Autechre
Quaristice.Quadrange.ep.ae

Repeating oneself after a masterpiece like "Untilted," goes without saying, was not very easy. And indeed, with the subsequent 'Quaristice phase,' Autechre do not come even remotely close to the statuesque predecessor, bringing out what, despite being a solid 10/10, is among the most, quote-unquote, colorless moments in the glorious, and therefore qualitatively very high, journey of the English duo. It should also be acknowledged that they did not fail to adhere to what is somewhat their creed, that of always reinventing themselves, whether it involves radical changes (huge abstractions, styles, new sounds created from scratch, new tones) or those we might more simply define as details (citations, variations, machinations, approaches). A controversial record, "Quaristice," where the two dust off old machines and old sections of the brain responsible for creating melody, while not giving up their constant pursuit and experimentation in terms of rhythm, sound, and structures; a record that also saw (dark) ambient excursions, acid digressions that were once again very much in vogue during that particular period and therefore a return to old-school hardware, moreover, adhering to an almost pop format, with short and to-the-point tracks.

A record that, in my opinion, is far surpassed by the cd2 of the limited version (containing the same tracks, developed or completely transformed) and especially by what is its even less rated, and even more developed and unknown, twin, "Quadristice Quadrange ep.ae", a release limited to digital download containing reworks, edits, and longer/detailed/experimental versions of both "Quaristice" and "Quaristice Versions" (the already mentioned 'cd2'), as well as third completely unpublished, often culminating in total re-adaptations that are no longer even identifiable as re-adaptations.. rather new tracks, in a work of substantial duration (two hours) that makes us understand just how broad their concept of 'ep' really is (how can we not remember, for example, the mysterious "EP7", an hour long, never recognized as an 'album', and also superior to the adjacent "LP5"?).

"Quadristice Quadrange ep.ae" is a very particular project in its marrying of cerebral acid lines with intricate and decomposed rhythms, against a background of colossal atonal cascades of drones that lead straight back to "Confield", weighing it all down with the sporadic appearance of majestic dark-ambient moments, which in their calm and clean spectrum are nevertheless much more devastating than what the confieldian earthquake was able to be.

With "The Plc Ccc" it's immediately experimentation: preserving some rhythmic parts of "The Plc," a completely new track forms, based on sharp and cutting sound slivers, stormy drones, and aseptic acidisms that literally slice through the brain. "Perlence Range 7" is initially identical to "Perlence," only to then develop decisively on webs of new acid and sharp micro-rhythms, as usual anxious and frenzied; "Perlence Subrange 3" does so instead on dub/drone territories; "Perlence Suns" recycles the sounds of "paralel Suns," but creates new recidivist harmonies to that digital-dark-ambient we had the chance to appreciate at the end of "Quaristice"; also interesting is the overall mood, which closely recalls what was heard on the OST of the first, legendary, Metal Gear Solid. Even more confusion with "Perlence Losid 2", which has nothing to do with the various "Perlence..", indeed, it is a new track that coins a sort of dub techno á-la Basic Channel, but in digital version (and this is unique in a fetishistic and analog-venerating movement like dub tech is).

Still, acid harshness and enveloping drones of monolekian memory on the very direct "90101-51-6" and "90101-51-19", with a strong techno drive that distances them decidedly from the parallel "90101-5l-l" of the album (more electro, more syncopated); with "9010171-121" the same piece is placed on a more IDM plane; "9013-2" is instead unreleased, a minimalist vignette on the trail of what the two did with Andrew 'Hafler Trio' McKenzie.

"Tkakanren" is placed on the same plane as "Tankraken" and "Tankakern," and just as happens at the title level, the differences are minimal, they are mostly ornamental details that can easily escape a less attentive listening, just as a more approximate reading can overlook the difference between the three titles of the three versions that appeared on the branches of the multifaceted "Quaristice". "Chenc9-1dub" picks up "chenc9," shortening it, de-melodizing it, and adding new noisistic details ranging from the dry 'drill' to Squarepusher up to the microsound-digitally calibrated style Komet. "Notwotwo" rewrites the dark ambient of "Notwo," making it appreciated a hundred times more with its new, very dark, and oceanic ten-minute duration, a track to completely lose oneself in, a pearl of rare beauty that is a preamble to what will happen in the last track, practically a real second disc if one chooses to get the physical CD (remember that this album has only been released in mp3/flac version so far, a real shame considering we are facing the best of the "Quaristice" branches).

This is "Perlence Subrange 6-36", an indescribable fifty-nine-minute long journey, an ambient among the deepest and most hair-raising ever published on the ether, a real masterpiece, where registers stretch, resurface, dissolve, and get lost in nothingness. An ambient where echoes, filters, and inherently dub shapes meet microwave glitch patterns and drones so hypnotic, so dark, so sulfuric, so inhuman and impenetrable that they make even Thomas Köner, Lustmord, and raison d'être hang up their keyboards.

As far as I'm concerned, "Quaristice" could well be just this track.