LEGO FEET
SKA001CD
SKA001CD
Skam 2011
04 Tracks. 73mins49secs

Amazon UK: CD US: CD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

Over a year before their first appearance on Warp with a couple of tracks for the original Artificial Intelligence compilation, Rob Brown and Sean Booth had materialised, the time of an album, as Lego Feet. Infused with Detroit-style techno and futuristic hip-hop, this pre-Autechre output was the first, extremely limited, transmission from Manchester-based Skam, and has since been out of print and changing hands for small fortunes.

Twenty years on, this legendary album is finally getting a full CD release, with a second pressing of the vinyl due imminently. In its original form, the seventeen tracks of this album were presented with no title or information, although three appeared later on as part of the label’s Skampler compilation as Leaves On The Line, Northwest Water and Keyop. The actual pieces have been preserved for the CD version, they have been grouped into four parts, ranging in length from fifteen to twenty-one minutes.

This album is much more purely techno-infused that pretty much anything Autechre have produced since, but one can hear some hints of what the pair would produce for their debut album two years later scattered throughout. The major components which continue to fuel the pair’s sound to this day, techno and hip-hop, are heavily present here, but in much rawer form. At times, the similarity between these and early Black Dog is striking, but the pair’s experimental flair, although in its early stages of development, often pushes this album away from the dance floor into more subtle territories. Their soundscapes are minimal and elegant, but their beats often pack punches, as becomes apparent very early on and at regular intervals throughout, and if they are more straightforward than much of their later work, they are still complex affairs. Elsewhere, they become sparser and barely fill the gaps left in the sonic backdrop, or accelerate into hectic little structures which stumble over equally as frenzied electronic motifs.

The scope is quite vast here, from post acid squelches and smooth techno soundwaves to playful electro and bouts of hip-hop, all mixed up in various combinations to make the whole record work as a consistent piece. At times, Booth and Brown develop a particular theme for a while, taking the time to get into a particular groove and stick to it, yet at others, they jump from one idea to another without giving it a second thought, sometimes repeating the process in quick successions.

Although this album is very much of its era, the music has aged extremely well, and still sounds fresh and relevant today. While this may perhaps be in part due to the record’s lack of exposure over the years, it is nonetheless a strong testament of the pair’s visionary approach. Rob Brown and Sean Booth have moved on considerably since then, but this early document is undeniably extremely valuable as it lays the foundations of the work they would be producing for the next twenty years and counting.

4.7/5

Skam
Amazon UK: CD US: CD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

As another year folds out, it is time once again to look back and take stock or the highs and lows, before a fresh year rolls in. 2011 has had its moments and has overall been a rather good year, and trying to extract a list of twenty albums from the hundreds, thousands possibly, that I have listened to, loved, hated, reviewed or not, tried to make sense of or misunderstood seems a pretty restrictive effort at best. Still, it is always good to look back and realise that some records have made more of a mark than others, some almost imperceptibly. So, here is, in twenty records, what 2011 was made of…

1.

JENNY HVAL
Viscera
Rune Grammofon

Review:
There is such urgency throughout this record that it is quite astonishing how Hval manages to retain any lightness in her music, but she does, and [Helge] Sten picks up on just enough to bring it all to life in sprightly bright colours and tones.

2.

HAUSCHKA & HILDUR GUÐNADÓTTIR
Pan Tone
Sonic Pieces

Review:
So truly individual are their respective work that the inspired pairing of Volker Bertelmann, a man with a penchant for purposely tempering with his piano with all manners of props to alter its sound, and Hildur Guðnadóttir, whose exploratory work takes the cello out of its usual remit to experiment with textures and loops, was always likely to deliver something totally unique. And unique this never-to-be-repeated performance was on more than one level.

3.

EMIKA
Emika
Ninja Tune

Review:
Tightly blending elements of electronica, dubstep and techno together, Emika creates here a particularly pertinent modern urban soundtrack, propelled by ground-shaking grooves and incisive electronics to serve bitter sweet melodies and lyrics.

4.

FABIO ORSI
Wo Ist Behle?
Boring Machines

Review:
Wo Ist Behle? is an uncompromising record which sees Fabio Orsi moving away from using field recordings and experimenting with documenting his environment with artificial sounds instead. The result is, quite simply, nothing short of breathe-taking.

5.

SEEFEEL
Seefeel
Warp Records

Review:
The music is as hypnotic and ethereal as it was in the nineties, yet, it relies on much grittier sound sources and appears dirtier and more abstract. Still, this album is unmistakably Seefeel.

6.

FIRE! with JIM O’ROURKE
Unreleased?
Rune Grammofon

Review:
With Jim O’Rourke, Fire! have found the perfect companion, and as this is very likely to be a temporary arrangement, it would be utterly foolish not to savour every second of it to the full.

7.

KING MIDAS SOUND
Without You
Hyperdub

Review:
Each reinterpretation is a personal statement from Martin’s contributors as they stamp their mark on these compositions.

8.

DANIEL THOMAS FREEMAN
The Beauty Of Doubting Yourself
Home Normal

Review:
Despite its dark origins and extremely personal nature, The Beauty Of Doubting Yourself is a truly inspiring, and inspired, record, which manages to keep its audience totally captivated and, crucially, completely part of the experience.

9.

ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER
Replica
Software Label

Review:
With this album, Daniel Lopatin has refined his sound by giving it a wider spectrum, and whilst he remains faithful to the overly synthetic aspect of his music, it is the way he accommodates his expanded palette which binds this album together.

10.

ÆTHENOR
En Form For Blå
VHF Records

Review:
At times, Æthenor play nicely, reigning in most inclines of discordance [...], but there are at others sombre shadows lurking beneath the surface which push the level of tension.

11.

HÅKON KORNSTAD
Symphonies In My Head
Jazzland Recordings

Review:
With his solo records, Håkon Kornstad is slowly devising a universe away from his collaborative work, where he can experiment with subtle musical touches and experiment freely with his instruments.

12.

MIKA VAINIO
Life (… It Eats You Up)
Editions Mego

Review:
Released on Editions Mego, the guitar-based Life (… It Eats You Up) explores some of the man’s recurring themes from a somewhat fresh angle. The resulting soundtrack is not ultimately that different from the majority of his output, although it throws up some interesting oddities.

13.

ZWISCHENWELT
Paranormale  Aktivität
Rephlex

Review:
Fueled with tales of paranormal activity, premonition and clairvoyance, this album distills somber themes on dystopian electronic backdrops, sounding like Kraftwerk’s Radio-Activity experienced through the negative space of a black hole.

14.

AFRICA HITECH
93 Million Miles
Warp Records

Review:
Pritchard and White never chose the easy route to progress through this album, but this is exactly what makes it such a thoroughly enjoyable listen.

15.

JOHN CHANTLER
The Luminous Ground
Room40

Review:
Chantler alters the emotional aspect of this record by simply working on specific tonalities and continuously moulding them, each piece displaying subtle variations in its own scope, while all sounding very distinctive and unique.

16.

HUMCRUSH with SIDSEL ENDRESEN
Ha!
Rune Grammofon

Review:
Endresen’s earthy voice occupies the extremely volatile space between keyboards, drums and electronics with aplomb. Her great capacity to listen and instantaneously adapt to whatever her collaborators throws at her are clearly thrilling to Humcrush who take her on a chaotic journey through fragmented pieces of varying density

17.

PEDRO SOLER & GASPAR CLAUS
Barlande
InFiné

Review:
While Barlande is the meeting of a father and his son, it is above all the meeting of two musicians with very different outlooks who meet on a level beyond their respective work.

18.

AUTECHRE & THE HAFLER TRIO
ah3e0 & a3oe (ae3o3)
Die Stadt/Simply Superior

Review:
The detailing is extreme here as Auteche and The Hafler Trio work from microscopic particles, painstakingly building up layer after layer to create incredibly complex, yet minimal, sound structures.

19.

DADAVISTIC ORCHESTRA
Dokument.02
Dust Science Recordings

Review:
Dadavistic Orchestra create here a particularly rich and effective soundtrack, built around deeply atmospheric soundscapes which are in turn processed into impressive textural pieces and adorned with varying degrees of melodic structure.

20.

VLADISLAV DELAY QUARTET
Vladislav Delay Quartet
Honest Jon’s

Review:
Formed of Sasu ‘Vladislav Delay’ Ripatti (drums and percussions), Lucio Capece (bass clarinet and soprano sax), Derek Shirley (double bass) and Mika Vainio (electronics), the quartet operate at the murkier end of the music spectrum.

AUTECHRE & THE HAFLER TRIO
ah3e0 & a3oe (ae3o3)
DS94/SS2
Die Stadt/Simply Superior 2011
02 Tracks. 240mins00secs

Amazon UK: DVD Boomkat: DVD

The collaboration between Autechre’s Sean Booth and Rob Brown and The Hafler Trio’s Andrew McKenzie started back in 2003 with an enigmatic first release, æ3o & h3æ, published on Phonometrography, which was followed two years later by a much more extensive ambient experiment, æo3 & 3hæ (Die Stadt). Since, nothing else had filtered out from the trio’s laboratory until this third release, limited to 1000 copies worldwide was announced at the end of August.

Released as a double DVD (5.1 Audio Version), ah3eo & a3oe (æ3o3) features three tracks, the first one clocking at an impressive two hours, the second and third stretching over forty-seven and fifty eight minutes respectively, all available both in Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 formats. Like its predecessors, ah3eo & a3oe (æ3o3) explores a series of extremely arid and corroded soundscapes. The succession of bleak textures which forms the core of each track differs greatly. The vast wind formations which appear to make up most of ah3eo, although of varying density, leave very little space for any other structure to develop. It often feels like one is caught in a series of sand storms, and it is very easy to become totally disoriented by the total lack of reference points. Although some of these appear extremely static, they are for the most part subjected to some form of progression, albeit at time almost totally imperceptible. These soundscapes are often placed against each other, with no blending points in between, which can add to the oppressive appearance of the overall piece.

The track which opens the second DVD is even more austere, its constantly morphing soundscapes, although sober to the extreme, sounding like they could have been sourced from a particularly tense and sombre episode of a sci-fi series from the sixties. The tones used often have a metallic quality to them, and are at time layered with distant radio signals. The rampant dumb tension which characterises the first fifteen minutes of a3oe is ramped up somewhat drastically as a strident noise become extremely prominent, but later on, the stark drone-like minimalism which until then prevailed is partly obliterated by the introduction of a patterned loop, reminiscent of an over-amplified clockwork mechanism, over the last twenty minutes.

The last piece appears to return to some of the vast soundscapes of ah3eo, but here, fragments of musical components can be heard in the background. The extreme granularity of the expanding sound form which progressively sweeps across the whole piece reveals just how complex, intense and refined the process adopted by the trio is. Perhaps the denser of the three pieces, it is also the most open and airy Autechre and McKenzie have created yet.

ah3eo & a3oe (æ3o3) finds its place somewhere between extreme ambient experimentation and musique concrète, yet it doesn’t follow any of these genres’ respective codes. Like the two previous instalments in this ongoing collaboration, it is impossible to truly place this release in context even to the work of its authors. The detailing is extreme here as Auteche and The Hafler Trio work from microscopic particles, painstakingly building up layer after layer to create incredibly complex, yet minimal, sound structures. They have here come up with yet another challenging piece of work which stands entirely outside of anything else around.

4.8/5

Autechre | The Hafler Trio/Simply Superior | Die Stadt
Amazon UK: DVD Boomkat: DVD

AUTECHRE
EPS 1991-2002
WARPCD211
Warp Records 2011
47 Tracks. 339mins59secs

Amazon UK: CD US: CD iTunes: DLD

For years, Autechre alternated albums and EPs with extreme regularity, the latter often acting as experimental playgrounds for Sean Booth and Rob Brown to try out new ideas. This release documents the first ten years of the band, from their very first, pre-Warp, outting to Gantz Graf. While Autechre have continued to release occasional EPs after that, they have been less prolific with that format in recent years, only two, Quaristice.Quadrange and Move Of Ten, having materialised, the former solely made available as a digital release, both counting too many tracks to be considered proper EPs.

Basscad EP (1994) consisted of entirely revised versions of Basscadet, a track originally featured on the band’s Incunabula album, released the year before, some created by the band themselves, others concocted by Seefeel or Beaumont Hannant, unfortunately omitted here. This remains the band’s only remix EP, the only other release coming close to a remix project being Quaristice.Quadrange, released in 2008, on which Autechre collected entirely different versions of tracks originally featured on Quaristice. Consequent EPs have all been standalone releases, for the most part album companions (Garbage, Anvil Vapre, Envane, which all used tracks said to have been recorded during the sessions for Amber, Tri Repetae and Chiastic Slide respectively).

Autechre first got noticed with two tracks featured on Warp’s seminal original Artificial Intelligence compilation, but it wasn’t quite their first foray into the music industry. One release pre-dates the long standing association between the pair and Warp. Initially released in 1991 as a very limited white label EP on the short lived Hardcore Records, Cavity Job and Accelera 1 & 2, available here for the first time on CD, stand apart in Autechre’s cannon. While these two tracks display some early signs of the band’s regular influences (hip-hop and breakbeat), there is nothing of the infinitely complex abstraction that has been at the core of every single of their releases since. Instead, these were typical hardcore rave anthems of that era, complete with vocal samples, combining breakbeat, techno and acid house in a similar way to early Black Dog. Autechre never returned to such overtly dance floor-orientated sound, but the hardcore element has regularly featured in their work, never as prominently as on Gantz Graf, and it is certainly no coincidence that these two EPs open and close this compendium. Gantz Graf was an altogether much more abstract and extreme affair however. At the time of its released, the CD was bundled up with a DVD which featured the cutting-edge visual feast that was Alex Rutterford’s video for the title track, which attracted a lot of attention for its hyperactive digital imagery, which appeared to react to the razor-sharp rhythm and equally digital cut-up aspect of the track. As a musical piece, this is probably as extreme as Autechre have ever been, their equivalent to Aphex Twin’s Come To Daddy perhaps.

In between these two poles, and beyond, Autechre have relentlessly continued to experiment with new sounds and remained totally outside of any movement and fashion, and have steered clear of any overbearing message in their work. One major exception to this however is Anti (1994), published as a protest against an anti-rave clause included in the UK Criminal Justice and Public Order Act introduced that same year which outlawed the performance of music containing a ‘succession of repetitive beats’ at crowd gatherings. While two of the three tracks on the EP (Lost and Djarum) were explicitly made from repetitive patterns, the third, Flutter, was programmed in such a way that, despite sounding repetitive, no two bars were exactly the same, hence making it a fully legal piece to play at raves. Denounced by some as a gimmick novelty release at the time, it has since won over its critics to become one of Autechre’s most emblematic releases.

Garbage, Anvil Vapre and Envane, released between 1995 and 1997, saw the band gaining in confidence and daring push boundaries much further to deliver some of their most compelling EPs, the later two especially partially reflecting the intense organic structures found on Tri Repetae and Chiastic Slide. While there was little space for melody amidst the corrosive distorted noises and concussed beat of Second Bad Vilbel, tracks such as Second Scepe, Second Scout or Laughing Quarter appeared surprisingly light, while Second Peng dubby patterns proved extremely dense amd Goz Quarter sounded like some futuristic jazz. Published between Chiastic Slide and LP5, Cichlisuite announced a definite change of direction as the pair were seen ditching heavily distorted and cut-up sounds and noises for the much cleaner, almost clinical textures which were further developed over the next couple of years.

Counting eleven tracks and spanning seventy minutes, EP7 (1998) defied usual EP conventions. Additionally, the initial UK CD release contained a hidden track which could only be accessed by pressing rewind from the beginning of Rpeg. Released almost a year after LP5, on the cusp of the band’s most experimental and abstract era, EP7 was a resolutely more atmospheric collection, although, it showed a level of complexity which would reach its peak between Confield and Untilted. Completing this release as the band’s two Peel Session EPs, released in 1999 and 2001 respectively. Both sessions were recorded in the band’s studio, the first in 1995, the second four years later. When Autechre delivered the second set of tracks, they were all untitled and consequently named Gelk, Blifil, Gaekwad and 19 Headaches by Peel while on air.

Autechre would never quite suit a traditional best of, but this collection certainly serves to highlight a part of Sean Booth’s and Rob Brown’s considerable body of work which has often been at the forefront of their sound. It also demonstrate, if needed, how consistent they have been, not only during their first ten years, but all along their career.

5/5

Autechre | Warp Records
Amazon UK: CD US: CD iTunes: DLD

As 2010 bows out, it is time to look back on a year that has been rich in new music, some from very well established artists, and some from entirely new comers. Here are themilkfactory’s twenty favourite records of the year, and this year for the first time, this list is augmented with thirty other records that have marked the year.

With no less than four albums in the top 20, the year belonged to Rune Grammofon, and more particularly to Supersilent, who occupy two places, including the top spot. Room40 also place two albums in the twenty best records on 2010, while new imprints Desire Path, Hibernate and Textura also feature with some strong releases.

1.

SUPERSILENT
10
Rune Grammofon

2.

CHRIS ABRAHAMS
Play Scar
Room40

3.

PHONOPHANI
Kreken
Rune Grammofon

4.

STIAN WESTERHUS
Pitch Black Star Spangled
Rune Grammofon

5.

SOLO ANDATA
Ritual
Desire Path Recordings

6.

RENE HELL
Porcelain Opera
Type Recordings

7.

PAN SONIC
Gravitoni
Blast First Petite

8.

FENNESZ DANIELL BUCK
Knoxville
Thrill Jockey

9.

K11/PIETRO RIPARBELLI & PHILIPE PETIT
The Haunting Triptych
Boring Machines

10.

ERIK K. SKODVIN
Flare
Sonic Pieces

11.

COCOROSIE
Grey Oceans
PIAS Recordings

12.

SUPERSILENT
11
Rune Grammofon

13.

MINAMO + LAWRENCE ENGLISH
A Path Less Travelled
Room40

14.

BJ NILSEN
The Invisible City
Touch

15.

ARANDEL
In D
InFiné

16.

FOOD
Quiet Inlet
ECM Records

17.

ANDREA FERRARIS & MATTEO UGGERI WITH MUJIKA EASEL & ANDREA SERRAPIGLIO
Autumn Is Coming, We’re All In Slow Motion
Hibernate Recordings

18.

AUTECHRE
Oversteps
Warp Records

19.

MAINS DE GIVRE
Esther Marie
Textura

20.

DAWN OF MIDI
First
Accretions

… AND 30 MORE ESSENTIAL ALBUMS

21. BENOIT PIOULARD Lasted (Kranky)
22. PHILIPPE PETIT & FRIENDS A Scent Of Garmambrosia (Aagoo Records)
23. K-X-P K-X-P (Smalltown Supersound)
24. CLEM LEEK Holly Lane (Hibernate Recordings)
25. TO ROCOCO ROT Speculation (Domino Recordings Co.)
26. ANDREA MARUTTI/FAUSTO BALBO Detrimental Dialogue (AEF Records/Boring Machines/Fratto9 Under The Sky)
27. TAYLOR DEUPREE Shoals (12K)
28. K11 Metaphonic Portrait: 1230 A.D. (Actual Noise Records)
29. HAUSCHKA Foreign Landscapes (130701/Fat-Cat Records)
30. THE BLACK DOG Music For Real Airports (Soma Recording)

31. CHICAGO UNDERGROUND DUO Boca Negra (Thrill Jockey)
32. LUGANO FELL Slice Repair (Baskaru)
33. TVO/THE VILLAGE ORCHESTRA We Can Remember It For You Wholesale (Broken20)
34. JOANNA NEWSOM Have One On Me (Drag City)
35. ICARUS All Is For The Best In The Best Of All Possible Worlds (Not Applicable)
36. ESKMO Eskmo (Ninja Tune)
37. ROOF LIGHT Kirkwood Gaps (Highpoint Lowlife)
38. NIK BÄRTSCH’S RONIN Llyrìa (ECM Records)
39. ON Something That Has Form And That Does Not (Type Recordings)
40. JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON And In The Endless Pause There Came The Sound Of Bees (Type Recordings)

41. SEELAND How To Live (LoAF)
42. DANÍEL BJARNASON Processions (Bedroom Community)
43. STRIË Sléptis (Soundscaping Records)
44. BILL WELLS & STEFAN SCHNEIDER Pianotapes (Karaoke Kalk)
45. TALVIHORROS Music In Four Movements (Hibernate Recordings)
46. MARCUS FJELLSTRÖM Schattenspieler (Miasmah Recordings)
47. MAX RICHTER Infra (130701/Fat-Cat Records)
48. RJ VALEO Atman (Io Records)
49. RICHARD SKELTON Landings (Type Recordings)
50. BIRD SHOW BAND Bird Show Band (Amish Records)

AUTECHRE
Move Of Ten
WAP505
Warp Records 2010
10 Tracks. 47mins48mins
Format: CD/2×12″/Digital

Amazon UK: CD | LP1 | LP2 | DLD US: CD | LP1 | LP2 | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

It’s been barely a matter of a few months since Autechre released Oversteps, an album on which Sean Booth and Rob Brown greatly expended on the melodic aspect of their work, a move that was started with Quaristice two years earlier. Move Of Ten is a different beast altogether. Darker, grittier, nastier, more angular, this EP drags Oversteps down into the gutter and purposely tarnishes its sheen. Although an EP, at least in Warp’s catalogue referencing, Move Of Ten clocks in at close to forty eight minutes, and ten tracks. Not quite as extensive as EP7, but a pretty densely packed release all the same

After a few years when releases were increasingly few and far between, it seems as if Autechre have entered a more prolific era in recent years. First, there was Quaristice, in all its versions, then a fairly extensive tour, and two year on, came Oversteps, quickly followed by this sister EP. This surge of releases has coincided with a return to more melodic forms, and this still characterises Move Of Ten, but these are given a very different treatment here. Beats are often rawer, sounds sharper and more abrasive, with occasional industrial textures thrown in, which, right from Etchogon-S, taint this record. With its heavy, syncopated kick drum, acid squelches, and recurring train horn echoed by dissonant chords, pce freeze 2.8i is at once oppressive and hypnotic, its highly mechanical aspect rendered a tad warmer by what sounds like occasional vocal outbursts, although whether these are truly human or entirely artificial remains a mystery.

Later, nth Dafuseder.b finds Autechre in rather forceful mood, although here, the pair swap fairly minimal backdrop for widescreen reverbs, something which continues on iris was a pupil, which follows, although here, like on y7 earlier, or no border later on, Autechre adopt a resolutely lighter approach, close to that found on Oversteps. Echoing the beat-driven nth Dafuseder.b, M62, propelled by a stripped down linear beat and almost ambient electronic textures, is perhaps the closest Autechre will ever get to classic Detroit techno. The pace slows down quite drastically on the oddly jazzy ylm0, with its sweeping arpeggio and odd chord progression, but with Cep puiqMX, which closes, Autechre plunge once again deep into murky abstract waters as they work a groove from what sounds like amplified statics into a dense and eerie pulsating soundscape.

With their last album moving firmly into more melodic and evocative grounds, Autechre appeared to have partly tamed the overtly abstract nature of their music to give it a more approachable exterior, even if, deep inside, it remained a pretty complex affair. Move Of Ten is not in any way a step back, but here they submit this to a much coarser treatment and bring once again these intricate layers close to the surface. While this EP might not instantly feel as consistent as Oversteps, it actually reaches further and ultimately proves a worthy companion.

4.7/5

Autechre | Autechre (MySpace) | Warp Records
Amazon UK: CD | LP1 | LP2 | DLD US: CD | LP1 | LP2 | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

For the last date in their European tour, coinciding with the release of their tenth album, Oversteps, Autechre took over the Bocking Street Warehouse in Hackney, north London, and threw a party, inviting Russell Haswell to perform live and Rob Hall and Didgit to DJ for the event. After an opening DJ set for Didgit, Russell Haswell took the stage just after 12.30, and submitted the audience to an intense digital assault. Layers of distortions and interferences built up a particularly abrasive set of textures, pushing the sound system to the limit of the bearable, but ten minutes in, the intensity went up a few notches as the complexity of Haswell’s sonic fragments increased greatly. Barely twenty minutes in, it was all over.

Autechre are renowned for their hard-hitting sets, yet they kicked off this evening’s performance with a surprisingly smooth and straightforward beat, which for the first few minutes, eased an expectant crowd in gently. This led to a more complex and abstract rhythmic structure, close in essence to the pair’s minimal work of the early 2000s, but soon, this all changed as Sean Booth and Rob Brown switched to much sharper beats and more abrasive soundscapes. Shards of digital noise, slicing through increasingly anarchic beats, were sent flying through the room. Those expecting a softening of the duo’s live incarnation comparable to that of their recent recordings were in for a chock. If anything, once the set was in full motion, Autechre produced some of their most abrasive and hard-hitting beats and soundscapes, to the delight of the cheering crowd.

Glitch in the alarm system or express encore, it was difficult to determine, but after a very brief interlude, during which the music stopped and a ghostly light came on, Booth and Brown returned to their uncompromising sonic assault, beat leading the way into another complex form bearing very little in common with their recordings, apart for the fact that it was gritty, abstract, and utterly like nothing else you’re ever likely to hear. As the pace began to slow down drastically for the last segment of the set, Autechre revealed much more detailed and refined textures and, eventually, fragments of melody. After over an hour and a half played, as is de rigueur with the duo, in near-total darkness, the digital onslaught stopped without warning, lights went back up and Rob Hall took on his DJ post to conclude a mighty fine evening.

Autechre | Autechre (MySpace) | Russell Haswell | Warp Records | Bocking St Warehouse

AUTECHRE
Oversteps
WARP210
Warp Records 2010
14 Tracks. 71mins11secs

Amazon UK: CD | LP US: CD | LP Boomkat: CD | LP

A new Autechre album is always a step into the unknown, so different have each of their records been. Evolving totally outside of any trend or fashion, Sean Booth and Rob Brown have, in the nineteen years since their first EP, Cavity Job, was published, followed a path all of their own and established a language which is tweaked and developed to suit their own evolution. Yet, far from being totally random, their sound is the fruit of a relatively linear evolution, from classic electronica textures to fractured soundscapes and arid rhythmic forms. In 2008, Quaristice denoted a clear step away from the beat-driven structures of the Confield-Draft 7.30-Untilted triptych, where melodies existed mostly in withered state, as once again vibrant musical forms and warm electronic sounds took prominence over rhythms.

With Oversteps, Autechre have accentuated this trend quite drastically, often doing away with beats altogether and relying instead on shimmering soundscapes and intricate melodic patterns to weave a refined series of textured pieces which evoke, at times, some of their early work. Yet, there is here a level of complexity, even in the simpler tracks, which is more indebted to the austere patterns of Confield or Draft 7.30 than to the rich progressive templates of Amber or Tri Repetae. This is characterised by seemingly random sequences of notes which do not instantly exist in coherent melodies but are instead progressively rendered into varied musical expressions. This is something Autechre have always experimented with, in one form or another, but, since Quaristice, it has become pivotal to their work. Bribes of arpeggios and motifs are blasted into tiny particles and processed into granular sound forms which are then constantly re-organised into abstract concentrations. On pieces such as known(1), pt2ph8, see on see, redfall or krYlon, this intense handling results in particularly glistening constructions, at time drifting over smooth surfaces, at others breaking beautiful effusions of metallic sounds. Enhanced perhaps by the complete absence of beats, these pieces feel particularly fluid, spacious and unusually pastoral.

Elsewhere, Autechre coat their dense formations with hints of funk (Treale, O=0, d-sho qub) and techno (r ess, os veix3), at times through surprisingly straightforward drum sections, at others through much less linear forms, wrapping them around elaborate electronic textures and reverbs to create thoroughly upfront and affirmative pieces. The aforementioned Treale for instance, with smooth chords placed over a gritty electronic bass and a fairly withdrawn rhythmic section, radiates with powerful sub-surface pulses, while the splintered textures of r ess, os veix3 or st epreo give Oversteps some of its darkest undertones and occasionally evoke the fragmented outlines of Chiastic Slide.

While the level of complexity of both soundscapes and compositions is as high as ever, Oversteps is ultimately, like many of its predecessors, a deeply emotional and evocative record. With this album, their more accessible in years, though, Sean Booth and Rob Brown bring this particular element of their work much closer to the surface and allow it to remain present throughout. Building from the dynamics of Quaristice but taking this much further, Autechre have created with Oversteps one of their most compelling records to date.

4.9/5

Autechre |  Autechre (MySpace) | Warp Records
Amazon UK: CD | LP US: CD | LP Boomkat: CD | LP

The noughties have seen probably the most radical changes in the music industries since the advent of the record. Consumption habits have dramatically moved from traditional to digital formats, music has been increasingly seen as something to steal rather than to buy, and listening habits means that nowadays, the album is becoming increasingly redundant. Or is it? Whereas it had, at least in some circles, become totally acceptable to fill records with substandard music, it is now essential for artists to create consistent pieces of work if they want to retain the attention of their audience. The last ten years have delivered their fair share of hits and misses, and this list doesn’t pretend to be in any way shape or form exhaustive. This is just, in no particular order, the definitive list of the 20 albums that have defined the noughties at themilkfactory.

JOANNA NEWSOM
Ys
DC303CD
Drag City 2006
05 Tracks. 55mins41secs
.

An album like no other, by an artist like no other. Containing just five songs, some developed over fifteen minutes, Ys, named after a small mythical city on the coast of Brittany, France, is the second album by American folk singer and harp player Joanna Newsom. Van Dyke Parks wraps lush orchestrations around Joanna Newsom’s weird and wonderful tales to give her poetic lyrics additional relief and accentuate the emotional nature of her compositions.

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MURCOF
Martes
BAY23CD
The Leaf Label 2002
09 Tracks. 51mins55secs
.
.

Sampling contemporary classical works and assembling them into stark electronic pieces, propelled by micro beats and glitches, Mexican artist Fernando Corona, recording under the name Murcof, created one of the most compelling and evocative electronic debuts of the decade.

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BROADCAST
Tender Buttons
WARPCD136
Warp Records 2005
14 Tracks. 40mins32secs
.
.

By the time they released their third album, Broadcast had simmer down to just Trish Keenan and James Cargill, and had shed most of the rich and ornate forms of previous records to only retain the gritty electronic core of their music.

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ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
Merriweather Post Pavilion
WIGCD216
Domino Recording Co. 2009
11 Tracks. 54mins42secs
.
.

Merriweather Post Pavilion is a far cry from the primal tribal sound of Animal Collective’s early records, yet it is also a testament of how the band have retained the essence of their sound while continuously evolving into more song-based forms.

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PORTISHEAD
Third
1764013
Island Records 2008
11 Tracks. 50mins06secs
.
.

It took over ten years for Portishead to release the follow up to their eponymous second album, but Third proved worth the wait. Gone was the trip-hop of the mid-nineties, replaced with healthy doses of Krautrock, but at the heart of it still lies ‘that voice’.

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ARVE HENRIKSEN
Cartography
ECM2086
ECM Records 2008
12 Tracks. 51mins11secs
.
.

After three genre-defining albums for Rune Grammofon, Arve Henriksen’s Cartography, released on ECM, showed a more mature approach. Working with the cream of Scandinavian jazz, Henriksen created with this fourth album a truly masterful work.

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BIOSPHERE
Dropsonde
TO66LP
Touch 2005
06 Tracks. 37mins52secs
.
.

After a series of increasingly isolationist ambient records, Biosphere’s Geir Jenssen took a different path with his eighth album, incorporating jazz rhythms and richer, warmer soundscapes into his sumptuous ambient compositions.

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CLARK
Body Riddle
WARPCD149
Warp Records 2006
11 Tracks. 42mins21secs
.
.

Clark has established himself as the most consistent of Warp’s electronic artists of the decade with a string of excellent electronic records. Gritty, raw and angular, Body Riddle, his third album, defined Clark’s sound more than any other.

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AUTECHRE
Quaristice / Quaristice (Versions)
WARPCD333X0
Warp Records 2008
11 Tracks. 67mins49secs
.
.

Seventeen years on from their first release, Autechre continue to redefine their sound record after record. Quaristice, with shorter, snappier tracks, showed a return to more accessible musical forms, while its sister album, Quaristice (Versions), offered totally different versions of some of the same tracks.

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BURIAL
Untrue
HDBC002
Hyperdub Records 2007
10 Tracks. 50mins28secs
.

A strong progression from the clinical dubstep of Burial’s debut, Untrue introduced haunting voices and swirling melodies, wrapped around razor sharp beats.

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TWINE
Twine
GI18
Ghostly International 2003
09 Tracks. 63mins32secs
.

Twine’s fourth album constituted the pinnacle of the duo’s electro-acoustic work. Processing acoustic and electric instruments and incorporating them in their complex electronic constructions, occasionally adding vocal samples, they created a truly compelling record.

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BENOÎT PIOULARD
Précis
KRANK098
Kranky 2006
14 Tracks. 36mins52secs
.
.

Combining delicate acoustic song forms and electronics, American musician Thomas Meluch, recording as Benoît Pioulard, produced a stunning record, filled with poetic touches and intelligent pop music.

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THE BLACK DOG WITH BLACK SIFICHI
Unsavoury Products
PUPLP3
Hydrogen Dukebox 2002
20 Tracks. 65mins26secs
.
.

Prior to The Black Dog becoming a trio again, Ken Downie recorded this record with Scottish poet Black Sifichi, who can be heard throughout the album placing his odd surrealist tales over Downie’s impeccably classy electronica.

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MAX RICHTER
The Blue Notebooks
CD1304
130701/Fat-Cat Records 2004
11 Tracks. 40mins36secs
.
.

One of the brightest talents on the new classical scene, composer and pianist Max Richter created a truly evocative piece of work with his second album, mixing delicate piano pieces, compositions for string quartets, discreet electronics and found sounds.

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THE VILLAGE ORCHESTRA
Et In Arcadia Ego
HPLL014
Highpoint Lowlife 2005
09 Tracks. 57mins00secs
.

The first album by Marcia Blaine School For Girls member Ruaridh Law was released five years ago on the excellent Highpoint Lowlife, deploying inspired atmospheric soundscapes and complex beat structures over just under an hour.

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310
Recessional
BAY33CD
The Leaf Label 2003
15 Tracks. 54mins37secs
.
.

Combining elements of hip-hop, jazz, electronica and folk has been at the core of 310’s work for over a decade now, but on their fifth album, their third for Leaf, the duo formed of Joseph Dierker and Tim Donovan gave their sound a more accessible twist while losing none of its original intricacy.

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VARIOUS PRODUCTION
The World Is Gone
XLCD204
XL Recordings 2006
12 Tracks. 46mins52secs
.
.

Operating under a rather anonymous name, British duo Various Production conjured the contradictory forces of urban dubstep and pastoral folk into one fascinating record, served by a plethora of vocal contributors.

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COLLEEN ET LES BOITES A MUSIQUE
Colleen Et Les Boîtes A Musique
BAY53CD
The Leaf Label 2006
14 Tracks. 38mins55secs
.

French artist has released three magnificent records in the last decade, yet it is this mini album, originally commissioned by French public service radio station France Culture, composed entirely on music boxes and processed on computer later on, that has proved the most enduring, evocative and poetic of the lot.

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SUPERSILENT
6
RCD2029
Rune Grammofon 2003
06 Tracks. 57mins51secs
.

The sixth album by Norwegian super group Supersilent showed yet another dimension to the quartet’s incredibly vast repertoire by investigating the slightly more subtle ambient side of their improvisation work.

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BEN FROST
Theory Of Machines
HVALUR2
Bedroom Community 2006
05 Tracks. 38mins40secs
.
.

Australian musician Ben Frost’s first album for Bedroom Community was like a series of shockwaves delivered in the space of forty minutes and five tracks. A deeply haunting and often threatening record, it continues to make a considerable mark.

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VARIOUS ARTISTS
Warp20 (Box Set) / Warp20 (Recreated) / Warp20 (Chosen)
WARP20.0 / WARP201 / WARP 202
Warp Records 2009
– / 21 Tracks / 24 Tracks. – / 99mins13secs / 127mins18secs

Warp20 (Box Set)
Boomkat: BX

Warp20 (Recreated)
Amazon UK: CD Amazon US: CD Boomkat: CD iTunes: DLD

Warp20 (Chosen)
Amazon UK: CD Amazon US: CD Boomkat: CD iTunes: DLD

LFO. Three metallic blue letters, straddled by a ghostly shape, set on a black background. Three letters that changed things forever. The year was 1991, I was browsing through the new arrivals in my local records store, and the Designers Republic artwork of LFO’s Frequencies was standing out from the blur, calling out for my attention. An hour or so later, I was left baffled by a record which I was struggling to understand. On one side, the lush flow and shattering bass of LFO or Simon From Sydney irresistibly titillated my appetite for crisp evocative electronics, on the other, I had never experienced anything quite as bare as Mentok 1 or We Are Back. This album bore its influences on its sleeve, literally, and it took a few listens to ‘get it’. But ‘get it’ I did. More than I could have ever wished for. I was hooked. Not only on LFO, but also on Warp.

The brainchild of Steve Beckett and the late Rob Mitchell, who founded the label twenty years ago in the former metallurgic city of Sheffield, Warp found itself at a crossroad between the dying acid scene and the nascent UK techno/electronica movements, fuelled by waves of grooves and beats coming from Detroit, and soon gathered a fledging roster comprising the likes of Nightmares On Wax, Sweet Exorcist, the project of Richard ‘DJ Parrot’ Barratt and former Cabaret Voltaire member Richard H. Kirk, LFO, Tricky Disco or DJ Mink, all names who have become synonymous with this then new sound coming from the north. The first release, Forgemasters’ Track With No Name, dressed in a highly visible purple sleeve, sounded as mysterious as its title, and the following EPs, Nightmares On Wax’s Dextrous, Sweet Exorcist’s Test One, DJ Mink’s Hey! Hey! Can You Relate, Tricky Disco’s and LFO’s eponymous releases, all released within a year, started to give a much clearer idea of the label’s direction.

WARP1 came in early 1991, courtesy of Sweet Exorcist. This very first artist full length contained just seven cuts of minimal beats, bleepy electronica and hypnotic loops, and, together with the albums that followed, LFO’s seminal Frequencies and Nightmares On Wax’s A World Of Science, established the blue print of what Warp would stand for in the first half of the nineties. But, while these albums all shared a taste for beelpy house and techno, they had clear individual identities. CCCD was tinted with Afro beats, Frequencies openly referenced Kraftwerk, A World Of Science was soulful and groovy.

The next significant step, and perhaps the single most defining moment of the label’s twenty years’ history, came the following year with the release of a new compilation, entitled Artificial Intelligence, which kicked off the series of the same name. Then, names such as B12, The Black Dog or Autechre were only known to a few, but this collection, and the subsequent albums, changed all that. Six albums, by Polygon Window, The Black Dog, B12, Richie Hawtin, Speedy J and Autechre, bookended by two compilations, released over two years, would forever place Warp at the forefront of contemporary electronic music. Since, there has been the acid jazz/funk of Jimi Tenor, the retro-futuristic pop of Broadcast, the sweet folk of Gravenhurst, the progressive hip-hop of Antipop Consortium, the angular rock of Battles… but Warp remains above all a hive of forward-thinking electronic music, whether in the hands of Boards Of Canada, Squarepusher or Clark.

Twenty years is a very long time in popular music, yet going through the label’s releases, it also feels like a blink. The first outings on the label of Aphex Twin (1994), Boards of Canada (1998), Broadcast (2000), Jamie Lidell (2000) or Clark (2001), the Peel Session series, they are all still vivid markers in the label’s history. Compiling a ten track album out of such a vast and varied catalogue was always going to be an impossible task, and one that Steve Beckett couldn’t manage. His contribution to the Warp20 (Chosen) collection contains fourteen, carefully selected from thousands, lifted off albums or EPs, and often away from obvious choices (Broadcast’s Tender Buttons, Flying Lotus’s GNG BNG, Mike Ink’s Paroles or Aphex Twin’s Bocephalus Bouncing Ball) alongside slightly better known tracks (Grizzly Bear’s Colorado, Squarepusher’s My Sound or Jamie Lidell’s Daddy’s Car). By contrast, the first of the two (Chosen) CDs was selected from votes fans recorded on a special website, and expectedly features some of the most iconic and best known tracks on the labels, from Aphex Twin’s Window Licker, which opens, Squarepusher’s My Red Hot Car or Battles’ Atlas to LFO’s LFO, Luke Vibert’s I Love Acid, Autechre’s Gantz Graf or Clark’s Herzog, all neatly lined up like for an identity parade. Such an exercise is likely to cause controversy through obvious omissions (there is, for instance, no mention of Mira Calix, B12, Prefuse 73 or Two Lone Swordsmen) but covering as wide a catalogue as that of Warp in such a short formatted way is, quite, impossible.

The second half of this Warp20 selection goes much further than the traditional remix exercise, as was the case with Warp 10. Various members of the roster, past and present, were each asked to cover a track released through the label in the last twenty years. The result is, to say the least, eclectic and full of surprises, from the playful (Born Ruffians version of Aphex Twin’s Milkman, here combined with To Cure A Weakling Child, Plone’s On My Bus, as interpreted by Plaid), to the slightly odd (John Callaghan basing a composition on Autechre’s Tilapia), and the poetic (Boards Of Canada’s Kaini Industries as viewed through the eyes of Bibio or Jamie Lidell’s wonderfully impressive revision of Grizzly Bear’s Little Brother) to the insanely brilliant (Luke Vibert’s take on LFO, Mark Pritchard’s excellent 3/4 Heart, originally by The Black Dog, Mira Calix’s exquisite and orchestral In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country, Pivot’s Colorado or Gravenhurst’s magnificent reworking of Broadcast’s I Found The F).

These two collections offer just a glimpse into the first two decades of a label that has unmistakably marked its era, like Blue Note, Impulse, Motown or Island did theirs. (Chosen), with its straightforward selection provides an ideal entry point to the label and proves a worthy companion to Warp 10+2: Classics, released to celebrate the label’s tenth anniversary, while (Recreated) offers a much more oblique and novel way through the catalogue, and is more likely to appeal to fans. In addition, Warp are releasing an extremely limited box set which, besides these two compilations, will also feature a mix CD in the tradition of Blech or WarpVision, plus three 10″ comprising previously unreleased material by Autechre, Boards of Canada, Broadcast and more, plus double 10” of loops to play with, the lot encased in a stunning box and accompanied by a catalogue documenting over 400 record covers designed by some of the most exciting studios around. Now, that’s a compendium! Happy anniversary Warp. Here’s to the next 20 years.

Warp20 (Recreated): 4.7/5 / Warp20 (Chosen): 4.9/5

Warp Records

Warp20 (Box Set)
Boomkat: BX

Warp20 (Recreated)
Amazon UK: CD Amazon US: CD Boomkat: CD iTunes: DLD

Warp20 (Chosen)
Amazon UK: CD Amazon US: CD Boomkat: CD iTunes: DLD