Awesome compilation this, Autechre compiling the release to go alongside the festival that they've so lovingly curated. The CD installment includes all the awesome exclusive tracks that make up the vinyl release (exclusive tracks from Autechre, Push Button Objects, Stasis, Baby Ford, Disjecta, Anthony "Shake" Shakir, Jim O'rourke and more!), plus an extra 8 tracks from such luminaries as Public Enemy, Gescom, Bola, Hecker, Pita, Made, Dr Dooom and Carl Craig's BFC project. Opening the CD are legends Public Enemy, one of the biggest pulls at the festival, and their track 'Gotta Give The Peeps What They Want' opens with a speech about society being f**ked, and then proceeds to drop into an unmistakeable PE break, cementing their skills both as rhymers and producers this is a ruff cut from the Emperors of hip hop, the dopest. Gescom provide the Mag (Autechre Remix) taken from the Skam 10 (this/that) release, a hip hop inflected groove with a dark ass bassline doing the work and Autechre's inimitable percussion over the top, break! Staying with the Skam stable Smak alumni Made contributes a track titled 'Type Tactical' a choir-led electronic workout with analog poings, vinyl scratch sounds and clean phat drums that will further interest in this artist Skam are keeping neetly tucked up their sleeves. Switching over to the hip hop contingent, Dr Dooom gets a re-cut by Peanut Butter Wolf, 'Leave Me Alone' is dope slice of wax from two of hip hops hipper heads, a big fat rock break backed with Kool Keith doing rhyme styles and Peanut Butter Wolf cutting Kraftwerks 'Numbers' over the top, what more do ya need from a hip hop track?? My favourite tech head Carl Craig delivers an archived wonder with 'Please Stand By' taken from the uber rare Retroactive sampler, a crunchy oldschool Detroit track that features his classic breakbeat drums over unbelievably emotive strings, awesome. Bola makes his appearance with 'Magnasushi', a digitized beat complete with lush synthwork and added percussion, dark bell like melodies weave inbetween the beats and carve out music only capable of coming from the Bolaman, the track drops to an orchestral symphony of synths that leaves you shivering with emotion before coming back with a vengeance, while Mego's Pita make an appearance with 'Atipfin' a beatless visit through wavering synths and noises that descends into clean sinewave strings and then back to the fuzzier noisy sound that started the track. Lastly we arrive with Hecker who finishes the CD release with 'Stocha Acid, Additional Tables, Set 2 Modi Mix' a timestretched almost random foray through modern dsp methods, a fitting end to Autechre's curated party. Essential.
Words - www.boomkat.com