Seventh album from Sean Booth and Rob Brown on Warp Records. 2003.

The fertile sonic imagination of Autechre wanders through the digital wilderness on Draft 7.30, burying understated melodies with dense noise from the avant-garde fringe. Since their more mainstream dance beginnings, Autechre’s Rob Brown and Sean Booth have operated in the same non-rhythmic, wired turf occupied by Oval, Plaid, and other experimental techno artists. But they’ve always retained an echo of their earlier accessibility, using recurring themes that give their music a Boards of Canada-like elegance. On the other hand, recent work like 2001’s Confield has involved a more cerebral mix of order and chaos that lacks such carbon-based ballast. Draft 7.30 goes even further off into the land of 1s and 0s, manipulating theories and formulas with a fascination usually reserved for higher math classes. Your ability to listen and enjoy will depend on your tolerance for difficult concepts and willingness to embrace chaos. --Matthew Cooke