Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
|
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Review
...perhaps the most gorgeous of the ten tracks, it appears to be a section cut from a circular whole ("Tapr")...
Draft 7.30 evinces a ceaseless motion which in transit mutates, corrodes, malfunctions. It's fascinating like the first sight of stop-motion photography. The quality of movement is predominantly heavy as in mercury or cadmium - said density marks Draft 7.30 out from Autechre's previous work. This simple equation (movement/change x weight) conveys a sense of fearsome, unpredictable momentum.
Autechre map their own territories. Draft 7.30 at times conjures THX1138, George Lucas's masterpiece of sound and visual design (the police chase, the crowd scenes); at times The Brothers Quay'sInstitute Benjamenta (the abstract dances of apprentice manservants as they seek to become automata in the harsh service of future employers).
...skull percussion played with wooden fists ("Xylin Room")...
...the onset of dusk activates lighting systems in a global sweep ("P.:NTIL")...
Imagine hiphop channeled via low quality microphones into surveillance systems, broadcast inside urban defence architectures (cf City of Quartz, Mike Davis); imagine it caught and reflected in a hall of mirrors shattering in slow motion.
Draft 7.30 is the visceral chitter-chatter of machines as they function and malfunction, as they adapt to new conditions. It's the rhythm of routers and sub-net masks, of mainframes and backbones. It's the sound of the KlingKlang studio as Ralf and Florian accelerate away down a long straight on their carbonfibre frames. The robots have become software bots, viral worms; the superhighway has succeeded the autobahn.
As the complexity of systems grow, unpredictability increases. Draft 7.30 is the sound of our technological present in all its intricacy and resultant strangeness. --Colin Buttimer
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
The drum programming is downright genius. From the insane hip-hop swagger of 6IE.CR and V-Proc, to the complete lack of time sig in Theme of Sudden Roundabout and the lack of anything that makes up an actual drum rhythm in Tapr, the rhythms are mind boggling. But one can't help feel there could be something to accompany them. Tapr has it's sinister stop/start synths, closer Reniform Puls is covered in blips and pongs, and they work brilliantly. I wonder what made them decide to condense most synth work down to little sounds that are barely distinguishable from the drums.
Now, I must talk about Surripere. For it is one of my favourite Autechre tracks. I wish more of the album was like this. A driving rhythm from simple drums and clicks opens the track, fronted by a sinister and slightly foreboding synth. It's incredibly beautiful, and just shows they guys can still write utterly stunning music, rather than utterly stunning rhythms. Halfway through, the beat takes over, and turns into an intense industrial mash-up. I'm waiting for more stuff like this. It's a move on from Confield, but it's a fantastic one.
The dark, cold sound remains, I think, but unlike previous releases, it leaves me empty. This isn't the undergrowth of an alien planet like Confield, nor the industrial machine of Tri Repetae. It doesn't sound finished.
Gosh, that sounds FAR more negative than it should. I really enjoy the album. Maybe I've listened too much an am spending all my time comparing it to their previous albums.
I'm still very curious as to where they're heading next.
Hyperbole perhaps. History may prove me wrong, but in years to come I reckon these are the guys who will be hailed as the real musical pioneers, the ones who really pushed the envelope. They will be on the front of MOJO, original versions of their LPs will be changing hands for huge amounts on Ebay. (they are already). Me and all the other aging hipsters will be queuing up to buy their 20th anniversary box set from HMV on Mars, sometime in 2013.
Forget Massive Attack, Moby and all those other advert jingle-writers. Even the Aphex Twin cannot touch 'em. This always was, and still is the music of the future.
Autechre require some effort from the listener. They have never been instant, easy listening. They make sounds you haven't heard before, melodies that defy all standard practice and convention, beats that are beyond the comprehension of us mere humans...and yet still somewhat funky.
If you haven't heard much Autechre this maybe isn't the one to start with. To my Autechre-ised ears this is a work of astonishing beauty, joy and genius. But you need some preparation and initiation. So go back and buy all their LPs and listen to them all in sequence. Give each one six months to sink in. Autechre music is so complex and radical that even diehard fans like me need to spend time getting to grips with each new release. If you like them, you'll find each record a very rewarding experience that grows with each listen.
Draft 7.30 itself is superb. Their best since 'Chiastic Slide' I think. The beats are less frantic and garbled than 'Confield' (perhaps their most extreme release to date). Those chilly, trademark melodies make a welcome return. And yet this still sounds like nothing else around and there is still a lot of information to absorb. Like all Autechre albums this needs a good 20 or so plays before it sinks in, but at this early stage I'm giving it five stars!
If you're the kind of person who runs a mile from music which revels in being deliberately complex then perhaps this is not for you, although I would argue that it is entirely justified here, as the achievement of this album is not limited to its complexity (the whole soundworld is both exciting and deeply satisfying; the complexity helps to sustain it for 60 minutes). If like me you enjoy finding musicality wrapped up lovingly and somewhat perversely in a messy exterior then you will enjoy this even more.
You may be puzzled to find some reviews saying this album is rich in melody and some saying it has none. Personally I'd describe Alberto Balsalm by Aphex Twin as a melody and say that what this album has is a lot of good hooks. More to the point, I think the guy really nailed it that said this album is more about texture, as whilst many a decent hook is indeed given its moment of glory, they tend to get swallowed up by the all-powerful and ever-shifting texture.
As for the complaint that this is a step backwards from Confield, I would suggest that to make tracks like Lentic Catachresis any more 'extreme' than they already are would literally leave you with just the random thudding, which would be somewhat pointless. This, instead, is an intelligent development of what Confield does, i.e a relatively small sound pallet, but in many varying and jarring combinations to increase longevity.
I'm definitely putting myself on the 'this is awesome' list, don't judge too quickly as the album really takes off around track 3, although no doubt you will return to tracks 1 and 2 later.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
