Review: Autechre ∞
Firstly, Autechre are not mainstream music. They are not particularly ‘easy listening’, or good background music. That said, when you spend some time listening to the subtle complexities of the music, it is incredibly well put together.
Their earliest album, Incunabula, is probably the most accessible of the albums I have, and also the first I purchased. Amber, Confield, and Tri Repetae, are much more abstract.
The melody is often hiding away in the corner, often almost drowned out by the dominant but gradually evolving bass synths and drums. Incidentally, I am not sure whether it is actually interference patterns in the bass frequencies you hear in some of the tracks, or just something that sounds like that, and whether it was deliberate (probably), but it is cool nonetheless.
The samples are jagged and metallic in places, with soft velvety notes superimposed. On first glance 1, the music is monotonous. On closer inspection, it is constantly shifting, although almost imperceivably.
This is music to be listened to when doing nothing else, as it is complex, and almost hypnotic. Most people will probably say it is just noise. All music is noise of one sort or another, and I am not “most people”.
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1. Can you “glance” at a sound? What other word is there to describe a cursory listen?