash over me. And so I remember.
– Dtar
The fact this song is nearly impossible to find now is a crime against humanity.
– Xavier
life couldn’t be better rn. I got a job, redeeming myself as a person, have the greatest friends, recovering from past trauma. It really is getting better. thank god, thank this guy for making the calm shit I’ve listened to the past few years to get through everything. this music has been a safe space for years. I love you all, everyone here. I promise it gets better, so much more to live for, never let your past haunt you forever, letting go feels so good sometimes. god bless everyone here
– UpTempoMagica
In my opinion, this is the greatest song ever made, it feels like the finale to all music, the ending of everything, a good ending
– Ethan2214
Listening to this feels like therapy
– yung ronny
i feel safe listening to this and reading everyone’s comments. it’s good to know there are people contemplating the same things i am atm. we are not so different. we all want to feel loved. we want to be seen. idk why i’m writing this comment ig it’s just good to put your feelings out in the world in some form or another. maybe i need to do this more often in order to feel seen. hope you’re doing ok. i truly hope you feel better.
– Tav
I’m crying now, I started listening to aphex twin recently and I don’t regret it, everything it made me feel… it remastered my heart
– @bestculturenadico
Should I save it to “music” or “philosophy”?
– tionick
I’m remembering all the people that walked together with me for a while before finding their own way in life. I’m remembering the places I loved that are now unrecognizable. I’m feeling the immeasurable force of change in all of its beauty and cruelty. I finally found my calling after being hopelessly lost for 27 years and as I’m shaping my life and myself in my image I still mourn for what is lost. It’s so bittersweet, the transience of it all.
– klomppi
Do that thing you’ve always wanted to do with your life. Before it’s too late.
– Hypno Toad
Nice one Rich.
152. FLM
Artist: Jochem Paap
From: Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs 9598 I
Label: Fax +49-69/450464
Released: 1999
It seems strange to invite comparisons to the most beloved and infamous ambient records of the 90’s, but that’s exactly what Jochem Papp did with V[a]r[iou]s-A[m]b[ie]nt-P[ie]c[e]s 95[-]98 and its sequel, both released in 1999 on Pete Namlook’s Fax label. Papp had some pedigree in the area of course, one of techno’s most consistently unpredictable experimentalists, his early albums Ginger and G-Spot both contained several beatless tracks, including the gorgeous ambience of Lanzarote and Grogono, so these records didn’t come totally out of nowhere, but what is surprising is just how good they are.
It may just be the shimmering presence of Eno’s favourite synth, the Yamaha DX-7, on many of the tracks, but there is something of the mysterious mood of On Land here, which is about the highest praise I can give to an ambient record. As for its relationship with Selected Ambient Works II, all I can say is that I searched for a good mix out of Stone In Focus for a quarter of a century and the only thing I have found that came even close to working was the languorous ooze of Flm.
153. DUNWICH BEACH, AUTUMN, 1960
Artist: Brian Eno
From: On Land
Label: Editions EG
Released: 1982
We began with On Land, and as we approach the end, another visit to Eno’s imaginary landscapes seems appropriate. It’s Michael Brook’s beautiful guitar work that impresses here, a weightless gauze of chiming strings that pierce through Eno’s haunting atmospherics and clouds of wet reverb. There’s a feeling of being enclosed by fog and drizzle, of the half light of overcast skies, of quiet waves and mysterious shapes in the mist.
154. SUPERSEDE
Artist: Minced Oath
From: Supersede
Label: Countersunk
Released: 2017
A final appearance from Dunk Murphy, this time with the debut album from his Minced Oath project; Supersede, an ambient electronica odyssey with a sound that sits somewhere between Jochem Papp’s Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs and Autechre’s quieter pieces on SIGN. But that’s not all it is. This record is also a display of virtuoso musicianship, the entire LP being made up of improvised and unedited live recordings – which seems hard to believe given the incredible poise of its title track, its delicate dynamics, its flickering moods, and its luxuriant sheen of intense emotion.
155. SUESS WIE EINE NUSS
Artist: FFWD ▸▸
From: FFWD ▸▸
Label: Inter-Modo
Released: 1994
Ambient’s first supergroup, FFWD ▸▸ was Thomas Fehlmann, Robert Fripp, Kris Weston and Dr. Alex Paterson. The quartet produced only one record, this eponymous debut, and it ranks alongside the KLF’s Chill Out and the Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld in its genre defining impact. The most quintessentially ambient track from the album, Seuss Wie Eine Nus, is all cooing doves and celestial frippertronic swells, blurring together into a gentle chorale of strophic harmony.
156. ORION TRANSFER 5
Artist: Pete Namlook + Tetsu Inoue
From: Shades Of Orion 2
Label: Fax +49-69/450464
Released: 2002
Namlook’s various collaborations with Tetsu Inoue remain some of my favourites of his extensive back catalogue, and Shades of Orion 2 is one of the best of these. A record of undiluted ambience and celestial synth drone. There are supposedly 14 separate tracks on the record, but it’s really best to think of this album as one long piece. A long, gentle drift through blissful amniotic warmth.
157. THE BINDING
Artist: The Arkitekt
From: Deep Ark Field Recordings
Label: None
Released: None
Rain, wind, singing bowls, whirly tubes, voice, recorded at the witching hour in a secret location. Stereo mix of recordings made with Tascam DR-40 + various phones.
158. BLUE ROOM (PT. 1)
159. BLUE ROOM (AMBIENT DEMO AT MARK ANGELOS)
160. BLUE ROOM (EXCERPT 605)
Artist: The Orb
From: Blue Room (12”) / Anthology 2 (CD) / Blue Room/Towers Of Dub (CD)
Label: Big Life / None
Released: 1992 / 1994
The longest single ever to hit the UK charts, resulting in the infamous pisstaking Top of the Pops performance, Blue Room is a sampladelic odyssey that included contributions from Steve Hillage and Jah Wobble during its lengthy gestation. This track probably had more impact than anything that had come before, bringing chill-out to the mainstream and popularising the nebulous ambient house genre.
There exists no fully ambient version of the track, but with a bit of judicious editing it is possible to construct one – with a heavy emphasis on the aquatic Aisha vocal that provides its most memorable hook.
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161. DETROIT PEOPLE MOVER
Artist: Squarepusher
From: Be Up A Hello
Label: WARP
Released: 2020
I had become estranged from Tom Jenkinson down through the years so I nearly missed Be Up A Hello, his first album after a long hiatus and a return to the vintage hardware sound of his youth. Good things were being said about the record, so I checked it out and was delighted to discover Detroit People Mover, a lush ambient oasis hidden amongst the thicket of retro acid breakbeat that overruns the rest of the album.
Jenkinson does have some form in this zone: Iambic 5 poetry, Vacuum Garden and the aforementioned Goodnight Jade are just a few examples of his assorted ambient stylings, but this tune seemed like a new feather in his cap, a sumptuous synth lament that might have been an outtake from Vangelis’ Blade Runner soundtrack.
162. MOOSHY
Artist: Slag Boom Van Loon
From: Slag Boom Van Loon (LP)
Label: Planet Mu
Released: 1998
An exquisite ambient miniature, Mooshy is all celestial choirs, high strings and bittersweet bass tones – a quivering ascension to transcendent rapture. You have to give Paradinas and Papp some credit for that title as well as it captures the tune perfectly, a rare achievement in a genre distinguished by its mostly awful track names.
163. METAZ FORM8
Artist: Autechre
From: SIGN
Label: WARP
Released: 2020
It feels appropriate to take our leave from Autechre with a track from 2020’s SIGN, which along with its sister record PLUS was seen as somewhat of a return to the textures and tones of their earliest work, and is probably the most ambient of their post-millennial output, as Andrew Ryce puts it, the album is: “a distillation of their boundless sound, painting in pearlescent textures, emotional landscapes and gentle rhythms.” And there is something of a 90’s vibe to these records – but without the lucid intensity of that era.
This is an attenuated, reflective ambience, a familiar vista viewed through the lens of experience, like a visit to your childhood home, or a soldier’s return from a distant war zone. A feeling that emanates from the electrified aura of Metaz form8, with its storm of synth drones, its deep chimes of bright melody, its epic forbearance. It sounds eroded, the result of an interminable natural process, of ablation and weathering, accretion and denudation – or like some rare gemstone, formed through the sustained application of decades of intense studio pressure.
164. LUX 1
Artist: Seefeel
From: Starethrough Ep
Label: WARP
Released: 1994
We bid a fond farewell to Mark Clifford and Seefeel via the somnolent quake of Lux 1, a moody ambient abstraction with a melancholy two-note brassy salute, like a defeated bugle call over an empty battlefield.
165. DX SYNTH
Artist: Jochem Paap
From: Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs 9598 II
Label: Fax +49-69/450464
Released: 1999
Papp’s second 90’s compendium has a more traditionally ambient format than Vol I, featuring two longform pieces which sit somewhere between the drift of Eno’s 80s work and the darker vibe of Autechre’s minimal atmospheric tunes – but nestled alongside these meandering adagios is the ethereal DX Synth, a short, soothing delicacy of gently rising synth pads that glows with a diffuse lustre, as if illuminated by some divine force hidden deep within its chords.
166. I
Artist: Aphex Twin
From: Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (LP)
Label: Apollo
Released: 1992
The only truly ambient work on Selected Ambient Works 85-92 and probably the oldest track on the album, reportedly produced in 1985 when James was only 13 or 14 years old; I is just a minute and a half of levitating synth, tape noise and a comforting sense of quiet resolution.
167. Last Legs
Artist: The Arkitekt
From: Deep Ark Field Recordings
Label: None
Released: None
Footsteps, traffic noise, dawn chorus, the long, rewinding road. Recorded with iPhone as the streetlights winked out, sometime in 2012.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Milo, Shane, Ian, DC, Simon, Neil, Eamon, Karl, Dunk, Erik, Matt, Eugene,
The Shed Cru, Emily, Derek, Hyperflake, The Gruagach, Seán, Aaron and all at Broken Sleep
& especially M, J and little L.
