...I Care Because You Do
…I Care Because You Do | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 24 April 1995 | |||
Recorded | 1990–1994 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 63:49 | |||
Label | Warp | |||
Aphex Twin chronology | ||||
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...I Care Because You Do is the third studio album by electronic musician Richard D. James under the alias Aphex Twin, released on 24 April 1995. The album contains tracks recorded between 1990 and 1994, and marked James's return to a percussive sound following the largely beatless Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994).
On its release, ...I Care Because You Do peaked at number 24 on the UK Albums Chart. It was supported by the single and EP release of the track "Ventolin". The album received positive reviews on its release, with Entertainment Weekly, Spin, and Rolling Stone commending it as a return to form after the previous year's Selected Ambient Works Volume II.
Composition
Each track on ...I Care Because You Do is annotated with a date, revealing that the tracks were created between 1990 and 1994.[6] It was James's final album to be recorded primarily with analog technology, after which he turned to digital production methods.[7]
Rolling Stone stated that the music had "little to do with techno in any of its more popular guises" and was instead more comparable to the avant-garde work of John Cage or Philip Glass, while also noting that the album drew "most strongly from hip-hop. James' trademark is to put rhythm and percussion above all else."[8] AllMusic wrote that James "fuses his earlier hardcore techno days with the smooth rhythm and atmosphere of his ambient work."[9] Exclaim! noted that the album has been described as "occupying a middle-ground between Philip Glass and the Wu-Tang Clan."[10] Spin wrote that the album "showed up trip-hop laziness."[11] Entertainment Weekly wrote that "By adding layers of soft, warm synthesizer chords over skull-grinding electronic percussion, James creates sounds that are simultaneously comforting and scary."[3] Rolling Stone later stated in 2004 that the increasingly active drum backing on the album was inspired by the presence of drum and bass music in the United Kingdom.[6]
Release
...I Care Because You Do was released on 24 April 1995.[12] It was released on vinyl, compact disc and cassette.[12] It charted for two weeks in the United Kingdom peaking at number 24 on the UK Albums Chart.[13] ...I Care Because You Do was re-issued on vinyl by the record label 1972 on 18 September 2012.[14] Warp also re-issued the album in vinyl with a download card on 8 October 2012.[14]
Reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Entertainment Weekly | A−[3] |
The Guardian | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Select | 4/5[17] |
Spin | 8/10[4] |
The Sydney Morning Herald | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Select referred to it as James's best album since Surfing on Sine Waves and his "most coherent one to date".[17] The review stated that James had the ability to "make the avant-garde sound pop" and that he "delivers complex contemporary systems music in the most deliciously simple forms".[17] The Sydney Morning Herald gave a positive review, "As ever, his palette of sound is astonishing, his arrangements effective and deliberate".[18]
Entertainment Weekly praised the album and called it superior to Selected Ambient Works Volume II, writing that it "reintroduces tension, more beats per minute, and sonic grime into his music."[3] The review went on to note that this album "creates sounds that are simultaneously comforting and scary – a fitting metaphor for the contemporary clash of technology and the humans befuddled by it."[3] Spin noted that album was superior to Selected Ambient Works Volume II as it "cut the middle of [techno]'s kitchen-sink aesthetic without sacrificing melody coherence or rhythm".[4] Spin also noted that to hear "truly great" works by James, you would still need to purchase Selected Ambient Works 85–92.[4] Rolling Stone gave the album a rating of four out of five stars, stating that James was "making some of the most engaging and important music of our time."[8] Select later placed the album at 42nd place on their list of the best albums of 1995, referring to the album as "leftfield, sound pop brilliance."[19]
In a retrospective of James' work in The Rolling Stone Album Guide, Sasha Frere-Jones found that the album's newer tracks were its best ones.[6] Justin Boreta from the group The Glitch Mob publicly revisited the album in 2015, praising it for "the juxtaposition between heavy darkness and gentle depth".[20] The A.V. Club described it as "a perfect bridge between James’ implementation of experimental techno and glossy ambient."[21]
Track listing
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Acrid Avid Jam Shred" (1994) | 7:38 |
2. | "The Waxen Pith" (1993) | 4:50 |
3. | "Wax the Nip" (1990) | 4:19 |
4. | "Icct Hedral (edit)" (1994) | 6:07 |
5. | "Ventolin (video version)" (1994) | 4:29 |
6. | "Come On You Slags!" (1990) | 5:45 |
7. | "Start as You Mean to Go On" (1993) | 6:05 |
8. | "Wet Tip Hen Ax" (1994) | 5:17 |
9. | "Mookid" (1994) | 3:51 |
10. | "Alberto Balsalm" (1994) | 5:11 |
11. | "Cow Cud Is a Twin" (1994) | 5:34 |
12. | "Next Heap With" (1993) | 4:43 |
Total length: | 1:03:49[22] |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
13. | "efil pearls ,e,+4" | 5:57 |
14. | "winding road ,e,+4.1" | 3:15 |
15. | "with my family [48k]" | 4:11 |
16. | "consta-lume" | 7:04 |
17. | "merry maidens e,ru,ec +4" | 2:18 |
18. | "no cares [48k ]" | 2:49 |
19. | "consciousness utopia" | 7:18 |
20. | "sekonda e,+2" | 10:44 |
Total length: | 1:47:22 |
Personnel
The album credits only state that "Everything by Richard D. James. Self portrait painted by me. Design help from John."[22]
Charts
Chart (1995) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Albums Chart[13] | 24 |
See also
Notes
- ^ Pollard, Vincent. "Translator". Exclaim!. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ^ "Keep Your Vintage Champagne I'm Buying Synths". Magnetic Mag. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
- ^ a b c d e Browne, David (2 June 1995). "...I Care Because You Do". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
{{cite journal}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d Weisbard, Eric (July 1995). "Aphex Twin: I Care Because You Do". Spin. 11 (4): 74–75. ISSN 0886-3032. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
- ^ Staff. "Album of the Week: Aphex Twin – 'Syro'". Dummy Mag. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
- ^ a b c d Frere-Jones 2004, pp. 21–23.
- ^ Hudson, Alex. "Aphex Twin's '...I Care Because You Do' and 'Richard D. James Album' Get Vinyl Reissues". Exclaim!. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ a b c Prince, David J. (2 February 1998). "I Care Because You Do : Aphex Twin". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- ^ John Bush (18 August 1971). "Aphex Twin | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
- ^ Hudson, Alex. "Aphex Twin's '...I Care Because You Do' and 'Richard D. James Album' Get Vinyl Reissues". Exclaim!. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ Hermes, Will (February 1997). "Aphex Twin: Richard D. James". Spin. 12 (11): 88. ISSN 0886-3032. Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
{{cite journal}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Aphex Twin:...I Care Because You Do". Warp. Archived from the original on 19 October 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- ^ a b "...I Care Because You Do". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- ^ a b Hudson, Alex (25 July 2012). "Aphex Twin's '...I Care Because You Do' and 'Richard D. James Album' Get Vinyl Reissues". Exclaim!. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- ^ Bush, John. "I Care Because You Do – Aphex Twin". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- ^ Smith, Andrew (21 April 1995). "Aphex Twin: I Care Because You Do (Warp)". The Guardian.
- ^ a b c Grundy, Gareth (May 1995). "Aphex Twin: I Care Because You Do". Select (59): 93.
- ^ a b Danielsen, Shane (4 September 1995). "From Chaos To Convention". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 12.
- ^ Grundy, Gareth (January 1996). "Top 50 Albums of the Year". Select: 78–79.
- ^ Bush, Derek. "The Glitch Mob's Justin Boreta Revists Aphex Twin's …I Care Because You Do". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
- ^ Fowle, Kyle. "A beginner's guide to the many sounds of Aphex Twin". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
- ^ a b ...I Care Because You Do (Media notes). Aphex Twin. Warp. 1995. WARP LP 30.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ "Aphex Twin - ...I Care Because You Do. Aphex Twin".
References
- Frere-Jones, Sasha (2004). "Aphex Twin". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
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External links
- ...I Care Because You Do at the Warp Records website