Garbage

Considered by many to be a key turning point in Autechre's career, Garbage definitely showcases the duo with a musical and technical reach rooted in their earliest releases, but only beginning to fully flower here. While the clinical performance style and soft melodies for which the band were initially known remain, their production and arrangement increasingly embraced unfamiliar, more aggressive approaches. The nearly quarter-hour long "Garbagemx36" showcases this combination well; then-typical techno sounds such as chirping birds are worked into an elaborately conceived rhythm combination that, while still serviceable for the dancefloor, has much more going on in it than most such tunes, concluding on a lovely string-synth passage. "Piobrnx19" takes a stranger turn, with more subtly odd keyboard sounds and squeaks over a curious, hollow rhythm that sets the basis for the central, minimal synth melody. With its sparse rhythm track and melody, "Bronchusevenmx24" exercises Autechre's fascination with Aphex Twin, but does so nicely. "Vletrmix21" ends the EP on a soaring, stunning note, with an inspiring, skyward-bound melodic loop that veers between growing ever more majestic and then calming down again, worthy of comparison to Nine Inch Nails' surprisingly powerful and tender instrumental "A Warm Place."