Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010 | 19:56
Aphex Twin - Come On You Slags
I made a two-disc mix of songs that have made me who I am. Over the next few weeks (months) I will attempt to explain each of these songs. I am quite sure I haven't covered every song that matters to me, but I have wedged most of them onto these two CDs.
Another song that wasn't the first thing I heard from this artist. The first I heard of Aphex Twin was when a guy in college played Selected Ambient Works Volume II. He explained how it was more an ambient prank than anything else. I don't remember this happening, but I'm pretty sure he'd dope out to it now and then. I don't know how the other felt, but I was stunned. What was this crazy music?
I don't know how long it took me to catch up, but I'm pretty sure I bought the next Aphex Twin album, which was the less ambient but still out there "...i care because you do'. It was a stunning album, unlike anything I'd ever heard before. There I was, cruising along in my Jeep, when 'Ventolin' same on. Holy crap, what is that noise? Did I break something? Am I having an asthma attack? No, wait, I don't have asthma. Holy crap, it's the music.
I'll admit that 'Come On You Slags' is a lesser track on the album. It's certainly no 'Icct Hedral" or even 'The Waxen Pith', but it has it's own goofiness I enjoy. It's a good example of Richard D. James' off-kilter sense of humor. It's a good, if repetitive, beat layered over a sound sample presumably from a porn film. James is taking the piss, but even at his least serious he's still great. That's the whole reason I love Aphex Twin.
Frankly, there isn't more to it than that. It's not his best song, it's more like goofy filler for an Aphex album, but it still catches my ear. I always pay attention to this song.
Shortly after I got the album, when I still had SAWII on the brain, I persuaded my parents to let me play "...i care because you do" during dinner. We usually listened to classical music during dinner, but I told them it was ambient music, intended for the background. I assume I heard it once or twice before this, but I somehow I expected it to fit the expected mood. No. My sister grumbled but put up with it (odd, since she generally left dinner early and got away from us), but my parents tolerated it until 'Ventolin'. I think we all sat there with gritted teeth waiting for it to end. I felt embarassed, as though I'd made a terrible choice and made my family suffer through the results. Truth is, that's probably right. It's not their kind of music.
But it sounds great to me.
