(:PARENTHETICAL:) Autechre (“AWE-teh-ker”) have consistently unleashed extremely challenging, but engaging sounds that constantly skim the boundaries between unfettered noise and skillfully crafted digital landscapes with a tiny heart beating somewhere underneath the cold circuits and processors. Their full-lengths have grown from pulsing, arctic, electro skate jams (Incunabula, Amber) to barely contained jittery IDM freQ-iness (Autechre, EP7). Despite their progressive phases, Autechre have always maintained an anarchic approach to sound manipulation, a complete reliance on the programmed and synthetic, a wildly diverse cast of moods on a record, and a significant dose of first wave hip-hop swagger. Draft 7.30 is their most realized work yet, because while the album boasts the typical Autechre variety, all the tracks seem cut from a large, continuous digital mold. After repeated listens, it’s clear all the noises and synths and drums come from the same constellation of sounds. I’d heard rumors that Autechre were going chill for this release, after the chaotic belches and whirrs from the last couple EPs. I’d say this is both true and not true. Some tracks on Draft 7.30 are as abrasive as anything from EP7, but they are tempered with (relatively) more restrained, meditative tracks. Autechre have lost none of their intensity and experimentation; they’ve only expanded into additional territory as well, producing smoldering classics like “SURRIPERE,” which is undoubtedly one of the best Autechre tracks in their ten-year history. The track-by-track rundown:
1. XYLIN ROOM – 20 seconds of subliminal rumblings explode into frenetic squiggles. Organic, muted percussion skitters in the background, revealing an erratic, but nearly predictable rhythm. Synths reel and multiply. Clanging bells and vibes punctuate the blank spaces =========Deconstruction into static and a sine wave ____-_--_>>--___ZzZZZZzzzZzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!
2. IV VV IV VV VIII – Hollow horror film stabs. An insect drone and syncopated drum pad percussion. More insistent rhythm, ebbs and flows and blips refract. Stuttering crashes of snares pinging against Amiga pixel fractals of sound.
3. 6IE.CR – Industrial robot pop ‘n lock with 80s Detroit synth stabs, with Thrill Kill Kult high-hat action. Casio goth techno funk. (Fade to black) : gentle washes of 3am piano+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
4. TAPR – Blade runner strings and Herbie Hancock hand-claps. Scrapes of analog. Backward >> looped chords and tones.
5. SURRIPERE – Dramatic. Gltichy percussion, a deep Jan Hammer groove, and warm cozy throbs of drone. Pops and clicks and insistent chords. Dissolves into caustic slices of brutal NoISe. (Also see: Massive Attack & King Tubby )
6. THEME OF THE SUDDEN ROUNDABOUT - Direct from the smokestacks of South London: KASr23-p0^^^%%g.d………yYy//oadcp22-‘{{{SAD}.
7. VL AL 5 – Slow pulsing NIN beat. Echoing pings and strums float over the top of subtle swells of static and a stark, diluted piano ))
8. P.NTIL – An insistent knocking and syncopated conga anchored by a solid slow-mo electro strut. Flat squelches rub against chiming flourishes of keys. Dissipates into a hive of hissing …loops . and . . . pops.
9. V-PROC – Skipping Front 242 clang Wild Style breakdance jam. Kool Moe Dee breaks pierced with industrial cacophony. (SYNTAX/comm – who has the boombox?)
10. RENIFORM PULS – Transmissions from Mars - atonal lounge style. Planets whirl through the punctured black construction paper sky ::::::::::::::: Air meets Mira “Ms. ½ of Autechre” Calix. PowerMac Nursery rhyme mitosis. Tribal loops set reeling at slightly different times drift below the horizon as hushed static blows out the light. (__________)
* Best experienced in a black cashmere sweater and blindfold,
sipping a highball glass brimming with toner.
- Chris Harper
