…I Care Because You Do is the third studio album by British electronic musician Richard D. James under the alias Aphex Twin. It was released under Warp Records on April 24, 1995.
Overall, the album marked James' return to his percussive, beat-driven "braindance" sound following the mostly beatless Selected Ambient Works Volume II, but it does also experiment with mixing abrasive rhythms and symphonic/ambient elements. The album's symphonic compositions in particular garnered comparisons to Philip Glass, who would eventually re-record one of the album's tracks ("Icct Hedral") for James' Donkey Rhubarb EP, released around four months after the album. Further genres critics and fans have drawn connections to include trip hop, downtempo, and various branches of techno (ambient, acid, etc.).
The songs on …I Care Because You Do were recorded between 1990 and 1994, with the years being denoted on the track listing on the back of the album (which does go "A, B, 3, 4"); many of the track titles are anagrams of James' aliases. It was also the last album which James recorded mainly using analogue technology, as he turned to digital methods to produce future work. The album's cover art, one of the first of many Aphex releases to use an image of James' grinning face, is reportedly a self-portrait done by James himself. And yes, the barcode is part of the album artwork.
Tracklist:
Side A- "Acrid Avid Jam Shred" (7:38)
- "The Waxen Pith" (4:49)
- "Wax The Nip" (4:18)
Side B
- "Icct Hedral (Edit)" (6:07)
- "Ventolin (Video Version)" (4:29)
- "Come On You Slags!" (5:44)
Side 3
- "Start As You Mean To Go On" (6:05)
- "Wet Tip Hen Ax" (5:17)
- "Mookid" (3:51)
Side 4
- "Alberto Balsalm" (5:10)
- "Cow Cud Is A Twin" (5:33)
- "Next Heap With" (4:33)
Fossil Potter:note
- Album Title Drop: Done very subtly by a text-to-speech voice a few times during "Cow Cud Is A Twin" (all in the left speaker).
- Caps Lock: The title of "Come On You Slags!" is written this way on the back cover.
- Epic Rocking: "Acrid Avid Jam Shred", "Icct Hedral (Edit)" and "Start As You Mean To Go On" are each over 6 minutes long.
- Face on the Cover: The first Aphex Twin album to do so, and started the trend of Richard putting his face everywhere on both his albums and his music videos.
- Gratuitous Panning: The vocal sample in "Come On You Slags!" will occasionally switch speakers.
- Longest Song Goes First: "Acrid Avid Jam Shred" is both the longest song on the album, and the first song on the album.
- One-Word Title: "Mookid".
- Sampling: "Come On You Slags!" samples the 1981 pornographic film Seka's Fantasies.
- Sensory Abuse: "Ventolin (Video Version)" is the classic example, witch its high-pitched ringing noise which permeates the entire track.
- Shout-Out: "Alberto Balsalm" gets its name from Alberto Balsam, a hair care products brand
. - Significant Anagram: Many of the song titles are anagrams of things relating to the artist himself:
- "Acrid Avid Jam Shred" is an anagram of Richard David James.
- "Wax The Nip" is an anagram of "Aphex Twin", and "Wet Tip Hen Ax" (minus an H), "The Waxen Pith" and "Next Heap With" are each anagrams of The Aphex Twin.
- "Cow Cud Is A Twin" is an anagram of "Caustic Window", another alias of Richard's.
- Singer Namedrop: Done by a text-to-speech program several times throughout "Cow Cud Is A Twin" (again, all in the left speaker).
- Spoken Word in Music: Several examples.
- As noted above, the sample from the film Seka's Fantasies.
- "Alberto Balsalm" has a robotic voice repeating the word "bubbly" at the beginning, and several times throughout.
- Studio Chatter: "Cow Cud Is A Twin" begins with Richard yelling "alright!", and two very loud door slams.
- Textless Album Cover: Just Richard's grinning mug and a barcode.
- Word Purée Title: "Icct Hedral", which, as far as anyone knows, is just gibberish.
