April 30, 2005

{ Autechre show, Eindhoven NL }

Kickin' it with some friends at the Effenaar venue in Eindhoven, Holland, pretty psyched about the show. A beer, a joint, just in the way the average concert would start. My friend filled me in with the latest news from some heads that saw them the night before in Antwerp. Supposedly I should be getting ready for the most fantastic, innovative, forward thinking, musical experience I've ever had. Well, nonchalance came, went, and excitement continued. So there I was, waiting for what would happen. Rob Hall was playing so-so tech and electro, and the SND. fellows were not really getting through to my balls and spine. There they were. Much more high-tech, intellectual and alien it ocurred to me. I tried to fit these sounds and rhythms into my reference but it just did not work. It was not like anything I had heard before really: it was danceable, but my brain was dancing more than my feet. Slow, easy, seemably random, artefactal patterns dissolved time and time again in heavy, architectual, highly fascinating, multi-layered species of sound that my body and mind inhaled with great pleasure. The composition moved every musically inclined nerve in my body and spirit with great and deep satisfaction. It roamed, from the most sensitive, deep, obscure landscapes to heavy hardcore emotional artillery. What wonderstruck me the most, that it had so much soul in it: I could see great composers like Wagner and Britten passing the scene, but the spectrum of human emotion that it passed seemed much greater and complete, or at least more than my cognition and reaction could handle. It was INSANE! Very special. After have gone through quite some heavy stuff the piece ended with the most intense, deep, supporting, healing and comforting blast of sound that simply eradicated all thought and emotion that was left from all the previous. It left me paddling in a silent lake, where the wrinkles were rolling swiftly to the shore with satisfaction, purpose and ease. This was truly the most fantastic, innovative, forward thinking, musical experience I've ever had. Go see them.

» Autechre at Warp
» Good Autechre interview at BBC

By Alan Smithee in Live