Incunabula (album)

Incunabula
Studio album by Autechre
Released 29 November 1993 (1993-11-29)
Genre Intelligent dance music, techno
Length 78:04
Label Warp
Producer Sean Booth and Rob Brown
Autechre chronology
Cavity Job
(1991)		 Incunabula
(1993)		 Basscadet Mixes
(1994)
Artificial Intelligence series chronology
Ginger
(1993)		 Incunabula
(1993)		 Artificial Intelligence II
(1994)
Singles from Incunabula
  1. "Basscadet"
    Released: 25 April 1994

Incunabula (stylized as (Incunabula)) is the debut studio album by the British electronic music duo Autechre, released on 29 November 1993

Production

Autechre member Rob Brown stated that Incunabula was "more of a compilation of old material." and that Amber was their "first album we put out on Warp".[1]

Music

Music critics David Stubbs and Ned Raggett noted that Incunabula would differ from Autechre's later releases. Raggett found that the album "doesn't totally display the full experimentation which would dominat their future albums and singles" while Stubbs that following both Incunabula and Amber that Autechre "took an increasingly remote turn, moving away from both the blissful pastures of the chillout zone and the wildfire, staplegun rhythms characteristic of the 'Intelligent Dance Music' brigade."[2][3]

Raggett continued that the first track "Kalpol Introl" "sets the overall mood for the rest of the record" with the tracks combination of minimal beats and bass with a various keyboard textures and understated melodies. He concluded that Incunabula "follows the same general tone; tracks often experiment with ghostly keyboard backing and mostly clinical beats combined with odd, individual touches."[2]

Release

Incunabula was released by Warp on 29 November 1993.[4] It was released again by Wax Trax! on 25 January 1994 in the United States.[2][5] Incunabula was re-released on vinyl by Warp on 11 November 2016.[6]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide[7]
Pitchfork8.2/10[8]
Select(4/5)[9]

In a contemporary review, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch stated that most techno would be repellent to audiences with its "insistent beat and repetitive tape loops" but that this was not the case with the genre's "ambient strain", lumping Autechre with groups like The Orb and Ultramarine and artists such as the Aphex Twin.[10] The review found little relevence in citing individual tracks as highlights as they music ebbed and flowed into each other but that the "the music is never boring and does inspire fits of introspection"[10]

From retrospective reviews, David Stubbs of The Wire discussed both Incunabula and Amber stating the two were "terrific adventures in homebrewed Techno but not radically dissimilar in method from the work of their Warp contemporaries."[3] Raggett (AllMusic) stated that "despite the relative sameness in the basic arrangements of tracks covering the better portion of the album -- a few song subtractions wouldn't have hurt the 75-minute length any -- Incunabula still stands out as a better effort than many other U.K. techno albums of the early '90s."[2] The New Rolling Stone Album Guide gave the both Incunabula and Amber two and half stars out of five, describing them as "smart if unexciting ambient watercolors" that "give no indication of the innovations to follow".[7] Pitchfork gave a positive review of the album, while echoing Raggett's comment on an excessive 75 minute running time with tracks like "Windwind" "exhausting it's 11-minute runtime" while praising tracks such as "Bike" and "basscadet" described as a "fan favourite"[8] Fact would place the album at 11th place on their list of best albums of the 1990s, stating that it was a "symphony of whirrs, cranks and rattling spokes; its formal ingenuity and sheer, brute intensity have sealed its status as a set text for the ages."[11]

Track listing

All tracks written by Sean Booth and Rob Brown[12]. 

No. Title Length
1. "Kalpol Introl"   3:18
2. "Bike"   7:57
3. "Autriche"   6:53
4. "Bronchus 2"   3:33
5. "Basscadet"   5:23
6. "Eggshell"   9:01
7. "Doctrine"   7:48
8. "Maetl"   6:32
9. "Windwind"   11:15
10. "Lowride"   7:15
11. "444"   8:55
Total length:
 78:04

Credits

Credits adapted from Incunabula's record sleeve.[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Autechre Q&A". BBC. Archived from the original on 20 February 2006. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Raggett, Ned. "Incunabula". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  3. 1 2 Stubbs, David (April 2003). "The Futurologists: Autechre". The Wire. Retrieved 23 November 2016. (subscription required (help)).
  4. ↑ "Autechre - Incunabula". Warp. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  5. ↑ Cooper, Sean. "Autechre". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  6. ↑ Bowe, Miles (22 September 2016). "Autechre reissue classic early albums, embark on massive European tour". Fact. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  7. 1 2 Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon and Schuster. p. 29. ISBN 0743201698.
  8. 1 2 Beta, Andy. "Autechre - Incunabula". Pitchfork. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  9. ↑ http://www.songtwo.demon.co.uk/autechre/aeit.html
  10. 1 2 Durchholz, Daniel (10 February 1994). "Recordings". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 04G.
  11. ↑ "The 100 Best Albums of the 1990s". Fact. 3 September 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  12. 1 2 Incunabula [back cover] (Media notes). Autechre. Warp. Warp lp17r.

External links

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