Autechre

Reviewed on 09/10/2022 by benxtan

Link: https://www.songkick.com/concerts/40283816-autechre-at-barbican-centre

I saw Autechre and Zoviet France on 07/10/2022 at 10pm at the Barbican in London. It was a last minute decision as I didn't realise they were playing until the day of. (Foolishly I wasn't following Autechre on Songkick! This has been rectified.)'

The crowd was asked to move inside Barbican Hall (great venue, saw Robert Henke's CBM 8032 AV here) and we all sat down in an orderly fashion in our pre-assigned seats - Stalls K58 for me.

Zoviet France set was great and super chilled. The calm before the storm, and I appreciated that the lights were still on. As the set went on I started noticing more and more details in the projection of the forest behind them. Surreal.

Autechre played in almost complete darkness save for small glimmers of light from the machines they were using on stage and the odd mobile phone here and there. The music sounded like like it was produced by aliens, and the first few minutes were reminiscent of disguised robots transforming.

I love gigs with visuals and lights, so the absence of this was a new experience for me. I closed my eyes and started imagining my own visuals to accompany the aural assault, the synchronised chaos, the cacophony of auditory delights. Abstract shapes, cityscapes, and landscapes with of lakes and mountains beating in tandem as new sounds were conjured and manifested themselves around the 3D space.

At times, I entered a meditative state by rocking myself back and forth but was unable to sustain the thin balance due to the randomness of the music.

It was a different kinf od show to anything I've been to before, and I would definitely go again.

10/10 would Autechre again!

(The only thing I would do different is sit in the centre rather than on the wing.)

Seeing Autechre live was quite an impressive experience. Part of its impressiveness, to me, at least, stemmed from the fact that bandmates Rob Brown and Sean Booth are both totally in sync together as performers and musicians throughout the entirety of their set.

Additionally, it's impressive to witness that the entrancing, melodic music surounding your body is coming from only two musicians, clicking and flipping away at electronic equipment center stage. The range of sounds, beats, and tempos in Autechre's music alone is worth witnessing live, as I'm sure that many are more used to hearing electronic music come from speakers than from two humans twenty or thirty yards away from you.

At the same time, seeing that there are two people, dressed casually, calmly producing the ambient electronic and experimental tracks that float around you and the audience makes you appreciate that type of music more. The amount of brainpower and skill that goes into creating and composing these songs and then performing them live in front of an audience is surely quite immense, and I often find that many dismiss this genre of music only because of its reliance of patterns.

Yet, Autechre performing live shows you the artistry, skill, and beauty in producing such music, and totally wins over audiences willing to experience and cheer for such an extraordinary performance.

Sean Anthony Booth and Robert John Brown appeared to be one step ahead of the 90s electro and garage explosion in the UK. The Manchester pair formed Autechre in the late 80s and have been performing together since then. The band is often claimed to offer an alternative to EDM with their intelligent dance music, labelled IDM yet over their discography they have crossed the genres of trance, electro and even hip hop.

With a back catalogue as varied and interested as that paired with over 25 years experience on the live circuit, the quality of Autechre is expectedly high. A mixture of fans crowd the venue tonight including those who would have been around to buy the band's first 12" to the newer converts who may have discovered the group at a later date via albums such as 'Oversteps' and 'Exai'. They never achieved chart success yet the albums are well known and as they cleverly drop tracks from 'Incunabula' 'Untitled' and 'Amber' the crowd simply erupts. Complex and trippy visuals add a suitable backdrop to a perplexing evening of alt-dance music which further cements Autechre as icons of the genre.

It was the worst concert of more than hundred I have been to.

The duo started out anonymously half an hours later they were supposed to. Rob Hall had to come out and play twice, I guess, because Autechre were late. While Autechre were performing, it was completely dark in the hall. At first, I thought it was sort of a sound-check or an intro. However, I realized soon that this is the way it should be. What they played was just a bunch of random sounds, with no rhythm and no melodies whatsoever. It felt as if there was a baby sitting somewhere playing with a newly discovered musical gear by pushing buttons and turning knobs without any understanding of what s(he) is doing. It went like that for nearly 45 minutes (even less that each of the 'guest' musicians played). Autechre didn't even bother to say 'hi' or 'bye', let alone 'thank you' to the audience.

I feel I was laughed by the duo, the concert agency and the venue, who did not indicate that the performance is going to be done in complete darkness and very short.

Very disappointed. I wish I stayed at home.

I saw Autechre play in what i can only describe as a working mens club at the foot of Brighton Pier, back in the early 90's. About ten people were in attendance, one of which was one half of Orbital and four of which were me and my mates, off our tits on LSD. I was able to stand right in front of the lads, on my todd, plumb in the middle of their speakers whilst they filled my tiny mind with Ae.
Another time and just a couple of years later i queued with Richard James (Aphex Twin) to see Autechre play at the Fridge in Brixton and he too took up a place in the middle of the floor, for full stereo effect.

Halcyon days.

Keep it up lads. You are a thing of rare beauty.

Location and acoustics were beyond perfect! The support acts were most fitting and the ambience bang on! Autechre's performance trully blew my mind! They exceeded my expectations and the whole set was just mesmerising! The most cerebal pleasurable experience I have ever had! Left the night feeling content, euphoric and extremely happy! Patiently waiting for this night to happen again! 10/10 <3

As someone who was sober, good times were not had. Cygnus was great, Venetian Snares was terrible, and by the time Autechre came on I was too tired to enjoy the music and they didn't touch the lights at all. It was just a boring light-less show.