AUTECHRE: EP7 (1999)
1) Rpeg; 2) Ccec; 3) Squeller;
4) Left Blank; 5) Outpt; 6) Dropp; 7) Liccflii; 8) Maphive 6.1; 9) Zeiss
Contarex; 10) Netlon Sentinel; 11) Pir.
As you may have noticed, I generally leave
Autechre's EPs unreviewed — most of them can be viewed as little satellites of
the accompanying LPs, and dedicating separate space to them would be a waste of
time more often than not — but this particular release is actually a
combination of two EPs, released separately as EP1 and EP2, and, in
between them, running for about an hour. Since there is no principal thematic
difference between the two anyway, it is easier to simply think about the whole
thing as one more large opus, and tackle it that way.
Not that there is any grand new world to tackle
here. Both EPs seem like temporary stopgaps to me, continuing the generally
stable Autechre pattern: «one conceptual breakthrough» — «one well-crafted, but
lazy follow-up, fed by the old formulae». The only curious thing about EP7, in that respect, is that it is the
first (or at least the first large-size) Autechre release to feature a limited
amount of vocal samples (on ʽCoecʼ and ʽZeiss Contarexʼ). If there is any
effect to it, it's most likely to be «disorientation» — all the vocals are garbled
and run through Booth and Brown's precious waves of static, so that you get
impressions of degraded biopatterns stuck in Star Trek transporters or
something like that.
Static, by the way, heavily dominates these
EPs, even if, altogether, there may again be more traces of ambient-ish
melodicity here than on LP5. The
seven minutes of the appropriately titled ʽLeft Blankʼ, for instance, is simply
all static mixed with PC speaker
bleeps, plinks, and plonks that remind me of old arcade games circa 1985 or so.
On ʽOutptʼ, they try to tune that static and maybe even make it rock — good
idea, because every microprocessor with the tiniest bit of self-respect needs
to learn to rock'n'roll sooner or later. On ʽLiccfliiʼ, they seem to be giving
the static a lesson in hip-hop, but the way I see it, static waves are just too
stubborn to assimilate that much learning over such a brief time period.
The only track that seemed relatively
unpredictable to me here was ʽMaphive 6.1ʼ, where both the static and the
«microchip percussion» suddenly disappeared, replaced by a mesh of keyboard
patterns (some pseudo-electric pianos, some pseudo-organs, some
pseudo-harpsichords, some pseudo-chimes, even some pseudo-glass harps and
vibraphones, whatever) and «normal» electronic percussion that comes and goes
at will. Not only does the whole thing create a mood that is almost critically
«non-Autechre», but its overall degree of complexity seems staggeringly high
for these guys, who usually prefer minimalistic layering. On the other hand, I
am not really sure what exactly it is doing here, locked in a cage of static
waves and clicks on all sides.
The most individualistic thing I can say about EP7 is that much of it does a damn good
job of dispensing with «tone» as some sort of prerequisite in music. Just turn
on your radio and choose whichever configuration of static agrees the most with
your biorhythms. Yes, ʽMaphive 6.1ʼ seems to go against that idea, but that's
the trick with Autechre — they never hit you in the face with their
philosophies. There's always a red herring in the woodpile, if you know what I
mean. But then, if not for that track, I would not have hesitated about a
thumbs down, probably.
Ooh, I love the cover art. Reminds me of Faunts (one of my very favourite bands).
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that "Maphive 6.1" samples an old SNES game. The "pseudo"-instruments that you mention sound exactly like the samples that those games used.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I was wondering what those blurry "instruments" reminded me of for the longest time.
Delete>The only curious thing about EP7, in that respect, is that it is the first (or at least the first large-size) Autechre release to feature a limited amount of vocal samples (on ʽCoecʼ and ʽZeiss Contarexʼ).
ReplyDeleteAmber did that five years earlier on "Silverside" and "Teartear", and it was an official album (as if "EP" is any meaningful distinction when Autechre's involved).
what about fucking basscadet from the debut?
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