Favourite Artists Reviewed - Part 02: Autechre

Autechre (Ae) is a British electronic music group consisting of Rob(ert) Brown and Sean Booth. They've been together in music since 1987, but came to prominence in 1993 after signing to well-known Warp Records and releasing Incunabula, one of the albums that kickstarted the new genre of electronic music, controversially named "IDM" - intelliegnt dance music. Since then, Autechre's sound is constantly changing and evolving (primary thanks to new technologies available), and they are considered front-runners of IDM. Autechre's loyalty to Warp still lasts, and early this year, they released their 9th studio album named Quaristice.

I'll try to include every single, EP and album in this review. Their Lego Feet and Gescom stuff, as well as the album collaborations with Hafler Trio will not be included here.

Couple of tips if you want to explore Autechre:
1. Their stuff gets weirder and more complex over time (sometimes even unlistenable to average listener), so the best starting point is one of the early albums or EPs, like Incunabula, Amber or Anvil Vapre EP.
2. Listening to Autechre on your mp3 player with headphones is a sin. The same thing is with computer speakers. To really enjoy and appreciate this kind of music you'll have to listen to it on a quality system that can realistically demonstrate the full richness of their sound.
3. Some of the albums (especially the later ones) sound really confusing and nonsensical on the first listen. Repeated listens are a must.

CAVITY JOB [1991]
Tracklist:
01. Cavity Job
02. Accelera 1 & 2

Cavity Job is the first Brown and Booth single under the Autechre moniker. Back in 1991, rave stuff (especially breakbeat hardcore) dominated the UK dance music scene, so it's not surprise that this record is of the same style. The first track Cavity Job starts with some silly sample, and then proceeds into the chaotic assemblage of acid lines, heavy 808 beats and fat basslines. Although it's pretty harsh, melodic quality separates it from the rest of the stuff from that era. Accelera 1 & 2 is less unique, but still very good ravey track that's even heavier on the (vocal) samples than Cavity Job. All in all, pretty decent two tracks that sound little more unique than the rest of the ravey tracks from the early 90's, but completely different from the later Autechre output.

Highlight: Cavity Job

INCUNABULA [1993]
Tracklist:
01. Kalpol Introl
02. Bike
03. Autriche
04. Bronchus 2
05. Basscadet
06. Eggshell
07. Doctrine
08. Maetl
09. Windwind
10. Lowride
11. 444

Incunabula, as we already said, is the first Autechre album released for Warp Records, and also the last artist album in Warp's Artificial Intelligence series, series that had a strong influence on the IDM sound. While most of the artist albums in that series (Surfing On Sine Waves, Dimension Intrusion, Ginger) oriented on so-called "listening techno" or "intelligent techno", Incunabula went a step forward and presented the sound that is the most similar to sound of the later IDM. It's best to describe that sound as mixture of ambient synths and complexly programmed beats (for that time), with frantic percussion work in some tracks. One of those tracks is Basscadet, which sounds the most advanced and the most similar to Autechre's later stuff, and is the only track off the album that is oriented on programming, not on the ambience. The rest of the tracks are, however, very atmospheric and melody oriented, especially Bike, Eggshell and Lowride, which feature a strong repeated lead melody, and beats are there just to support and enhace the melodic part. Lowride is actually one of the most visceral Ae tracks, since it samples one of the Miles Davis jazzy tracks. Eggshell is an extended and improved version of The Egg from the first Artificial Intelligence compilation. 444 is another atmospheric beauty, perfect closer that just builds and builds and constantly changes in all layers of its structure. Incunabula basically presents us Autechre with innovative ideas, but limited by the technology. They still sound awfully "techno", but unlike The Black Dog and B12 (whose sound was the closest to Autechre at that point), that "techno" will soon evolve into something more ethereal and thought-provoking.

Highlights: 444, Basscadet, Eggshell
Rating: 8/10

BASSCAD EP [1994]
Tracklist:
01. Basscadet (Bcdtmx)
02. Basscadet (Beaumonthannanttwomx)
03. Basscadet (Seefeelmx)
04. Basscadet (Tazmx)
05. Basscadet (Basscadubmx)

Basscad is not an actual EP, it's a maxi single composed of 5 remixes of Basscadet (3 of them by Ae, one by Beaumont Hannant, and one by Seefeel). It's also the only single release of an album track (every other EP they've done is assembled of completely new material). Nothing groundbreaking here, the sound is more similar to sound from Amber than Incunabula, and the only 2 tracks that are equal to original are beautiful ambient piece Basscadet (Beaumonthannanttwomx) and Autechre's own dubby version Basscadet (Basscadubmx). Nice to have, but certainly not essential.

Highlight: Basscadet (Basscadubmx)

ANTI EP [1994]
Tracklist:
01. Lost
02. Djarum
03. Flutter

Anti EP was Autechre's protest record against British Criminal Justice And Public Order Act 1994, which would prohibit raves, describing music as a "succession of repetitive beats". Criminal Justice And Public Order Act 1994 shocked British ravers, since the days of free raving among tens of thousands of people were gone with it. Similar protest tracks recorded The Prodigy and Orbital. Music itself on this release was not that important as was the message sent to the Parliament, but today we can look upon it and say it is fantastic anyway. The overall sound lays somewhere between Incunabula and Amber. Lost is an agressive and innocent at the same time, Djarum is not that innocent but very dark and haunting and Flutter is a complex, ever evolving masterpiece.

Highlight: Flutter

AMBER [1994]
Tracklist:
01. Foil
02. Montreal
03. Silverside
04. Slip
05. Glitch
06. Piezo
07. Nine
08. Further
09. Yulquen
10. Nil
11. Teartear

Amber is an apt name for Autechre's second album, melodic ambient beauty. It's polished, slower and less oriented on percussion compared to Incunabula. Slip is the first standout track, built around Kraftwerk-like robotic electro beat, coupled with simple, but infectious lead melody, while all sorts of effects and submelodies are playing in the background. Also worth mentioning are Glitch and its spitting synths which dominate throughout the track, and Further and Nine, which serves as a beatless intro to forementioned work of art, characterized mostly by its unforgettable glassy synths and somewhat cold atmosphere. In my opinion, Nil would be more suitable closer than Teartear, since it contains that unique elegance which also adorned 444. Even though the album is more detailed, complex and overall more sophisticated than Incunabula, it's still fairly simple and faithful to pop format. However, if you're looking at the most popular style (most produced) of IDM - ambinet IDM, Amber is definitely one of the best albums of that style.

Highlights: Slip, Further, Nil
Rating: 8.5/10

GARBAGE EP [1995]
Tracklist:
01. Garbagemx36
02. PIOBmx19
03. Bronchusevenmx24
04. VLetrmx21

Even though the Garbage EP is composed of music that didn't make the final cut for Amber, title track Garbagemx36 deserved to be on Amber more than some of the tracks that did make the cut (for example Yulquen). It's an constant evolving epic journey, alomot 15 minutes long (that's probably the reason why it was left out). Bronchusevenmx24 is also a good track, but maybe too similar to Further. The other two tracks are pretty forgettable ambient cuts, where not much happens.

Highlight: Garbagemx36

ANVIL VAPRE EP [1995]
Tracklist:
01. Second Bad Vilbel
02. Second Scepe
03. Second Scout
04. Second Peng

While Garbage EP is compiled of tracks that were made during the Amber sessions, Anvil Vapre EP is compiled of tracks made during the Tri Repetae sessions and was released in promotional purpose month before the new album. And we can feel that the sound is quite different after just a couple of seconds of Second Bad Vilbel. Thanks to new gear acquired by Ae, the new multi-layered sound is harsher, more metallic and much glitchier on every single track.

Highlight: Second Peng

TRI REPETAE [1995]
Tracklist:
01. Dael
02. Clipper
03. Leterel
04. Rotar
05. Stud
06. Eutow
07. C/Pach
08. Gnit
09. Overand
10. Rsdio
11. Medrey (exclusive Japanese bonus track)

Tri Repetae offers us exactly what we expected, that is, exactly what was announced with Anvil Vapre EP. Colder, more mechanical and sometimes quite eerie sound interlaced with beautiful medlodies. After Dael, which is a great intro track, we have Clipper, extremely strong cut which is, at the first glance, concentrated only on shrill synths and booming beats. But after a couple of listens, you'll notice really subtle and impressive sound collage fading in and out in the background. Eutow is another homage to Kraftwerk, probably the only Ae's influence. Besides that typical robotic beat, it contains awesome anthemic synth work and one of the most powerful basses ever. Medrey, which was not released on Warp's version of the disc, is actually quite nice track and I don't really understand why they decided to left it out. Rotar is the only filler here, nothing new or exciting is happening in it, and it basically goes nowhere. To shortly conclude: while the sound on Tri Repetae became completely cerebral, it still retained melodic qualities of Amber. I like to refer to this album as "slightly improved version of Amber".

Highlights: Eutow, Clipper, C/Pach
Rating: 8.5/10

WE R ARE WHY [1996]
Tracklist:
01. We R Are Why
02. Are Y Are We?

Here we have a couple of tranquilizing, fairly similar tracks, probably left from Tri Repetae sessions, and available via mail order only. Really nothing special, but Are Y Are We? could easily be put on Tri Repetae instead of Rotar.

Highlight: Are Y Are We?

ENVANE EP [1997]
Tracklist:
01. Goz Quarter
02. Latent Quarter
03. Laughing Quarter
04. Draun Quarter

While the core (second and third track) of this EP sounds more like the stuff from Chiastic Slide (unmelodic and highly metallic), first and the last track sound definitely closer to stuff from Tri Repetae and Anvil Vapre EP. Pretty good four tracker in fact, I would say that this EP slightly indicated the change in Ae direction.

Highlight: Laughing Quarter

CHIASTIC SLIDE [1997]
Tracklist:
01. Cipater
02. Rettic Ac
03. Tewe
04. Cichli
05. Hub
06. Calbruc
07. Recury
08. Pule
09. Nuane

While talking about Autechre, it's impossible not to bring up the subject of two phases of their career. First phase, which was characterized by fairly predictable, but beautiful melodic sound, ended with Envane EP, and second phase, marked with less human and constantly reinventing sound started with Chiastic Slide, their fourth full length album. That beautiful melodic sound of earlier albums relinquished its place to austere and cold, but fully experimental sound of this album. Long, peaceful floating ambient synths and warm and smooth pads completely disappeared, and are replaced with short, dark and artificial background synths. Programming and detailing are, however, on a completely new level. Songs are much less conventional, for example Rettic Ac is a pure cacophony of sounds without any structure or point. It basically serves as a replacement to short melodic interludes of previous albums. Ae also introduced "a track within a track" concept on this album, especially on Cipater which starts in a pretty traditional Ae way, but in the second part completely changes and only bassline stays the same. If you're not paying close attention, you might think you're listening to a new track. Short reminder of Tri Repetae comes via Cichli, crunchy and highly melodic (at least when compared to rest of the album) glitchy symphony. Hub offers some serious echo manipulation and it's interesting to follow change of all elements throughout the track. Pule sounds like a futuristic lullaby, something robots would play to themselves before bedtime. Autechre made a very smart move changing their sound. While they stretched the boundaries of electronic music (like pretty much no one at that time), they also reinvented themselves and kept themselves fresh for their audience. If they continued with the sound of early albums, they would soon become very tiresome and uninteresting.

Highlights: Cichli, Nuane, Tewe
Rating: 9/10

CICHLISUITE EP [1997]
Tracklist:
01. Yeesland
02. Pencha
03. Characi
04. Krib
05. Tilapia

Cichlisuite or "Sickly Sweet" is an EP, obviously some kind of extension to Chiastic Slide album, allegedly composed of five different versions of Cichli, main and probably the best track from Chiastic Slide. However, you'll hardly hear any resemblance between these five cuts and Cichli. While Cichli was slowly paced and relied mainly on fantastic atmosphere, this EP is all about fast and furious, clicky and painfully detailed sound, with almost no melody. The only exception is Krib, short, but delicious downtempo beauty led by the haunting tones of the background ambience, that brings to mind Tri Repetae.

Highlight: Pencha

LP5 [1998]
Tracklist:
01. Acroyear2
02. 777
03. Rae
04. Melve
05. Vose In
06. Fold4,Wrap5
07. Under BOAC
08. Corc
09. Caliper Remote
10. Arch Carrier
11. Drane2

LP5, just like Cichlisuite, explores the world of fast, playful and syncopated rhythms, that are most of the time accompanied with all sorts of clicks, cuts, glitches, squirms, scratches and other "unnatural" sounds. First two tracks sound like they are directly taken from Cichlisuite, but then comes Rae, which brings us a flavour of oldschool Ae with some spacey synths and without too much effects. In the second part it becomes even lighter, sounding like some Boards Of Canada track. Melve awfully reminds of Nine, althought it's not that long, and here it serves just as a short gap between Rae and Vose In. Strong industrial influence can be felt on Under BOAC, the darkest and the spookiest track on LP5. Autechre obviously listened to a lot of Disjecta, another Warp artist who was doing industrial influenced IDM in the mid 90's. Corc follows the same dark path and sounds quite like the second part of Rae. Another reminder of older, Incunabula-era Ae comes with Arch Carrier, simple programmed cut washed over with some shiny synth work. But the real deal is again in the fine detailed background. The last track (actually not the last, since after the 12 minutes of silence we hear pretty uninteresting, a minute and a half long hidden track) starts with some Starcraft-like tones that sound like a communication between two higher intelligence creatures, but then developes into a bouncy metallic polyphony that just sucks you into its beauty. LP5, together with Confield and Gantz Graf EP definitely marks the pinnacle of Autechre's career and clearly shows that they abandoned the melodic sound of their early days for good.

Highlights: Drane2, Arch Carrier, Rae
Rating: 9/10

PEEL SESSION EP [1999]
Tracklist:
01. Milk DX
02. Inhake 2
03. Drane

Autechre recorded their first Peel Session in 1995, but Warp decided to release it in 1999, probably to satisfy some of the band's fans who were not that thrilled about Autechre's new direction in sound. So, this is just a short, wistful reminder to those melodic days of Amber and Tri Repetae. Except for Milk DX, which is totally bland and uninspired cut, everything on this EP sounds equally fresh to stuff from that two already mentioned albums. Drane is actually a sister track to Drane2 from LP5, and it's just as elegant and deep as Drane2, although much more melodic. If it wasn't for the first track, this would be Autechre's finest EP.

Highlight: Inhake 2

EP7 [1999]
Tracklist:
00. Hidden Track
01. Rpeg
02. Ccec
03. Squeller
04. Left Blank
05. Outpt
06. Dropp
07. Liccflii
08. Maphive 6.1
09. Zeiss Contarex
10. Netlon Sentinel
11. Pir

Everything about EP7 is wrong: it's unnamed, it's not really 7th EP by the group, it's not even an EP, and what's most important - music on it is executed pretty badly. I mean, some interesting ideas exist, but you can't be satisfield with overall product, especially considering that this EP came out just a year after mighty LP5. There are couple of hits (Left Blank, Liccflii, Maphive 6.1, Pir), but the majority are real misses (everything else).

Highlight: Maphive 6.1

SPLITRMX12 [1999]
Tracklist:
01. Autechre Play Weissensee Against Im Glück
02. Autechre Play At Drowning In A Sea Of Indiependance

After pretty disappointing EP7, Autechre decided not to release a new material. Instead, they remade two (actually three, since the first track is a remake of two tracks) classic songs and released it on this limited edition vinyl. Weissensee and Im Glück are two cuts that appeared on 1972's Neu!'s debut album Neu!. While original Weissensee sounds like a primitive progressive rock tune, Im Glück serves as a spacey reprise that follows it. Autechre didn't go too crazy with this remake, and without too many clicks or fucked up rhythms they delivered slowly paced and organic tune with which they paid a tribute to their early idols. Second track is a remake of a song by an unknown band Bic?, and this one is more focused on the beats. Even though it's more complex and futuristic than the first track, it's still fairly simple compared to other Ae work from that time.

Highlight: Autechre Play Weissensee Against Im Glück

PEEL SESSION 2 EP [2000]
Tracklist:
01. Gelk
02. Blifil
03. Gaekwad
04. 19 Headaches

Second Peel Session better reflects the time in which it was released, since it was recorded just a year before it was released. It's obvious that the time spent in creating and editing this session cannot be measured with the time Autechre usually spend on their albums and EPs, and that results in just one great track, opening Gelk. It's the track with uniformly good 3 sections: opening section instantly grabs your attention with its contagious glassy synth work that washes semi-complex programming part, midsection removes synth riffs completely and puts a stronger emphasis on programming and background shrill effects and the last section introduces some kind of guitar riff that in the beginning plays all alone, but soon is accompanied by trip hop-like beat and high frequency synth. There's even 4th section, which is basically the outro in which that high frequency synth improvises over the deep bass. The other three tracks sound like leftovers from LP5, and are not on Autechre's usual level.

Highlight: Gelk

CONFIELD [2001]
Tracklist:
01. VI Scose Poise
02. Cfern
03. Pen Expers
04. Sim Gishel
05. Parhelic Triangle
06. Bine
07. Eidetic Casein
08. Uviol
09. Lentic Catachresis

Autechre raises the bar again and presents the most soulless, inhuman and unmusical piece of work so far. Confield is the best example of why you should take that second advice about figuring Autechre's music. On headphones, this music sounds flat, indistinct and shallow, but on a quality hi-fi system it gets its shape, depth, tiny details and fine texture. It somehow becomes alive. But even if you try to listen to Confield that way, don't expect to like it right after the first listen. It takes a lot of time and patience to start appreciating, and even more to start liking this little piece of art. But if you decide to spend that time and patience, you'll be rewarded with something way ahead of its time, originally unique, timeless and never boring. The key is in fully concentrating and paying maximum attention to music, not just playing the music in the background. Opening track, VI Scose Poise, uses the similar "metal ball rolling in the washing machine" sound just like Caliper Remote from the last album, but it's actually a chillout track with a wistful little melody playing in the background. Minimalism at its best. Pen Expers is completely opposite: intense, sonically dense and eerie beast of the track that sounds like a gigantic robot who is on a quest to smash everything that gets in his way. It's practically impossible to track down all the details in this track. Sim Gishel brings in some funk before catastrophic mood continues with Parhelic Triangle and especially Bine. And how to describe this ultimate experience in music listening that is Bine? It's like a standing in the cabin that is at the centre of a tornado. You can hear the doors shaking, the walls trembling, the roof retracting and you're just praying to stay alive. However, everything suddenly stops, you wake up and realize it was all just a dream. Eidetic Casein is actually quite melodic piece, but the melody is hidden deep under the layers of arrhythmic and distorted beats, spine-tingling percussion and growling tiny sounds. Lentic Catachresis is very similar, but even more disorted, especially towards the end when it becomes almost unlistenable. It's clear from this description that Confield is not for those who are looking for pleasurable music with hooks and sweet melodies. However, if you're looking for interesting experimental music and something you've never heard (or will ever hear), and you're an active listener, give Confield a chance. Or at least, give Bine a chance.

Highlights: Bine, Pen Expers, Eidetic Casein
Rating: 9.5/10

GANTZ GRAF EP [2002]
Tracklist:
01. Gantz Graf
02. Dial.
03. Cap.IV

Very few believed that Autechre can go even crazier and top Confield, but just a year later they succedeed and delivered Gantz Graf, the most difficult and unpleasant piece of music ever. Not the whole EP is like that, however, the title track and Cap.IV can easily be placed under the "anti-music" etiquette by an inexperienced listener. Gantz Graf sounds like a random complicated noise without any purpose or function at the first listen, and many will turn off the speakers as soon as that electrifying chaos begins. But since all Ae music sounds weird and too complicated at the first glance, it's a good idea to give it a couple of more chances, since that's the only way to discover its true beauty. Even then you're probably not gonna enjoy it or play it in front of your friends or when you want to relax, but you'll start to appreciate its complex, unique and chaotic sound, so excitably proper in its impropriety. Dial. sounds linear and 2-dimensional compared to its predecessor, but becomes slightly more interesting after it speeds up towards the end. Cap.IV, like Gantz Graf deviates to similar, unlistenable territory with its bombing glitch rain, under which lovely little melody barely breaths. Legendary music video for Gantz Graf also has to be mentioned, since it perfectly supplements the GG listening experience. In the end it's hard to compare EP to an album, but I would say that Gantz Graf EP is even greater work than Confield.

Highlight: Gantz Graf

DRAFT 7.30 [2003]
Tracklist:
01. Xylin Room
02. IV VV IV VV VIII
03. 6IE.CR
04. Tapr
05. Surripere
06. Theme Of Sudden Roundabout
07. VL AL 5
08. P.:NTIL
09. V-Proc
10. Reniform Puls

Draft 7.30 is Autechre's album which I have listened to the most, however I still find it extremely ponderous and hard to comprehend. Compared to Confield, it's much brighter and melodies in some tracks reminds us of mid-90's Autechre, but it's also much more beat oriented, which is usually a good thing. Here, however, not that good. I'm particularly talking about that beats (or percussion is some cases), which are coupled to regular beats of the track and sound like they're randomly thrown in just to distract the listener. The most obvious example of this distracting technique can be heard in Surripere. Although one of the basic principles of later Autechre's music was not to let one element dominate and overshadow the others, here that method is raised on a completely new level. Needlessly to say, that makes tracks anything but repetitive, but even that unrepetitiousness can be annoying sometimes, especially when the really good part is replaced with really uninteresting part. For example, Reniform Puls starts off pretty cool with some liquid synths and neat programming, but after 3 minutes it transforms into uninspiring fast wankery. Such a shame. However, not everything is bad. 6IE.CR resembles a lot to Pen Expers, which is a very nice compliment, and P.:NTIL is simply breathtaking in use of its unique sounding special effects. Maybe my opinion about this album is still not final (Autechre's music usually improves with repeated listens), but it's pretty safe to say that this is the first ocassion on which Ae didn't fulfill the expectations and surpass the previous album.

Highlights: Reniform Puls, 6IE.CR, P.:NTIL
Rating: 7/10

UNTILTED [2005]
Tracklist:
01. LCC
02. Ipacial Section
03. Pro Radii
04. Augmatic Disport
05. Iera
06. Fermium
07. The Trees
08. Sublimit

First, this album has a name - it's Untilted, not Untitled as many people like to call it. Now that we cleared that up, let's say something about it. This one should have been the real successor to Confield, not because it sounds most similar to it, but because quality-wise it's much superior to Draft 7.30. Autechre sounds hefty and confidential again, and the first track already, agressive starting LCC, implies that we're gonna listen to utterly different Ae from that of Draft. As the album opener continues, we're even faced with melodic content, which is, although quite dark and obscure, a welcome change as well, and which maintains to appear throughout the whole album. Ipacial Section is another one of those tracks with a thousand faces, that starts like a typical noisy, messy and barely listenable track from Draft 7.30, but develops into a quite chilling glitchy fun. Both Iera and Pro Radii (with its cool "digitally tribal" atmosphere) have a very pleasurable beginning, however they dramatically change towards the end, Pro Radii for better, and Iera for worse. The latter one even employs that irritating technique (widely used on Draft 7.30) where it seems like the two different tracks are playing at the same time. But after Iera, this album gets incredibly strong, and elegantly flows towards the end without a filler. The last track however, monstrously epic Sublimit has to be mentioned, since it provides a deserving ending to this brilliant album. It starts like an unusual electro chiptune-ish fun, which evolves into a highly sophisticated repetitive synth-driven symphony, full of strange percussion and tiny noises mashed together, that could go on forever without becoming boring. It unfortunately ends after almost 16 minutes, which makes it one of the longest Ae tracks. For a moment it seemed like Autechre went downhill, after they released mediocre Draft 7.30 and decided not to release a mandatory EP between the two albums, but this album puts them back on top, where they deserve to be, and makes us even more antsy about their next effort.

Highlights: Sublimit, Fermium, Augmatic Disport
Rating: 9/10