Selected Ambient Works 85–92 is the debut studio album by the British electronic music artist and producer Richard D. James under the alias of Aphex Twin.

[1] Selected Ambient Works 85–92 has appeared on best-of lists; in 2012 the UK magazine Fact named it the greatest album of the 1990s.

Richard D. James, better known as Aphex Twin, began experimenting with musical instruments, such as his family's piano, at an early age.

[1] According to James, Selected Ambient Works was recorded between 1985 and 1992, beginning when he was fourteen,[7] using homemade equipment constructed from synthesisers[8] and drum machines.

[8] According to AllMusic's Anthony Tognazzini, the album draws from the club rhythms of techno and acid house, but adds melodic elements "of great subtlety, beauty, and atmospheric texture".

[16] He likened the "fuzzy melodies and blurred female vocal" of the opening track, "Xtal", to the shoegaze artists Seefeel and My Bloody Valentine.

[18] Rolling Stone's Pat Blashill said the album combined "lush soundscapes with oceanic beats and bass lines".

[19] David M. Pecoraro of Pitchfork wrote: "Despite the simplicity of his equipment and approach, the songs here are both interesting and varied, ranging from the dancefloor-friendly beats of 'Pulsewidth' to the industrial clanks and whirs of 'Green Calx'.

[20] Writing for Slant Magazine, Sal Cinquemani noted the use of "diffusive synth chords" throughout, and the "pop sensibility" on tracks such as "Pulsewidth" and "Ptolemy".

The album sleeve displays the Aphex Twin symbol, which was designed by Paul Nicholson, who was also a stage dancer at several of James's live gigs around this period.

I was also astute enough to buy the rights off him, with my last pounds, I was still a student, as I knew it would be very important to me and I also didn't want any arguments down the road.Selected Ambient Works 85‍–‍92 received acclaim and almost immediately acquired a "huge underground reputation".

[39][19] Andrew Smith, reviewing the album for Melody Maker, wrote: "Not since Kraftwerk has an artist understood texture in this way, made electronic music sound so organic and resonant, so full of life.

[25] The author and critic Simon Reynolds, writing in Melody Maker at the end of 1993, called it "the most sheerly beautiful album of '93 [and] also the most significant", and said it "gave credibility to the then emergent genre of ambient techno" and "singlehandedly won over many indie fans who hadn't really listened to much techno, thus encouraging them to seek out more".

[12] It has been described as a defining electronica and ambient record[8] that showcased electronic music as a work of "nuance and ambition" that took advantage of the LP format.

[7] David M. Pecoraro of Pitchfork described "the creeping basslines, the constantly mutating drum patterns, the synth tones which moved with all the grace and fluidity of a professional dancer"; he described the album as "among the most interesting music ever created with a keyboard and a computer" despite its "primitive origins".

The editor, John Robinson, highlighted its "succinct, mysterious ambiences" and "soft and oddly nostalgic tunes", adding: "If this collected Richard James's past, it suggests everyone else's future.