Autechre for hours and hours

If you couldn’t tell, I am a big fan of electronic music. This was partially due to my discovery of Autechre while in high school. To me, Autechre is singular and unique while also being a great break into electronic music. Without Autechre, I don’t know if I would be as interested in electronic music as I am today. 

If Autechre’s albums are giant, satisfying meals, their EPs are appetizers. Some of their best works are in these bite-sized EP packages I can’t help but snack on repeatedly. 

The first EP I’m going to talk about is also the oldest one on the list, the “Anti EP.” The Anti EP was released in 1994 and contained a song aimed to combat UK law that tried to prevent raves from happening.  

The first two songs, “Lost” and “Djarum,” aren’t the ones that tried to combat the law but are great as songs on their own. “Lost” has a signature early 90s Autechre flair to it, with the melody reminding me of some of their melodies from earlier albums “Incunabula” and “Amber” with a repeated vocal sample throughout. The main star of the show on this song (and the other songs on this EP) is the beat. Autechre makes “Lost” just bouncy enough to be fun and just subdued enough to sound sophisticated. The song sounds how a rounded sculpture tower looks, combining these bouncy and sophisticated elements together.  

“Djarum” takes a different approach, though. Both the song’s beat and melody are deep and bassy sounding, making it sort of sound like the song is taking us underwater. “Djarum” reminds me of a song that kelp would dance to in the best way. The bass is rubbery-sounding while the beat’s accents feel like they try to add to the underwater vibe as much as possible. 

Some of the more aggressive-sounding moments remind me of debris being stirred up in the ocean floor, while the more subdued moments could be the light from above the surface being able to be seen for the first time. 

The real star of the show, though, is “Flutter.” “Flutter” was the song that tried to combat the aforementioned UK law. The law stated that music prohibited in performances contained repetitive beats throughout. “Flutter” was boasted to technically have no repeating beats at all throughout its ten-minute runtime and you can definitely tell. 

 “Flutter” constantly shifts and constructs itself in many different ways throughout. At some points, the song tries to anchor itself into a similar idea while seemingly trying to find the perfect fit for its beats. At other times the song likes to take us on a detour and have several varying ideas within seconds. The rawest example of the latter is in the very beginning of the song where the beat almost boasts the number of ways it can take us on this journey while finding a more structured spot to stay in around a minute and a half in the song. I can honestly get stuck within “Flutter” for hours with the amount of endless variation it has while staying engaging. 

Autechre’s EP “Cichlisuite” is one of their shining works and shows us how much range the duo can offer, especially in the time period when they released the project. The EP was released in 1997 between their albums “Chiastic Slide” and “LP5,” where they were in a sort of transitional time in their discography right before they would get increasingly experimental. “Cichlisuite” is extremely catchy throughout and is almost the perfect point between danceable EDM and the more listening-heavy qualities of IDM. 

The EP opens on six-minute-long “Yeesland,” which constantly builds upon itself to add small beats to the point where nearing the end of the song it sounds like a colony of ants trying to tap their feet to make the most catchy, danceable song despite the tiny beats. The melody is great here too, contrasting the beats by floating notes in and out of focus. 

The next song “Pencha” sounds like if you asked a computer to simulate an anxiety attack while trying to keep as much cool as possible while in a public setting. The many different types of drums they use throughout the song all flow together nicely while the melody keeps a focused background for you to focus on when everything else is overwhelming. 

My personal favorite track in the EP is “Characi,” which sounds less like a computer is simulating an anxiety attack and more like the computer is simulating my brain’s inner noise specifically. The song clicks immediately with my brain and reminds me of how I sometimes have five lines of thought coming through at once. The main melody loop soundscomforting as well, keeping that throughline throughout the song while different thought patterns intersect and wander off. 

“Krib” is definitely the most focused out of the songs on the EP. The main beat sounds exactly like two vibrating glass bottles. This makes for a unique listening experience as a dance music track and combining that with the rounded melody makes the song sound almost comforting. 

“Tilapia” also sounds focused but in a similar way to how “Yeesland” was. Instead of sounding like a colony, though, “Tilapia” sounds like a vigilante crew in a way having a tenser atmosphere, and the melodies have moments that feel like they’re sounding alarms.

The song ends the EP with an odd ambient outro that makes you want to beg for more music. This is until you realize there is a wealth to choose from. 

If you plan on listening to the EPs mentioned, I hope your ears have a great time snacking on these releases. There are more delicious EPs and albums to hear as well andtrust I will be talking about them. 

Tune in next week for a continuation of this review.