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(Surfing on Sine Waves) is an electronic music and early IDM album by Polygon Window, a pseudonym for recording artist Richard D. James, better known by his other alias of Aphex Twin. The album was released January 11th, 1993 on Warp Records, and is the second in their Artificial Intelligence series.
After hearing James's early material as Aphex Twin on Belgium's R&S Records, Warp contacted James and offered him a recording contract and a chance to "show off" his collection of homemade and modified synthesizers. He would later continue to release material on Warp, but under his other alias of Aphex Twin. Interestingly, nowhere on the package does it list Richard D. James as the artist, though it may be obsured by the image of a cliff on the back. An image of him running down a flight of stairs can be found inside the liner notes.
The album is a varied collection of early electronic music, featuring staple instruments such as the Roland TB-303 bass synth on "UT1-dot," TR-808's, TR-909's, Pianos, and other early synthisizers. The song "Quoth," released as a single, supposedly is created out of sounds sampled by James at his job at the time, digging tunnels. The first track, "Polygon Window," was also featured in a rougher form as the first track on the first album in the Artificial Intelligence series, although Richard had been billed as "The Dice Man."
There is a story circulating on the Internet that this album was created and deleted on the same day. Apparently, after the album was mixed and sent out for mastering, James accidently spilled a glass of orange juice on the master tapes, ruining them forever.
The album was re-released in 2000 by Warp to celebrate the opening of Warp's American division (albums by Warp had previously been distributed in America through Sire Records and Nothing Records). The re-release features two previously unreleased tracks that were recorded during the same time this album was created.
Tracklisting
- Polygon Window (5:24)
- Audax Powder (4:36)
- Quoth (5:34)
- If It Really Is Me (7:01)
- Supremacy II (4:04)
- UT1-dot (5:17)
- Untitled (6:24)
- Quixote (6:00)
- Portreath Harbour (4:44), exclusive to the US re-release.
- Redruth School (2:43), exclusive to the US re-release.
- Quino-phec (4:42)
"Quoth" was also released as a single on transparent vinyl and CD with 2 remixes of the track, and 2 exclusive tracks.
- Quoth (5:34)
- Ikita (4:27)
- Quoth (Wooden Thump Mix) (7:52)
- Bike Pump Meets Bucket (5:48)
- Quoth (Hidden Mix) (6:46), not available on the vinyl release.
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