Autechre
Chiastic Slide
[Warp]


tracklisting:
1. Cipater
2. Rettic AC
3. Tewe
4. Cichli
5. Hub
6. Calbruc
7. Recury
8. Pule
9. Nuane

(total playing time 69:53)

This is the fourth full length album by ambient music masters Autechre from Britain. While their older music was a collection of wide soundscapes across jagged edges, making one feel desolate and alone, the albums after that show a more complex yet less oppressive sound. Through all this their sound has become more and more 'mechanic' and 'alien', although a track like 'Recury' sounds surprisingly 'groovy'. The album starts with a very 'busy' nauseating cascade of different rhythms and somewhat 'mechanic' sounds, where alternating patterns develop on top of each other while interacting with each other as well, forming different complexities and patterns-within-patterns. This stuff is incredibly complex and requires LOTS of listens to discover all the intricacies and schemes, but fortunately complexity is not the goal of the music. This is emphasized in the other tracks, which are less 'heavy' in form, but not in essence. A few electronic loops on top of a thin layer of synth lines, a resonating pulse over fluid soundstreams, or just a little, simple melody singing high up in the sky, or sometimes returning to a 'jungle' of sound, it is all within this album. Best track in my opinion is the final one 'Nuane', a distressing song of over 10 minutes which starts with a relatively simple rhythm while far away we can hear a electronic 'burp'-ish sound resounding in a deep well. That sound is heard throughout the whole song, until it is repeated within the background noise of the universe, which is present even after the song has ended. A perfect represenation of the sound where the void meets our existence.


© 2000 dwaallicht