Album: Incunabula

By Autechre

Whilst rave culture stormed early 90s Britain, a small Sheffield-based records company, set up originally as part of a record store, was beginning to gather a cult following amongst those who thought electronic music had far more potential than providing an income for ecstay barons. The label was called Warp Records and despite being early in their development they had already caught the attention of (and signed) artists that would become world famous for innovation in electronic music over the next years, including Aphex Twin, The Black Dog, Squarepusher and Autechre. Warp's Artifical Intelligence series showcased their array of early talent, and in 1994 one of the first albums released as part of this series was Autechre's "Incunabula".

Incunabula has, as does most Autechre, a true cyberpunk, robotic-yet-organic feel. As usual Autechre's minor melodies are the main attraction here, yet unlike their second album their is also more of a focus on percussion, notably in "Basscadet" and "Doctrine". The main quirk here however is that it sounds nothing like anything you've ever heard before, in fact it doesn't really sound anything like Autechre's later albums (melodies aside) with more of an emphasis on epic string synth washes than their later efforts.

It starts off with "Kalpol Introl" (a track featured in "Pi"), which I can imagine will to a newcomer as one of the strangest pieces of music they've ever heard. Bass synths with added delay churn out a looped melody, occasionally giving way to sweeping strings and a build-up of echoing industrial percussion. It manages to evoke both extremely blissful feelings and paranoid discomfort at the same time, a theme which echoes in much of Autechre's work. The next track, "Bike", is at first one of the most intriguing and appealing tracks on the album. It appears to speak to an entire generation of Cyberpunk fans, by conjuring up images of desolate futuristic dystopias, like musical prophecy. However, it still feels in a way incomplete, I feel it is far too long and quickly runs out of ideas, instead relying on heavy repetition. However my main gripe is the frankly dire percussion, which doesnt really fit the song at all, it feels too fast and would probably be better if more bass orientated (if needed at all). "Autriche" follows in the same vein as "Bike", but with a slightly more quirky and unusual melody which leads into a puzzling and outdated synth solo (I think they stole it from "King's Quest" or some such, to be honest). "Bronchus 2" starts with a military 303 line and blips muffled vocal and... well, doesn't really go anywhere from there, meaning it's the first real miss on the album. Thankfully the pace is picked up wish "Basscadet", which is heavily percussion orientated and is full of excellent, interchanging melodies and harmonies. If there is any real criticism to be made, it's that there are too many ideas for one track, especially by Autechre, who generally favour subtlety in stealthily bringing in changes and new parts into their tracks. "Eggshell" is another pure Cyberpunk track, yet where "Bike" is a landscape of dystopia, "Eggshell" is a tale of life within the city, one of corruption and espionage (this track would not feel out of place in the computer game, "Deus Ex"). "Doctrine" is aggressive and imposes its authority from the very start, a distorted synth sputters out a dirty-sounding melody before violent percussion kicks in. The track later calms down with this album's trademark sweeping string synths contrasting the harsh percussion. It does however remain highly listenable, possibly because it's such a change from the rest of the album. "Maetl" has a similar feel to "Eggshell", with an oriental melody played against metallic harmonies. "Windwind" commences with sweeping synths before reaching a crescendo of peaceful, echoing percussion and returning to it's starpoint. It feels quite sombre, as if of mourning or regret. "Lowride" yet again balances cyberpunk synth melodies before giving into a piano melody (although the 808 does sound out of place slightly). A brief maelstrom breaks up the more funky sound in this track, before returning to the jazz-like piano. The final track "444", as with most Autechre final tracks, is the most epic, beautiful and engaging track on the entire album. This album is worthy buying purely for this, "Bike", "Eggshell" and "Maetl" in my opinion. "444" is quite simply stunning, as an ambient piece it's on a par with Aphex Twin's "Xtal". Pulsating string synths emit a heavenly melody before being perfectly complimented by a gorgeous organ synth and whilst the percussion still isnt quite right, for the most part you don't even notice it.

In conclusion this album is simply stunning, with the main letdown being a couple of the track's percussion and, at times, monotonous length. The entire album, being ten years old electronica, does feel outdated, but only in a way
that Terminator or Blade Runner feel outdated. It still has an air of nostalgic charm and would definetly be recommended to anyone who enjoys dodgy 80s sci-fi movies. It feels less professional, in a way, than Orbital's "Snivilisation" (though it has a similar feel) yet it feels more intricately detailed and intelligent.

If you like this album, I recommend Aphex Twin "Selected Ambient Works 2" because I really can't be bothered reviewing it.

Anyway, overall: 89%