There's plenty of electronic-based acts that attempt to 'humanize' their machines, to coax real emotion from their gadgetry. Well, influential British duo Autechre are not of this mindset, whatsoever. For 15 years now, Rob Brown and Sean Booth have subverted and pushed the limits of (what some would call) 'techno' music into far-out abstractions, damaged beats, and alien soundscapes. Now, after confounding their audiences with the impenetrable algorithmic programming and skittering beats of their 2005 LP 'Untilted', they return to more, umm, listenable forms of electronica on the 20-track 'Quaristice'. From proto-ambient pieces (the desolate yet lovely--and almost melodic-- 'Notwo') to industrial-like cutups ('Fol3') to blippy, mutant hip-hop ( 'fwzE' ), they cover a lot of ground on this 73-minute monsterpiece. In fact, most of these pieces are relatively short, and all seem to be individual sketches of textures put into sound format. Autechre create and inhabit entirely foreign worlds within their machinery, and this imaginative and quirky blend of styles and disorienting moods is both fun and evocative. (Warp)
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