Autechre - Quaristice (2008)

Hervé This is a French chemist who makes no music, as far as I know, and works mainly with food within the field of "Molecular Gastronomy" where he does things like unboil eggs. Among other things, he has gained attention through cooking only with elements (sodium, lithium, and stuff), creating edible compounds that the internet tells me are delicious. The point is, these dishes are so unlike traditional food, that even culinary experts have great difficulty describing the experience of eating them. By breaking down food into its most basic components and reassembling, This has created a whole new paradigm. It is this sort of thinking that is most helpful when approaching Autechre. This duo started in techno more than 20 years ago, developing a sound that has disintegrated into something much more unfamiliar. To call their music experimental is unfair, because clearly there is meticulous design behind every composition; experimental listening is more like it. There just isn't ever a guaranteed result when approaching these pieces of sound, even when each fragment could exist within the realm of popular dance music. But sometimes the music's relationship to the conventional is too baffling (these guys write their own software for making this stuff) and the overarching design too obscured for much reference. This also is by design. When Autechre performs, they play in pitch darkness and they play loud. Autechre is about sound itself. This applies to most stuff post-2000, but you never know. They are putting music out all the time recently and just sort of do what they want. For my money 2008's Quaristice has just about everything they do in it, from the ambient to the banger to the brainmelt. Music to scare your cat. "90101-5I-I", "Tankakern" and "Fol3" float my boat, but the whole thing's great.
Autechre's importance lies in the fact that they may be the first electronic act to eliminate the space between artist and expression. Electronic music has always been characterized by the limitations inherent in its technology. Your 303 drum machine can only DO so many things, therefore establishing an aesthetic upon technological boundaries. Autechre are the first artists, in my mind, to reach a level of fluency within their craft that these limitations are virtually nonexistent. Where before dance music has made its creators more robotic, Autechre has made the electronic more human.
G et i t he re

-Andrew Black