Richard Devine
Cautella

This album, which fell into my hands, is one of the most incredible and complex records I have ever listened to. It is extreme electronics, encompassing an incredible amount of ideas and rhythmic mutations, characterized by a sonic research that I believe even surpasses that conducted by the overseas companions Autechre. For those who already know at least a small part of the music produced by this gentleman, they can already imagine what lies behind these grooves. The rhythms and sounds are of incredible complexity, every single beat is completely "destroyed," rendered unrecognizable, "denaturalized" until it appears as artificial as possible.

A record that tells of futuristic wars, cosmic explosions, grotesque yet frenetic ballads for the next generation of androids.  (Sigstop, Arc-Acid) The sound is always very clear, crafted in minute detail, highlighted and polished almost to excess, contributing to an even more artificial semblance to the entire listening experience. For example, a record like Amon Tobin's "Permutation" is also artificial and unnatural (though never quite like this!), but its sound appears dirtier, less precise, giving the impression of listening to an older product, perhaps recorded with less advanced equipment. These are details that may elude a very superficial listen, but overall they can have significant weight.

This album tends to "reorder" the ideas already expressed on the albums "Lipswich" and "Asect-Dsect" sonic explorations that focused instead on a certain type of idea.  "Cautella" creates a sonic blend that, track after track, leads you from the initial dark and claustrophobic scenarios (Helix Stair Helve, Orr Unfolding two above all) to the final track "Timach", which sounds like a sort of liberation from all those tormented and unsettling atmospheres of which the album overflows, sound after sound. Passing through the fragmented rhythms and the "dark-noise" atmospheres of "RSL-com", the ruinous sonic shambles of "LPR-port", razor-sharp, splintered, and unpredictable, the rhythmic tangle perennially close to chaos that characterizes "Repol", seasoned with an "under-the-skin" melody that creates evanescent, imaginative atmospheres. The album flows damnably fluid, also because the tracks are never excessively stretched but still manage to "tell" a lot.

An album recommended only for those who have the patience to listen without immediately judging; for novices, it will surely be very challenging. On the other hand, those already accustomed to listening to Autechre, Squarepusher, and company will find no particular difficulty in digesting this album, even though, in my opinion, "Sigstop" and "Arc-Acid" are of such violence as to make many "cult" artists of the English warp scene pale...