About this item

Incunabula was in many ways a turning point for electronic music, full of housey chords and classic techno drums but woven together in a way that only Autechre could. After the inauspicious beginnings of the bizzarely titled 'Kalpol Introl', 'Bike' is a whimsical and throbbing tech-house number, full of dynamic analogue sweeps and dusty phasing, paddling arps taking the lead role for most of the piece beforebeing driven along by a shuffling 909-hats and smooth kicks. 

Fast-forward to 'Autriche' and there is a slightly lighter ambient number, comparable to the more off-piste moments of their lauded second album, before launching into the glitched footwork-esque truncated snare hits of 'Basscadet' ; ducked percussive slaps and snarling basses click and bounce into a rhythmic agreement, if not in complete harmony, at least fighting together in some sort of gritted-teeth cease-fire. 

There is more than a glimmering of Autechre's later trademark sound on build-fall-build numbers like 'Doctrine', moving elements into the mix before fading out into a smoking pile, destroyed and fastidiously rebuilt. 

Though this was but a start for Autechre, it came to define the sound that so many loved ; crackling and devastating electronic passages interspersed with moments of shining musical lucidity. Often emulated, but rarely bettered. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's the sound of a generation this, dancing along in their wacky footwear and lovely warm hoods in some sort of dystopian shed/warehouse affair. Glitched out rhythms and shining slivers of light drop into tribal breakdowns and snappy snares. Triumphant and formative futuristic space dance.