Hiding behind a misleading name, Andrew Mackenzie is
a sort of legend when it comes to electronic music.
He formed The Hafner Trio with ex-Cabaret Voltaire Chris
Watson in the early eighties, and has since produced
some of the most challenging experimental electronic
music around, with a body of work spread over countless
releases. Always prone to distort reality, with the
alleged third member, Dr. Edward Moolenbeek, who, providing
he actually once existed, never had anything to do with
the project, or the claim that the band’s first
release, Bang! An Open Letter, was based on
the work of an acoustic researcher called Robert Spridgeon,
which turned out to be a total fabrication, McKenzie
created an aura of mystery around his project. Since
the departure of Watson, at the end of the eighties,
the sound of the Hafler Trio has progressively turned
to drones and vast ambient sonic spaces, pushing the
boundaries of music far beyond the realm of what is
generally accepted.
The evolution of Autechre as a musical project is in
comparison far more straightforward. Formed in Rochdale
in the late eighties by avid skateboarders and hip-hop
fans Sean Booth and Rob Brown, Autechre have carved
an impressive mark in the electronic movement ever since
their first EP, Cavity Job, was released in
1991. One of the pillars of the Warp roster since their
contribution to the seminal original Artificial
Intelligence compilation (1992) and their first
album, Incunabula (1993), the band have constantly
challenged their audience through an uncompromising
exploration of extreme sonic territories and abstract
structures. Their work also encompasses the more enigmatic
collective Gescom, a name behind which hide, according
to the legend, an impressive number of collaborators,
Autechre being rumoured to have no implication at all
with some of the releases. Although faithful to Warp
for the last eleven years, Booth and Brown also formed
their own label, Skam, which is home to artists as diverse
as Freeform, Bola,
Team Doyobi, Wevie Stonder of Lego Feet, yet another
of the pair’s project.
Although presented as a double CD, æ3o&h3æ
only feature two tracks, both clocking at just over
the fifteen-minute mark. The level of collaboration
between McKenzie and Autechre is very difficult to evaluate
since both tracks evolve in landscapes more familiar
to the Hafler Trio. There is in fact very little that
could undoubtedly reveal the presence of Sean Booth
and Rob Brown, yet, some elements of their usual sonic environments at times flash through the spectrum on both
tracks.
æ3o appears as the calmer of the two
compositions. Kicking off with a vast spatial wind sound,
which rapidly morphs into a more earthy long noise drone,
forming the main body of the track, æ3o
appears pretty static and unchanged all the way through,
yet it actually contently shifts nature and balance,
in turn changing into spiritual chants or electro-static
hum. The track then takes a different turn around the
thirteen-and-a-half minute mark, as a slightly rougher
sound takes over and lingers for a while, creating organic
shapes for the remaining section of the track.
Although h3æ starts very quietly, the
track evolves into something surprisingly pastoral,
with resonances reminiscent of Biosphere’s
Substrata
in part. Once again, despite its seemingly stagnant
nature, the sonic landscape almost imperceptibly changes
constantly as different textures slowly wax an wane
in and out of focus, radiating a variety of moods, from
almost mechanical abstraction to more subtle human introversion,
before eventually dying down in slow convulsions. If
this album is likely to disconcert Autechre enthusiats
due to the lack of the pair's usual structures,
fans of the Hafler Trio should feel at ease here. Drone
records can often appear to lack emotion or substance,
but it is far from being the case with these two tracks;
all it takes to appreciate the full impact of this record
is an open mind and a feel for vast spaces.
4.7/5 |
