ABLINEAR FREQUENCY MODULATION 2.0
Homage to Autechre - 21 November 2003

One day, I decided to do a show devoted to the Manchester duo and kings of IDM [intelligent dance music], Autechre [pronounced by them as "AWE-tek-er"]. Of course, there is more to it besides just following a momentary whim and desire. Eight days before the TX date, it would be the tenth anniversary of the release of Incunabula, released as part of the Artificial Intelligence series of Warp and the first Autechre release by Warp. Since that time, Autechre has changed and yet remained the same. The show started out with a fifteen-minute overview of Autechre and then the rest of the time was spent expounding on it. The result was the most concise explanation of Autechre that I have heard of on radio:

Kapol Introl - Incunabula [released on 29.11.1993 as WARP17]
This is the first track of the first album that Autechre ever released on Warp Records and reflects their early career when they were looked on as an interesting ambient group, interested in sounds and layering of sounds. This track allows makes an appearance in the Darren Aronofsky film PI where Max Cohen shaves off his head to reveal the enlarged vein from his brain that gave him his mathematical talents and then realizing that he intuitively knows the pattern of the stock market.

Cichli - Chiastic Slide [released on 17.02.1997 as WARP49]
This represents the state where Autechre maintained their ambient and melodic sensibilities but expanded the sonic palette. Here, grit and grind became part of their musical voice as well as warm analogue synthesized pads, resulting in a kind of "industrial IDM." The end result is very interesting and still very unique within Autechre's career.

Gantz Graf - Gantz Graf [released on 05.08.2002 as WAP256]
This represents the state where Autechre is now. Autechre is constantly seeking to push the boundaries of music technology in terms of sound reproduction and performance. In spite of their pension for experimentation, they still keep their sense of melody and beauty to avoid falling into the crowd of Venetian Snares, where experimentation is another form of wanking and there are just some outpourings that should not be publicised.

Basscadet - Incunabula
It is interesting to hear Autechre in its infancy. Here is the basis of the Autechre sound that would be present in future release: layering of rhythms a la African and Indian music, the appearance/disappearance/reappearance of certain musical fragments and yet the overall piece flows very well... as if the music was always meant to change but in a rational and easily explainable way. This would also be the first and only time that Autechre would release a single based on an existing album track.

Basscadet (Beaumonthannanttwomx) - Basscadet Mixes [released on 25.04.1994 as WAP44]
This is one of Beaumont Hannant's remixes of Basscadet that appears in the EP of the same name (both on CD and the now out-of-print 3*10" vinyl). Here the remix keeps the trance flow and plays the intricate rhythms with a more subdued, underwater timbre. It seems that already Autechre is understood and yet Autechre is not to be copied successfully.

Flutter - Anti-EP [released on 03.09.1994 as WAP54]
This would be the track that would seal their fate as being the pioneers of experimental electronic music. Prior to a certain political event, Sean Booth and Rob Brown had the idea of creating a track that produces a unique rhythm as oppose to looping a drum track. But then circumstances really gave them the opportunity to exploit that possibility. In 1994, Parliament (under the control of the Conservative Party with John Major as the Prime Minister) proposed the Criminal Justice Act, an attempt to curb crime in the UK. There is one clause on there that would be objectionable to many artists: the prohibition of music with "repetitive beats" [the logic was that the most violent crimes happened around parties and rave clubs; so stop those and you can stop crime]. When Autechre released this EP, it included a legal disclaimer that this track contains non-repetitive beats but advised that there should be a musicologist and a lawyer present at the party to verify that fact. Although the Criminal Justice Act was never put into practice, this track would exploit Autechre's desire to experiment and create in an interesting way.

PIOBmx - Garbage [released on 27.02.1995 as WAP58]
Amber [released on 07.11.1995 as WARP25] was a continuation of the ambient idea that made up the previous album. This EP is presumably tracks that failed to be on Amber [hence the name]. In spite of self-inflicted negativity, these tracks are far from garbage. While their incorporation would have made the album longer and more wispy, these tracks collected together form their own unit that synergises well with its parent album. PIOBmx [the acronym stands for "Parallel I/O Board"] is very spacey, trippy and trance-inducing, similar to the later tracks of Amber ("Further" and "Yulquen" in particular). This EP would mark the end of one era and the beginning of another.

Eutow - Tri Repetae [released on 06.11.1995 as WARP38]
With this album - and the two EPs that came out that same year - showed Autechre moving in a seemingly different direction. While Garbage affirmed their ambient tendancies, Anvil Vapre [released on 02.10.1995 as WAP64] demonstrated more power and punch in terms of percussive timbres. This album synthesized the nature of those two EPs. This would make sense given that in the United States, this album was released with the two EPs as a second disc. Here, Autechre kept their melodic sensibility and their talent of creating dynamically changing yet continuous pieces with a broader sonic palette. Here grits, grinds and crackles play a role here as well. And yet, in spite of its unique characteristics, it is still easy to access. For me, this is the first Autechre album I have ever listened to (in addition to the two 1995 EPs) and overall, it made a huge impact on me in a way that few albums have done.

Laughing Quarter - Envane [released on 27.01.1997 as WAP89]
This was part of the EP that was released before Chiastic Slide. It was said that this EP was created as an attempt to do a remix EP on a single idea [yet to be released... if ever]. The end result was four different pieces that probably have no relation at all to the original. Yet this EP would be a kind of precursor to the album and I am not just talking about the album artwork. Here the programming is more calculated and confident with timbres ranging from hard to angelic throughout the entire EP. I have always thought that this is what geology must sound like

Pencha - Cichlisuite [released on 26.08.1997 as WAP96]
If Envane shows the industrial power of Chiastic Slide, Cichlisuite [pronounced by Autechre as "sickly-sweet"] shows the things that are underneath the rhythmic surface noises. Here is where their softness, interesting programming and their ability to create interesting textures truly shines, making this probably one of my personal favorite EPs of Autechre of the moment (along with Envane and Garbage). It is interesting to note that this was probably advertised as a remix EP to the track "Cichli"... yet there's nothing remotely similar to it in this EP. Curiouser and curiouser...

Corc - LP5 [released on 13.07.1998 as WARP66]
This is the album that would change the life of one Thom Yorke, influence the making of Kid A [in addition to other albums] and having him declare it as the "best album of 1998." For Autechre fans, this is probably their favorite album because it reflects the diversity and the capability of Autechre: which is probably their fifth LP is exactly that [often it is erroneously called their self-titled album]. With that in mind, it will not do the album any justice to play only one track that would define the album itself: the whole thing needs to be heard. However, this track is a personal favorite of mine.

Dropp - EP7 [released on 07.06.1999 as WAPEP7]
People have wondered why it's called EP7. Most people raise the objection that it is too long to be called an EP (all eleven tracks add up to 63 minutes, the average length of an Autechre LP, even though it was originally released as two vinyl EPs). My question is what are the other six considering that the following can receive the title of EP: Basscadet Mixes, Anti-EP, Garbage, Anvil Vapre, We R Are Why [released on 14.04.1996 as WAP72, limited mail-order release], Envane, Cichlisuite and Peel Session [released on 11.01.1999 as WAP112; original TX date was 13.10.1995]. But no matter how you add everything up, this release continues on the character of LP5 of creating tracks of diverse character from experimental hip-hop to homage to classical to ambient and to the dark. And like its predecessor, it's hard to choose a single track to represent the release. But this one did for its mixture of styles and the fact that it's short.

Eidetic Casein - Confield [released on 30.04.2001 as WARP128]
Peel Session 2 [released on 01.01.2001 as WAP150; original TX date was 08.09.1999] showed an Autechre with a completely different sonic complexity. Here are songs that are very dense, very hard to discern and borders between the beautiful and the dissonant. The album release that was to follow will become the most controversial release amongst Autechre fans. Here the programming and the technology takes center stage. It is a difficult album to break into and takes several listens. This track was chosen because it was reported to be Autechre's favorite off of the album during an NPR interview/special on electronic music.

Mag (Ae Remix) - [now widely available on the All Tomorrow's Parties 3.0 (UK) compliation disc]
This was originally part of Skampler, released on July 1997 as part of Autechre's own label, Skam Records (which has an equal partnership and support of Warp but it is an entity all its own]. Now it is part of the release that represented the All Tomorrow's Parties festival Autechre curated at the time of the release of Draft 7.30. This track killed several birds in one stone: it's an Autechre remix of a Gescom song (another project they are involved in but includes their other friends and fellow music makers from Manchester), it represents their own label and it is a part of a festival that pulled together artists like Jim O'Rourke, Push Button Objects, Public Enemy and even the Magic Band [minus Captain Beefheart]

Reniform Puls - Draft 7.30 [released on 07.04.2003 as WARP111]
Since the show started with the first track of the first album, the show ended with the last track off their latest album as of transmission date. Upon first impressions of this release, I realised that this continuing an Autechre tradition: moving forward while looking backward. Here are all the traits that made Autechre unique and powerful back in 1993 and beyond. Yet it does not sound the same. Here Autechre has stepped onto the river for the seventh time in terms of LP releases and produced a result that was never the same as before. Makes me wonder sometimes where Autechre will go to next. Here's to another ten years or more...

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