Autechre/ Oversteps

Autechre
Oversteps
(Warp)

“Is it… is it skipping? No, it’s definitely not skipping. But it really sounds like it’s skipping. Seriously, try blowing on it… any better? No? Maybe it’s just supposed to sound like that?”
If you’re anything like us (and as you’re reading this magazine, we’ll assume you are) you’ll probably find yourself trying to make sense of the first two minutes of Autechre’s current album opener, ‘r ess’. The truth is that you shouldn’t bother, for there is no sense to be found here. It simply is what it is: the beginning point of a terrifying musical journey.
Oversteps overflows with brooding electronica, conjuring up the sort of bleak mental landscapes you’d expect to find on a routine visit to the ‘dark place’. Yet, Autechre are not merely content with taking you to the dark place: they’ll drive you there, act like they’re going to drop you off and then take you to the desert of nightmares instead - but after ten albums, they’ve proved that this is what they do best.
As ‘r ess’ segues into ‘ilanders’, a menacing dubstep beat is draped over the top of the existing electronica, setting the tone for the remainder of the album. Further unsettling elements are added over the subsequent 12 songs, often in the shape of off-time binary gurgles, leaving Oversteps feeling like an electronica version of War of the Worlds.
It’s a harrowing listen, but one which suggests there’s a strange kind of maniacal genius lurking just beneath the surface.