Autechre Album: “Autechre”

After being blown away by this album for the upteenth time, I decided I might as well write a review. This is an album that I listened to occasionally for a few months, finding it interseting, enjoyable, but not stiking me as being one of their better works, before it snuck up on me and I had an an oh s#%t revelation. Thus leading me to the conclusion that it's the best album they've produced (followed closely by Confield) and one of the best electronic albums(or albums period) ever.

This music isn't drill n'bass, so comparisons to Aphex, or Squarepusher don't make any sense, honestly theres not much that came before or since that this resembles. The rhythms are fascinating, based on a primary groove, usually kept by an insistent pounding bass drum, it's pattern varying mathmatically but never straying completely from the initial rhythm. That bass is then more or less ensconced with various elements, that run off in rhythmic tangents, while brilliantly acting as texture and melody as well. What also blows me away is that using the same very intense, dense noisy sound structure for all of the songs, and similar textural concepts, Autechre are still able to create emotional mood swings from one piece to the next; from angry banging industrial/hiphop type numbers (acroyear2/777/underBOAC) to contemplative & melancholic (Rae/Vose In/Fold4Wrap5/Drane2). They don't go quiet and ambient for sad sections, or harsh & fast when they want to be hard, all emotions are contained in a single musical concept.

Speaking of emotion and concept, the euphoric/bittersweet tone of Drane2, along with it's strange and imaginative instrumentation and application, make it one of the most brilliant songs I've ever heard. Although I think that can be said for this album in general. Maybe you'll agree, maybe you won't. All that's above is the conclusion I've come to, open up your mind and your ears and decide for yourself.

It's difficult for me to accept that someone would put this *beneath* Autechre's older work. I guess if you just like to "chill" with your music (that is to say, you like easily grasped loops and grooves that don't challenge you as a listener), then this wouldn't be your cup of tea. Not to say that there's anything wrong with music like that, and I do think highly of albums like Incunabula and Amber in their own way. But to me LP 5 is Autechre advancing into new territory that is far more exciting, complex, and intoxicating than anything that's come before. The music is busy and densely-layered, the loops complicated and constantly shifting, the melodies buried into the abrasive techno around them with an original and oddly lovely result. If you want something to smoke weed to, or to fall asleep to, go with Amber or Incunabula, but if you want something really busy, surreal, and sonically amazing, go for LP 5.

Like Kraftwerk soundfiles buried and exhumed, Autechre's music has the regularity of organic forms decayed. It seems to want to recover its structure as if it were running an endless unsuccessful defrag on itself, and the sadness of this struggle gives the music tremendous weight and melancholy. Going beyond the massive but stuttering creativity of Chiastic Slide, LP5 re-renders techno as a timeless natural form.

This album really blew me away. Of course, it wasn't like that from the beginning, and it did take about 3 or 4 listens before I decided that I could swallow it. Just like Tri Repeatae showed a definate evolution from Autechre's earlier material, thier self titled "Autechre" shows an evolution from Tri Repeatae. These guys just keep getting more and more creative, and more self destructive. This is far and away one of the most disturbing alums I've heard all this year, and its definately not something one should fall asleep to. The rhythms are a little more complex this time around, with the exception of a couple songs that'll still fry your brain. The opening track lets the listener know that they aren't holding anything back, and it presents one of the sweetest uses of electronic percussion I've ever heard. I guess if one were to try to categorize it, they'd call it "electronic jazz"...on crack. At several points in the album I found myself asking the question "how the hell'd they come up with that?" and I think that every other autechre fan out there knows what I'm talking about. My favorite track would have to be Arch Carrier, as its definately the catchiest of them all, and it evolves from what sounds like a darker version of the nightrider theme into something incredibly destructive. They spared no creativity on this one. Buy it, immerse yourself, and play it loud. Someone's bound to go insane, at which point Autechre has succeeded in doing what they do. Lovely noise.

I would postpone getting this album if I were new to Autechre. I'm from the Tri Repetae++ camp though, and I'm sure some will not agree with my warning. To a lot of people Autechre's later work, to include this disc, will have a sound approaching the obtuse. The moments approaching melody on this album are certainly peerless, Drane2 comes to mind, in an genre where bands try to pack as many clicks and fuzz into a track as their pro-tools will let them. The later half of Autechre's library borders on production (...), and yet, they create a sound so unique that the more you listen, the more you hear. I don't know if that's true of a lot of the rip-off acts out there. Autechre is synonymous with craftsmanship and authenticity, but I think you need to follow their evolutionary trajectory to fully appreciate how sweet their music really is, because to listen to something as challenging as LP5, EP7, or their untitled album is to invite disappointment, and that's not what Autechre is supposed to do.