Autechre

Since the early 1990s Autechre have stood among electronic music’s most inventive and far-reaching pairs. Drawing initial inspiration from classic American electro alongside ambient explorations and musique concrète, the duo’s approach shifted steadily from precisely sculpted, melody-rich techno toward expansive, algorithm-driven constructions that upend traditional notions of beat and form. Despite the often rigorous demands of their catalog, reviewers have repeatedly commended the work, while its reach remains pervasive; countless electronic acts have echoed both the opaque naming practices and the sleek yet hard-edged sonic palette. Following the 1993 debut Incunabula, which helped codify the style later labeled IDM, the pair issued further landmark albums such as Tri Repetae in 1995 and LP5 in 1998, together with key shorter releases including the 1994 Anti EP and the album-length EP7 of 1999. Their textures grew increasingly fragmented and less tuneful across the decade, reaching an especially divisive peak with Confield in 2001. A partial return to more immediate material arrived with Quaristice in 2008, after which they embarked on some of their most expansive projects, beginning with the two-hour Exai in 2013 and extending to the eight-hour NTS Sessions in 2018. The comparatively concise SIGN, issued in 2020, leaned once more toward ambient terrain, whereas its companion PLUS retained greater rhythmic density while remaining equally abstract.

Sean Booth and Rob Brown, both natives of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England, first connected via a shared acquaintance and began exchanging homemade pause-button compilations of favored tracks. Acquiring inexpensive analog equipment under unusual conditions, the two started composing their own pieces before finishing secondary school. Operating initially as Lego Feet, they delivered a self-titled collection of bold, playful experimental electro on the Skam label in 1991. Their first official Autechre outing, the hardcore techno 12-inch “Cavity Job,” also surfaced that year. After forwarding a demo to Warp Records, they appeared on the imprint’s landmark Artificial Intelligence compilation in 1992, marking themselves as pioneers of British techno suited to domestic listening. The duo’s debut album Incunabula arrived late in 1993 and unexpectedly topped the U.K. indie chart. Its standout cut “Basscadet” later spawned the Basscad,EP, available as a CD, EP, or triple-10-inch vinyl set. Stateside licensing via Wax Trax!/TVT subsequently brought Incunabula and later Autechre titles to broader American audiences.

In 1994 the Anti EP served as sonic opposition to that year’s Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, which targeted raves defined as events featuring music “wholly or predominantly characterized by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats.” The track “Flutter” was deliberately constructed without repeating rhythms. This innovation prompted many electronic producers to reconsider compositional methods and opened a period of heightened experimentation. Later the same year Amber appeared, foregrounding the pair’s ambient tendencies more explicitly than earlier recordings. They also supplied remixes for Saint Etienne and the Higher Intelligence Agency; subsequent years would yield further reworkings for artists ranging from Lamb and Stereolab to Scorn and Merzbow. Gescom, the umbrella project involving Booth and Brown, likewise released its self-titled debut EP in 1994.

Tri Repetae, frequently cited as Autechre’s masterwork, emerged in 1995 along with the EPs Anvil Vapre and Garbage, both appended to the American pressing of the album. Director Chris Cunningham created a video for the Anvil Vapre selection “Second Bad Vilbel,” later earning acclaim for his work with Aphex Twin, Björk, and Squarepusher. The fourth album, Chiastic Slide, followed in 1997, accompanied by Envane and Cichlisuite. LP5 appeared in 1998 through Trent Reznor’s Nothing imprint, an Interscope subsidiary, which also handled 1999’s hour-long EP7 and the first of two Peel Session EPs.

Beginning with Peel Session 2 in 2000, whose titles were supplied by John Peel, all subsequent Warp releases have been issued on both sides of the Atlantic by the label itself. The demanding Confield of 2001 and the Gantz Graf EP of 2002 signaled a sharp stylistic pivot, estranging some listeners while earning fervent approval from others. Draft 7.30 in 2003 and Untilted in 2005 continued along that trajectory. During this span the duo also pursued several abstract collaborations with the Hafler Trio outside their Warp catalog.

Quaristice arrived in 2008 as one of Autechre’s more approachable statements, comprising twenty mostly brief pieces drawn from extended improvisation sessions; additional digital EPs later presented some of the unedited material. Oversteps and Move of Ten both appeared in 2010. Most of the duo’s earlier singles and EPs were gathered in the box set EPs 1991-2002, characteristically minimalist in presentation. The expansive two-hour Exai surfaced in 2013, followed shortly by the L-event EP.

AE_LIVE, a set of nine recordings from the 2014-2015 European tour, was released digitally in 2015. It preceded the four-hour Elseq 1-5 in 2016, which contained multiple pieces exceeding twenty minutes. Abandoning physical formats, the album marked their first entirely digital studio release. In April 2018 NTS Radio broadcast four weekly sessions of new Autechre material; the complete eight hours later appeared as NTS Sessions in both digital and physical editions, including a twelve-LP box. The full 2015 North American tour was issued digitally in January 2019, and in June the duo premiered a two-hour selection of previously unheard early recordings on NTS Radio, subsequently offered as the free Warp Tapes 89-93. Additional live sets from 2016 and 2018 followed the next year, and the fourteenth studio album, the less rhythm-oriented SIGN, emerged in October 2020. Twelve days afterward came PLUS, a more beat-driven counterpart sharing similar artwork.