is an
English Electronic Music group consisting of Rob Brown (born c. 1971) and Sean Booth (born c. 1973), both natives of
Rochdale . The group is one of the most prominent acts signed with
Warp Records , a label known for its pioneering
Electronic Music artists. Some journalists and fans consider Autechre to be a paragon of
IDM , though Brown and Booth themselves do not consider their sound to belong to any genre.
The two members formed the group in 1987 when they both lived in
Rochdale . They began their career making and trading
Mixtape s between each other, but gradually moved on to their own
Compositions while collecting a handful of cheap equipment; most notably a
Casio SK-1 Sampler . Indeed, by the time their albums on Warp appeared, they were employing a variety of
Electronic Instruments to create their evolving style.
Booth and Brown pronounce the name Autechre as "aw-tek-er", giving "aw-tek-a" with a Rochdale accent (
IPA ). However, they have explained that the name Autechre can be pronounced in any way anyone sees fit. They are also often referred to by the
Moniker "Ae." According to an April 2004 interview in Sound on Sound magazine, the name came about accidentally: "The first two letters were intentional, because there was an 'au' sound in the track, and the rest of the letters were bashed randomly on the keyboard. We had this track title for ages, and we had written it on a cassette, with some graphics. It looked good, and we began using it as our name."
Autechre has also recorded under various pseudonyms, possibly as a way of escaping from the attentions of the media and the obsessive Autechre fanbase. One of the duo's earliest recordings was a 12" under the Lego Feet moniker released in 1991 on
Skam Records . Various
Gescom releases, most on Skam, have been attributed to Booth and Brown, among other artists. Autechre helped initiate the
Music Festival All Tomorrow's Parties in 2000 and was responsible for curating the 2003 festival.
Some describe Autechre's music as cold and austere, whereas others perceive a warmth and sentimentality that touches even the most cerebral pieces. Much of Autechre's music has a strong focus on complex rhythm and driving percussion, and more recently, on meticulous sequencing. Later work has been notably
Experimental and
Abstract , in contrast to the more club-friendly and conventional early 1990s releases. Due to the inaccessability of their sound, reactions to their music have varied. Many of their
Tracks contain complex or chaotic rhythmic figures and close harmonies which some have criticized as random and noisy. Fans of their recent work tend to find the value of their music to lie in its unique fusion of rhythmic and melodic elements, percussive noises being tweaked to sound like they have pitches, and clustered, often inharmonic synthesizer patches implying numerous melodic lines and chord structures simultaneously. A signature of the Autechre sound is the use of extremely short snippets of sound to create a buzzing, percolating,
Grainy effect.
True to their early techno roots, Autechre utilize a wide array of and
Samplers . They have also made extensive use of a variety of computer based
Sequencers ,
Softsynths , and other applications as a means of controlling those synths and processing the synthesized sounds. Autechre have also used the
Max/MSP development environment for some time in their music. There have been claims that Autechre employ
Random sequence generation techniques, as evidenced by the
Max/MSP patches designed by them floating around on the internet
but Sean Booth has disputed these claims [http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~reynolda/music_ae_092801.html . Many listeners hear clear patterns where others hear chaos. In response to comments about their unique sound, Autechre argue that given the incredible range of tools available to modern composers, especially in the electronic genres, it is incomprehensible that any band should "sound like" any other band.
# (1993) ''
Incunabula ''
# (1994) ''
Amber ''
# (1995) ''
Tri Repetae ''
# (1997) ''
Chiastic Slide ''
# (1998) ''
LP5 '' (sometimes referred to as ''Autechre'')
# (2001) ''
Confield ''
# (2003) ''
Draft 7.30 ''
# (2005) ''
Untilted ''
Note: ''Tri Repetae++'' is the US release, adding the ''Garbage'' and ''Anvil Vapre'' EPs on a bonus second disc.
# (1994) ''
Anti EP ''
# (1995) ''
Garbage ''
# (1995) ''
Anvil Vapre ''
# (1997) ''
Envane ''
# (1997) ''
Cichlisuite '' (sometimes ''Cichli Suite'')
# (1998) ''
Peel Sessions '' (1995 recordings for
John Peel )
# (1999) ''
EP7 '' (CD combining vinyls ''EP 7.1'' and ''EP 7.2'')
# (2000) ''
Peel Sessions 2 '' (1999 recordings for
John Peel )
# (2002) ''
Gantz Graf '' (also released as a
DVD )
- (1991) '' Cavity Job '' - 12" vinyl single, 1000 copies
- (1993) '' Basscadet '' or ''Basscad'' - five remixes of "Basscadet"
- (1996) '' We R Are Why '' - 12" vinyl single
- (1999) '' Splitrmx12 '' - promo, 12" vinyl single, 3000 copies
Also:
