FriendBurst Blog

Autechre’s debut album (Incunabula) was brilliant!  Sean Booth and Rob Brown were still going strong, in the mid-nineties – after two more albums and four EPs.  However, their ‘music’ became increasingly abstract and abrasive towards the end of the decade.  Their descent didn’t stop there.  Each subsequent album has been worse than the previous one.  I’m surprised they have any fans left.

I was one of Autechre’s most avid fans – and I even communicated directly with the Mancunian duo (I remember discussing musical equipment with them).  I continued buying the albums, right up until 2005.  However, I couldn’t quite figure out why I was buying them (I still wonder if there are subliminal messages on each album; something along the lines of YOU WILL BUY OUR NEXT ALBUM repeated over and over in reverse).  There have been two albums since I stopped collecting them.  The plot was lost a long time ago (along with the rhythm, the melody and everything else musical).  It is beyond avant-garde.  It’s just a horrible noise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RajczqaE6bU

BT has been somewhat more consistent – and accessible.  Brain Transeau started making music around the same time as Autechre.  His debut album (Ima) was produced by Perfecto (Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne).  The ‘progressive trance’ label was attached to BT – and it stuck, when the follow-up (ESCM) proved to be even more progressive.  Layer upon layer of stomping rhythms, euphoric melodies, bouncy bass-lines and swirling sound effects put Mr Transeau in a league of his own (this was years before Hybrid).  There is more variety on ESCM.  A lot of thought and effort went into the creation of this album.

On Movement In Still Life (1999) BT added elements of hip-hop to the formula.  It is still essentially a trance album.  However, the addition of hip-hop and breakbeats kept BT one step ahead of his contemporaries (eg. Paul Van Dyk, Way Out West and Chicane).  After the singles collection (10 Years In The Life), Emotional Technology was less impressive – and less successful.  It appeared he had settled into mediocrity; merging basic trance with soft rock.  This Binary Universe (2006) is very different though.  It is a gentle instrumental album (accompanied by a DVD).  It is the sound of BT maturing (he created this album shortly after the birth of his daughter – and he had also started composing music for films).  BT released his sixth album (These Hopeful Machines) in 2010.  There are a couple of good songs but it’s a step backwards for BT (he seems to like the rock elements but they don’t mix well with trance).

Babble was an underrated band.  Not many people know about Babble.  Both albums are among my favourites though.  Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie essentially renamed Thompson Twins – after the 1991 album (Queer).  They moved to New Zealand, stocked up on drugs and created an airy blend of ambient trance and dark pop.  Babble was born.  The Stone (1993) is relaxing chill-out music, but the composition of the songs is typically pop (intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, etc).  Ether (1996) is similar but darker (the drugs appeared to be taking their toll by this point).  Sadly, Ether was Babble’s last album (probably because nobody was buying them).  Perhaps the husband and wife duo wanted to keep it ‘low key’.  Tom Bailey continued working behind the scenes, producing music for various artists.  Tom and Alannah are now divorced and continue to work on various projects.

Further listening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G49E-Q3iBYg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YepfoPEbT5Q