| Track: | Rating: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Foil | | | | | |
| 2. Montreal | | | | | |
| 3. Silverside | | | | | |
| 4. Slip | | | | | |
| 5. Glitch | | | | | |
| 6. Piezo | | | | | |
| 7. Nine | | | | | |
| 8. Further | | | | | |
| 9. Yulquen | | | | | |
| 10. Nil | | | | | |
| 11. Teartear | | | | | |
Autechre are one of the leading lights of the "intelligent techno" movement which has surfaced in recent years (and which has already divided itself into a series of sub-genres, such that the original term may already be useless). As per the methods favoured by FSOL, Aphex Twin and others, Booth & Brown have crafted a series of albums resonating of both a strong Brian Eno influence and the marketplace of genuinely "alternative" night-haunts. They've issued releases under a variety of names, but the Autechre name has been used for their most prominent material.
This medium differs from traditional "progressive" music in that instrumental virtuosity is generally not required. Aside from this, the two mediums have much in common, as many other critics have already noted -- both are notable for a rejection of the conventional "song" format, a focus on new technology in creating music and, perhaps most importantly, a will to creating music of an extremely adventurous nature.
With fusion jazz no longer operating on full cylinders, this medium has become the most prominent manifestation of "progressive" tendencies in the current market (and, not surprisingly, a backlash has been occurring from the older anti-prog school for some time now, perhaps most notably in negative commentary on recent Orb releases). Some might argue that the genre may be more closely linked to "psychedelia" than "progressive music" per se; to me, though, this strikes me as more a different of semantics than anything else.
In spite of this, reaction to these newer ambient forms from the older progressive community has been muted at best. While some artists (Fripp, Eno, Hillage, some members of Gong, etc) have made guest appearances on the leading albums of the genre, the actual level of interaction between the two communities on a lower level sometimes appears to be next to naught. The "new progressive" bands generally don't tend to display any signs of having been influenced by the new electronica heroes, nor does there seem to be a strong degree of interaction among the two fan bases (though there are exceptions, of course).
The purpose of this review, then, is to assist in contributing to a greater understanding of the potential links between the two communities. Now that "electronica" seems to have gone past its initial creative burst, after all, it may be high time for neighbouring genres to experiment in combining and unifying the forms involved.
Autechre aren't quite as well-known as the other leading figures of the genre, nor are they necessarily as ground-breaking or distinctive. But they do have an obvious talent for crafting memorably ambient rhythms, and the second half of Amber might easily rate with the best works of the field.
The album begins in a comparatively dance-oriented manner, gradually becoming more esoteric as it develops. The first two songs are easily the most "populist", and suffer to some degree from the trappings which this term implies. "Feel", like most of the tracks on the release, features a pulsating tone with percussive additions and "trance" effects; direct similarities to The Orb or Aphex Twin are easily attainable to those curious. A bit of abrasive ambience occurs towards the end, but this track is ultimately held back from true greatness by its fairly basic structure and patterns of repetition. "Montreal" features strong "beat" presence, similar of mid-period New Order, accompanied by assorted ambient waves in the background; I would suppose that this number is pretty much a definition of the "intellectual techno" genre at its most fundamental level. The New Order-ish keys eventually come to dominate the track, with the beat fading out towards the very end. Both of these are very good numbers, but lack the truly great qualities of later sections of the work.
"Silverside" features a distorted vocal exchange overtop of high- treble percussion; ambient tones (similar, from a progressive perspective, to Fripp & Eno's work) match this fairly well, and there seems to be more going on here than in the previous numbers. A case could be made that the repetition of the distorted vocals is a tad on the "gimmicky" side, but this a definite improvement.
"Slip" begins with what might best be described as "retro" keyboard sounds, accompanied by a scrambled signal sample. I'm tempted to believe that the amateurishness of this section was a deliberate effect, perhaps used to cleverly segue into the more developed sections later in the work (the rudimentary drum patterns at the beginning are probably no coincidence either). The track does eventually mutate into a satisfying "trance" number, and merits "cleverness points" for its general structure. Progressive fans might identify that Tony Banks could have easily used these keyboard sounds in his more creative moments, though that could just be the retro qualities shining through.
"Glitch" begins with extremely harsh tones, along with an extremely "tight" drum sound. The development which follows is fairly interesting as well, in the "trance" style of course. I really don't have too much to say about the form of this one, except to note that it was extremely well done (thereby setting the stage for the subsequent numbers).
The track entitled "Piezo" is an adventure, crossing from its dance-oriented beginnings, through a passage of truly demented keyboards and distorted vocals to an extremely moving ambient section (for which the dominant beat of the first section almost entirely disappears). At a length of eight minutes, it has plenty of time to elaborate on this process in clever and enthralling ways. From this point on, the album makes a switch from being "very good" to approaching a "classic" rating.
"Nine" is a brief number -- a summarization of Autechre's general sound, it would seem -- but no less enjoyable. Some might detect a Synergy influence in the introductory tones, but that might perhaps be somewhat of a stretch. What is certain, however, is that this track easily has the most prominent melody of all on the album -- a space- oriented construction oddly similar to "Yours Is No Disgrace" in some ways. An excellent number, despite its abbreviated length.
"Further" may be the best track on the album. Beginning with keys akin to dripping water and clockwork percussion, the track shifts between themes at a higher level of internal complexity than elsewhere on the release -- movements from ambience to rhythm to abrasiveness are quite common here. The ambient section which closes the track seems highly appropriate in context as well.
"Yulquen" is an effective number in its starkness, lacking the strong "beat" presence that marks the other tracks on the release. The number depends almost entirely on shifts in tone for its development, and does this quite well.
Perhaps not surprisingly, this then leads to "Nil", which turns the rhythmic orientation to the foreground. With a strong melodic presence, a trance-invoking structure and a "stop and start" approach to the rest of the track, this is a highly impressive work as well. The pulsating tone at the end of the work has a strongly Frippian presence about it, it's worth noting.
And, finally, we have "Teartear". Beginning with a tone similar to that on Eno's Apollo album, a martial beat soon joins the general process. More Banks-esque keyboard sounds appear, and a lead ambient melody emerges. After the beat ceases in mid-track, a surprisingly "proggy" keyboard section can distinctly be heard; the beats them return over this at a rather faster speed. This number seems an appropriate conclusion to the work in its combination of action and reflection.
This album will probably not appeal to those whose interests in progressive music are limited to studies of scale variations and bombastic effects, but those interested in exploring newer manifestations of the adventurous "spirit" that drove the original progressive groups might find quite a bit to work with here. Recommended as such.
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 8 April 1998)