Let's not get pretentious, let's not talk about micro-whatever and the hidden complexities - ignore all that, just know that this album is, perhaps, one of the greatest ever released.

Confield represents the most varied, while still cohesive, collection of tracks that Autechre have put out. I'll admit that, like a lot of the best music, it takes a while to get in to but it's certainly worth it. From the exquisitely minimalist opener, VI Scoise Poise, with its ball-bearing beats and soft synth strains to the progressively more frantic closer, Lentic Catachresis, this record is amazing.

Admittedly, it's not as overtly tuneful as their previous albums (maybe EP7 excepted) but there is nothing more beautiful than hearing the distorted synth sounds slowly break through on Pen Expers or the bell-like sounds on Parhelic Triangle gradually coalesce into a recognisable melody.

Another thing, this album sounds fantastic production-wise - pristine yet still rough where it needs to be, beautiful synths and satisfying beats (at least, where those percussive sounds can actually be called beats).

I'm treading well-worn ground when I say that this isn't the best place to start if you want to get into Autechre but, hell, it's a great place to finish.

It's a commonly stated fact that after a fairly lengthy period of absorbing and digesting Autechre's music you will just "get it", and it is absolutely true.

I've been dipping in and out of their albums for a while now, and it is here on arguably their most harsh, cold and difficult album that i have found that so called Autechre nirvana.

The tracks are long and at first repetetive and noisy, but unlike any other artist out there once you understand the structure of the sounds you're hearing you will revel in the length of the tracks and the sustained pleasure you get from feeling the buried melodies and rythms. At first you won't believe that 2 men can put together this kind of fabled new angle of musicianship that manipulates your mind in such ways, and you'll believe people like me are hearing what we want to hear and don't know what we're talking about, but give it a chance.

There is nothing in the music world that compares to the sense of elation that washes over you as you suddenly grasp each and every thread of this seemingly 'white' noise. It can literally take your breath away and make you gasp on the spot. You'll believe the mind, and Autechre, are wonderful things.

dont let yourself guide by your first listen... this is a new way of comunication and it needs to be learnt before rating it.
i am a big autechre fan... so you may think o well as he is a fan he wont say anything bad about it... ok you are right... but this album is just incredible... not easy listening thats true... but give it a try... after a few weeks it will come one of your favourites, this happened to me, i never thought any album will beat chiastic slide or lp5 but this one does...much more radical than ep7... even. music will never stop progressing if there are people like autechre

I think you'll find most fans repeatedly stating that if you havn't heard autechre before then don't start with this. On the first listen, and i'd think this might even be the case for hardened Ae fans, it's a jumbled mess of random beats, odd melodys and just cacophanous noise. But, and this isn't really worth repeating again :), over repeated listens you begin to hear more and the tunes begin to make sense and coalesce and your left wondering how on earth exactly did they bring it all together. For example, in Pen Expers a seemingly random beat which sounds like it's constantly trying to escape the static flits along without any real direction and then a haunting broken melody rises from below it and you actually end up tapping your foot as it all falls into place and works. I'm going to give this five stars just because on first listen it did my head in but now i can't stop listening to it. It's unreal, utterly different and gives me a feeling of being deep underground (the album is in a strange way, quite unnerving). But again, if you don't know their stuff, try their first three albums first as they are a damn sight easier to deal with.

p.s. if you do buy this and can't quite get your head round it try listening to it very quitely late at night. the recording actually works better the quieter you play it. booth + brown must be subliminally screwing with our heads :)

Confield, Autechre's sixth album, is yet another step forward into contemporary electronic music. The duo leave behind them the metallic atmospheres of LP5 to go back to the more organic forms of Tri Repetae and Chiastic Slide. Confield is anything but a regression though. The gentle underlying melody of VI Scose Poise, only just fighting off the distorted metallic marble, or the fast moving sonorities of Cfern, amid the chaotic drum pattern, demonstrate that Autechre have lost nothing of their ability to deconstruct any sound that crosses their path. The apparent simplicity of the beat in Sim Gishel is an illusion, as are the multi-layered bells of Parhelic Triangle. Uviol sounds even more basic; a simple melody, clicks loop, a few drum arrangements. However, the impression is deceiving, as the duo crafts their intricate universe between the lines. Bine is totally deconstructed, and works on many different levels. It almost sounds like two or more tracks playing at the same time. Yet, with disconcerting ease, Booth and Brown position each sound with absolute precision in their soundscape. They work at microscopic level, to ensure the consistency of their compositions. All along the album, each component of each track develops at its pace, and it is only when considered as a whole that the piece really takes form. Confield is the closest Autechre have ever been to the work of Pierre Henry, with astonishingly complex, abrasive structures slowly mutating, creating ever-changing, poly-textural life forms. Each track is independent, yet is an essential part of the finished work. In eight year and nearly as many albums, Autechre have invented, and continue to invent, a totally new form of sonic constructions, far beyond the realm of music as we know it. Sean Booth and Rob Brown have smashed the boundaries of modern electronic music, leaving their contemporaries far behind. Forever.