Aphex Twin - ...I Care Because You Do

Greetings, everyone! How are y'all doing? I hope you're all doing great. Anyways, today we will be talking about the highly experimental Aphex Twin album, "...I Care Because You Do". This album, leaving aside it's cover lol, was quite a handful and left me with a weird taste in my mouth. The music was all over the place and the beats we're messy. Let's get a bit more in depth, shall we?

The first song, Acrid Avid Jam Shred, was a pretty nice start to the album, giving off a hip-hop type beat, with a fuzzy synth melody alongside it. It was very noise-rich and had some weird sound effects here and there, but was overall a good song.

The Waxen Pith had a very nostalgic vibe for some reason, but at the same, felt very melancholic, like something was coming to a close, like moving out of town, leaving your friends behind, seeing all the places you've been to fade away. I don't know, it just felt very sad and is one of my favourite songs o the album.

Wax The Nip felt very repetitive with the same chords and beats. It wasn't anything special, honestly.

Now, Icct Hedral was, interesting... I had a fast tempo and a sense of urgency, as if it was a climactic point in a movie. Alongside it's alien-like synths, that reminded me a lot of Green Calx from "Selected Ambient Works 85-92", made up for a surprisingly good song.

Ventolin. no. i hated it.

Come on You Slags! had a very ominous tone to it and felt very intense. It had this early 2000s, heavily-filtered action movie feel to it. Maybe it was the SFX, I'm not sure, but it was a pretty good song overall.

Start as You Mean to Go On was really repetitive and I got bored of it very quickly. I simply didn't find anything fun or interesting to it.

Then, Wet Tip Hen Ax was a breath of fresh air from all the other songs. It was much calmer in tone, still had a "squelchy" texture to it, however it was much more enjoyable than all the majority of the other songs. Definitely another favourite from this album.

Mookid was similiar in it's vibe to Wet Tip Hen Ax, and was overall just an enjoyable song.

And then, Alberto Balsalm. What can I say about it? It's my favourite Aphex Twin. It's chill vibe, the squeaking chair, the steel instrument-like sounds, the calm synth, there is nothing bad in this song. It is one of the few perfect songs in this world.

Moving on, Cow Cud Is a Twin had a nice, chill hip-hop beat to it, alongside a smooth synth melody. It was another nice song, what else can I say, it was a simple, catchy tune.

And finally, Next Heap With, it was... different. It was orchestral music, which was completely different to what we had seen up until then in the album. It was an interesting song. Very dramatic, and powerful.

So, my final thoughts on this album are, mixed. On one side, we have some nice, almost ambient tracks, plus the amazing Alberto Balsalm. On the other side, we have some weird, highly experimental and noise rich songs that I didn't really like. It left a mixed taste in my mouth, but was overall, a solid album.

the album cover. sheesh.

Favourite tracks: The Waxen Pith, Icct Hedral, Wet Tip Hen Ax, Mookid, Alberto Balsalm, Cow Cud Is a Twin;

Score: 7/10