Ancienne Belgique

DOMINO: AUTECHRE + ROB HALL + RUSSELL HASWELL + DIDJIT + KING MIDAS SOUND Autechre (UK) Aside stable-mates like Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada and Squarepusher, Autechre undoubtedly belongs to the ...

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DOMINO: AUTECHRE + ROB HALL + RUSSELL HASWELL + DIDJIT + KING MIDAS SOUND
 
Autechre (UK) Aside stable-mates like Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada and Squarepusher, Autechre undoubtedly belongs to the absolute top of world-class electronica. Also: now, finally, here in the AB – after many desperate attempts, spread over a number of years! Established in ’87, Autechre is still the duo Rob Brown and Sean Booth. Right from their debut ‘Incunabula’ (’93), they were immediately catalogued under the wave of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music). Not surprising: the ground-breaking Warp compilation series ‘Artificial Intelligence’ was also released in that period too, with dance that aimed for the head rather than the belly. Autechre says to be strongly influenced by electro and hip-hop, techno is not unknown to them either. But their music became complexer and abstracter with every release. Just check out their latest albums ‘Draft 7.30’ (‘03), ‘Untilted’ (’05) or ‘Quaristice’ (’08). Most recent feat: their reworking of LFO’s ‘What Is House?’ from the famous Warp20 box of ’09. Their tenth album will be released in March 2010. True to tradition, everyone is behaving superfluously secretive about it, right up until the very last minute.Finally, a few useless pieces of information… You're looking for a scientific explanation for their name? Rob and Sean? “The first two letters were intentional, the rest of the letters were bashed randomly on the keyboard.”. Another good one: their first release appeared in ’91 via Skam, under the moniker Lego Feet. This time saver too: … in conversation, you can just say Ae or æ.

Rob Hall (UK)
Autechre's regular tour DJ. Is also a member of the semi-permanent Gescom collective - of which nobody is 100% certain who is behind the project (even though Autechre is the permanent pivot). Is related to the high-quality electronica label Skam (see: Bola, Team Doyobi and the very first releases by Autechre and Boards Of Canada) and lets loose free, downloadable ‘mix-tapes’, monthly, via his site www.rob-hall.co.uk . On it, he ‘swings’ cheerfully from Cursor Miner, Oscar Mulero past Bam Bam, Christian Wunsch and Black Smith Craft to Afx (hey, we a name we know!). It won't cheer you up but it will bring you mental enlightenment.
 
Ddijit
This evening's illustrious unknown. All tips as to his/her identity are more than welcome!
 
Russell Haswell (UK)
One of our favourite extreme sound/noise fetishists. His most ‘popular’ album ‘Satanstornade’ was released in ’02 via Warp, a collaboration with Masami Akita aka Japanese noise-master Merzbow. ‘Satanstornade’ is a brutal, extremely arresting chunk of noise that would do wonders in the interrogation room of the CTU. Joke by the Warp bosses: the release received catalogue number 666. His latest releases appeared via Editions Mego (see too: KTL by Stephen O’ Malley). The Wire wrote of it: "a fearsome, skull shattering, flesh shredding display of electronic hostility." NME: “Now you can experience the terror in your own home.” Another fine one: "play this to a Slipknot fan and watch his head fall off."  He's worked with Aphex Twin, Earth, Mike Vainio (Pan Sonic) as well as with his regular mate Florian Hecker. Tip: be sure to check out Haswell’s visual art too.

King Midas Sound

A typically recurring phenomenon: albums that appear around the end of the year and, in so-doing, disappear between the flood of other releases. King Midas Sound's ‘Waiting For You’ is a perfect example of that. Surreptitiously released via the dubstep label Hyperdub at the end of ’09 and only now slowly getting picked up, discovered and found to be superb. ‘Waiting For You’ immediatley landed in the Top 10 of ’09 in monthly The Wire. We read a fine description: “KMS is a melancholic flipside to the intensity of Martin’s Work as The Bug.” Indeed, while Kevin Martin (the man behind KMS) previously presented industrial dubstep with his project The Bug, here the lovers rock is what gets the upper hand. Definitely with the sweetly voiced vocals of Roger Robinson (who has a falsetto that falls somewhere between Gregory Isaacs and Vincent Gallo) and Hitomi from Japan, though without ever losing sight of the deep dark basses.

With the support of  and

Russell Haswell