The Audiozine

feeling gross for the last few days, called in sick to work, hoping it clears up soon.

On a study break today, noticed a stream of the first track from Autechre's upcoming full-length, Quaristice. Far more lush and accessible than most of Autechre's output since LP5, but hardly a sellout. Unlike most reviewers, I have tuned out Autechre since Confield not because they had grown too abstract or cold, but because I just wasn't that interested in hearing their excursions further down the electro-rabbit hole. For the last seven years, I have been listening to more jazz, hip-hop, soul, and top 40 music -- music that connects the head, heart, and hips seamlessly. In that time, the indie rock world has started to embrace minimal electronic musicians like Ricardo Villalobos, "local" electronic music scenes such as Dubstep, electro-rock-crossovers like Justice and Simian Mobile Disco, as well as bands, like Animal Collective and Battles, that represent a new rock-gone-electronic aesthetic that furthers and deepens the musical palette of 90's Warp/et al artists. And both aboveground and underground hip-hop/R&B has been moving into electronic music territory -- everything from T-Pain+Akon's robo-crooning to Clipse's dystopian crack-rap to Rihanna's emotionally cold pitch-corrected pop anthems to nearly every single Timbaland production from the last few years.

I wonder if the new Autechre album will be hailed as a "comeback". My prediction is that Autechre will put out a disc that is every bit as experimental as their last few, but that returns melody and emotion to their list of aesthetic concerns. Meanwhile, the rock/electronic listenership will have grown sophisticated enough to appreciate these abstractions instead of dismissing them as so much navel-gazing. And, hey, I might just snag a copy of Quaristice and join in the fun.