This album came to me when I was mostly listening to metal and alternative rock, a predilection that was slowly starting to melt as my tastes broadened (the consumption of certain substances may have played a role in this too...).
Either way, this album was a turning point for me. Throughout the early to mid-nineties, electronic music was pretty much synonymous with so-called "dance music", which wasn't really my thing back then. However, SAW1 displayed a more experimental and richer side to electronica that I'd previously not been aware of, opening my eyes and ears to a whole new world. 'Selected Ambient Works' was something of a gateway record that lead me to lots of music that would later shape and influence my own creations, and I will always fondly remember it for that reason.
To this day, hearing the opener 'Xtal' (video below) reminds of the first time I heard it: high as fuck, lying on the floor in my friend's flat (he only had one sofa and he was on it), entranced by the beautifully dreamlike soundscape and soft, yet insistent kicks. For those 5 minutes, I was somewhere considerably less mundane and prosaic than my surroundings suggested. Nothing could ever be the same after that. Something new had awoken.
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