| |
|
Music Archives:
Most Recent
| Highest
Rated | Alphabetical
| Highest Rated 2006
Futures Both Past
& Present
 |
|
Autechre:
Draft 7.30
Warp, 2003
Rating: 4.1
|
|
Posted: April 21,
2003
By
Laurence Station
Autechre's Sean Booth and Rob Brown return with their seventh full
length since 1993's noteworthy ambient techno beat-fest Incunabula.
Draft 7.30 furthers the duo's singularly experimental musical
evolution (some might say it also furthers its artistic alienation from
its core fanbase, as the pair maps out continuously more idiosyncratic and
outré soundscapes) while gesturing back to earlier work. Sporting more
noticeable melody than 2001's spiky, hollow Confield (which, to be
fair, improves with repeated rotations), Draft 7.30 covers a vast
amount of electronic ground, from Booth and Brown's '80s hip hop -inspired
roots to the more spacious, emotively impersonal cuts dominating their
later work.
Tracks 2 and 4 ("IV VV IV VV VIII" and "VL AL 5," respectively) trade
on the beat-mulch sound Autechre perfected on Tri Repetae, the
duo's 1995 high-water mark. Track 2 utilizes a blender effect, shredding
sound in a concentrated whirl against a squelchy, discordant beat, while 6
sports more of a vibrating surface sheen, undercut by darkly insinuatory
tones. Both songs break apart at the end, giving way to chaos as the beats
fall apart in haphazard, disorderly fashion, which is certainly a welcome
and interesting climactic effect from an outfit known for rigid control
over every aspect of its carefully constructed sound.
Track 1 ("Xylin Room") is vintage Autechre, circa 1994's Amber,
with a smoothed and stretched-out beat, straining but never breaking,
which throws a digital curve ball around the 4:30 mark with the
introduction of nervier tones and bleats. This opening salvo produces more
raw energy than the far more subdued Confield did in its entirety.
Track 8 ("P.:Ntil") plies jarring beats and Spartan synth-driven pulses to
great effect, as does the subsequent "V-Proc," which recycles and
regurgitates a basic clang-skitter-clack cycle in an arresting and potent
manner. The closing "Reniform Puls" provides an appropriately mellow
comedown, layering a less abrasive beat over languid and soothing samples.
But it's Track 5 ("Surripere") which proves both the longest and most
effective moment on Draft 7.30. Executing a dense, rich, shifting
tidal flow of tones over a clean, metronomic beat, it generates a
disorienting sense of motion and paralysis within the same elastic yet
constrictive space. At near eleven-and-a-half minutes, it's afforded a
luxury only "Reniform Puls" enjoys: sufficient room to breathe. Brown and
Booth clearly put an enormous amount of energy into this track, and it
shows. "Surripere" alone justifies the purchase of 7.30; it's one
of the duo's best tracks to date. Not that the rest of Draft 7.30
is a letdown: The only true disappointment is Track 4, ("Tapr"), a brief,
hyperactive start-stop diversion that roars out of the gate but never
achieves lift-off, turning in on itself with intense, but ultimately
pointless, redundancy.
While not the revolutionary leap forward many fans all but demand,
Draft 7.30 is still a solidly crafted effort, and, dare we say it, a
more accessible work than the duo's last album. Not so much a retardation
of Autechre's skills as a commendable tribute to where it's been and a
mediation, perhaps, on which direction the trend-bucking pair is headed
next.
Site
design copyright © 2001-2011 Shaking Through.net. All original artwork,
photography and text used on this site is the sole copyright of the respective creator(s)/author(s). Reprinting, reposting, or citing any of the original
content appearing on this site without the written consent of Shaking
Through.net is strictly forbidden.
|
|
|
|
|
|
