Autechre

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Autechre
Autechre performing in Princeton in 2001.
Autechre performing in Princeton in 2001.
General information
origin Rochdale , England
Genre (s) Electronica , IDM , Noise , Glitch , Ambient
founding 1987
Website www.autechre.ws
Founding members
Sean Booth
Rob Brown

Autechre [ ɔːˈtɛkə ] (often abbreviated as Ae ) is a British electronica music group consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth.

The Gescom artist collective is often mistakenly referred to as a pseudonym Autechres, although Booth and Brown were only involved in a few releases of the project.

history

Brown and Booth come from Rochdale , Greater Manchester , and were initially active in the sprayer scene . They met through a mutual friend in the late 1980s. First, many originated hip-hop and - Electro - Mixtapes . Brown and Booth were strongly influenced by musicians like Egyptian Lover , Grandmaster Flash , Mantronix or Pretty Tony (Tony Butler). Their first joint record appeared in 1991 under the name Lego Feet on Skam Records (SKAM 001). A short time later, they released the first EP called Autechre, entitled Cavity Job, on the Hardcore Records label.

The name Autechre came about while working with an Atari . The "au" came about because the track you were working on contained an "au" sound. The remaining letters were added by typing randomly on the keyboard.

Quote from Rob Brown:

"The first two letters were intentional, because there was an 'au' sound in the track, and the rest of the letters were bashed randomly on the keyboard. We had this track title for ages, and we had written it on a cassette, with some graphics. It looked good, and we began using it as our name. "

- Rob Brown

Since both were dissatisfied with the work of the Hardcore Records label, they switched to Warp Records in 1993 . In 1992 Warp Records released a compilation that contained two tracks by Autechre. The Artificial Intelligence series consisted of a total of six albums by individual electronica musicians and two compilations with the same title. According to Autechre, Incunabula (see meaning: Incunabula ) is a compilation of their pieces put together by Warp Records directly after their recording contract and belongs to the Artificial Intelligence series (the track Kalpol Introl taken from the album was used in the film Pi by Darren Aronofsky ).

The Amber released in 1994 is therefore considered the actual debut album. The cover of the album shows a formation of mountains in Cappadocia . The EP Garbage includes material from the same production as Amber that was not released on the album; the cover is a digitally edited version of Amber .

With the release of the EP Anti , Autechre drew attention to the English Criminal Justice Bill , a law that should prohibit the performance of repetitive music at raves. The Criminal Justice Bill is a draft bill proposed in 1994 that, in addition to issues such as child pornography, obscene calling and homosexuality, also dealt with stricter regulations against raves in the form of bans on repetitive music. As a satire, Autechre published the Anti EP , which contained the following text on a sticker with the humorous note to DJs to always have a lawyer and a musicologist present:

"Warning. 'Lost' and 'Djarum' contain repetitive beats. We advise you not to play these tracks if the Criminal Justice Bill becomes law. 'Flutter' has been programmed in such a way that no bars contain identical beats and can therefore be played under the proposed new law. However, we advise DJs to have a lawyer and a musicologist present at all times to confirm the non repetitive nature of the music in the event of police harrassment. "

The proceeds from the sale of the EP went to the British non-governmental organization Liberty with the comment that Autechre were politically uninvolved, it was more about personal freedom .

The experimental music Autechres has often had a downbeat since then , combined with ambient-like synthesizer melodies / chords. The Amber and Tri Repetae albums enter into a slowly changing bond between accessibility and complexity with this tradition . The artwork for Tri Repetae was designed by Chris Cunningham , who also produced a video for Autechre's Second Bad Vilbel in 1996 . The accompanying Anvil Vapre contains material from Tri Repetae that did not appear on the album due to lack of space. The names of the titles on Anvil Vapre have references to places on Snake Pass , a motor road in the north of England. Bad Vilbel is the twin town of the English Glossop . In the US, Tri Repetae ++ later appeared together with the EPs Garbage and Anvil Vapre . In Japan there was a bonus track on the album called Medrey .

Rob Brown (left) and Sean Booth live at a concert in 2007

With Chiastic Slide and later albums, Autechre moved away from common, "pleasant" sounds to more abstract and more difficult to access soundscapes . Chiastic Slide was only released in the US in 2001, as Trent Reznor found the album for his label Nothing Records to be too experimental to be released. Some pieces on the EP Cichlisuite , which was released at the same time, were produced exclusively with the Nord Lead .

The fifth album was nameless, which is why Warp Records named it LP5 . EP7 , released in the same year, contained a 404 seconds long hidden track that is in the pregap if you rewind the CD to −9.44 on the first song.

The track Reniform Puls from the album Draft 7.30 was used in an advertisement for the LG U880 mobile phone.

Along with Black Dog Productions , Plaid , Mira Calix , Boards of Canada and The Orb, Autechre are among the few electronica musicians whose work was honored with a live performance on the John Peel BBC Radio 1 show. The pieces listed there have been published as Peel Sessions 1 and 2 . Peel Session 1 contains recordings from the end of 1995, Peel Session 2 recordings from 1999. John Peel gave the four tracks their names because Autechre gave them to him without a name. They were broadcast on Radio 1 on September 8, 1999.

In 2001 the album Confield was released . Autechre created the artwork for the album themselves. In Japan, Confield released a bonus track called Mcr Quarter , a live recording of a gig from 1999.

The video Gantz Graf by graphic designer Alex Rutterford, published in 2002, achieved cult status in CGI artist circles . An abstract three-dimensional object moves on it synchronously to the abstract music Autechre with precise reaction to the corresponding sound frequencies. According to his own statement, Rutterford got the idea for this from an LSD trip. Rutterford also created the artwork for Draft 7.30 and Untilted .

Autechre curated the All Tomorrow's Parties in Minehead , Somerset, England in 2003. They performed there as a live act in 2001.

Cooperation in the EPs æ³o & h³æ and æo³ & hæ³ with the Hafler Trio related electro-acoustic music , musique concrète and noise with one.

In 2008 the album Quaristice was also released on Warp Records.

Since the release of Incunabula , The Designers Republic created the artwork for all Autechre albums with the exception of Confield , Draft 7.30 and Untilted .

Sound shaping

Autechre themselves say about their music:

“All music is based on mathematics. Listen to acid house . If you separate out the hedonistic moment and leave out the constraints, then acid house is very geometric music, very functional. Take 808 State for example . This is pure mathematics, music as if built according to equations. Our music works according to formulas. We build pieces that simulate the physical formulas of gas or water. You have z. B. a sound of dripping water. This noise can be simulated with the help of data. And then you can manipulate it. We are completely obsessed with simulations like this. "

- Sean Booth

On the basis of a comment regarding their unique tonal variability, Brown and Booth consider it incomprehensible that, given the enormous bandwidth available to music producers today, it is even possible for one band to be the same as another.

Bernard Parmegiani , a member of the Groupe de recherches musicales, is named as an influence on her music . With regard to the late phase of Autechre, the “view of music as a physical phenomenon” has parallels to the electronic music of the 1950s and Karlheinz Stockhausen ; thus the term autonomous music can be included in the music of Autechre. The expression electroacoustic music is more or less appropriate . The term generative music is mentioned in interviews .

At the beginning of her musical career u. a. an Atari computer with a Roland R8 (drum computer) and Casio FZ1 (sampler) used. Other analog devices were and are: Roland TR-606, MC 202, SH 2, Korg MS-20 and Yamaha FS1R; Yamaha DX100; Sound Edit 16, Turbo Synth or modules of the Doepfer modular synthesizer A-100 . These devices are still used today, often modified. Booth says that before 1997, multiple devices were often linked in a particular arrangement for one song, so when the next song was recorded, many devices were moved, disconnected, and reconnected in different ways. Since the publication of the Max / MSP program from Cycling'74 , these processes have also been able to take place "on the screen". Autechre also make use of various hardware samplers such as B. Ensoniq ASR, EPS, Kurzweil K 2500, E-mu E-Synth, Casio FZ 1, FZ 10, SK 1, SK 5, SK 100 or music software such as Digital Performer , Logic Audio ( Emagic ), Cubase SX ( Steinberg ) , Peak, Audio Hijack, Soundhack, Audioscope, Amadeus or Mack V. Autechre work in real-time manipulation with MIDI faders, both live and in the studio.

In summary:

Often the names of the titles are the actual working titles, which were then left as they are. Some titles are also references to devices with which they created the songs, e.g. B. 6ie.cr , previously called 606.ie , a reference to the Roland TR-606 drum computer .

Discography

Albums

  • 1993: Incunabula (Warp17)
  • 1994: Amber (Warp25)
  • 1995: Tri Repetae (Warp38)
  • 1997: Chiastic Slide (Warp49)
  • 1998: LP5 (Warp66)
  • 2001: Confield (Warp128)
  • 2003: Draft 7.30 (Warp111)
  • 2005: Untilted (Warp180)
  • 2008: Quaristice (single CD, Warp Records)
  • 2008: Quaristice (Warp333 / Limited double CD: Warp333X)
  • 2010: Oversteps (WARP210)
  • 2013: Exai (WARP234)
  • 2016: Elseq 1-5 (WARP512)
  • 2018: NTS Sessions 1-4 (WARP364)

Singles and EPs

  • 1991: Lego Feet (as Lego Feet) (reprinted 2011)
  • 1991: Cavity Job
  • 1994: Basscad EP
  • 1994: Anti EP
  • 1995: Anvil Vapre
  • 1995: Garbage
  • 1995: Peel Session
  • 1997: Cichlisuite
  • 1997: Envane
  • 1999: EP7
  • 1999: Peel Session 2
  • 2002: Gantz Graf (WAP 256)
  • 2003: æ³o & h³æ (with The Hafler Trio )
  • 2005: æo³ & hæ³ (with The Hafler Trio )
  • 2008: Quaristice.Quadrange.ep.ae (WAP 333A) - online release as FLAC and MP3
  • 2008: Digital Exclusive (EP, consisting of three tracks, released exclusively in the iTunes Store in Japan in AAC format)
  • 2010: Move of Ten
  • 2011: EPs 1991 - 2002 (5-CD set that summarizes EPs from Cavity Job to Gantz Graf . Cavity Job appears here for the first time on CD.)
  • 2011: ah³eo & ha³oe (with The Hafler Trio )
  • 2013: L-Event
  • 2017: JNSN CODE GL16 / spl47
  • 2019: Warp Tapes 89-93

Promotional Recordings

  • 1996: We R are Why
  • 1997: Radio Mix
  • 1999: Splitrmx12 (Autechre plays Weissensee against im Glück - Original by Neu! / Autechre Play At Drowning In A Sea Of Indiependance - Original by Bic?)

Remixes

Autechre are still considered productive remixers and have made remixes of the following artists, among others:

Web links

Commons : Autechre  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k soundonsound.com: Autechre: Recording Electronica , April 2004
  2. ↑ a b soundonsound.com: TECHNO-LOGICAL: Autechre , November 1997
  3. ↑ a b intro.de: Autechre: Gedankenspiele ( Memento of the original from November 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , March 21, 2003 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.intro.de
  4. ↑ Dusted Reviews: Bernard Parmegiani - Chants Magnetiques . Dusted Magazine. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
  5. ^ Rob Young / Adrian Shaughnessy. Warp labels unlimited . London: Black Dog Productions 2005, p. 89
  6. ↑ Thom Holmes - Electronic And Experimental Music pioneers in technology and composition
  7. ↑ a b autechre.info: Interview , February 2, 2003
  8. ↑ createdigitalmusic.com: New Machinedrum Percussion Synth, Autechre , April 18, 2005