The first 40 minutes of the set was not music, not even in the loosest sense of the word. It was nu-Autechre, the abstract nightmarish spewings of some unholy coked up string of Max patches that was not made for, or understandable by, human beings. It started off quickly and at rapid pace we sped down this labyrinth of formless, rhythm-less noise, not a single hint of harmony, melody or even any tonal information to latch onto. People around me tried to dance but I knew better than that and just held on, completely overloaded by this sonic assault, confrontational to the max.
The best way to describe the start is to say it was akin to a Willy-Wonka boat ride through an underground volcanic cavern. The bass gurgled like molten lava, the geysers erupted in harsh whistles around us and the percussion was all cut from the same rocky, elemental cloth. It was not pleasing but it was loud, it was dark and it was immersive. The novelty was there but without any actual music it quickly become too much and the better part of me was frustrated and disappointed at the thought of this being the entire set, an hour and a half barrage of random sound that couldn’t possibly move us or invoke any real emotional response. We were listening to a behemoth, a generative stream of deep sub-bass and skittery percussion spawned from some off-world impenetrable intelligence, something we didn’t understand. I wished for glimpses of something musical, something human from these two minds that gave us Rae, Pen Expers, Chichli, I knew they were more than capable of it.
What happened around 40 minutes however was startling and completely overwhelming in its effect. It suddenly became clear that Autechre hadn’t just been idle spectators during this cacophony, we had forgotten about them but now their new vital role was becoming clear. Stood behind their laptops in the dark, they were actually in a dialogue with the ‘entity’ and had at long last achieved what we were all hoping for, saving the day by convincing whatever was creating this sound to start working for us and not against us. The skittish percussion moved rather quickly into not just any old rhythm, but the most disgustingly massive beat you could dream of, shaking the room and forcing us out of our despondency. The truly startling thing was that this was clearly the same alien intelligence that had dreamed up the preceding labyrinth: the groaning molten lava bass was now a regular kick, the rocky snares and hats were now uniform and the whistling was now a dramatic exclamation that this thing was above this and did not like lowering itself to our basic tribal nature. It was relunctantly straight-laced but still completely sonically organic, a definite groove yet still weird as anything. The abstract formless sound-scape was now an accessible beat, some advanced sovereign consciousness had willingly morphed itself into something human and Autechre stood there responsible, it was an absolute spectacle. This was actual musical intelligence, this was a cosmic negotiation infront of our eyes, but more importantly this was now a fucking banger we could all dance to.
This went on for a glorious 5-10 minutes before the ‘entity’ got bored humouring us bipeds and the sound devolved, or more like evolved back to the abstract musings of before. However now a middle ground, a peace treaty was forged, it was slightly more ordered and danceable than the start, like the ‘entity’ had actually enjoyed some of what was going on and was adorning itself with human ideas at its own whim. The second half was ordered chaos and some bits were just apocalyptic in their gravity and intensity. I had been sold completely at the sudden realisation of the ‘plan’ of the set, that the first 40 minutes had been necessary to establish the power and impetus of this musical force, so when it was harnessed by Autechre for us, the effect was infinitely more pronounced.
However something was still missing and that was any type of tangible melody or harmony which I did still hope for as the set was coming to a close. Autechre seemed to sense that and right at the closing climax we suddenly got tones, single tones shooting out of the whirling, pulsating mass. I was now completely made up. The melody was plaintive and very elementary, simple phrases either resolving down or occasionally shooting off at crazy alien intervals that I can assure you have never been heard on this planet before. The emotion was there however, the cadences were profound and the dissonances were absurdly dark and sobering. However this threw me in a sudden confusion, were these emotions from Autechre or could this actually be the first words of this ‘entity’ as it opened its new vocal chords and tried its hand at aping our harmonic system? It sounds schizo but I can assure you, ask anyone in that room and they will edge towards the latter, it was truly bizarre some of the microtonal intervals we were hearing. And just like that after a minute or two of these powerful, dramatic tones marking the end of this journey, the sound dissipated and the lights came back on to a stunned audience returning to planet Earth. A quick thumbs up and they were gone.
In conclusion that was so much more than a live show or a simple musical act. That was the very concept of music elevated to a higher level as we all got to witness the struggle between generative cacophony and human-orientated sounds, a negotiation between a musical intelligence and the two utter geniuses that created it. I am slightly unnerved by the experience and can only hope that this ‘entity’ grows in a benevolent way, honing its melodic sensibilities rather than taking us deeper into the hellish volcanic underworld it calls its home.
But given where we are I can only notice one thing, that Bach has been reeaal quiet since AE_BRISTOL_061125 dropped…
S.F