3. Gibbering Madness, courtesy of Richard D. James
Ah, the warped and eldritch delight of “White Blur 2” from Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works. So much nope. The first time I heard this was at some point in college. A well-intentioned film major offered me a pot brownie shortly before a screening of Dog Star Man, which seemed like a great idea at the time. Then, about 45 minutes in, the fabric of reality started to tear apart at the seams. After calmly stating “Nope, fuck this” (with no offense intended to Mr. Brakhage), I bolted from the packed theatre and stumbled back to my dorm room with the intention of sleeping it off. Another friend had recently loaned me a stack of Aphex Twin CDs, and he described this particular record as “soothing” (experimental electronic music majors are sadists!), so I put it on, climbed into bed and conked out, only to bolt awake in mortal terror when the demonic giggling started. And then, as if that were not awful enough, I turned my head to the wall and noticed a very large centipede hanging out next to me. And then that very large centipede decided to take a leisurely stroll across my face. Yep, this actually happened, while I was high as balls, with “White Blur 2” for a soundtrack. Nope, I still can’t listen to the song in its entirety. (Although, thankfully, I eventually got over my edible phobia.)
