Autechre Quaristice review

Typed up by me...

Autechre's reputation for singularly intense electronica precedes them. No other alumnus of Warp's "Artificial Intelligence" albums, not even Aphex Twin, has sustained a trajectory of such relentless experimentation. The working methods of Autechre's Sean Booth and Rob Brown are closely guarded, but their music's teeming textures and structures suggest specially tweaked software and gigantic sound libraries, with both elements subject to some unseen forces of chance and chaos. Their reputation for sonic extremity can be somewhat overstated; their music also functions as a supremely forceful crowd mover in live situations, and steely shards of Old School electro are still visible through the cracks of their constructions. For the past ten years, though, the only thing predictable about their music has been its ever-advancing mutation.

By the time of the duo's 6th album, 2001's "Confield", experiencing their wormhole-like music seemed like observing, with a mixture of awe and bewilderment, the complex choreography of a robot factory. "You can almost follow it, because it works at the same pace your brain works", suggested Booth in 1997. It engages, but it can also overwhelm: their often lengthy tracks develop the duo's ideas seemingly unto infinity, as if processes have been set in motion which cannot be stopped.

So its always with a sense of trepidation that one listens to a new Autechre work for the first time. This cognitive workout can feel like a puzzle; it can even feel like an invasion, an alienating experience. 2003's "Draft 7.30" erupted with metallic textures that threatened to take over the music, a process akin to the slowly engulfed protagonist of Shinya Tsukamoto's "Tetsuo: The Iron Man"

"Untilted" (2005) was sharper and more piercing, with overlaying matrices of hard hitting beats. The albums themselves, with their minimalist artwork and the solitary clue "Production Booth/Brown" provide scant clues as to the exact mode of the music within. The one sure thing about Autechre's music seems to be its all consuming volatility.

"Quaristice" escapes even this definition. Straight away it seems that the music does not invade your cognitive space, but hangs in the background, waiting for you to engage with it. The opening track is an unashamedly lush electronic lament that feels almost nostalgic, and the 20 tracks here - at least double that of many Autechre albums - pursue a less mechanical rigour than of recent times. Instead, they reveal poetic ellipses and a sober, often spine tingling use of cold silence. The constituent elements of the tracks arrive in condensed, impressionistic waves rather than through exacting, process based engineering.

"Plyphon" is a case in point: beginning with lapping, reverbed and angular melodies which steadily take shape, it feels almost like it is undergoing some cosmic return, slipping back into existence rather than being built in a cold laboratory. The beatless tracks, of which there are many, often have a keen sense of the familiar: the opening track's chorused strings recall Carl Craig or The Black Dog. The album's closing two tracks, with their unresolved minor key and microtonal passages, recall the moodier zones of Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Works II". The textures are somewhat muted, giving the impression of once familar tones now faded and matured with age. Throughout, the motion of the music feels distinctly liquid, suggesting chemical processes like developing a photograph, rather than the usual studio graft of sculpting a rhythm track. Even the album title suggests the suspended, fluid textures of the music, with its round syllables and phonetic taste of 'liquorice'.

Looking back, there are clues to the elusive grace of "Quaristice" on preceeding album "Untilted". While its abrasive textures comfortably situate it as one of Autechre's more intense albums, the way its rhythms punch in and out, like a dub engineer working the faders, brought a human immediacy back to their work.

Quaristice's rhythmic tracks have a similarly hands on feel. Booth and Brown might share backgrounds in electro, but there are distinct touches of Acid here, perhaps the most unfashionable of all dance genres. Notwithstanding Acid's propensity for hoary, hedonistic synth-knob tweaking, it's probably the most tactile of electronic musics, and its globular, filtered basslines bubble away throughout the album. "Tankakern" sounds like a Richie Hawtin tracks played in a huge gasometer. Track 14, whose name is a string of numerals, similarly pairs decaying echoes with Acidic attack.

For a duo who have previously been all but impossible to pigeonhole, "Quaristice" somehow manages to reveal a still more elusive side to their music. Previously, the only thing predictable about Autechre has been their fanatical desire to push things forward, constantly tinkering with their music like inventors never able to leave their contraptions in a finished state. With the more chaotic extremes of their previous two albums, the constant, moment to moment unpredictability of the music had a price, namely the correspondingly predictable precariousness of the end product. With "Quaristice" the manic quality is contained.

Arguably, this new album has less of the sheer sonic bravado than we've become accustomed to. But if the will to create has been slightly tempered, this has opened up new areas for exploration. There's a less linear logic at work; many of Quaristice's short tracks feel like perfectly formed miniatures, ergonomic mobiles. Often, the oblique melodies recall the open ended, improvisational structures of gamelan.

That Autechre can still manage to spring a surprise after more than 15 years marks them out from the crowd. For all its high quality produce, the current world of electronic music can tend towards the predictable, with narrowing ranges of tempos and burgeoning microgenres. Techno and abstract electronica have their own established international networks (cosmopolitan megaclubs for the former, arts projects for the latter), both delivering high quality but generically focused music for demanding customers. In this context, Autechre's auteurist brilliance makes them a cause to be celebrated.

At times, their 9th album almost feels reflective: judiciously nostalgic for some of electronic music's past triumphs. For a group whose previous albums have signaled a relentless desire to singlehandedly push electronic forward, the ideas that Autechre are now taking stock and surveying the terrain they've mapped out suggests their best work might well be yet to come.

Ready for this to be leaked.

lol The Wire lol

Good read. Thanks for that.

I rarely enjoy reading reviews, is it me or did he actually say whether he liked it or not? He seemed just to give us a lesson on there past and people's perceptions of them, who cares? Just tell us your thoughts on the music.

Mind you- 'Beatless Tracks'.

thanks for the effort leterel.

beatless tracks? hmmm? useless beatless tracks? :(

I wanna hear this shit now goddammit

  tbio2007 said:

I rarely enjoy reading reviews, is it me or did he actually say whether he liked it or not? He seemed just to give us a lesson on there past and people's perceptions of them, who cares? Just tell us your thoughts on the music.

 

Mind you- 'Beatless Tracks'.

pretty obvious he likes it. nice to read an in-depth review of an album you're eagerly anticipating

thx for posting, leterel

wut, there's some acid in Quaristice? o.0

the whole album is just one 303 sequence on a loop.

and a breakdown on track 14.

overall i give it 6/π

what? no amen break?

didn't read this

good shot leterel

  qnio said:

what? no amen break?

they wasted the budget on a ridiculous amount of Superkings and Barr Cola.

it's what keeps the Autechre machine running.

  Rook said:

didn't read this

no shit? thx 4 the heads up

thanks for the stenography! but that was one of the worst reviews i've ever read! its obvious the reviewer has hardly a handle on the subject. flailing. waiting for a lucid review.

Heres the new Meshuggah if you still need it Leteral for your efforts. Thanks.

Thanks for typing this up man!

:heart:

no problem, and thanks to all 3 people who've sorted me out with that new meshuggah album

x

Awesome, can't wait for this...

Thanks for typing that up!

  Mugsey said:

Heres the new Meshuggah if you still need it Leteral for your efforts. Thanks.

 

 

 

what bitrate is that, i have it at 160kbps and it sounds like SHIT.

 

of course, i'll buy the album, but only if it's not actually a trebly mess like the 160kbps mp3s suggest.

usual Wire / Pitchfork style gibberish.

Some of it does resonate I guess, spent Friday night at Gump's giving it a seriously loud blast a couple of times through on the system - and got more familiar with it. The bottom end really is sweet as a nut. Proper chest rumblers at times.

The only thing I'd truly agree with on that review is the last paragraph - and even put that point to Sean... it does sound retrospective or reflective, as the Wire put it.

man, that must have taken ages to type out! cheers. i liked the part comparing the new material with gamelan as i know Ae are really into that. i wonder how that fits into things......?

  ~ism said:

usual Wire / Pitchfork style gibberish.

 

Some of it does resonate I guess, spent Friday night at Gump's giving it a seriously loud blast a couple of times through on the system - and got more familiar with it. The bottom end really is sweet as a nut. Proper chest rumblers at times.

 

The only thing I'd truly agree with on that review is the last paragraph - and even put that point to Sean... it does sound retrospective or reflective, as the Wire put it.

~ism:

reading that, something crosses my mind... 9th album, 20 songs, longest time spent in the making, etc., etc.... electronic music lauded as dead, perhaps the boys finally getting a bit bored.... Is Quaristice their swan song?

Thank you! that prologue was a bit excessive but besides that I sort of enjoyed the review.