AUTECHRE: QUARISTICE (2008)
1) Altibzz; 2) The Plc; 3) IO;
4) plyPhon; 5) Perlence; 6) SonDEremawe; 7) Simmm; 8) paralel Suns; 9) Steels;
10) Tankakern; 11) rale; 12) Fol3; 13) fwzE; 14) 90101-5l-l; 15) bnc Castl; 16)
Theswere; 17) WNSN; 18) chenc9; 19) Notwo; 20) Outh9X.
Finally, time for some change... cosmetic
change, that is. Quaristice is said
to have grown out of a lengthy, spontaneous «jam session» by Booth and Brown,
over which they managed to overload their fantasies and create innumerable
sequences of sequences. Consequently the sequences were sequenced into somewhat
inconsequential subsequences, so that Quaristice
consists of a record-setting twenty tracks, few of them running over four
minutes — rather a rude violation of Autechre's normal work philosophy, I'd
say.
Those who are particularly disturbed by this
rudeness will probably want to own the limited edition 2-CD version of the
album; the second CD consisted of several alternate versions, presented closer
to their original incarnations and our usual expectations of Autechre.
Basically, you not only get to see the idea as such — you get to see its birth,
growth, maturation, gradual and painful realization of its utter
meaninglessness / uselessness, and, finally, its slow death from natural causes
or a quickly staged suicide.
The main LP generally focuses on the idea
itself — one of Autechre's usual grooves, reduced to mini-size. Supposedly,
this should give Quaristice a more
dynamic aspect: instead of just chillin' out to long patches of ambient waves
or sweetly purring microchips, you get to see rapid changes of texture that may
or may not form a musical story. Who knows, you might even start making
predictions about what's it's gonna be like five minutes from now — a situation
formerly unthinkable with Autechre (because the most likely outcome is — «five
minutes from now, it's going to be exactly
as it is right now, plus a jackhammer»).
Problem is, apart from shorter track lengths,
the only shift is backwards: they are continuing the subtle regression to the
«icy» atmosphere of their early albums. Most of the percussion parts are
heavier, once again with an industrial flavor, and the accompanying
minimalistic keyboard parts speak either of the hand of doom or of the face of
eternity. The opening track is so deceptively serene you'd think they were
covering a Brian Eno sonic painting — but once ʽThe Plcʼ breaks through with
its jiggly beats, paranoid pseudo-record-scratching noises and cold blasts of
MIDI winds, it's back to old school again. Very
old, as a matter of fact.
On the other hand, I fully admit that
«atmospherics» is back here, in a big, big way. The whole thing should be
played loud, in headphones, preferably in a dark room, and eventually these sonic
waves will flush you out in outer space, rather than cram you inside your dusty
computer processor. But the «individual» tracks, short or long, do not really
work as individual tracks — at best, they work as one more soundtrack to the
art of running along the streets of an alien world. Each street has a finite
length, yet few, if any, have an unforgettable face of their own.
Cutting a long digression in half, Quaristice is a fairly «normal» record
compared to everything post- and including Confield,
and it will probably stimulate an easier and clearer emotional response than
the pretentious conundrums of its predecessors. There is nothing too radically
innovative about it, though, and the emotional response itself smells a little
moldy, so you will just have to decide for yourselves. Nothing unlistenable
here, but still recommended only for absolute beginners or total experts.
Check "Quaristice" (MP3) on Amazon
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