When Thom Yorke dreams of the band he really wants Radiohead to be, he dreams of Autechre. Sean Booth and Rob Brown are long-term experimental electronic music stalwarts, a duo whose barrage of glitchy bleeps and abrasive beeps has already produced 11 albums of strong, challenging and disruptive fare. Mainstream acclaim was never on the cards, but that was also never the intent. Exai is as intense and risk-friendly as anything else in their catalogue, an album that moves hither and thither with great haste in search of new highs and fresher possibilities. It's a bit of a marathon (running to nearly two hours in all) and you'd welcome some judicious editing, but the energy levels rarely flag. Between the thumping agression of spl9 and the swaggering enthusiasm of vekoS, Autechre exhibit all the signs of a renewed lease of life.
autechre.ws
Download: spl9 , vekoS