Disco de Autechre: “Gantz Graf [DVD Single]”

In one jewel case (about as thick as two CD jewel cases, and both a little taller and deeper than a standard jewel case) you get two discs, both the "Grantz Graf" CD EP and an accompanying DVD (which plays fine on US players). The CD itself is great, of course -a more or less expected continuation of the direction Ae had been moving in with "Confield." Short length (under 20 mins) stops this from being the most crucial Autechre recording, but I very much recommend it (but then I recommend every Autechre and Gescom release). The DVD features Alex Rutterford's animated video for the title track, which is impressive and a good fit to the insane rhythm of the music. And as a bonus, the DVD also includes two archival videos. The first is a video for an abridged version of "Second Bad Vilbel," directed by Aphex Twin and Björk vid director Chris Cunningham. Its really quite nice (it would be great to see a DVD come out compiling his video work). The second is a video for "Bass Cadet," directed by Jess Scott Hunter. This one's pretty dated. Its the kind of old-school computer graphics and techno-y looking atmospherics you'd expect for an electronic music video from the early `90s.

All in all, a very nice offering for all of us longtime Ae fans. Be advised that, as this DVD package DOES come with the CD as well, there is no need to buy both this and the "Grantz Graf" CD. There's nothing on the individually packaged CD to necessitate purchasing both, as I unwisely did (although the CD packaging fits more neatly on the shelf than the DVD packaging does - see above). But for new Ae fans, I probably recommend something like "EP7," "LP5," or "Chiastic Slide" to start with instead.

Autechre blazed new pathways for electronica in the mid 90's. Now they're doing it again with this great double CD set. I watched the DVD the other night and when it ended, after pushing my jaw back up, whispered... "...". Tonight I listened to the audio CD and I must say it's good to hear Autechre taking risks again. There's nothing like listening to Autechre in the dark.

It probably wasn't evident with their first few releases but it seems that Autechre has been drifting further and further away from any hope of comprehension since Incunabula. Each release gets more and more immediately inaccessible, and is met with either direct disgust, cautious head-scratching, or unfounded adoration. Reading more and more reviews of this release I suddenly came to the realization that Autechre is completely unreviewable. Some reviews call it a return to dancier beats, some complain of a complete lack of direction. Admittedly, upon first listen of the title track I was totally confounded that anyone could think of attaching danceable with this. However, to even begin describing it would be insulting to both the written word and Autechre's audio.

So what happens now; this is supposed to be a review, but I've explicitly said that the CD is unreviewable. My only suggestion is that you listen to nothing, expect nothing, and read nothing on this band, but that you just dive in head first and buy something, perhaps start with Incunabula, perhaps start with this. My only caveat is: if you do not want challenging music, go nowhere near this. If you have had experiences before where a piece of music has elicited horror or apathy only to be embraced as the savior of music upon further listens, then check into Autechre.

Buying the DVD version offers a perfect representation of this ineffableness, Gantz-Graft is imagined as a spiraling bursting ball of electronic wave, whereas Chris Cunningham's revamped Second Bad Vilbel Video shows the track as video noise.