Autechre's first album, released by
Warp in 1993, back when "
intelligent dance music" meant something. Autechre had been floating around for a few years (
Cavity Job EP, anyone?), most notably contributing two decent tracks to the first
Artificial Intelligence release, but
Incunabula was the band's first real winner.
Not surprisingly, Ae's debut is their least experimental album, comprising mostly straightforward ambient techno. Although the case could easily be made that Incunabula is the band's least rewarding listen, it also stands out as Booth and Brown's most accessible effort. In my opinion, it's a very good ambient album, and one that no Ae aficionado should be without. It strecthes a bit long -- 77 minutes is one long-ass LP. However, the seeds of Autechre's wild experimentation can be heard here in the little quirks of "Autriche" and especially "Basscadet", Autechre's first hit. "444" is sweeping, epic techno for everyone. Anyone who likes Orbital's early work should feel right at home here.
Autechre
Incunabula
1993
- Kalpol Introl
- Bike
- Autriche
- Bronchus 2
- Basscadet
- Eggshell
- Doctrine
- Maetl
- Windwind
- Lowride
- 444