AUTECHRE: DRAFT 7.30 (2003)
1) Xylin Room; 2) IV VV IV VV
VIII; 3) 6IE.CR; 4) TAPR; 5) Surripere; 6) Theme Of Sudden Roundabout; 7) VL AL
5; 8) P.:NTIL; 9) V-PROC; 10) Reniform Puls.
The most revolutionary thing about Autechre's
seventh LP is probably the song titles. Where they used to read like ordinary
words garbled through electronic malfunctioning, these already look more like random strings extracted from
sequences of machine code. And yet, at the same time, lo and behold, one of the titles is a noun phrase in ye
good old plain Aenglisc, even though the sonics behind it sound no different
from everything else. Ah, say what you will, but this duo simply refuses to be
pigeonholed. Predictable stereotypes? Leave them for unimaginative suckers like
the Beatles or Frank Zappa.
Other than the letters, though, Draft 7.30 should not come across as a
major revelation to those who already know the whole story. It regresses a bit
from the standards of Confield —
once again, notes, tones, and hums get louder and fussier, drawing attention
slightly away from the beats, as if they'd realized themselves that with the
percussion paradise of Confield,
they let their boldness carry them a bit too
far. But in doing that, they are really
«going back», losing their grip on the art of radical innovation. Scramble
these tracks and the ones from LP5,
and the only immediately felt difference is that Draft 7.30, like Confield, is «hoarser» and «hissier», generating
a strictly «computer» ambience rather than trying to expand into outer space.
And I am afraid that difference no longer plays
into the hands of Booth and Brown. There is only so much whooshing, scraping,
dialing, ringing, pinging, and plinging that one can eat up before the
inevitable question — «and...?» If Confield
could have got you a-thinking about whether or not this could be the music of
tomorrow in an alternate, post-Heat Death reality, Draft 7.30 will only get you a-thinking once more about what you
have already a-thought before, presumably more than once. Where are the new
sensations? Bring on the new sensations already! Why should it take us more
than a decade to study this sub-atomic zoo?
In all honesty, this album is neither
emotionally seductive nor intellectually provocative: it is simply boring. Yes,
the rhythms are still complex and diverse, but you'd think that, with the kind
of creative experience these guys have accumulated, they'd be able to come up with
a bunch of those in a matter of several hours or so. Worst thing about it, the
individual tracks no longer have any individuality — lower your attention a bit,
and you won't be able to tell where one stops and the next one begins, except for
maybe a jarring change of rhythmics from time to time. They all just sort of roll
along, at the same tempos, with the same gloomy attitude. Ever been a fan of
standing in front of a large anthill and stubbornly watching them ants run
along in all directions? Well, just replace the ants with electrons, and you
have yourself your Draft 7.30.
Not that there is anything criminal about that
— it was fairly clear that it would be tremendously hard to follow Confield with something equally
puzzling or provoking. As usual, long-term fans with appropriately wired brains
and a good deal of loyal patience will find plenty of opportunities here. But
for those of us who would rather like to nibble on different pebbles of the
musical kaleidoscope, Draft 7.30 might
be easy to skip. Thumbs down for a lack of imaginativeness, which, I think,
is the most offensive accusation one can throw at Autechre (I tried!).
Check "Draft 7.30" (MP3) on Amazon
And I'm completely unsurpassed by this review. In fact this was how I felt on first hearing Draft back 9 years ago.
ReplyDeleteDrums, bangs, booms, zips, FM screeches, and occasionally - maybe - a melody, if they can be bothered. Of course fans love this album and Untilted for similar reasons: they both "bang hard" with intense, hard-hitting, complex rhythms. But they're utterly cold, ultimately rather repetitive (yes!) exercises in rhythmic noisemaking that lost all of the positives of their 90s material (cool alien melodies and atmospheres married to off-kilter drums and time signatures).
Draft is still as wretched as the day it was released. Let the snobs enjoy it if they want, it leaves me with a headache. Oversteps is massively superior in pretty much every department.
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