The Aphex Twin Top 200: 180-161

180. AFX: Sloth (1994)

The name says it all, really. If Elephant and Gibbon are blazing along in the fast lane, this track is rattling by in fourth, waiting to take the turn off to the service station. Listen.

179. Aphex Twin: Jynweythek (2001)

The piece that, a decade ago, introduced us to the new, grown-up world of Richard David James. After the sonic battering ram approach of the Digeridoo era, Cage-esque numbers on the prepared piano were not the most obvious career choice. But while the Drukqs album now seems to have been little more than an experiment, it did generate some enjoyable music. Listen.

178. Caustic Window: Cunt (1994)

In retrospect, the Trance Europe Express 3 compilation was one of the best of its kind in the 1990s. Delicate, nuanced music from Link, U Ziq and Mouse on Mars alongside beautiful career high-points from people like Kinaesthesia and Ultramarine. Which made this shrill, squelchy Caustic Window number stand out like a sore thumb. Listen.

177. GAK: GAK 4 (1994)

The GAK release would probably never have made its way into the public domain if it hadn't been an RDJ release. Reputedly sent in to Warp by James under a pseudonym, it's daft at best, dull at worst - but the last track redeems everything. Listen.

176. Aphex Twin: Grey Stripe (1994)

On Aphex's most haunting record, this piece still manages to chill. Probably as avant garde as James ever got.

175. Bradley Strider: Bradley's Beat Part Two (1995)

It's hard to imagine that the same person who pulled Selected Ambient Works II together from the sound of his own dreams also made this - a four to the floor stomper that might not sound of place on an Underground Resistance EP. Listen.

174. Aphex Twin: Btoum-Roumada (2001)

Drukqs should really be split up into three or four different albums. There are prepared piano pieces, hyped-up drill 'n' bass tracks, instrumental compositions and then more familiar ambient efforts. This is one of the latter - although it has more emotion than the brilliantly cold and empty ambience of SAW 2. Listen.

173. Mescalinum United: We Have Arrived (Aphex Twin TTQ mix) (1991)

Another devastating remix of the We Have Arrived record. Listen.

172. Aphex Twin: 2KThr (2001)

In under a minute-and-a-half, James poetically manages to run amok with the accordian. Who would have guessed this was the same man who made Come On You Slags? Listen.

171. Aphex Twin: Flim (1997)

Precious ambient washes that sound a little like a leftover from one of the earlier records. Certainly seems out of place on the manically playful Come to Daddy EP, but sweetly enthralling all the same. Listen.

170. Q Chastic: CAT 002 (1992)

One of two tracks James wrote for the super-rare Philosophy of Sound and Machine compilation. Most AFX fans will only know this through the internet - me included - but the material is a little unlike much of his other music from the period. It compares in mood with the later pieces on Selected Ambient Works. Listen.

169. Aphex Twin: Melodies From Mars, track 5 (1995)

The last of the Melodies From Mars numbers to make this list, and by default I suppose in my view the best. All of the tracks on the album suffer from weak middle sections, but this one least of all. Listen.

168. Aphex Twin: En Trance To Exit (1991)

One of the very first pieces of music James ever released, and the only one he produced with Global Communication maestro Tom Middleton (reputedly the other "twin"). This has dated far more than his other early work - probably because it is tied far too closely with the rave sound of its time - but the zany humour and warp speed breakbeats mean it still packs a punch. Listen.

167. Beck: Richard's Hairpiece (remix by Aphex Twin) (1996)

Beck's Devil's Haircut gets the Aphex treatment - and one of James' oddest, most distinctive remixes emerges. A failure in parts - the vocals don't work - but an excellent precursor to the Richard D. James album in others. Listen.

166. Aphex Twin: Beskhu3epnm (2001)

Probably the most successful of the percussive pieces on Drukqs, this seems to take the raw ingredients of a John Cage composition and turn them into a slightly doleful Aphex boogy. Listen.

165. AFX: 942937 (1993)

One of the more light, pleasant, straight-forward pieces on Analogue Bubblebath 3, this has a little of the feel of a Ken Ishii record. Listen.

164. Aphex Twin: Taking Control (2001)

Another of the refined drill 'n' bass tunes that make up Drukqs, this occasionally rather slapdash piece gains momentum as it goes along and, like many of the Drukqs numbers, is painstakingly well-structured. Listen.

163. Aphex Twin: Metapharstic (1992)

Genuinely harrowing early Aphex. Listen.

162. Mike & Rich: Mr Frosty (1996)

The chirpy opening number from the Mike & Rich collaboration, this very much has the feel of a Mike Paradinas track all the way through. Indeed, the whole album sounds like one of his Jake Slazenger LPs. Maybe Aphex was busy getting the drinks in. Listen.

161. AFX: W32.Mydoom.AU@mm (2005)

Wobbly acid techno, Aphex style. Relentless and disturbing. Listen.