I agree with others who have said this album takes many listens to get used to. It's ultimately a very rewarding experience if you invest some time in it. I'm totally baffled by how they make all these amazing noises - and that the same minds that brought us the danceable "Incunabula" are capable of bringing us this highly deconstructed, angular soundscape.

"Surripere" (track 5) is one of my all-time favorite electronic compositions. It's absolutely brilliant. Although created entirely with very cold digital sounds, it manages to convey an impressive emotional depth.

My only complaint is that certain tracks do not have much of a direction; they start out strong and then gradually dissolve into something weaker. It demands perhaps a shade too much focus from the listener to stay engaged.

A newcomer to Autechre could safely sip from this album's cup, without being in too much danger of being scared off. It might still be safer to first sample the less `herky-jerky' style of the first three, more melodically-centred treatises - `Incunabula', `Amber' and `Tri Repetae++'.

`EP7' and `Incunabula' head my Autechre fave list, followed closely by `Confield'. This fabulous album sits just behind them, but is definitely five star Ae. Ae's innovation is just so consistent, that each album has its own distinct place in any true Ae fan's heart. I have never known another artist or ensemble that can range through such diverse territory, yet have no more than a handful of dud tracks throughout their ouevre.

Someone else said this was Ae stepping back from the precipice. I'd say it's more like them finding another narrow crumbly path on the edge of one. It does hark back to the more elemental, organic tracks in `Incunabula', `Tri Repetae++' and `EP7' though, without being anything like them in overall scope. There is much more of a sense of spaciousness and the (often unrequited) promise of rest - there's even some tonal centreing here, unlike the last two albums `Confield' and `Gantz Graf'!

"Xylin room" - straight away we are aware that we are well removed from the claustrophobic sonic anarchy of `Confield'. There is still a lot happening here - lots of punchy, frantic beats - but there's more air around them to let the music breathe.

"IV VV IV VV VIII" begins with swelling synth surges that open out into a disjointed, yet emotionally embracing `thrump, thrump' of airy, treated beats. This is more listenable and less rivettingly frenetic than much of the machine-beast that is `Confield'.

"6IE.CR" - a cheeky romp, with bleepy beats and bass thuds, morphing into a more roomy, squelchy/skittery development. Fades gently and with style into oblivion.

"Tapr" - the warped vision of a machine world radiant with firework-pops and glitches. Rivetting. "Tapr" unexpectedly loses mementum and becomes "Surripere". This latter track begins vaguely reminiscent of parts of the 2nd CD of Bill Laswell's `Dark Massive', or Datacide's ` Flowerhead', albeit with a slightly more menacing ambience, until its `chopped up and skittery beats' development leads it to a dissolution into a more fractured denoument. Engagingly disturbing!

"Theme of Sudden Roundabout" is all throbs and surges at first, descending into fractured beats and collapsing into the nothing that becomes:

"VL AL 5", which dabbles with treated `acoustic' sounds amidst an other-worldy pulse that includes tonal distortions, wobbles and squelches. Threatening and grim, like a tour through a grotty ghetto brothel, peopled with freak-show exhibits.

"P.:NTIL" takes up where "VL AL 5" left off. Little throbs and sonic bursts paint a picture of car assembly line robots spastically adding their sparky welds to organic, growing vehicular shells. More frenetic than previous tracks, with more space and some jingly treated samples off a track from an earlier Ae album ('what was that toon?').

"V-Proc" revisits some of the `herky-jerky' highlights of earlier albums and "Reniform Puls" similarly wobbles and jerks like a knock-kneed pregnant spider on uppers, until it dissolves into a brief hissy wash followed by a minute or too of silence.

This is an album that could only have come from the minds of the two Ae genii Booth and Brown. A remarkable vision brought to life, then laid to rest. Autechre rools OK!!

BUY THIS ALBUM! BUY THIS ALBUM!! BUY THIS ALBUM!!!
(just don't buy it for your Mum)

This record takes MANY listens for one to begin to like it. The first time I heard it I found it very very difficult to listen to. However, now I love it. It is best played loud with headphones on in order to experience the sheer brilliance of this tasty and exotic recipe of sound.
Give it a go. After about three listens you are guaranteed to really warm to this great masterpiece of 'head' music. Autechre are an excellent and extremely origina act, everything that they have ever released is superb in my view. So is this, but be patient.

Those who would complain that this album isn't Tri Repetae, or even Confield for that matter, are missing the point. Autechre's music has been nothing if not a moving target. When taken as a step in their evolution, Draft 7.30 is simply an exhibition of two auteurs improving their craft.

Where Confield dealt in near chaos almost exclusively, Draft 7.30 melds that feel with somber melodies and a deconstructive feel. "Xylin Room" and "Tapr" have symphonic tinges that evoke Tri Repetae, but this is no retread. The beats aren't just complex, they feel like they're falling apart.

Incunabula and Amber were melodic ambient affairs that only flirted real drum and bass. Tri Repetae added polished rhythms and sliced up beats on top of the melody. Since then it seems Autechre's mission has been to obfuscate the melody and the beat beneath layers and layers of complex beats and obtuse samples. The result is rewarding and challenging. But some have often said they miss the fine balance between rhythm and melody that they found on Tri Repetae. Draft 7.30 could be seen as a return to that fine balance, but with lessons learned. On their oft praised masterpiece, rhythms often clattered repetetively while the melody evolved. Nothing on Draft is repetetive. While the song develops, the beats decay and shift subtly beneath our feet. By the end of the song the listener is released from the melody to find that the beat has become nearly unidentifiable from the beginning. This is not a perfect album, but it's one to savor and appreciate as a fine balance of discipline and chaos, ambient melody and degenerative rhythms.

This album is amazing. If you like the new autechre style then you should invest in this album. The sounds of each song progress into something else that gets twisted up, mangled, and re-tempo'd. A lot of people dislike this album because it does not have the accessable sounds such as Incunabula or Amber. People need to realize that artists like to explore new areas, and that is what autechre has done. This is a personal listening album, and it does take time to appreciate, don't expect to pop in the cd and expect to love it immediately, it could take a few weeks, but the album is genius. If you are new to autechre, don't get this first, get Incunabula or Tri Repetae++. My favorite on this album - 6IE.CR - just amazing.