I came to know of Tri Repetae rather late. I only started listening to electronic music in earnest around 1995 when a friend sent me a tape of Orbital’s Snivilization. I started going through the Autechre catalog one at a time somewhere around 2009, and came to Tri Repetae in 2010. By then, it was 15-year old music, but it did not fail to impress me; electronic music was moving fast in the 90s, so this alone says something about it.
I had given both Incunabula and Amber (the two preceding albums) plenty of time to understand them, since I was aware from my readings that Tri Repetae was a significant leap beyond them, and I wanted to feel that. These are both solid works, and I recommend them in their own right.
There are some albums that you know are special within five or ten seconds; this is one of them. As soon as the opening bass pulse of Dael finishes a cycle or two, you think you’re in for something different. Fortunately, the album does not fail to deliver on its first promise.
Through the course of 10 tracks, Booth and Brown take us on a journey through a chilly but beautiful digital landscape, filled with intricate rhythms and minimal melodies. While the work does include sounds from analog synths, the overall mood is quite crisp and digital. I would not use the word “phat” to describe any sounds on this disc. What at first listen sounds quite repetitive is actually full of minute variations. It is a work that easily bears, or even requires, multiple listenings.
While the whole album is solid (except maybe for Stud and Overand), a few tracks stand out. The opener, Dael, sets the tone for the rest with its crisp programmer-funk percussion, sharp foreground melody and more gentle background melody. It signals quite clearly that the album will not sound entirely like Incunabula or Amber.
Next up is the most excellent Clipper. Making use of static and some very nasty synth sweeps, it is one of what I consider to be the three strongest tracks. The ebb and flow of the sweeping synths really evokes a deep emotional response once you’re in tune with how this music is constructed. Adding to this are the mid-range and upper-range melodies on the top. When a fourth melody is added into the mix, the complexity of the sound is at the edge of what our minds can process and keep the individual parts straight. When adding this many layers into a composition, it’s not hard to lose sight of the composition as a whole and add something that doesn’t work. But Autechre keep it in line and everything fits brilliantly. At eight-and-a-half minutes, the track seems the right length.
Rotar, the fourth track, is another of the three standouts. With a start similar to Dael and a repeating bitty bass line, it takes a different tack. Rather than developing a swaying type of funk, it goes down a more determined road. There is a sinister mid-range melody the sits between the percussion / bass line and the main melody. The main melody is a very fragile, beautiful thing that contrasts sharply with the fractured noise underneath. Autechre isn’t the first electronic act to blend light melodies with harsh percussion, but they are masters of the technique. On first listen, it seems that the bass line remains unchanged throughout. But more careful inspection reveals that it changes for a while in the middle section. It is these sorts of subtle variations that help keep this album interesting throughout.
Eutow and C/Pach are both very enjoyable, with several funky sounds and interesting rhythms to offer.
While Leteral and Gnit aren’t bad, I find they don’t stand up to the quality of what surrounds them. Overand is unmemorable, and Stud is the only track that I find I don’t really like.
The album finishes with what I consider to be the third standout track: Rsdio (how do you pronounce that?!?). With a ten-minute length, it is the longest of all the tracks. It’s a subtle work, with slow development and an interesting beat. With a fractured, uncertain melody over its sparse bass line, it has a foreboding atmosphere. It’s a perfect finish to the album.
While Tri Repetae is not perfect, it is one of the strongest I’ve heard. It maintains a certain character throughout, and has several stunning tracks on it. At the time of writing, I have made it through Chiastic Slide and LP5 in my journey through the Autechre catalog. It seems that Tri Repetae is at a crucial point in Autechre’s development where they are truly beginning to experiment, but before the experiments have gone so far that they are hard to follow. Chiastic Slide is quite good, but it takes longer to understand than Tri Repetae, and LP5 is a very challenging listen. Next up is Confield, about which I am apprehensive, because of one reviewer’s description of their work from this period as “baffling, beat-damaged digital concrete.”
I had given both Incunabula and Amber (the two preceding albums) plenty of time to understand them, since I was aware from my readings that Tri Repetae was a significant leap beyond them, and I wanted to feel that. These are both solid works, and I recommend them in their own right.
There are some albums that you know are special within five or ten seconds; this is one of them. As soon as the opening bass pulse of Dael finishes a cycle or two, you think you’re in for something different. Fortunately, the album does not fail to deliver on its first promise.
Through the course of 10 tracks, Booth and Brown take us on a journey through a chilly but beautiful digital landscape, filled with intricate rhythms and minimal melodies. While the work does include sounds from analog synths, the overall mood is quite crisp and digital. I would not use the word “phat” to describe any sounds on this disc. What at first listen sounds quite repetitive is actually full of minute variations. It is a work that easily bears, or even requires, multiple listenings.
While the whole album is solid (except maybe for Stud and Overand), a few tracks stand out. The opener, Dael, sets the tone for the rest with its crisp programmer-funk percussion, sharp foreground melody and more gentle background melody. It signals quite clearly that the album will not sound entirely like Incunabula or Amber.
Next up is the most excellent Clipper. Making use of static and some very nasty synth sweeps, it is one of what I consider to be the three strongest tracks. The ebb and flow of the sweeping synths really evokes a deep emotional response once you’re in tune with how this music is constructed. Adding to this are the mid-range and upper-range melodies on the top. When a fourth melody is added into the mix, the complexity of the sound is at the edge of what our minds can process and keep the individual parts straight. When adding this many layers into a composition, it’s not hard to lose sight of the composition as a whole and add something that doesn’t work. But Autechre keep it in line and everything fits brilliantly. At eight-and-a-half minutes, the track seems the right length.
Rotar, the fourth track, is another of the three standouts. With a start similar to Dael and a repeating bitty bass line, it takes a different tack. Rather than developing a swaying type of funk, it goes down a more determined road. There is a sinister mid-range melody the sits between the percussion / bass line and the main melody. The main melody is a very fragile, beautiful thing that contrasts sharply with the fractured noise underneath. Autechre isn’t the first electronic act to blend light melodies with harsh percussion, but they are masters of the technique. On first listen, it seems that the bass line remains unchanged throughout. But more careful inspection reveals that it changes for a while in the middle section. It is these sorts of subtle variations that help keep this album interesting throughout.
Eutow and C/Pach are both very enjoyable, with several funky sounds and interesting rhythms to offer.
While Leteral and Gnit aren’t bad, I find they don’t stand up to the quality of what surrounds them. Overand is unmemorable, and Stud is the only track that I find I don’t really like.
The album finishes with what I consider to be the third standout track: Rsdio (how do you pronounce that?!?). With a ten-minute length, it is the longest of all the tracks. It’s a subtle work, with slow development and an interesting beat. With a fractured, uncertain melody over its sparse bass line, it has a foreboding atmosphere. It’s a perfect finish to the album.
While Tri Repetae is not perfect, it is one of the strongest I’ve heard. It maintains a certain character throughout, and has several stunning tracks on it. At the time of writing, I have made it through Chiastic Slide and LP5 in my journey through the Autechre catalog. It seems that Tri Repetae is at a crucial point in Autechre’s development where they are truly beginning to experiment, but before the experiments have gone so far that they are hard to follow. Chiastic Slide is quite good, but it takes longer to understand than Tri Repetae, and LP5 is a very challenging listen. Next up is Confield, about which I am apprehensive, because of one reviewer’s description of their work from this period as “baffling, beat-damaged digital concrete.”
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