this always feels like you've stepped out from a rave to grab a smoke and you're just processing the vibes while you can still hear the music from outside
He stepped outside, as he walked away from the club...its music faded and started to blend with something new, he continued walking, found this mysterious door, he opened the door and walked inside, an empty building with music playing....he stayed, and then and there was the rest of this album.
Every time I test a pair of headphones, it's tradition for this song to be the first song to listen to. If this song doesn't sound good, the headphones aren't good.
ive actually been using this song to make crappy speakers and headphones sound good with an equalizer. trying not to have anything too loud or too quiet, like the hi-hats, the kick and bass, and the synth at the start. now my car speakers don't sound to bassy thanks to this song.
I first heard this track xtal when my friend handed me his headphones sitting on the bow of a ferry from Rottnest island to Perth Australia at dusk in 2001. With flat calm water, a warm breeze & the lights of Perth in the distance, this tune takes me back there everytime.
I grew up in the countryside as a child, and whenever there was a snow day and school was cancelled, me and my best friend would take the wheels off our skateboards and use them as snowboards on all the newly formed slopes. I would have Xtal & Pulsewidth playing on my mp3 player as the soundtrack to those snow days, I don't know why but something about those two tracks really suited the snowy landscape. Now whenever I hear these tracks as an adult, I get the strongest sense of nostalgia and those magical snowy childhood memories all come flooding back. I can't thank Aphex Twin enough for creating this music. If you ever happen to read this, Richard - thank you for making my childhood just that extra bit more special :)
I would say it fits because the sound uses mainly plains-soundscapes (like smooth snow) and with a bit of fantasy you can hear the jingly christmas bells in the song which might remind you of generic christmas song bells.
@@birdlawyer6191 in all honesty I can't remember. I'm sure it must have been through RU-vid in the really early days when it first started, but what lead me to landing on an Aphex Twin video will forever be a mystery 😅
its 2019 and you took a trip with 3 friends to small seaside city in Poland called Łeba. after arriving at 10pm you take lsd night pass by Sun starts to rise around 4am you sit at the beach and sky is 100% pink you put this track on everything you see is pink sky, empty beach and local fishmens on their boats starting day on the ocean. nobody speaks. wonderful
Aphex Twin has made such beautiful music that has actually helped me through some tough times and that is super impressive for a sound that rarely EVER has lyrics. When you hear this stuff, you can ACTUALLY FEEL SOMETHING. Richard is a very talented and creative person, I want to meet him one day.
I wish to meet him one day as well. at least got to see him live once :) and I know exactly what u mean about the emotive nature and how its healing music in a weird way at the right times. hope ur doing well
This song is like standing outside in the snow late at night with yellowed lights that only slightly illuminate the area around you but just enough to make you feel safe and cozy
I used to play this on loop whilst sinking off into a K-hole, always felt like I was in a elevator going up to a different dimension lol. This is definitely the music they would play in the elevator up to heaven!
Something about this comment seems so very comfortable and warming to me. I've never done K yet, (yet) but I had a sorta similar experience with MDMA. I crushed a yellow strawberry pill into dust, split it into two lines and snorted one up each nostril. I'm shitting you not mate I kept playing "Will Smiths - Getting Jiggy With It" on loop not remembering I had just played it a couple of times already. You know the bit where the "choir/group" is chanting that "Na-na-na-na-na-na-na" bit? I felt like I was in heaven listening to those voices, I felt like nothing else existed and I was just in a pure euphoric state that I don't think I've ever experienced since. Thank you for reminding me about that wonderful time.
I remember the first time when I heard of Aphex, it was through his grammy win in 2014. At the time, I only listened to electronic music in the form of house and synthpop, and when I heard Syro and the RDJ album, I was turned off on how cold and calculated it sounded. But then I found out about his 2 Selected Ambient Works albums, and that was when I was struck by the wonderment of it all. And it all started with this song.
I feel like I’m walking down an elongated hallway in a hospital while listening to this. I feel like I’m in an empty train station while listening to this. I feel like I’m in heaven while listening to this.
Why? It was the definitive decade for great music. The last, in fact. It was the beginning of the end in reality, but it all felt magical, never ending and enriched the soul. The creativity was everywhere and we can largely thank electronic music for that, and sampling... Sampling played a massive part as it ensured everyone was perpetually looking back, whether they knew it or not. What an era.
This feels like waking up before everyone else to see the overcast and fog suffocating the brick buildings. You percolate a cup of coffee and sit in the darkness, shaking off the dreams of the earliest reach of slumber. You hesitate to turn to screens for stimulation. You soak in the silence.
I used to listen to this alot while skateboarding around deserted Portland Oregon during the pandemic. The track made me forget everything and just enjoy the blue sky and cruising down the street.
I first heard this when a buddy visited me at my new place ,when I first moved out of home, rolled my first spliff to christen the new pad... I lit it, and he pressed play on the CD player... MAGIC
I had myself a wee journey a couple of weeks ago out in a local national park, just me, the milky way, a bunch of pademelons and this track. That memory is going to be with me for a very long time. Thanks RDJ
This song sounds like when you're swimming underwater and paddling your feet on the surface, and it reminds me of this strange place or dream I had when I was younger. Almost felt like the place you are before you're born, just floating in bright blue sky along the clouds.
This is the only song I have listened to for 3 days with no other songs playing. Even though I could swear I’ve never heard it before it transports me back to days when I was happy. I’m not saying I’m not happy now, I’m just saying this song made me happier.
i remember showing this song to a really close friend of mine while we were walking around an empty festival season downtown chicago. the shimmers in the river almost seemed to match up with the twinkly synths and i fell in love with life again
I absolutely love this song, I can listen to it on repeat for days and never get bored. For me this song is my soundtrack for life. As today is my birthday and I'm here listening to this masterpiece to calm me through this rollecoaster of life
Richard really managed to capture the inherent beauty of natural electromagnetism tbh . everything in this track feels like its sparkling, like a crystal
imagina produzir um dos melhores álbuns da história da música tendo apenas 14 anos, instrumentos feitos à mão por ele mesmo, e fitas danificadas. um gênio.
sou adepto a musica eletronica desde os 7 anos. hoje tenho 29 e quando ouvi essa track um mes atras fiquei sem acreditar como eu perdi tanto tempo da minha vida. desde então sou fã desse gênio oculto.
Esse é um dos melhores instrumentais que já escutei! Essa música é de 1992 e eu sou de 2002 mas parece que eu vivi aquela época pq me deu uma nostalgia enorme! Sou muito ligado a música e amei as melodia desse som, tipo um mix de sensações!
Me deixa feliz saber que existem outros brasileiros que partilham do mesmo gosto que o meu. O Aphex Twin é um gênio, sinto que o Richard criava suas músicas com o intuito de gerar emoções, porque cada música que ouço dele me traz uma sensação diferente. E essa, sem sombra de dúvidas, é uma das mais incríveis que ele já produziu, porque pode estar associada a vários sentimentos para quem ouve. De longe um dos melhores artistas eletrônicos que já existiu.
if hope, dreams, expectations, in a positive way were translated into music, so soothing and ethereal, something you can't grasp your head around, yet, it feels so familiar, as it was a feeling, a sound you've always knew. this is xtal for me
such an odd feeling. As if all the difficulties of life are left somewhere behind when listening, you just lie in your bed and talk about life. Nothing worries you.
I love how this whole record feels. Some of the tracks sound half asleep yet half awake. None of the tracks are the same yet they incorporate so well together. I see the whole record as one incredible recording. Xtal is sublime, deeply trippy yet focused. It's wonderful listening to it.
Ok..in 1993 was in Montreal canada..and just was discharged from the army..I went a club called metropolis on st Catherine st..and said to my father this is my new hobby..now it is my new song to my woman that resides in Switzerland..maybe...it has always calmed me down and made me feel alive in my travels and creativity in somexway..thankyou gentleman .It was my final song..after I left the new rave scene in San Francisco 1993..that was the end
Listening to this shit on a night hike with clear skies and good company was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had. The morphine probably helped too.
My first time hearing this track was in also the first time smoking weed with my older bro... 3 years later i still find peace in this piece. My dad even slept to this album once :D
When you hear some really old tracks it shows how loudness wars and the like are a bit silly, depending on the context and how you listen to music. No-one listens to magic like this and picks it apart, it just sounds great.
Im probably going to update this comment for a while I want to articulate what this song invoked in me! A special feeling I felt as a child. Perhaps Spiritual, a feeling of renewal. Remember waking up every day and feeling that excitement of a new day as a child. This is what the song invokes. A nostalgia of childhood.
It was 1993 when I first heard this. On a Tape deck, in a mate’s new place - he’d moved to a farm in Sussex( converted pig sty) .listened whilst stoned looking at the stars on a clear night.
This sounds like walking into a futuristic airport or work place. Water fountains are everywhere, glass windows with the sun beaming through, places where you can sit, booths, and more.
