EP7 [EP]

Amazon.com
Thick fractals of bloops, blips, flutterings, and kerrangs are combined on EP 7, Autechre's least textural, most rabidly experimental release yet. At this point, Autechre's music pretty much exists within its own, idiosyncratic subgenre of the experimental techno subgenre. Their music invites hyperbole rather than external comparison: one could easily imagine that the discordant bleeps of track 4 are the sound of R2D2 flipping out on angel dust or that one segment of track 9 captures the demon baby from It's Alive devouring a microphone. While some tracks approach sublime chaos--where a dense, hard-to-grasp internal order is revealed after multiple listens--most of the pieces are perfectly content to resemble indecipherable alien transmissions. EP 7's 60 abstract, knotty minutes will clear most any dance floor but, by sheer force, cleanse the brain of all but the most primitive functions. It's fabulous. --Mike McGonigal

Product Description
1999 release for the Warp label from the highly acclaimed English experimental/ avant-garde electronic outfit. 11 tracks. Over an hour of music. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Tracks:

Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled

Amazon.com

Thick fractals of bloops, blips, flutterings, and kerrangs are combined on EP 7, Autechre's least textural, most rabidly experimental release yet. At this point, Autechre's music pretty much exists within its own, idiosyncratic subgenre of the experimental techno subgenre. Their music invites hyperbole rather than external comparison: one could easily imagine that the discordant bleeps of track 4 are the sound of R2D2 flipping out on angel dust or that one segment of track 9 captures the demon baby from It's Alive devouring a microphone. While some tracks approach sublime chaos--where a dense, hard-to-grasp internal order is revealed after multiple listens--most of the pieces are perfectly content to resemble indecipherable alien transmissions. EP 7's 60 abstract, knotty minutes will clear most any dance floor but, by sheer force, cleanse the brain of all but the most primitive functions. It's fabulous. --Mike McGonigal

Album Description

1999 release for the Warp label from the highly acclaimed English experimental/ avant-garde electronic outfit. 11 tracks. Over an hour of music.

Customer Reviews:

Great.......2007-07-01

This release is great on a song by song basis, but not as an album. This is one of the reasons why I think its an ep instead of an lp. Each song is innovative an brilliant, but many have nothing to do with each other. Highlights include Maphive, Dropp, and Zeiss Contarex

An audible Rohrschach test.......2006-01-02

Another commentary on EP7 mentioned the concept of removing the human element entirely from electronic music. Nowhere in all of Autechre's work is this more directly manifest than in this album, which is actually listed in most places (including its own front cover) as an EP. I tend to think, however, that rather than remove the humanity here, the artists have simply left to listeners the task of deciding what their music means.
Perhaps the extreme abstractness and structure of the music is what I enjoy most about it. It could be that I'm just drawn to blips and bleeps of strange shapes, the audible equivalent of shiny objects. (Understand that you're reading comments written by someone who thinks it's fun to look at fractals. Govern yourselves accordingly.) Whatever the case, it's safe to say that the listener will see himself (or herself) in the music. There is no message being put forward here; only a sound, a series of events that trigger chain reactions in the mind of the listener. You may find yourself drawing mental pictures resembling the ones on the cover. (And those are extremely appropriate visual descriptions of what you'll hear on this CD.) You may imagine obscure shapes floating past you as if carried on some wind. You may imagine a white room with high walls, with sourceless sounds echoing all around. Whatever the case may be, it will likely be more like looking in a mirror than at someone else. This is more than just 'listening music' to be played in the background. The tracks on EP7 are individual soundscapes, each telling a story that is colored, and even partly written, by the listener.

Masterwork that surfs the mountainous waves of the Ae ouevre.......2004-12-04

EP7 is my fave Autechre album, along with Incunabula. "rpeg" is a fitting intro into a more terse and machine-driven style that was hinted at in the previous self-titled (`LP5') album and its predecessor 'Tri Repetae++', but, for this sonic `punter', leaves them for dead.

"ccec"s distorted rap-style vox-samples twist skilfully through a `drum and bass' accompaniment that is as engaging as it is intelligent. Once again Ae treats us to an tonally/thematically/rhythmically integrated, elemental and organic sound-world that is insinuatingly engaging. Brilliant track! Victory of man-melded-with-machine-aural-intrigue.

"squeller"s jaunty, metallic beats are enthralling and the thematic synth-development underneath is a perfect accompaniment. Rivetting! The `radiophonic' surges that end the track are perverse and a great lead-in to "left blank". This latter track is led by beat-driven attacks on tonality similar to the better tracks on `LP5', which however are less melodically satisfying here than they were there, as this time the beats and bass thumps win out! Not a track for woosies who want melody to emerge out of chaos. A hint of what was to come on `Confield', their next and least approachable album.

"outpt" - just white noise? Oops, here's fuzzy-synth-wash melody and jaunty `down on the farm' thumpy beats instead. What can these guys come up with next? "outpt" becomes unrelenting in its pulse and drive to seemingly find a tonal plateau. It fails - thank heavens for that! - and dissolves into squelchy white noise again. Woo hoo, what a ride!

"dropp" is one of my favourite Ae tracks. The intro is hauntingly beautiful, before massive sloshy beats force its synth-melody to the background, still radiantly beautiful in its minimalist, yet emotional pulse. Disintegration kills it off at the end so we don't get too enthralled! The thematic development here is mind-bogglingly brilliant, as is so much of the Ae sound.

"liccflii" throbs and bounces in its irritatingly catchy way, never threatening to toy with melody. Unsettling and another forward look towards the `Confield' style of `why let them rest in thematic or rhythmic development - let's screw with their minds some!' It screws with mine.

"maphive 6.1" begins as another seemingly relentless throbbing machine-driven track, but quickly morphs into a stunningly playful synth theme, which for a while takes all the oomph out of the forward thrust. It then grows its own melodically created pulse - a common Ae motif - before briefly pausing to bathe in its own beauty, then pulsing on through another metamorphosis - beats deconstructing and trying to reconstruct themselves - finally giving in to the beauty of the now glockenspiel like theme, itself having become rhythm-melody yet again. The track ends with a throbbing descent into earthy surges of synth - like once vibrant flesh becoming dust.

The retrograde beats and pulses that follow the intro of "zeiss contarex" are nothing if not perverse. It develops a less interesting `industrial' pulse which has no real direction and fails to convince me, even though it does morph into a couple of mildly interesting sub-themes for a while. Challenging music, but not up to the best of the album - a bit of a disappointment compared to that which surrounds it.

"netlon sentinel" is just plain anarchic - metallic squelches and bass throbs that somehow transform into a stunningly radiant synth theme, accompanied by decadent bass-beats and metal swishes until it develops its own yearning pulse and becomes:

"pir" - a great way to end a monumental album. Its theme is challenged by squelchy metallic `thracky, throcky' beats, but - a tribute to Ae's genius - remains achingly beautiful despite them.

If you have not listened to Ae before, or have only heard one, or all of their first three albums - `Incunabula', `Amber' and `Tri Repetae++' - this album may be a tad disconcerting and sonically confronting. But don't give up on them - some reviewers say they are overrated, but Ae never fail to innovate and thereby engage!

cranium-stretching.......2004-08-16

you either love autechre or hate them. their skittery, off balance, attention deficit disorder electronica is not for everyone; but for those with an open ear...a wonderous and weird world of sound awaits. if you consider aphex twin to be the jester of electronic music...then think of autechre as his overly intelligent free-jazz obsessed little brother.
this isn't really much of an ep considering it has 11 songs on it, but there is plenty here to try and wrap your head around. the first track starts off innocently enough with a straight ahead (for autechre standards) beat and squelchy sound effects that resemble aphex twin's "Richard D. James" album. the second track threatens to go off the rails with it's relentless sampled voice, creepy distortion, and crumpled beats. it can get a little scary at times. but that's the beauty of this group. they have the ability to confuse the hell out of you.recommended for open minds.

one of my favorite autechre cds.......2004-06-30

This is one of my favorite Autechre albums so far. I feel there is better cohesion and progression on this record than some other Autechre albums.

The album starts off sort of slow, subdued, and rigid, then picks up and eventually climaxes at 'Maphive 6.1.' The rest of the record is resolution. I feel 'Maphive' is the most accessible track on the album, and a true standout amongst Autechre's canon. Most of the other songs on the ep really fit within the context of the record, and may not make any sense standing on their own.