Before most of us had a home computer, much less any sense of
good graphic and sound design, Sean Booth and Rob Brown were dreaming
up tones and images that would eventually become a guiding force in
electronic music. The two formed Autechre, one of the few bands that
have managed to successfully build themselves into an enterprise over
the course of their career. Cited as an influence by Thom Yorke in the
crafting of Kid A and Amnesiac, and taking a substantial
role in the branding of the IDM image, Autechre has had a far reaching
impact on the machine music world. The band is modest about their
importance, but in the last 15 years they have spun a large part of the
aesthetic sphere that surrounds the modern techno tastemaker.
Their aesthetic consists of paranormal, robotic minimalism imbued
with a peculiar mystery, an ominous overtone insinuating a larger
unknown. Much of their visual imagery can be attributed to the
Designers Republic, the once anti-establishment design collective that,
like Autechre, started stirring in Sheffield, England in the late
1980s. Their album art is bizarre, ranging from unearthly landscape
photos with barely-there text to solid color backgrounds with
institutional-style block fonts implying a soulless,
Gattaca-like existence.
The Autechre sound has morphed over the years, becoming increasingly
experimental amid praise and protest. Their early work is fairly
accessible, with songs that are somewhat danceable, or at the very
least, melodic and palatable. After a few well-received releases,
Autechre started generating more grotesque, perplexing sounds, and
placing them in unconventional song structures. Many fans found the new
direction off-putting, but the resulting spastic soundscapes
strengthened their stripped-down, science-fiction style.
Even the words used for album titles and track names seem to come
from a different language. Not a foreign language, but an alien one.
The first full-length album, Incubala, was followed up over the
years with track names like “Pule,” “Inhake 2,” “Parhelic Triangle,”
and “Teartear.”
Their ninth album, Quaristice, recently released on premier
experimental label Warp Records, is a fitting next step in Autechre’s
discography. It clicks perfectly into the aesthetic framework the band
has established over the years, and in a way, mirrors their entire
career—cutting-edge, unpredictable, and lacking any sort of
binding theme. Although the listener is eased in with “Altibzz,” a
dreamy and atmospheric track suggestive of earlier ambient work, the
very next track lurches out, sounding like it accidentally started
somewhere in the middle of the song, instead of at the beginning. The
remaining 18 tracks are similarly at odds, some jarring and abstruse,
some pleasantly atmospheric, all sharing a common mood of
abnormality.
Highly regarded as a pioneering force in their genre, Autechre has
plenty of die-hard fans that swear Booth and Brown are the founders of
all concepts experimental and electronic in nature. Of course, they are
not the nucleus of the IDM universe to everyone, but their vision does
distinctly inform the electronic music domain. Always evading
suggestions that they are keystone artists in their genre, Autechre
keep a quiet profile and rarely tour the United States—an
apposite bit of mystery that makes this live appearance all the more
exciting.