(04.22.05) Autechre has again reconfigured their ever synaptically evolving and disjointed, hypnotic ba-ba-ba-beats. Untilted feels so 3D, like a dimensional cube busting through the dimension of average sound space. It bows, it blurps, and all the while resisting the opportunity to jam into a pure techno riff just for the sake of it. This duo has been at it for a good dozen+ years and their whole package still seems so original, never succumbing to traditional pop/rock phraseology. Booth and Brown’s unmistakable physical sound is pronounced in shifting geometric patterns here once again, as they give blocks of sound appropriate air, space and a whole lot of bold bass.
“ProRadii” dips slightly into 97’s Cichlisuite but from a contorted perspective, fragmented, cut-up into parts and folded over. You only see the impressions of the past, they have taken great efforts to stupefy their listeners with erasures made from their craft, by building a completely new ship from found parts that were never used. Though this isn’t no remix trip, these are occupied vignettes. Yes, there are living robo-creatures manning the helm of this Tron-like space trip – like traveling the Vegas strip on speed in reverse through a Viewmaster, only upside down (sorry for the post Duchampian reference, but it applies here, indeed). The spotlight track here is the popping “Iera” which just sounds sopping wet. Well, in other words you can hear the tic-tac-rat-a-tat-tat tempo of a rattling double spoon vs. a pinball bearing head on. There is not much about Untilted that makes it any more accessible to a larger audience, it’s even more introspective than it’s predecessor, 2003’s Draft 7.30. Still, the beat goes on in funkier tracks like the slightly calypso “Fermium” which just glides and slices through steely static and dreamy reverb.
Untilted is out now on Warp.
