Autechre – LP5

the next step was more towards a drum 'n' bass style, consistent with the warp records march towards electronic jazz. this provided a natural outlet for autechre's journey of increasing complexity, as it forced them to focus more on the intricacies of the drum parts.

however, the compositions themselves are also more layered, more multitracked; and with this record we start to see a little more variation, a little more attention to the way the album itself flows. melve, for example, is essentially an introduction to vose in. autechre would have never done anything like that in the past. while there are ittedly long sections of the record that offer little more than a messy beat, i feel that splitting this disc up would be a travesty because it's clearly meant to be played as a whole.

the experimentation with time, both linear and circular, continues. however, the most profound new idea inserted into this record is a fascination with.....chaos.

in the latter half of their career, autechre virtually became synonymous with chaos. it is easy to lose the fact that, before this record, chaos is the last thing that autechre seemed to embody: they were intricate, mechanical, written, sequenced. chaos and autechre went together about as well as rupaul showing up as a pilgrim to mecca.

yet, the introduction of chaos does make sense when viewed through the goggles of their journey being one of increasing complexity, their journey mimicking man's own understanding of the world around it. what was once thought to be ordered became to be thought of as being unordered. perfection, fate and the god that existed by their necessity are swallowed by stochastics, randomness and the cold, barren void that follows.

it is not beneficial to anyone to speak of fractals or of repeating patterns. while there are repeating patterns throughout the music, this is not the interpretation of chaos that is embraced on this record.

.....and, so we have it: autechre's epiphany, their step from the age of enlightenment into the modern era.

For someone who has never heard such music, Autechre's LP5 sounds somewhat cacophonous from the first couple of plays, but I found my ears tuning into the subtle rhythms, harmonies, and melodies (yes, they do exist!) the different tracks provide. For those of you who are more used to traditional structures in music, stick to "Rae," "Corc," and "Arch Carrier." However, I was very much drawn in by "Fold4,Wrap5" which sounds as if the time measures melt into each other, making it hard to determine whether the music is going faster or slower (very trippy). After a few plays, I found that I also liked "Acroyear2" with its weird progression of percussive sounds adding up to complex harmonies and melodies. Well, enjoy!

contains deep and moving pieces of robot culture. LP5 contains more characteristic beauty of Rob Brown and Shawn Booth's machine-esque minds. these tracks develop and decay in such incredulous fashion. this album will keep you studying timelessly to discover the many hidden truths of the machine world. notable tracks include rae, fold4, wrap5, and caliper remote.

This is my favorite album of autechre,in my opinion,it has the soul and the freshness of "amber" or "cichlisuite" and the abstraction of their last works.LP5 (always in my opinion) is the culmination of autechre music,with a dose of sensibility and perfection in composition and abstraction.