Gescom
EP

Gescom is the side-project of the Autechre, a entity in which, apart from the two genius minds of Manchester, a whole series of more or less known figures linked to the Skam reality revolve, an unforgettable label that played a key role in the development of the Anglo-electronic sound of the mid-nineties, and in this project fully embraces the Detroit credo, that of anonymity, the collective, the 'missions'. That of minds that amalgamate to give life to music that transcends the creator himself, turning into an independent organism.

It is certain that Rob Brown and Sean Booth are 100% involved in many of these releases, but it is not always possible to know which ones, just as it is not always easy to trace back to an external signature among the twenty or so people involved. However, just as happened with the touch of Mike Banks or James 'Drexciya' Stinson - recognizable in many Red Planet - if there is an EP where the signature of Autechre, and a third character - in this case Bola - is as clear as ever, it is the debut of 1994, obviously on Skam, "Gescom EP", which does not shine for the imagination of its title, but does so for ideas, music, and visions.

"Dan One" opens the journey flaunting dirty grooves, cosmic drones, disharmonic and sinister melodic patterns, techno beats with well-calibrated distortions in pure early Autechre style, those of the triptych Incunabula/Amber/Tri Repetae (and thus mechanical, deep, obsessive); it is also a piece that once again proves pioneering, anticipating the very current trend of combining techno and drone. On "Five", acid-analog synths that scream "Incunabula", anxious atmospheres, and shamelessly simple and cyclical rhythms, yet at the same time refined and mathematical in their irregular flow, represent the prestigious Booth/Brown signature; warm pad sections and never so rarefied melodies, close to Detroit as to Eno, instead lead us straight to the aforementioned Bola, a notable name of Skam and among the few truly 'known' in the crew. The combination is successful.

The same goes for the majestic "Cicada", high-grade ambient-techno, a piece so human, fragile, and intimate that it makes us think that the bulk of it was once again entrusted to Bola's compositional talent, famous for his touching melodies; the much noisier Autechre on their part do not stand idly by, and using small glitches and rhythmic mounts with spatial, liquid and hyper-futuristic chromatics, they complete a piece that will prove to be the undisputed pinnacle of the EP. Echos of the most cosmic Tangerine Dream and the most dreamy Morris Gould fight relentlessly over the extrasensory gaps of "Sciew Spoc", a piece so enveloping and deep that it would not at all look out of place as another track from the quintessentially 'deep' Autechre album, the contemporary "Amber"".

Gescom EP: or when masters teach.