Tri Repetae - Autechre (1995)

I don’t speak much French but I kind of have an outsider appreciation of the langauge. The First Time I heard about a band named Autechre I thought the name looked French, so in my head I pronounced it with the extra little almost-silent “gu” sound at the end in the French style, like “sépulcre” or “ochre” or “Louvre” (I believe it’s called a glottal stop, but it’s been a long time since I thought I was gonna be a linguist).

Anyway, I’ve come to find out the lads are from Manchester, and they pronounce it “AWE-tech-er” in the way only British people can murder French constructions so they don’t have to think about how roughly 40% of the King’s English is actually French (see also: pronouncing “valet” to rhyme with “pallette”)

This record is the best of what you might call their early phase. Shortly after, they’d become masters of beat-generated noise: buzzsawing, dissonant, and frantic. Here there was still a lot of the machine-music feel, but it was directed more into melodic and rhythmic elements like more traditional sounding dance music. I don’t know if it’s better than some of their most notable later releases, but it’s certainly easier on the nerves.

Tracks I Liked

Dael - the most hummable Autechre song, I imagine

Rotar - Sounds like it’s about to explode into a Nine Inch Nails fury that never arrives.

Second Bad Vilbel - If you are listening to the “Tri Repetae++” version that includes the same year’s Anvil Vapre EP, then you will be treated to this track. MTV’s late night Amp IDM showcase in the 90s played this video and introduced a lot of people (including me) to Autechre.