Autechre
Basscad, EP

THE REVIEW

"Basscad, EP" (Warp, 1994) represents a unique event in the Autechre production line: it is indeed the only EP focused on the concept of the single, that is, an EP for promotional or rounding purposes, more typical of leech-like pop and rock cultures, containing a track - usually the most accessible or radio-friendly - from a certain parallel album, with the not infrequent presence of others' remixes of the same. It won't happen again, and fortunately, I add, as all future EPs will contain only exclusive tracks - given the poor outcome even in the remixes as such, which isn't that obvious considering the contributors weren't exactly amateurs: Beaumont Hannant (old glory of the early IDM days), Seefeel (represented here by Mark Clifford, Warp veteran), and Autechre themselves, engaged with three re-edits, Tazmx, Basscadubmx, Bcdtmx, for a total of five versions, all inferior to the original that appeared a year earlier on "Incunabula," that futuristic ambient-techno bomb known as "Basscadet".

"Bcdtmx" retrieves some groove fragments and riffs, eliminates the intro bongos, the mechanized rhythms, and the alien pad layers which I believe were the strong points of that track, speeds everything up and takes the piece onto a less cerebral, more neo-industrial, almost EBM plane; it's an honest remix, but it ages poorly compared to the still fresh version from "Incunabula". The same fate befalls the "Beaumonthannanttwomx", truly primordial, lacking in special insights, way too linear and repetitive, and too static in the early Autechre style, a remix that doesn't add anything and wasn't needed; even annoying is the "Seeffelmx", a project I've always found overrated and which here confirms itself for flatness and boredom, in a reproduction between dub and ambient-techno that certainly doesn't shine for originality. Autechre returns with "Basscadubmx" (very close to the original - and perhaps for this reason the peak of the EP - but vaguely darker and, indeed, dubbed) and "Tazmx" (a lukewarm revision in a downtempo key with break reminiscences and acid-analog synthesizations, approaching some things from the parallel Gescom project, but with less experimentation).

"Basscad, EP" not only fails as a single (having been released a year after the album) it also fails as a remix EP, being banal and approximate. Not a memorable release, and I believe they were the first to notice it.