:::Aphex Twin : I Care Because You Do (Warp WAP30LP)
Richard James follows up the Ventolin EP's with the full length on
Warp Records. In recent times RDJ has come under some serious criticism
for being too wacky, too uncaring, and just too damn strange - even from
those who held him in highest regard. This album goes a long way in
answering a lot of these critics. With such an appropriate title,
you can only wonder if he really is trying to answer your doubts or just
laughing at us all once again. Either way, this one incredibly good record.
Acrid Avid Jamshed (I think the anagram's have been explained already) opens
the album with a sustained Ventolin style tone and some half-speed breakbeats
booming over a nice bassline. As soon as the piano enters, you fall into
it - a really beautiful piece, the kind that has made his name in the past
and will help a few to forget what they consider to be his darker
moments with a trip back to the big booming afx percussion and dreamlike
soft piano melodies. The Waxen Path opens with some nice distorted
hissing highhat percussion over hollow beats and strings. This one's
packed with emotion, the strings really reach out to you and try to pull
you in. Wax The Nip brings a return to the harder beats. Banging drums,
sliding percussion, echoey chords, and the strings stay around to soften
things up a little. Icct Hedral. Wow. This is almost certainly an
orchestral piece from the Glass sessions. Beautiful emotional strings and
woodwind over some fucked up crazy afx phasing and transforming beats. I
would've loved to see this. I'll spare you words on Ventolin (video edit)
as it's fraternal twin and farty counterpart to the salbutamol mix from the
Ventolin doublepack. Come On You Slags opens with a conversation between
a couple of girls pushed through the afx filter and some sharp, fast
punchy beats. This is also the track with the evil "I want sex" sample we've
heard about in the past. Backed by some squirty bleep percussion, this track
really works, even with the bizarre sample. Start As You Mean To Go On
appears to be a remix of the On doublepack using elements of many of the
tracks. Its basically both records melted down together and repressed
into a nice new track. Wet Tip Hen Ax brings a return to the more
emotional side of things with some synth strings and a wet squidgy
analogue squirt. Backed by soft drums and a hissing highhat, it soon
works its way into a more moving piece with a mobile percussive sound and
a terrible whining cry. Mookid continues the downbeat theme with a
chimelike synth and this wonderful droning tone that rises and dips and
really reaches out to you. Alberto Balsam. Alberto Balsam. Albert Balsam.
Remember that name, this track is another highlight for me. A slow
breakbeat and a percussive sound that sounds like its either a wooden table
being pushed across the floor or an iron gate jamming shut, I can't
decide. I might just go with the gate because it also uses some metalic
melody that sounds like someone banging a stick between two metal rods in
the same gate. This track is so beautiful I really don't feel I can
convey it to you. Towards the end we get some steel drum percussion and
more of that wondeful piano melody. Truely magnificent. Cow Cud Is A Twin
begins with what sounds like an open mike on in the studio - someone
shouts, a few clicks, a door slams, and all the time you can hear the track
playing in the background. Suddenly, theres a silence, and you're pulled
right into the middle of it. Sounds to me as if RDJ has had his eyes on
Luke Viberts throbbing pouch (ooer!). Short sharp funky percussion, riding
high hats, and a deep bassline. Finally, Next Head With (how many ways
can you spell Aphex Twin?) brings it all too a close with another
brooding orchestral piece, presumably from the Glass sessions. This is
quite an album - the first thing I want to do when it's finished is to
play it again. And again. And again. It's judgement time.
:: Alan M. Parry
:: fluid@hyperreal.com
:: <finger me for PGP key>
::
http://hyperreal.com/~fluid