Tri Repetae++
Despite his dedication to free speech, Frank Zappa once dismissed music criticism by likening it to dancing about architecture. No surprise, then, that the British duo Autechre draws critical approbation by making music, seemingly, about architecture. With its pulsing, pneumatic beats, its favor for geometric rhythms, and its utterly mechanical sound sources, Autechre revels in the brittle, the desolate, and the mundane.Tri Repetae++ranges from the Doppler effects of "C/pach;" to the elastic irritants of "Rsdio." Characteristic of its mission, the CD's scant liner notes admonish listeners: "Incomplete without surface noise." Not quite true, since the album provides much of its own noise, even in the relatively pure realm of digital playback. The U.S. edition includes two earlier EPs, "Anvil Vapre" and "Garbage."--Marc Weidenbaum