This is Autechre's masterpiece in my opinion. Sure I enjoy all their releases, but this one just brings back so many memories. I wasn't old enough to fully understand or appreciate it when it first was released, but now I can see what a classic this title has become. This CD perfected what they started a year earlier with their debut. Track 2 is one of my favorite ambient tunes of all time. A must have for Autechre fans.

On their second album, Amber, Autechre create pristine yet somehow alien soundscapes which evoke in the listener a sense of calm, but at the same time, a traveling sensation, as if lifted off this plane of reality and into a new one. Unlike their somewhat sophomoric debut album, Incunabula, Amber is mature and highly refined in both sound and structure. Each track has a logical beginning, middle, and end, which alone separates Autechre from most electronic music that merely seems to repeat itself for a while and then abruptly end.

Autechre's tracks, however, begin with a simple melody or beat (though in their music there is really no distinction between melody and beats: they interweave contrapuntally). As the melody develops, new sounds come in with such subtlety that after time, the initial melody is transformed into something completely different yet still retaining the same theme and motifs as the beginning, only applying them differently. Like a plant, their music grows organically: it starts with a simple theme or idea that firmly roots itself in the ground and then shoots up into the beyond, branching out in various ways until it reaches its peak, its logical end.

But not only is their music structurally logical, it is at the same time immensely beautiful. Autechre use a contrast of slow, lush background droning and sharp and even sometimes harsh beats that are woven together melodically. Yet the sounds themselves are so strange and alien to our natural world, that listening to this album is like voyaging to some distant planet. Their music thus creates a unique atmosphere that is not to be found elsewhere and is not to be missed.

Amber was one of the flagship albums of the ambient electronica scene in the mid 90s. Autechre subsequently veered off towards experimental pastures, eschewing the glacial, serene synthscapes featured here in tracks like Montreal and Silverside in favour of fractured beat meltdowns and frenetic pummelling. This is understandable; artists must move with the times, but I personally find Amber and its crisp successor Tri Repetae more palatable recording than later offerings such as Confield and Draft 7.30. What's more, Autechre's older stuff has aged extremely well (compared to say, Orb), so there's no dismissing this as just old hat.
The key theme in Amber is emptiness and absence - just look at the cover - and the music reflects this brilliantly.
Autechre (a synth duo, if you didn't know) are also good at create rhythm patterns that can be listened to in several different ways depending on where you, the listener, put the first beat. There is in other words a kind of musical interactibility. On Slip, for example, the notes are sequenced so that finding the first beat in each bar is impossible. But it doesn't matter. Slip is one of the most exquisite pieces of music ever to see the light of day. It evokes emotions and feelings that other music is incapable of (if you like this you should give Arovane a try).
Montreal is by Autechre's standards a very accessible slice of atmospheric techno, with a straightforward `Mission Impossible' style theme underpinned by seductive tapestry of nibbly noises and elegant pads that fade in and out. Silverside encapsulates the emptiness theme very well; the music is gentle but haunting and otherworldly, distanced and machine-made.
The Autechre aesthetic is encapsulated on the titanic Teartear, which is haunting, ominous yet at the same time extremely beautiful and highly dramatic. Which pretty much sums up this whole album, actually.
If you're new to Autechre I would recommend any of the first three albums: Incunabula, Amber and Tri Repetae. Tri Repetae is slightly crisper but Amber is the more laid back.
One thing: give it a few listens; it gets better and better.

"Techno" music - when broadly defined as music derived from modern technology - ages about as well as any other specimen of the computer industry. What sounded fresh and futuristic five years ago now strikes jaded ears as tone-dated and often quaint, obsolete by the rampant revolutions of the tech-industry. Only a few songs, and a few artists, transcend the narrowly-set parameters of "techno," in terms of musical construction and overall lasting appeal: indeed, if anything, the set structure by which electronica in crafted - the standard build-up/climax/build-down - practically ensure that, foundationally, what's for sale now is the same as all that for sale five, ten years before, with only the technology of production itself having improved. But, as I mentioned, a few artists do break the mold, composing music that is both challenging and genre-defying, 'ageless,' consistently adventurous to willing ears. Most of these artists, viewed in hindsight, are classified with the IDM subculture - "Intelligent Dance Music", designed for headphones rather than dance floors: basement-level cyberpunk geeks wholly contrasting their sun-bleached Ibiza counterparts; tricky time-signatures, dial-distortion and glitch-hop chaos shredding the rigid 'struggle for pleasure' structures of mainstream trance and progressive house. Ten thousand huge trance 'choons' have come and gone, relegated to wholesale bins, while albums by Aphex Twin, Squarepusher and Boards of Canada are constantly discovered by neophytes, year after year.

Autechre reign, somewhat infamously, at the top of the IDM pantheon. In the past ten+ years this Sheffield duo have crafted a formidable oeuvre of sonic exploration, shifting from an early, complex ambient sound - one that reached its peak here, on *Amber* - to the fringes of avant-garde experimentation. The contrast between early and current Autechre recordings constitute a bewildering, caustic journey of extremities, but when the various albums and EPs are listened to in order, Ae's artistic trajectory makes sense, and gives credence to the notion that these guys are so far ahead of their time that, like Mozart and Bach, their music will resound far beyond this current era; I can see mathematicians and music-students two hundred years from now revering the fragment textures and shatter-glare of *Confield* and *LP5* as highly prescient.

Early Autechre is easier-listening, there is no question about it, and this album is considered by many to be their finest moment. Arriving not long after the gloomy, winter-swept *Incunabula*, Autechre's second album *Amber* instantly displayed an evolved sense of composition, a greater confidence in terms of range and ambition. Far more varied and immediate than its predecessor, I consider it the 'warm' to *Incunabula*'s 'cold', and a more satisfying overall listen.

*Amber* begins with the industrial pulse of 'Foil,' all rust-crusted tones and tweaked percussion, a theme-song of an oil refinery, the dynamics morphing from subtle tribal rhythms to harsh gear-squalls. A dark bass-roll introduces 'Montreal,' and tiny elements - chattering highhats, bongos, glitch efx - gradually weave into the main percussive riff; twinkling notes and low ambient tones slowly drown out the clatter. 'Silverside' follows this gentle decline with an undulating melancholic theme that is allowed to drift into fulfillment before a distorted vocal and snare-dominated riffs smash through the bottom end. At the end, the theme reaches a cautious resolution: out of it bounces the irresistible 'Slip,' an anomaly to the Autechre catalogue, being both major-key and sublimely ~happy~; it's probably the most overtly catchy song they've ever written.

'Glitch' is aptly named: a fractured synth-line plays over an assortment of chirping, squeaking rhythms, building into an echo-washed breakdown. The next song, 'Piezo,' enters obtrusively and reaches a tension-filled impasse with its flanged drum-pattern and random gurgles; the annoyance is then soothed - somewhat - by a standard ethereal ambient passage, *Incunabula*-style. I tend to dislike 'Piezo' for the first three minutes, then, inevitably, find myself caught up in its twisting, whiplash momentum, seduced by its emotive payoff. 'Nine,' a splintered sequence of tones, beautifully off, is gradually overcome by a sinister machine-cry, and flows directly into the opening notes of 'Further,' which also sounds out-of-time until a percussion-riff storms in abruptly, the muted drum/harsh snare revealing its meticulous structure. The drum patterns disintegrate at the end, echoing into the firmament amidst thunder-quake growls; phased synths keep the structure together, and hold on well past the final bass-boom. 'Yulquen' is classic ambient music, dreamy tones washed over a soft pulse, the melancholic haze of it making the subsequent subsonic reverberation and multi-tap crash of 'Nil' all the more dramatic - the theme, emerging in intervals as the rhythms decay to momentary silence, sounds like the weeping of a machine, eerie inhuman and yet incredibly effective. There is no respite, no moment to stop and seek human connection, at this point - the final song 'Teartear' pounds into being with palpable anger, and no resolution is made: the song fades, squalling, into the distance.

*Amber* can be viewed as an ambient coda for Autechre, for from this point on their music steadily becomes more percussive-dominated and abstract. And even this, Ae's most accessible album, cannot be viewed as happy, life-affirming music - sorrow and rumination dominate the album, and even the cheerful 'Slip' is underlined by a melancholic impression - but it is masterfully composed: intricate, beautiful, challenging and timeless like few other entries of the genre. Highly Recommended.

If you look at the middle of Autechre's name you will see 'tech' which sounds kind of like 'tesh' and when I say 'tesh' I mean like John Tesh. While Autechre's music is not even close the same style as Tesh's they share a common parallel, they're both dreadfully boring. Autechre are known as masters of the mundane, which brings me to my first point, why would anyone be interested in the mundane especially in something that is supposed to be as engaging and exciting as music. Autechre play a bunch of instrumental ambient electronica songs. Electronica can in some cases mean electronic tinged rock, and at other times old men's techno. I'd have to lead to the latter. None of the songs lead anywhere. I can see sitting through songs to get to a grand conclusion, but long after this album was over I sat in my room listening to nothing, in hopes some hook, some reason to listen to this album would be realized. Then it finally hit me, this music would be perfect for yoga, or some kind of gay interpretative dance, or when your cleaning the house. It is great background music. But so are those 'Sounds of The Ocean' and 'The Ambience of The Forest" discs you see at Target and Walmart for a couple bucks. If you want good background music I suggest you go to your local Target and pick up five of those discs rather than spend it on this 'acclaimed' music.

I am generally a fan of Autechre's later stuff (2000 and on), so I was naturaly dissapointed at this album. But, all those differences aside, this is still a damn great album. It has to be one of the most atmospheric albums I own. All of the songs seem to have the same sort of emotions to them (i.e. sadness, mourning, etc.) Even because of that, it still never becomes monotinous.

This Is a great album, overall, and is highly reccomended to any beginner in this genre.

The best and most depressing track from Autechre...."Nine". Just take some time and listen for yourself.

Their final album before they got too harsh for my liking. This album is considered their best by many fans of the group, but I'm sure fans of the harsher material like 'Tri Repetae' would have something to say about that! (I think 'Incunabula' is their best anyway!)

But for me, this is a snapshot in time. Warm melodies combine with shimmering electronics to form magical electronic pieces. Sure, there are harsh and abrasive elements on here too, and they are also enjoyable. It's a perfect balance.

I ended up sending this CD back, as the signal dropout just before the end of my version of the CD started to give me the irits. I miss it! So I realise I actually liked it more than I admitted in my previous review (4 stars).

I don't actually think it deserves five stars, but the combination of the two reviews makes it 4 & 1/2 overall, which is fair.

Standout track is definitely the last one "Teartear". What a sizzling way to end a consistently engaging album!

The 30 second preview sound-bites showed more promise than the full product delivered. Not nearly as interesting as I expected. Good value, but Oval "Diskont 94" and Mum "Finally We Are None", which I bought at the same time, leave it for dead in maintaining my interest from start to finish.

A 2-second dropout one minute from the end of the CD was darned annoying. Perhaps I can pretend it was deliberate!

This beautiful album has an utterly unique sound, even within Autechre's ouevre. It may be electronic music but the sound is anything but mechanical, with its strangely compelling textures and beats. The mood varies from eerie and distant to weirdly inspirational and delicately moving. The track Silverside even has some muted vocal samples, while tracks like Further evoke the pitter-patter of raindrops and other nature sounds. The tempo also varies: Glitch and Piezo have a fast beat, while Nine and Yulquen are slow and soft. The closest I can come to a comparison, would be to Peter Baumann's Trans Harmonic Nights, and then only to a certain extent, as Amber is charmingly diverse. I suppose one could describe this as classical electronic music, and this album certainly is a classic in more than one sense of the term.

More mellow than its predecessor. This has become the only album that I'll put on before I go to bed. I hesitated buying it because many of the reviewers made Amber sound as if had NO beat, only formless synth lines and such...

This is not true. It has similiar amounts and kinds of bass/drum as Incunabula.

Amber is not as good as that album or Tri Repetae++, but if you're looking for the most ambient Autechre release, this is it. It may be ambient, but there IS beat to it. Don't let other reviewers fool you.

A masterpiece from Autechre.

The beauty of this CD lies in it's simplicity. I love Ae, and this is probably their best work.

It also bridges the gap between the "old" and "new" Ae.

Highly recomended.

Although I like all of the Autechre CD's I've bought(Incunabula, Amber, lp5, ep7, and Confield), this one stands out in my mind as their definitive moment. Similar to Incunabula but with more fully realized song structures and less predominant beats, and made up of somewhat "warmer" tones, it's probably the closest they've ever come(or ever will come, if their newer work is any indication) to ambient. Check it out if you want to hear something unique.

First off, I would like to say that I am not bashing this album in any way. In fact I wish I could give it higher than three stars, but I just cannot do it. I am a huge fan of Autechre, and sometimes I don't even know why I like their machine like repititions and over-the-top artistry. On Amber, they basically calmed down their normal routine in favour of something much more ambient and emotional. This album is a blueprinted experiment on what was to follow for Autechre. This is where they were still trying to find their voice to express themselves. I do enjoy this album every now and then, but on the most part, it merely seems to be a slightly broken machine trying desperately to discover how to relay the intense emotions of its operator. The emotions and artistry are here, they just have not acheived full maturity yet. And I truly do applaud Autechre for making this album. If this album was never made, they could not have progressed. If the made this album and never released it, then we would have missed out on music that is better than the standard fare. I still recommend this album though. It is much better than anything on the radio, and has much more emotional value than N'sync. I just keep thinking about how much further it could have been taken seeing as where they advanced on their next album.

I'm not going to go on about how Autechre is my favorite band like I always do in other reviews, this isn't even my favorite of their albums. I just listened to this again tonight in my bedroom, and I want to reaffirm what other people on this page have said themselves.. 'Amber' is very near scary in its mood. The music begins in a way that reminds one of the cover art.. calm, mysterious, warm. It ends up like the CD itself: black. This album will make you feel very alone. It will depress you, tear your heart out and throw it on the ground. Yes, it's complex, it's brainy, and this is what makes Autechre my favorite. But it leaks angst-ridden, lump-in-the-throat emotion out of every clicking, reverberating beat and every mournful violin note. 'Montreal' takes you gliding across the sand dunes, 'Silverside' takes you down the sandy cliffsides. 'Teartear' is the sound of being lost, alone, and having a nervous, emotional breakdown. I fell asleep to it this afternoon and I sure had some interesting dreams. If you're exploring Autechre at all, buy 'Tri Repetae', but if you like it, this is essential. Absolutely heart-wrenching stuff.

Autechre is the only artist that gave me the courage to write an online review. Particularly "Glitch", the songs in the album make you listen to them several times to understand what is hidden behind the notes you hear. With deep concentration, Ae takes you to other dimensions where you've never been to before (but deep inside you feel like you know them). Ae does not try to prove you anything, therefore you'll hear unpredicted u-turns within most songs. Each song in this album defines different moods, yet they manage to collaborate and make an album that is consistent within. Listen closely to "Glitch", and you'll understand what Autechre is all about: Simple, yet powerful composition of sounds, a chaos that has its own beautiful rhytm that is so hard to find anywhere else. You may think the beats are exactly the same when you hear them for the first time, but turn up the volume and you'll notice that each note is selected carefully to compliment each other. In a world composed of patterns, Ae will help you discover something that's hidden behind your daily perception.

This was my introduction to Autechre, and I was quite pleased to have been introduced. This isn't as complex or beat-heavy as their later works, but that doesn't make it bad. It's ambient music of the highest calibur. It's generally strange, with vocal samples permeating through some of the songs like TearTear and Silverside. Synth strings play a big role also. If you like Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2, you'll love this. It's great music if you're depressed; I find myself going through my collection often and picking this one out. The infinite staying power of this album warrants a purchase; I guarantee you will play it for years to come.

This is one of my favourite albums and in my opinion is certainly Autechre's best. They certainly do sound young and amateur on this album, but on the other hand this album is filled with a youthful passion and curiosity that has never again been fully realised in an Autechre album (though I find some similarity in Chiastic Slide). If you dislike repetition, I would certainly not recommend this album to you - it's a soundscape of sorts and has no qualms with repeating itself to reinforce tiny details of the big picture. For anyone who can sit and just stare into the beautiful abyss of the ocean and sky for hours, here is an expression of that vast, dark and nameless beauty that may make you yearn for the shore as I do.

From the opening hisses of "foil," it becomes obvious that Autechre is indeed changing their course of focus from what they prevoiusly established with the marvelous "Incunabula." Amber is by far the darkest Autechre release, and for some odd reason, the most amateurish-sounding. "silverside" refrains from evoking real emotion due to its purely synthetic feel and uninteresting repetition. "glip" sounds entirely out of place on the album, representing the only upbeat, merry, and "danceable" melody you will hear during Amber's 74 minutes of cool ambience. This is an example of what is perhaps Amber's biggest problem: it is frustratingly uneven and the songs go absolutely nowhere. As opposed to other Autechre albums like "Tri-Repetae++" and "LP5" where 8-minute tracks can generate pure ecstasy, rather than utter boredom.

This does not mean, however, that there is not an enjoyable moment on "Amber"; in fact, there are several. "foil" is a great starter: a 6-minute journey through a barren desert of noise that fails to become annoyingly repetitious. "further" and "nine" are peculiar in that they encapsulate perhaps what Booth and Brown were attempting to create with Amber. The beat frequency is kept at low and the melodies are cranked up to evoke a surreal world of tranquil beauty. The best moments on the album though are those that are reminiscent of Autechre's later work. "teartear" maintains a ferocious beat and melody sure to wake up the demons you've kept locked up in your mind and "piezo," the album's high point, sounds totally foreign, incorporating bizarre beats that transform throughout the song's eight minutes and a melody that is guaranteed to get under your skin.

All in all, Amber can be worthwhile, but if you're expecting another "Selected Ambient Works 85-92," you will be highly dissapointed. For SERIOUS Autechre fans only. (I consider myself to be one and this is the most inaccessable for me. Confield is easier for me to enjoy).

Rating: 5/10

This was actually my first Autechre CD, but it was the last one I could actually get into. When I first got it, I was impressed by "Silverside", "Glitch", "Further", and "Teartear". But all of the rest seemed too sterile for me at the time. Fast forward a few years, when I decided to give Autechre another listen with some more of their CDs. After I had everyone, and thouroughly loved each of those, I gave Amber another shot. Anyways, I relistened and discovered how wonderful Amber really is. Despite what most people say, Autechre's music has a human ring to it. It's just expressed through machines. Amber has a very depressed feel to it, which would make it seem sterile to most listeners. "Piezo", my favorite track from the album, starts "decomposing" into what I feel to be one of the most depressing moments in musical history. It's almost as if the track is crying it's eyes out while the beat is beating the tar out of it, and leaving it to die in a cold place. "Slip" gives me the image of children playing, and is a rather happy track.

The album isn't rewarding at first, but seems like a logical midpoint from the Kraftwerkian "Incunabula" and the towering "Tri Repeatae ++". This music has emotion, and is rather human once you dig deep into the music.

this Cd isnt great like most work that Richard James has put out but it does have some good moments.

Amber is, without question, Autechre's sublime masterpiece. It is a release that captures a truly ambient feel while still rendering Autechre's drill 'n bass sound. Track by track, the album is beautiful and comparable to only such masterpieces as Brian Eno's "Ambient 1".

Amber is just one of Autechre's albums that is truly amazing. When I bought the album I hadn't even listened to it before, I picked it off the shelf, put it in my player and didn't want to stop listening. This album is a good example of the duos lighter side. They compiled some of their most experimental beats with some of their more ambient sounds and melodys making them one of the best experimental artists in the underground scene,they are always groundbreaking and a constant inspiration to experiment with my own beats. If you want to buy a truly kickn album, buy this one.

This albums comes in at second, only to Incunabula. The tracks on this take time to get into, but they will grow on you, it isn't catchy Eiffel 65 style electronica. You just have to appreciate Autechre's music. If you listen closely, this stuff is like a composition.

I am a huge fan of Autechre,and I really like the direction they are moving in now,but I still feel that this album is their most moving and emotionally powerful work to date.Every piece on this album upon meticulous listening,stirs different emotions and feelings,creates wonderful atmospheres in its surroundings,and proves to be highly thought provoking.This album just has so much depth,it amazes me everytime I listen to it.Truly,a timeless classic.

With so many reviews for this album already, I don't think there's a point in reiterating Autechre's history and backcatalogue. Suffice to say, this is one of the band's "pure" ambient releases, and a milestone for not only Autechre, but for the whole genre, as well.

I don't think anyone will deny that ambient can be just as mass-produced as any other genre out there. Just pay attention to the music in your average TV or movie drama and you'll hear how cheap ambient can be. Hell, it's even spread to pop music!

So Autechre has a bit of a burden with this release. Five years after Amber came out, ambient has infiltrated so much of today's culture that each classic ambient album is threatened with extinction/trivialization (similar to what happened to Citizen Kane in the eye of today's generation).

Leave it to Booth and Brown to come up with a way. This album features the 'standard' ambient constructions, but with just enough oddball moments that it doesn't fit. Some tones are slightly off, some rhythms deviate just a bit from what our mental metronomes would prefer... In a nutshell, the album breaks the standards by intentionally sounding strange and 'wrong' in places.

See, that oddball characteristic gets our attention. Amber is largely melodious and thus soporific, but when that strange screech or tone hits, it wakes us right up. That alone makes this album a powerful one, that it rises above ambient's image of "background/sleep aid" to "engaging, powerful listen."

Amber is very much a holistic piece. I don't know the names of the tracks. I don't know where they begin and end. I don't care. I simply play the album all the way through, and love every second of it.

This album revolutionizes the ambient genre in a way I hadn't thought possible. For that reason alone, I give it my highest recommendation. But I warn you, this album takes an open mind to truly love it.

This is a good disc, don't get me wrong. It's just that sometimes it just seems like these guys just decided to keep the wrong tone in the loop. On a couple traks they just let one tone come through everything else like a fingernail on a chalkboard. It distracts from the music so much that listening becomes unenjoyable. Besides these couple of flawed tracks, it's a great disc.

Yes perfect. This CD is in my opinion Autechre's best. It isso solid, all the way through. I don't even dream of skipping atrack. It is the best example of Autechre's "wet" sound, as opposed to the "dry" sound they employ on their more recent releases. The melodies are more in the foreground than on, for example, EP7 or LP5, and is defenetly "easier" at first. That said, I do not think that these tracks lack depth in any way, but they are more accesseble than the later stuff. The rythims are very cleaver, not as overbearing as on EP7 for example so this is a very good starting point for people getting to know Autechre. When I pop this in to my CD player I can't help it but listen to the whole thing. It is very uncomfortable to stop in the middle of it. It is really one long piece, rather than a collection of tunes. It surely is, greater than the sum of its parts. In short: Perfect.

This is a wonderful album, and my favorite by the group, mostly because of the great melodies. Autechre takes time to reveal each song to you, allowing you to appreciate each and every sound you hear. The rhythms and melodies blend together very nicely. If you'd like to try Autechre out, this is the album I'd recommend first.

This album is an absolute masterpiece and one of the finest, if not the finest electronic album produced to date. The entire album is composed of beautiful, complex melodies that draw you in with their hypnotic beats.A must have for anybody thats even remotely interested in so-called electronica. One of my top 25 CD's out of a collection of over 700 embracing all genres (except for rap which I detest).

I bought this CD and I was not satisfied what so ever. I would not play this CD around anyone. I think Autechre needs to work on their skills. Viedo games have better music than this.

I just bought this CD. Just a few days ago. But already it is one of my favorite CDs. It is absolutely beautiful from beginning to end. I had to listen to this CD quietly in my bed earlier tonight. And staring at my lava lamp. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. Especially Further, Nil, and Teartear. I could do that for hours.

I herd this album though a friend. He bought this the same day I got 'Incunabula'. It's a great album that has been striped down from the completexity of Incunabula'. It is darker and more mellow. It is not as ambient either. It is one fantsic disc but I like the others by autechre more. Enjoy.

I think this is the best Autechre album, next to EP7, and everytime I listen to it, I get transported to somewhere else. Montreal, Nine, and Teartear are great. Get this album if you like music. Period.