2008年 Jan 30日 Wednesday, 21:30

Autechre : Incunabula (1993)

First listen…

Bike could probably be any early 90's electronic/IDM track by any of the myriad of artists doing this kind of thing back then. At the same time, it's gorgeous and brilliant and highly nostalgia-inducing.

I first heard Incunabula while working as a DJ at my college radio station (Radio 1190, which at the time was called KUCB) in my freshman year. Up to that point, my major exposure to electronic music was through industrial acts such as Skinny Puppy and Front 242. I remember about the same time that someone introduced me to Autechre, they also played me Intermix's Phaze Two. My mind was sufficiently blown. I thought Intermix was pretty cool, since it was a project from Front Line Assembly's Bill Leeb. Of course, I haven't listened to that in years. It probably hasn't aged well (though I wouldn't be surprised if Phaze One brought back some fun memories).

15 years later and Basscadet is still a completely captivating track.

Hyperbole time! Without tracks like Basscadet and Maetl, lots of electronic music I love never would have happened. So there.

Gads, check the jazzy piano notes on Lowride. This bit doesn't sound at all like the Autechre we know today.

Second Listen…

Kalpol Introl is a lovely darkish ambient opener. You can hear hints of what would come later (say, around the time of Tri Repetae). Also, love the way it flows into Bike.

I keep hearing my old friends Caberet Voltaire weaving around in the background on this listen. Not too surprising, really.

Anyone know the source of the "I don't have any idea what's going on" sample in Basscadet? Cursory internet search didn't find anything.

I knew a guy "back in the day" who always called Basscadet "bass cad et" with "bass" pronounced like the name of the fish and a clear separation of "cad" and "et." "Bass cadet" with "bass" meaning low frequency noises made waaaay more sense to me. You know, like "space cadet" but with bass? I dunno, maybe I'm crazy.

Doctrine sure gets the blood moving if you're in the mood for it.

See Also:
Autechre listening survey