...I Care Because You Do

Each track on ...I Care Because You Do is annotated with a date; the tracks were created between 1990 and 1994.{{sfn|Frere-Jones|2004|pp=21–23}} It was James' final album to be recorded with mostly analogue technology before he began using digital production methods.{{cite web |last1=Hudson |first1=Alex |title=Aphex Twin's '...I Care Because You Do' and 'Richard D. James Album' Get Vinyl Reissues |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/aphex_twins_i_care_because_you_do_richard_d_james_album_get_vinyl_reissues |website=Exclaim! |date=25 July 2012 |accessdate=18 September 2018 |archive-date=18 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918054529/https://exclaim.ca/music/article/aphex_twins_i_care_because_you_do_richard_d_james_album_get_vinyl_reissues |url-status=live }}

According to AllMusic, the album finds James "pairing his hardcore experimentalism with more symphonic ambient material, aligned with the work of many post-classical composers" such as Philip Glass.{{cite web |last1=Bush |first1=John |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/aphex-twin-mn0000493848/biography |title=Aphex Twin {{!}} Biography & History |publisher=AllMusic |accessdate=9 July 2016 |archive-date=19 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160719130857/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/aphex-twin-mn0000493848/biography |url-status=live }} Writer Dave Thompson described the album as "pulling together calm, serene moments then launching into battering and bruising beat-heavy tracks", and said the rhythms shift "from trancey to hip-hoppish".{{cite book |last1=Thompson |first1=Dave |title=Alternative Rock |date=2000 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |page=158 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHP-r9-eqdAC|isbn=9780879306076 }} Thompson also noted the influence of modern composers such as Glass. Rolling Stone stated the music has "little to do with techno in any of its more popular guises", and compared it to the work of Glass and John Cage, and said the album draws "most strongly from hip-hop ... James' trademark is to put rhythm and percussion above all else; his beautiful, haunting melodies are relegated to the back of the mix."

According to Exclaim!, ...I Care Because You Do has been described as "occupying a middle-ground between Philip Glass and the Wu-Tang Clan". Spin wrote the album "showed up trip-hop laziness",{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wF1pZCI8MZYC&pg=PA88|title=Aphex Twin: Richard D. James|magazine=Spin|volume=12|issue=11|date=February 1997|last1=Hermes|first1=Will|author-link=Will Hermes|page=88|issn=0886-3032}} while Dummy Mag said James was taking trip hop and "refashioning [the] voguish genre in his own image". Entertainment Weekly wrote: "By adding layers of soft, warm synthesizer chords over skull-grinding electronic percussion, James creates sounds that are simultaneously comforting and scary". In 2003 NME summarized the album as "a shotgun wedding of analogue rave and ambient porridge."{{cite magazine |magazine=NME |title=Aphex Twin |date=2003 |volume=7-8 |issue=12 |page=40 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fj5LAAAAYAAJ |publisher=IPC |access-date=6 August 2019 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204064752/https://books.google.com/books?id=Fj5LAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live }} In 2004 Rolling Stone stated the increasingly active drum backing on the album was inspired by the presence of drum and bass music in the United Kingdom.{{sfn|Frere-Jones|2004|pp=21–23}}

...I Care Because You Do was released on 24 April 1995{{cite web|url=http://warp.net/records/releases/aphex-twin/i-care-because-you-do|accessdate=20 July 2015|title=Aphex Twin:...I Care Because You Do|publisher=Warp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111019015313/http://warp.net/records/releases/aphex-twin/i-care-because-you-do|archive-date=19 October 2011}} on vinyl record, compact disc, and cassette. It entered the Chart Information Network's Dance Albums Chart at number{{nbsp}}4 and the Albums Chart at number{{nbsp}}24, remaining on the latter for two weeks.{{cite news |title=Specialist Charts: Dance Albums |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Music-Week-IDX/IDX/1995/Music-Week-1995-05-06-IDX-47.pdf |work=Music Week|location=London|page=35|editor-first=Steve|editor-last=Redmond|publisher=Spotlight Publications |date=6 May 1995}}{{cite web| url=http://www.officialcharts.com/search/albums/...i%20care%20because%20you%20do/| title=...I Care Because You Do| publisher=Official Charts Company| accessdate=20 July 2015| archive-date=25 July 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150725194544/http://www.officialcharts.com/search/albums/...i%20care%20because%20you%20do/| url-status=live}} The label 1972 re-released the album on vinyl on 18 September 2012. Warp also re-issued the album in vinyl with a download card on 8 October 2012. In 2017, the album was re-released in digital format with eight bonus tracks.{{Cite web|url=https://aphextwin.warp.net//release/71105-aphex-twin-i-care-because-you-do|title=Aphex Twin - ...I Care Because You Do. Aphex Twin.|first1=Aphex|last1=Twin|via=aphextwin.warp.net|access-date=12 August 2019|archive-date=12 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812234656/https://aphextwin.warp.net//release/71105-aphex-twin-i-care-because-you-do|url-status=live}}

The album's cover artwork is a self-portrait painted by James using Adobe Photoshop, a software his friend Johnny Clayton taught him how to use when he received his first Apple Mac. It was the first of several Aphex Twin releases to feature an image of James' grinning face on the cover.{{cite web |url=https://consequenceofsound.net/2015/04/glitch-mob-revists-aphex-twin/ |title=The Glitch Mob's Justin Boreta Revists{{sic|hide=y}} Aphex Twin's ...I Care Because You Do |website=Consequence of Sound |date=30 April 2015 |last1=Bush |first1=Derek |access-date=12 July 2017 |archive-date=13 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813105527/https://consequenceofsound.net/2015/04/glitch-mob-revists-aphex-twin/ |url-status=live }}

Following the album's release, composer Philip Glass contributed an orchestral arrangement to "Icct Hedral" that was included on the 1995 EP Donkey Rhubarb.

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/i-care-because-you-do-mw0000175276 |title=I Care Because You Do – Aphex Twin |website=AllMusic |accessdate=20 July 2015 |last1=Bush |first1=John |archive-date=5 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150805095105/http://www.allmusic.com/album/i-care-because-you-do-mw0000175276 |url-status=live }}

| rev2 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev2score = A−{{cite magazine |url=http://www.ew.com/article/1995/06/02/i-care-because-you-do |title=...I Care Because You Do |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=2 June 1995 |accessdate=20 July 2015 |last1=Browne |first1=David |author-link=David Browne (journalist) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021192603/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20185460,00.html |archive-date=21 October 2012 |url-status=live}}

| rev3 = The Guardian

| rev3score = {{Rating|3|4}}{{cite news |title=Aphex Twin: I Care Because You Do (Warp) |newspaper=The Guardian |date=21 April 1995 |last1=Smith |first1=Andrew}}

| rev4 = The Philadelphia Inquirer

| rev4score = {{Rating|3|4}}{{cite news |title=The Orb: Orbus Terrarum (Island) / Aphex Twin: ...I Care Because You Do (Sire) |newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=28 May 1995 |last1=Warren |first1=Bruce}}

| rev5 = Rolling Stone

| rev5score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/206170 |title=I Care Because You Do : Aphex Twin |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=4 May 1995 |accessdate=20 July 2015 |last1=Prince |first1=David J. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011210824/http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/206170/review/5941217/icarebecauseyoudo |archive-date=11 October 2008 |url-status=dead}}

| rev6 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev6score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{sfn|Frere-Jones|2004|pp=21–23}}

| rev7 = Select

| rev7score = 4/5{{cite magazine |title=Aphex Twin: I Care Because You Do |magazine=Select |issue=59 |date=May 1995 |last1=Grundy |first1=Gareth |page=93}}

| rev8 = Spin

| rev8score = 8/10

| rev9 = The Sydney Morning Herald

| rev9score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite news |title=From Chaos To Convention |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=4 September 1995 |last1=Danielsen |first1=Shane |page=12}}

| rev10 = Tom Hull – on the Web

| rev10score = A−{{cite web|url=https://tomhull.com/ocston/nm/get_gl.php?n=aphex+twin|title=Grade List: Aphex Twin|website=Tom Hull – on the Web|first=Hull|last=Tom Hull|date=12 November 2023|access-date=12 November 2023|archive-date=12 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231112172656/https://tomhull.com/ocston/nm/get_gl.php?n=aphex+twin|url-status=live}}

}}

Select ranked ...I Care Because You Do at 42 on its 2022 "Top 50 Albums of the Year" list,{{cite magazine |last1=Grundy |first1=Gareth |date=January 1996 |title=Top 50 Albums of the Year |magazine=Select| pages=78–79 |url=http://selectmagazinescans.monkeon.co.uk/showpage.php?file=wp-content/uploads/2012/03/50albums.jpg |access-date=2022-09-13 |archive-date=27 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327212014/http://selectmagazinescans.monkeon.co.uk/showpage.php?file=wp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F03%2F50albums.jpg |url-status=live}} saying the album is "Leftfield, sound-pop brilliance" and James' "most coherent work to date". Another review in Select stated 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". The Sydney Morning Herald gave the album a positive review, stating: "As ever, [James'] palette of sound is astonishing, his arrangements effective and deliberate". Rolling Stone described the album as "classical music for a generation raised on samplers", stating James was "making some of the most engaging and important music of our time".

Entertainment Weekly praised ...I Care Because You Do and called it superior work to Selected Ambient Works Volume II, writing it "reintroduces tension, more beats per minute, and sonic grime into his music", and that it "creates sounds that are simultaneously comforting and scary – a fitting metaphor for the contemporary clash of technology and the humans befuddled by it". Spin also stated that album is superior to Selected Ambient Works Volume II because ...I Care Because You Do "cut the middle of [techno]'s kitchen-sink aesthetic without sacrificing melody coherence or rhythm". Spin also described it as "a real album with its own gestalt", in which capacity it betters the "truly great" Aphex Twin albums Selected Ambient Works 85–92 (1992) and Classics (1995).

In a retrospective of James' work in The Rolling Stone Album Guide, Sasha Frere-Jones said the album's more-recent tracks were its best ones.{{sfn|Frere-Jones|2004|pp=21–23}} Justin Boreta from the group The Glitch Mob reviewed the album in 2015, praising it for "the juxtaposition between heavy darkness and gentle depth". The A.V. Club reviewer Kyle Fowle described ...I Care Because You Do as "a perfect bridge between James' implementation of experimental techno and glossy ambient".{{cite web |last1=Fowle |first1=Kyle |title=A beginner's guide to the many sounds of Aphex Twin |url=https://avclub.com/a-beginner-s-guide-to-the-many-sounds-of-aphex-twin-1798272281 |website=The A.V. Club |date=22 September 2014 |accessdate=28 October 2024 |archive-date=1 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001182414/https://music.avclub.com/a-beginner-s-guide-to-the-many-sounds-of-aphex-twin-1798272281 |url-status=live }} In 2017, Pitchfork ranked it the 13th-best intelligent dance music (IDM) album of all time.

Each track on ...I Care Because You Do is annotated with the year of its recording.{{sfn|Frere-Jones|2004|pp=21–23}}

{{Track listing

| headline = ...I Care Because You Do track listing

| title1 = Acrid Avid Jam Shred

| note1 = 1994

| length1 = 7:38

| title2 = The Waxen Pith

| note2 = 1993

| length2 = 4:50

| title3 = Wax the Nip

| note3 = 1990

| length3 = 4:19

| title4 = Icct Hedral (edit)

| note4 = 1994

| length4 = 6:07

| title5 = Ventolin (video version)

| note5 = 1994

| length5 = 4:29

| title6 = Come On You Slags!

| note6 = 1990

| length6 = 5:45

| title7 = Start as You Mean to Go On

| note7 = 1993

| length7 = 6:05

| title8 = Wet Tip Hen Ax

| note8 = 1994

| length8 = 5:17

| title9 = Mookid

| note9 = 1994

| length9 = 3:51

| title10 = Alberto Balsalm

| note10 = 1994

| length10 = 5:11

| title11 = Cow Cud Is a Twin

| note11 = 1994

| length11 = 5:34

| title12 = Next Heap With

| note12 = 1993

| length12 = 4:43

| total_length = 63:49

}}

On 20 February 2017, James uploaded the album to his website with 8 additional tracks.

{{Track listing

| headline = ...I Care Because You Do aphextwin.warp.net track listing{{cite web |title=...I Care Because You Do |url=https://aphextwin.warp.net/release/71105-aphex-twin-i-care-because-you-do |website=aphextwin.warp.net}}

| title1 = Acrid Avid Jam Shred

| note1 = 1994

| length1 = 7:38

| title2 = The Waxen Pith

| note2 = 1993

| length2 = 4:50

| title3 = Wax the Nip

| note3 = 1990

| length3 = 4:19

| title4 = Icct Hedral (edit)

| note4 = 1994

| length4 = 6:07

| title5 = Ventolin (video version)

| note5 = 1994

| length5 = 4:29

| title6 = Come On You Slags!

| note6 = 1990

| length6 = 5:45

| title7 = Start as You Mean to Go On

| note7 = 1993

| length7 = 6:05

| title8 = Wet Tip Hen Ax

| note8 = 1994

| length8 = 5:17

| title9 = Mookid

| note9 = 1994

| length9 = 3:51

| title10 = Alberto Balsalm

| note10 = 1994

| length10 = 5:11

| title11 = Cow Cud Is a Twin

| note11 = 1994

| length11 = 5:34

| title12 = efil pearls ,e,+4

| note12 =

| length12 = 5:57

| title13 = winding road ,e, +4.1

| length13 = 3:15

| title14 = with my family [48k] *

| length14 = 4:11

| title15 = consta-lume

| length15 = 7:04

| title16 = merry maidens e,ru,ec +4

| length16 = 2:18

| title17 = no cares [48k ] *

| length17 = 2:49

| title18 = consciousness utopia

| length18 = 7:18

| title19 = sekonda e, +2

| length19 = 10:44

| title20 = Next Heap With

| note20 = 1994

| length20 = 4:43

| total_length = 107:25

}}

The album credits only state: "Everything by Richard D. James. Self portrait painted by me. Design help from John."{{cite AV media notes |title=...I Care Because You Do |year=1995 |publisher=Warp |id=WARP LP 30}}

• 1995 in music
• Music of the United Kingdom (1990s)

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book|last1=Frere-Jones|first1=Sasha|author-link=Sasha Frere-Jones|chapter=Aphex Twin|editor-last=Brackett|editor-first=Nathan |editor-last2=Hoard|editor-first2=Christian|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|edition=4th|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=0-7432-0169-8|year=2004}}

{{Refend}}

{{Aphex Twin}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:I Care Because You Do}}

Category:Aphex Twin albums

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