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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
spiky, impenetrable, delicious, April 17, 2003
This review is from: Ep 7 (Audio CD)
the cover art for this album is probably the most strikingly appropriate I've encountered for any album since ok computer. It depicts an alien, mechanical, vaguely threatening but overall unclear form that seems to be wriggling into existence spontaneously (i.e., constructing itself rather than being birthed). The mixed feelings of awe, curiosity, and uneasiness that I feel when looking at this picture are a good summary for the feelings that EP7 evokes in the listener. Ultimately, what autechre seems to be doing with this album is somehow reinventing the utterly stale and banal "techno-dystopian-future" schtick that's been done for the last decade or so by scores of mediocre electronic artists. The trick here I think is that they do it by completely omitting the human element. In short, this is an album that gets you inside the head of the machine. This makes for a rough first couple listens, especially if you're not familiar with autechre's other stuff. Some tracks, such as "left blank," appear to have nothing going on in them whatsoever beyond scrapes, clicks, and occasional rushes of air. But as one reviewer wrote of a different autechre work, there's an epiphany to be had, lurking in this album-- and I think the listener's changing feelings towards "left blank" are a microcosm of this epiphany. At some point, after two, three, or several listens, the track just *pops out* at you, like a 3D magic-eye drawing -- and suddenly right before you, there's a mad cyclone of jagged, clipped bits of beats.. like being in a sandstorm, only with tiny fragments of glass and silicon, and no less punishing. If such descriptions strike you as insane, don't worry... they are. But give this album enough listens to get under your skin, and I guarantee you one day you'll find yourself grasping about for your own metaphors to enclose, capture, and name the experiences this album evokes. I'd be curious to hear what you come up with.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic, Not "Noise" by any Stretch of the Word., August 2, 2000
This review is from: Ep 7 (Audio CD)
Yes, this is considerably more "noisey" and chaotic than Incunabula or Tri Repetae ever were, but _EP7_ really is no more amelodic than some of the stuff on Aphex Twin's _Richard D. James Album_. The rhythms and melodies that have always been a gift of Autechre's are still there, rest assured, albeit a tad "buried" in layers of staticy and metallic samples that, in themselves, do nothing but bolster the music's strength by providing atmosphere. They themselves possess recognizable patterns as well, and this makes for some extremely hard to follow, complex songs(a notable change for a band that based its first three LPs on a standard of stark minimalism). If nothing else is to be said, it is that EP7 resembles _none_ of the previous Autechre releases(save perhaps it's parent LP); it has neither the rhythmic, jazzy IDM of _Tri Repetae_ nor the synthesized beauty of _Incunabula_ or _Amber_. I've always harbored the notion that these two had a hearty love of noisier, more off-putting music. Their re-mix of "The Killing Game" on a recent Skinny Puppy tribute album was anything if not incongruous with thier signature style(an impenetrable wall of flowing noise that I still fail to enjoy), coupled with the very fact that they even participated on Scumtron(the Merzbow tribute LP) first roused these suspicions in me, and now I see them confirmed, and confirmed in only the most glorious of ways. There's precious little I can think of that resembles the music contained here. Perhaps early, noisier Kraftwerk(think Ralf und Florian) or Download when they still had Mark Spybey as part of their roster. Comparisons aside, this is incredibly original stuff, truly a masterpiece of electronic music. I can't say I've ever really heard song structures like this, and how they work I'm still trying to discern, but for now I'm happy to simply sit back and enjoy them. There's a great deal of humanity displayed here, particularly toward the end, to answer a reviewer who stated that the group's new direction was soulless and mechanical. They do soulless and mechanical too, of course, but it works for the album, and not once sounds as if there weren't a pair of extremely talented, thoughtful musicians designing every blip and crunch. I would easily call this Autechre's most original and probably most important release, but I will admit that I enjoy their others equally as well. _Incunabula_ and _Tri Repetae_ will always be regulars on my CD player, but I sincerely believe that this one was what it was all leading up to. With all the shifts in sound they've made already, each better than the last, I'm anxious to see how they plan to top _EP7_. I wish them luck. They'll need it.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Folk music from a country of jazz-musician robots, October 31, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Ep 7 (Audio CD)
After the very electronic LP 5, Autechre here swerves back to and beyond the live, improvised, and somehow folky place they went on the wonderful Chiastic Slide. This takes it farther, to the point of often not seeming danceable at all. Not that anyone gets Autechre records for that anyway. Not easy listening, but rewarding and deep and catchy in the manner of good hard bop.
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