The Yes of Techno
After listening to Autechre I feel a bit like I did with Yes last week where I wrote:
What to make of them? Are they musical geniuses or just random noodlers? Does their music have structure and form or is it all over the place without any context or continuity?
That statement can pretty much apply to Autechre’s Untilted album (note un-tilt-ed, not untitled). It is pretty full on. Very industrial techno recorded at a breakneck bpm.
Like being locked in a cold dark shipping container whilst being repeatedly hit over the head with a metal baseball bat.
So like much of Yes the music is seemingly random on first hearing but all the more interesting for that. And like all interesting music it does something odd to your mind. I would start with small doses though — the whole album in one sitting is quite a challenge.
Remarkably the apparent randomness has a deliberate provenance. In 1994 Autechre released the track Flutter as part of their Anti EP in protest against the new Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of that year. The Act prohibited “raves” which were defined as gatherings of 9 or more people where music characterized by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats was played. Autechre responded with the notice that Flutter had been programmed in such a way that no bars contain identical beats and can therefore be played under the new law. However they also advised DJs to have a lawyer and musicologist present at all times to confirm the non repetitive nature of the music in the event of police harassment!
There are quite a lot of duo electronic artists out there — Boards of Canada, Kruder and Dorfmeister, Chemical Brothers etc. I don’t suppose they necessarily need two to record the music, but maybe an extra pair of hands is necessary to “play” it “live”?
