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Enjoy!
WAP30CD
:::: Aphex Twin
:::: I Care Because You Do
:::: 24/4/95
:::: 2LP CD MC
01 Acrid Avid Jamshred
02 The Waxen Pith
03 Wax The Nip
04 Icct Hedral
05 Ventolin (Video Edit)
06 Come On You Slags
07 Start As You Mean To Go On
08 Wet Tip Hen Ax
09 Mookid
10 Alberto Balsam
11 Cow Cud Is A Twin
12 Next Heap With
:::: Thought it was about time I reviewed this. Been going through a bit
of a good music overload at the moment (Theory Of Evolution, Succour, At
Atmos etc). This was the CD that started it all off. What we have here
(no messin') is the return to popular form of the Aphex Twin. Some might
argue he never lost his way (I'd be one of them). SAWII marked for me the
point of his rise to the throne of techno geniusdom. For others it was
hours of boring droning. But it was an album that just had to be done,
and if nothing else you have to admit it takes balls to release a triple
LP with no track listing and no beats at a crucial point in your career.
(Especially onto the U.S. market...). Whatever the merits of SAWII, GAK
was a good solid thumping dark bassy thing, perfectly suited as WARP's
fifth year anniversary release, if not to the anonymity that this
pseudonym provided.
:::: Things did start to wobble with ABIV. I think I've played it about
twice. Boring and undeveloped beats. And Ventolin I think will suffer from
a scheduling error. Released after 'I Care...' it might have had a better
reception. I suspect it might disappoint a lot of people. But, no way is
this defective work. Difficult yes, flawed probably, but it stretches
music convention and as such; it's not a waste. And in any case the
remixes are easier to swallow.
:::: And so to 'I Care Because You Do'. Who knows, maybe he does. 'cos for
those afraid of musical adventure and for those who were beginning to feel
a bit exposed in their defence recent works...(And a quick 'up yours' to
those who ran at the first hint of madness). Here it is. Fat beautiful
squirming beats, mournful tearjerking strings, thumping fast bass
monsters, analoguey twistedness, invention... (and oh my god the funky
bits)
:::: 'Lets go'. _Acrid Avid Jamshred_ (first one to figure out these
anagrams gets, err... nothing) starts rather worryingly, in view of
Ventolin, with a sustained high whine, but (wow) it soon mutates into a
fantastic, spine tingling thing, with what appears to be a junglesque
bassline/percussion at about half speed, over which develops a couple of
hooks, a low sustained chord sequence, mirrored in strings and higher
pitched stuff. Various crunching beats boom in and out, before...
:::: Echoey polyrhythmic bass beats, squashed sample noises, and a gently
hissing severely fucked up high hat. This is the first real string number
too, a whole bank of violin type things pour out their hearts into this
one. Then...
:::: BANG! Aphexy noises and a fast bangin bassline (and not a single 4/4
in evidence). Echoey chord sequence in the background (reminiscent of
'Surfing On Sine Waves'), and the strings make a return appearance.
:::: Icct Hedral is the dark brooding chiller (and it's also at this point
you begin to wonder where RDJ has been hiding his orchestra). Heavy, but
subdued bassline is covered with slightly worried sounding string things
as various squelchy things go off in the background. Apparently this is a
kind of remix of one of the tracks he did with Phillip Glass, but is
entirely RDJ.
:::: Track 5 is an edit of the Ventolin we all know and love/hate. It
actually sounds better in this context. Hard distorted weird squealing
madness, with a wicked farting low bassline. This is followed by a track
he played on his live Radio 1 set from a few years back, at Sheffield
University. I'd actually assumed that this was an early work from either
Joyrex4 or 5 (which I don't have, dammit!), and listening to it you might
guess why. The thumping fast polyrythymic bassline, squirting noises, fast
high clanging and in the background the classy trademark 'nice' synth bit.
Oh and add an evil sounding 'I want sex' sample and a totally surreal
conversation between two girls talking about holding a party. This all
flings straight into...
:::: The 'On' EP remix. This is a bit of a monster. Basically elements
from all of the 'On' EP tracks are thrown into a pot and stirred around.
The bassline from 'On', the percussion from '73-yips', it's all in there.
Fast and furious, but in creeps a new melodic element...
:::: 'Wet Tip Hen Ax' is another one of the slightly mournful numbers (no
strings this time (well real ones anyway). The bassline starts in a fairly
conventional way, punctuated with fat chirping noise and an incredible
analoguey noise that sounds like a cry of some sort. Then before you know
it the bassline has evolved into a rocking Aphex multibeated thing.
:::: 'Mookid' continues the downbeat theme, quite a contemplative piece,
slow chugging heavy bassline, kind of piano sequence and more of that
amazing crying squealing analogue bit which almost talks to you...And then
(slight pause)...
:::: BANG! (Of a different sort) RDJ meets Luke Vibert. A beautiful light,
open, clear breakbeat, gate clanging percussion, a not quite piano and
more analogue squealing Wow! This has to be an alltime classic. About half
way through it disappears into the next room (or behind a filter) before
popping back fresh as ever.
:::: The next track, well I'm almost tempted not to tell you about this.
Genius at work here, a few minutes in you will just *have* to leap up and
start wriggling round the room. We start with RDJ's recording DATman or
something, listening in on him at work in studio (?), doors slam, a shout,
whilst a track plays on in the background, all echoey, slightly muffled...
then, wham, we're whisked inside the track, loud and clear. Another laid
back funky breaky thing. Jeez!
:::: It's all topped off with a real orchestral piece, whetting our
appetites for the Glass work, perhaps. Sustained dark rumbling strings,
horns, cellos(?), the lot. Possibly moves into the pretentious...
:::: But the first thing you want to do when all 63:52 minutes of it are
over, is listen to it again. And again.
g303
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