Autechre - Incunabula [Vinyl]

Autechre quickly established themselves at the forefront of the new ambient dance music scene of the 1990s.
The points of reference on Incunabula (Warp, 1993) are the late Tangerine Dream and synth-pop impressionist Brian Eno, as well as Indian classical music and hip hop. The South American rhythms and robotic metamorphoses of the single Basscadet do nothing to change an equation that is fundamentally devoid of variables. As an alternative to the predominant styles, all of which are more or less alien-futurist, Autechre offered up a soft and understated sound, organic rather than mechanical, plastic rather than monolithic, as announced in the beginning with the subdued electronics and mellow rhythms of Kalpol Introl. This ideology is exalted in the velvety techno of Bike, in which every minimalist vortex is finely tuned with a manneristic precision. The rhythm shifts constantly, moving effortlessly from the most effervescent ballets to the most austere pauses. What is important here is the background radiation, usually faint and sometimes imperceptible. 444 changes the praxis a bit, sticking the background drone (a glacial organ) around the sensual evolutions of a synthesizer, thus proposing a third way for trance that fuses Eno's Music For Airports and Terry Riley's Rainbow In Curved Air.
The duo rarely tries to sound gothic, although with its minimalistic variations the sound becomes sinister, as on the sinister rumblings and metallic ticking of Bronchus 2, and especially the melancholy waves and syncopated polyrhythms of Doctrine.
Their practice has little in common with modern ambient music. If anything, it is reminiscent of the early, more tentative experiments in electronic pop. The slightly jazzy tempo, iterated melody, and dark undercurrents of drone on Eggshell (perhaps the most accessible and elegant track) bring back memories of Tonto's Expanding Head Band. Equally "old-fashioned" and classic-sounding are the metallic carillon and African frenzies of the semi-melodic Lowride.
The "underwater music" of Autriche represents one of the pinnacles of sophistication: a Gregorian choir of sorts is allowed to float among the galaxies while a series of jazzy solos on the keyboards follows thereafter, each one in a different timbre, and always somewhat "lysergic". Fastidiously refined sampling, loops and drones triumph instead on Windwind, perhaps the technological masterpiece of the record, whose inner complexity is concealed behind a highly polished surface.
The detached, nonchalant tone with which the duo's compositions play out enmeshes itself in the listener's psyche. Above all, the duo is interested in the tonal qualities of sounds, which are continually altered to create a sense of dizziness, a breakdown of one's bearings, an absence of reference points. Theirs is music for "chill out rooms" rather than nightclubs.

Source: https://www.scaruffi.com/vol6/autechre.html

Tracklist:

A1. Kalpol Introl 00:00
A2. Bike 03:19
A3. Autriche 11:1