Gescom
That

With their eighth EP, the Gescom crew decides to shed the label of being an Autechre side-project—which until now have played a very prominent role on it—by entrusting everything to the men of Skam Records, who focus on 'remixes'. As usual, these are remixes that don't actually have an 'original' counterpart, but so it is.. when we talk about Gescom, anything can be expected, especially remixes of non-existent tracks remixed by the creators of the 'original' who never actually conceived it.

This is the case of "Chunge (rmxd by Gescom"), a futuristic hybrid of breaks-idm-hip hop based on continuous accelerations and slowdowns, with the inevitable accompaniment of intricate rhythms and dissonant synths. In my opinion, this is the only track involving Autechre, particularly reminiscent of what was heard on "Envane". It's the sound of the old school that ignites the bomb "Whatever (rmxd by Tara), which sounds like one of those tracks from the first wave of English techno-breaks, and "A57 (rmxd by DC Duo's), another breakbeat digression full of distortions and cryptic atmospheric backgrounds, which however doesn't skimp on IDM school technicalities. Still two (or more?) anonymous faces, never to appear again in the record world, Pharoid & Time Chamber, are tasked with closing the EP with the remix of the typically never-before-existed "Self Impersonation"; the track, an apocalyptic, deep, and abandoned canvas that literally reflects the sound of "Amber" (and thus a lot to unpack..), turns out to be the peak of the entire EP.

A transitional EP, all in the norm, nothing really innovative or unmissable, a good EP but so 'human' and in the norm that its nearby successor (probably conceived during the same period, and to which clearly more efforts were dedicated, especially by the here-absent Autechre) will be one of the most abstract, experimental, uncategorizable, inhuman, and out-of-this-world works that have ever reached human ears, as well as the first album in minidisc format in history: "Minidisc" (so out-of-this-world that: "This is the only thing I have ever listened to that made me physically ill. After about 10 minutes I wanted to remove it from the deck and smash it with a hammer"!