...I Care Because You Do

Having conquered the dance arena with chest-beating hard techno stormer "Digeridoo" and the ambient world with Selected Ambient Works Volume II, Richard D. James fused both strands together for this full-length masterpiece in 1995. James probably didn't set out to do so, of course. (It's hard to ascribe musical motives to a guy who famously pranked the press at every opportunity.) What we do know — we think — is that these tracks were made around the same time as much of Selected Ambient Works Volume II, and represent more mature ventures into the types of work that typified Selected Ambient Works 85-92.

Mature isn't always better, but in James 'case it assuredly is. For starters, "Acrid Avid Jam Shred" and the rest of the tracks, the titles of which are anagrams for either (The) Aphex Twin, Richard D. James or Caustic Window (another James pseudonym), don't sound like they've been dipped into a septic tank for years before their release. Although you might wish that "Ventolin" had been, as the high-pitched frequency that runs throughout is nearly unbearable — and is famously rumored to be the sound that a person hears when they overdose on the asthma drug of… read more »