Revisiting Autechre’s appropriately titled Incunabula 14 years after its debut made me realise how generic they sounded back then: firmly in the mould established by Warp’s Artificial Intelligence series, borrowing ideas of sound and melody from Aphex Twin – albeit with a more polished production. Curious as it appears, for them to migrate away from this into their new world of polyrhythms, machine-generated sequences and mathematics, was probably a relief for them and, ultimately, their long-term fans.

But this could have made music that is difficult to love. I think, however, you just need to deal with differently. One way is suggested in their videos, for example Chris Cunningham’s video to Second Bad Vibel but particularly 2002’s Gantz Graf video created by Alex Rutterford. In the case of Gantz Graf, synchronising video so meticulously to the soundtrack such that each sound has a different visual metaphor. Being bombarded by two senses improves the understanding of the music and once this door is opened, the rest of the music from their ‘weird’ period becomes more accessible.

Acroyear2, the opening track of LP5, is less chaotic than what would come later, but holds two pretty and distinctive melodies that hide or reveal themselves amongst the sparking overlapping rhythms. Zone in on these and become accustomed to them, then you’ll discover how the rest of the track works.

LP5 – iTunes UK
LP5 – Bleep.com