Autechre - Draft 7.30

Although I agree that this is their finest work to date, I don't agree with the "cold, sterile" description the previous reviewer gave. This is actually quite a perfect blend of all of their phases over the years. You can hear the melodic work of LP5 in tracks like "Reniform Puls". There is an almost Tri Repetae rhythm section during the first half of "Surripere". The Confield-like rigidity of "6ie.Cr". Chiastic Slide, EP7, Gantz Graf, and even Amber are all represented prominently here. I find this to be their most rich and rewarding work. It is comfortable and familiar, yet exciting and fresh. Without a doubt, my hands-down all-time absolute favorite from Ae.

I disagree with anyone who says this album is hard to get into. OK, there may be the odd couple of seconds between some bars filled with glitch and groans before the beat comes back, but other than that, this album is completely beat-driven. The first two tracks serve as an eerie intro and on first listen, it sounds like a very dark album like Confield. However when 61e.CR drops the hip-hop/old-skool electro bloodline that Autechre carry comes though so prominently; it's almost impossible not to bop your head throughout the rest of the LP.

The vast majority of the tracks are 4/4 (which Autechre prove isn't always a bad thing,) hold bouncy melodies and basslines, making them "accessible" for even anti-breakbeat purists. Despite this, the innovation is not lost, with leads, rumbles and pads made from industrial groans, electronic percussion and sounds oscillated so fast that they sound like a single synth drone.

This album is almost a marriage between the looped breaks of their early 1990s releases and the new direction the group took circa 2000. Because of this, I would recommend anyone wishing to find out what Autechre are all about should listen to this LP before anything else.

Undoubtedly my favourite Autechre album. When I first looked into them and came across "Tri Repetae++" and "Incunabula", I was a little disappointed as they weren't anywhere near as edgy and forward thinking as I thought they would be. Maybe these two have dated in their sound; you know it for sure when listening to "Draft 7.30". Most of the tracks here could almost pass for being of the clicks and cuts aesthetic, but are just a teensy bit edgier and have a continually ominous vibe throughout. "Surripere" and "V-Proc" are definitely the best tracks, probably closely followed by "Xylin Room" and "IV VV VI VII VIII", but the ending of "Reniform Puls" stays with you owing to its clever use of a sampling of speaker feedback.

Almost seems like a step back from the previous release, the Gantz Graf EP. Gantz, while way out there, had a certain approachable sound to it, the beats were pretty distinct and could easily be followed along. Draft 7.30, while not as jumbled as 2001's "Confield", still manages to demand a patient listener to fully appreciate. From here they took a 2 year break before releasing "Untitled" in 2005. Oddly enough, Untitled seems to borrow more from the Gantz Graf era and not a progress of Draft.

In my opinion, Draft 7.30 was something they just wanted to get out of their system before moving on to their next phase, which was started with the Gantz EP. Nevertheless... This album is pure Autechre, and fans will want to check it out!

That album is genius only if you take the time to listen it. It may sound completely messy and illogical, but there is sense behind it. I was strangely attracted by Draft 7.30 at the beginning even if I disliked it, and then I began appreciating it listen after listen. Draft 7.30 has really got me into their post-Chiastic Slide abstract style. Some listeners may find Draft 7.30 repetitive, but this an interesting aspect of the musical structure: the FX's and loops are disforming along the tracks. Autechre and Noel Summerville made a great programming job! The highlight tracks are for me 6IE.CR, Surripere and V-PROC. I love Draft 7.30 and give it a 5/5! This is a must have album if you are an open-minded person.

we've all been asked that question... what album would you take with you on a desert island? for me, its draft 7.30. the cold, mechanical, sterile atmosphere it exudes is unsurpassed. sometimes it doesn't even sound like a human made it. the thing i admire most about autechre is that they go places that more popular warp musicians (aphex twin, squarepusher) would never dream of setting foot. they truly experiment. this isn't an album for people expecting the beautiful, ambient melodies and robotic, catchy beats of their earlier releases. this is an album for people interested in the math, science, and technology of electronic music.

One of Autechre's hardest albums to get into. These tracks don't really have any form of structure. They pretty much just go and change whenever they like. At first this can seem weird and hard to enjoy. But with enough listens you do begin to adapt to it. This album is far from Autechre's best work in my opinion, but its definitley something to check out if you're a fan of their more expiremental side.

Many times i have telling people that this album is the most logical procession that AE could've made after Confield and
all their back catalogue since Incunabula was released [although Confield is more randomly created patterns than Draft 7.30]. So, either you listen to it, or drop their last two albums and enjoy the old ones. There's no possible way
their music could undertake when you listen how their releases are developing since their first one. It's a kind of Cul de Sac for Booth/Brown but i think they are doing what is the most natural way of creating electronic music, or maybe they should abandon their style and start creating music that has no connectivity to their past. But that is not a way that this two brilliant composers will/would choose. Support the music and the band which is one of the best things that the electronic music scene ever had...

The whole reason behind this release is to stop piracy, hence no CD promo release. I love tapes and their noise which is why I tracked this down, although this is best listened to on vinyl. Quite a staggering album, smoother than Confield and Gantz Graf, and for sure a step forward.

DRAFT 7.30 is definitely stepping back (forward, perhaps?) from the abstracted ambience that marked CONFIELD. "Xylin Room" plunges headfirst into some rocky percussion, with the spectres of songs drifting in only towards the end of the track. It's followed (and contrasted nicely) by the haunting, sustained tones and glitchy insectoid beats of "IV VV IV VV VII" or the trepanning of "6IE.CR." "Surrpere" is a true return to form: the rhythm is more regular, the melody laid out to desiccate in the sun... at least at first. It then disintegrates, not into chaos, but into more difficult patterns. "P.:NTIL" has some high, harpsichord-like tones that stand out, since they seem vastly different from what's come before. "V-Proc" almost sounds like a real song -- well, one that's been compressed and processed past recognition. Finally, "Reniform Puls" combines elements that have gone before (irregular rhythms, icy melodies) into something that you can sink your teeth into. Intellectually stimulating, yes, but a fair number of the tracks doesn't quite have that emotional stimulation that would lift the album as a whole into the pantheon of electronic music.