Autechre
Amber
[TVT]
Autechre is the master at creating weird dimensional spaces by layering sounds
against each other. Starting from Brian Eno, one of the most important goals in
ambient music has been precisely this… to create an alternative environment that
transcends physical reality by using sonic impulse, comparable to the effects of
certain hallucinogenic natural substances.
"Amber" is Autechre’s darkest and heaviest record. It could be the
chronologically first but I’m not sure about this. Newer Autechre is more
complexed, light and entertaining in it’s bright, imaginative and colourful
sounds mischievously interacting with each other, but here the spaces are rather
cold and at times even unsettling. The very first sound that starts this record,
is desolate, mystical and evil. Autechre’s rhythms and structurings are never
obvious and they carry the listener’s thought with them also through the more
melodically-inclined lighter parts of the music with absolutely no loss of
effect.
The darkness in the spirit of Autechre is not aesthetic, but of the most
profound nature.
74 minutes of length, this is a heavy and not easy listening in my opinion, even
if the ambient/techno nature of it might point to that direction, especially if
only partial attention is paid to the music. The spaces opened in each one of
these 74 minutes of music are as grand, beautiful and revealing as in any
ambient I have ever heard, so the difficulty should come as no surprise.
If you are not familiar with this style of music, expect complex, layered, soft,
variedly paced beats, imaginative futuristic and spacy soundscapes and a smooth
flow of atmosphere from constricted and oppressive to free and open.
Recommended to be experienced in an altered state of mind, without unnecessary
inner dialogues or energy-wasting contemplations of the "reality" we force
ourselves to accept most of the time.
© 1999 black hate