Artist: Autechre
Title: Anti EP
Cat No: WAP54
Tracks: A Lost
Djarum
B Flutter
Picked this one up yesterday on a whim, without a pre-buy listen and it
turns out to be pretty damn good.
The gimmick of course is the Anti-Criminal Justice Bill bit. Quite clever
really. The cover is sealed with the sticky info label with a warning that
some of the tracks contain repetitive beats; and breaking the seal and
playing them may result in prosecution under the Bill. However one of the
tracks _Flutter_ has NON-repetitive beats so you can play this one as loud
as you like, wherever you like. But with a (mock?) disclaimer stating that
you may need a musicologist and a lawyer on hand to prove this to the
police (conjouring up some amusing scenes).
As for the music... _Lost_, the first track doesn't do much for me at all
bog standard _Incunabula_ stuff, chords with a bit of percussion. The
real stormer is _Djarum_. This is the one that Autechre played live at
the Megadog here, the one that filled the dance floor and sent everyone
skipping/bouncing about like hyperactive 8 year olds who've just necked a
tartrazine/speed/acid mixture.
It's got a really deep almost echoey sound. I like to think of it being
'embossed' if that makes any sense. A totally addictive slow pianoey
melody creeps in over this bassy sound and loads of top fast scrapey
percussion, which weaves in and out... I love it.
_Flutter_ on the face of it sounds like a recipe for disaster, with it's
non repetitive beats, this after all is not what dance music is about...
But it actually works really well and is also one of the few records you
can play at 33 and 45 sensibly. It starts off with these raw stumbling
(err, not one to beat mix) beats, then has this embarrassing cheesy melody
(better at 33) then more percussion and finally a deep bassy 'growl'
noise. Once the melody is 'hidden' under everything else, this track
really takes off, very skippy. It also sounds VERY much like AFX stuff, at
both speeds, with those mad beats and the arrangement...almost uncanny.
And it finishes with the most ridiculously long fade ever, must be several
minutes.
Check it out!
greg
3 0 3