Autechre
Two men from Rochdale, Sean Booth and Rob Brown, who started with hip hop and electro and have spent three decades building electronic music that sounds like nobody else's.
- Origin
- Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England
- Years active
- 1987-present
- Genres
- electronic, IDM, ambient, techno, glitch, experimental
- Labels
- Warp, Skam, Wax Trax!, TVT, Nothing
- Also known as
- Lego Feet, オウテカ
Rochdale
Autechre are Sean Booth and Rob Brown, an English electronic duo from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, who formed in 1987 after meeting through the local graffiti and breakdance scene. John Robb's 2010 Quietus interview has them growing up in Middleton and Rochdale, meeting through hip hop-related hobbies and trading mixtapes; Brown told the same magazine in 2013 that they met through the graffiti scene. Booth has said Manchester's love of American imports is the reason they exist.
Their first record was a 12-inch under the name Lego Feet on Skam, and their first as Autechre was the single Cavity Job in 1991, which Wikipedia reports was aired on the pirate station IBC. They signed to Warp in 1992 and contributed Crystel and The Egg to the compilation Artificial Intelligence. Booth has called the label IDM silly.
The records
The debut album Incunabula came out on November 29, 1993, and Brown described it as more of a compilation of old material. Amber followed on November 7, 1994, Garbage and Anvil Vapre in 1995, Tri Repetae on November 6, 1995, and Chiastic Slide in 1997. In 1994 the Anti EP was a protest against the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill, with proceeds going to Liberty. In 1997 they began using the software Max, and Confield, on April 30, 2001, was the first album built on generative Max patches. Gantz Graf, an EP, was released on August 5, 2002, Draft 7.30 on April 7, 2003, Untilted in 2005, Quaristice in 2008, Oversteps in 2010, Exai in 2013 and elseq 1-5 in 2016. NTS Sessions 1-4, eight hours long, appeared in 2018, and Sign and Plus in October 2020.
The studio is a pair of laptops and hardware in two cities. Sound On Sound's Paul Tingen listed Mackie desks, Roland and Korg synthesizers, Casio samplers and a G4 PowerBook running Max/MSP in 2004, and noted that Booth prefers working with the screen off. Booth and Brown live apart, one in Manchester and the other in Bristol by one account, and trade sound files and patches online.
Live and legacy
They are known for playing in near-total darkness, which Brown has defended as keeping attention on the music. Their first live show since 2011 was at Warp25 in Krakow on September 20, 2014; soundboard recordings of about 28 shows from that tour were released as AE_LIVE in 2015, and the series continues with AE_2022- from 2023. They curated All Tomorrow's Parties in 2003 and were artists in residence on BBC Radio 6 Music in December 2024.
Admirers include Charli XCX, SOPHIE, A. G. Cook, Tim Hecker and David Lynch. Pitchfork ranked Tri Repetae third among the 50 best IDM albums in 2017, and Chris Richards of the Washington Post called their music some of the most complicated music you could ever hope to drown in. In 2022 Booth revealed on a Twitch chat that the duo were first lined up to score Metroid Prime before Nintendo chose Kenji Yamamoto.
Members
- Sean Booth electronics (1987-present)
- Rob Brown electronics (1987-present)
Records
- Anvil Vapre 1995 · ep · Warp (WAP64CD)
A four-track EP of long pieces released a month before Tri Repetae, opening with Second Bad Vilbel.
- Gantz Graf 2002 · ep · Warp
A three-track EP between Confield and Draft 7.30, remembered for the video of its title track.
Songs
- Gantz Graf Gantz Graf · 2002
The title track of the 2002 EP, known above all through Alex Rutterford's video of an object that shakes and dissolves in time with it.
- Second Bad Vilbel Anvil Vapre · 1995
The opener of the 1995 EP Anvil Vapre, which Chris Cunningham made into a video.
Where to go next
Official
- Autechre The official site.
Reference
- Autechre Overview, side projects and live history.
- Tri Repetae The 1995 album and its US edition.
Discography and data
- Autechre discography Exact dates, labels and chart peaks.
Interviews
- The Quietus: Beyond the Radar, Autechre interviewed Booth and Brown on their Manchester roots, 2010.
- The Quietus: Anatomy of an Enigma Brown on Exai and L-event, 2013.
- FACT: Autechre interview with Rob Brown On playing live in the dark.
Live performance archives
- setlist.fm: Autechre song statistics Play counts.
Labels
- Autechre on Bandcamp The catalogue, including AE_LIVE and the NTS sessions.
More
- Sound On Sound: Autechre Paul Tingen on their studio and software, 2004.
Sources
- Autechre, Wikipedia
- Autechre discography, Wikipedia
- Gantz Graf, Wikipedia
- Anvil Vapre, Wikipedia
- Tri Repetae, Wikipedia
- Beyond the Radar: Autechre interviewed, The Quietus (2010-04-08)
- Anatomy of an Enigma, The Quietus (2013-11-20)
- Autechre, Sound On Sound (2004-04)
- Autechre interview with Rob Brown, FACT (2013-10-25)