Probably the best, certainly the most awe-inspiring, boundary-pushing electronic artist of all time, for meā¦ and thereās some stiff competition.
Their music often demands a lot of listening to reveal itself but it always pays off. Iāve often found that each album clicks only after the next album drops. That might not sound enjoyable but, honestly, it is.
I first heard them back at university in 1993 when I picked up Incunabula from the uni CD library. Windwind had been playing for about 20 minutes before I realised there was this perfect skip that had created a locked groove effect. Bloody students.
In the context of Warpās original Artificial Intelligence series, Incunabula wasnāt the best release (Bytes was) but it was the most mysterious, with its otherwordly take on Detroit techno. The Warp Tapes 89-93 release they put out a year or two ago shows their gestation up to that point.
Amber had me completely hooked and the Garbage EP is just as good. More complex rhythms, bright sonics, melodic experimentation and some enormous outros, particularly on Piezo and Garbagemx36. It makes me chuckle to read that Rob and Sean have since described Amber as ācheesyā. Yeah, more accessible than everything that followed but just as good.
Tri Repetae is darker, colder and this is where everyone reaches for machine and factory metaphors to describe the sound because comparisons with other artists start to break down. Clipper and Eutow are obvious highlights but some of the other, more subtle tracks like Rsdio repay repeated listens.
Chiastic Slide is different again. Together with Envane, Autechreās hip hop roots are more obvious here, but subjected to radioactive decay. They also started to decay their rhythms within tracks here, with the effect that tunes like Cipater completely evolve. Cichli and Nuane are my picks here.
LP5 was cleaner, almost sterile in places, but I donāt mean that in a bad way. I can never get enough of the thin synth tones on Acroyear2ā¦ and no Arch Carrier, no Kid A, eh?
EP7 marked a transition out to Confield and Draft 7.30. This whole period was very difficult to get into as a fair bit of the music feels alienating and is incredibly subtle. VI Scose Poise from Confield, for example, doesnāt sound like it is doing anything at first but - just like most of their later period work - thereās always an āoh yeah!ā moment after a few listens. The twisted hip hop of Pen Expers is my fave from Confield, maybe Surripere from Draft. Untilted is a rhythmic assault and the most fascinating Ae album, I reckon.
Quaristice felt like a reboot. 20 tracks, most very short by Autechre standards, it was interesting but the real gold is in the companion (Versions) album and the Quadrange EP. I liked what they were doing here by remixing and rearranging the sketches.
Oversteps is a wonderful album, their warmest since Amber and with some surprising flourishes, such as the harpsichord sound on known(1). see on see has these wonderful tumbling synth melodies and d-sho qub has swagger.
Exai and elseq 1-5 have some major highlights but are generally harder to get into due to their length (2 and 4 hours, respectively). Donāt get me wrong, Iād rather have a 4 hour Ae album to dig into than a 60 minute one, but it takes a bit of breaking up to digest. acdwn2 from elseq 4 blows my mind every time.
When the NTS sessions came along I decided to completely immerse myself in it and listened to it pretty much exclusively for 6 weeks. The release of each of the 4 volumes over 4 weeks helped. Despite some very long track lengths, I think this is my favourite Ae album (if you even consider it to be a unified release). There is variety and playfulness here that I wasnāt hearing so much on the other post-Oversteps albums. Highlights are xflood, e0, tt1pd and glos ceramic.
Finally, there are Sign and Plus. I still cannot get into either of these two like the other albums but then, like I said before, sometimes that only happens when they release something different againā¦ and, letās be honest, itās still Autechre and therefore streets ahead of most of music.
Theyāve always kept moving on (at great pace in the 90s) and have never failed to impress. I just hope they keep making music into their old age.