Summary:The experimental English electronic duo of Rob Brown and Sean Booth was able to find enough time while serving as curators of the 2003 UK version of All Tomorrow's Parties to record this, their seventh full-length as Autechre.
By the time we reach "Surripere" we could be listening to a toughened-up Aphex Twin, poignant harmonies battling against oblique but splintering beats. [May 2003, p.92]
A feast of buried treasure, a flickerframe parade which continually offers up magical fragments of sound, revelatory and transitory in equal measure. [#230, p.46]
Though it is at times a forbidding and daunting listen, piercing through the dense thicket of sounds reveals a wealth of melody and funk underlining Autechre's irregular electro rhythms.
Nothing special on first listen. However, after getting better acquainted, this has grown to be one of my favourite albums. Have been Nothing special on first listen. However, after getting better acquainted, this has grown to be one of my favourite albums. Have been listening to it about once a week for nearly four years and still haven't tired of it's intricacies. Patience required, but highly recommended.…Expand
A brilliant album which has grown on me to become my favorite release from Autechre so far, and one of my all time favorite albums as well. A brilliant album which has grown on me to become my favorite release from Autechre so far, and one of my all time favorite albums as well. During the first many listen-throughs, Draft 7.30 was a "difficult" experience for me - in the sense that it's a quite complex album. But recently I've started to see/hear it as a very well-constructed whole with a distinct atmosphere that lives on in every track. It's noisy, but not in a "white noise" way - rather, the noisy parts seem extremely precise and deliberate, almost surgical. As other people have mentioned, it sounds almost non-human - like the sounds and rhythms one would expect from machines on a planet in another solar system - rhythms which sustain some kind of complex logic and doesn't surrender into random chaos. Draft 7.30 sounds cold and downright mean at some points, but it's extremely interesting to listen to.…Expand
Listening to this album felt as if I was being strangled by a robot, the only matter in which I could breath being digital binary, and I just Listening to this album felt as if I was being strangled by a robot, the only matter in which I could breath being digital binary, and I just continued to drown in robotic and metallic bliss. Draft 7.30 is probably one of the most experimental albums ever made in the history of music.…Expand
Autechre: The shape of a sound. Close your eyes and listen to any ae track and you realize how accurate their name matches their music. Track Autechre: The shape of a sound. Close your eyes and listen to any ae track and you realize how accurate their name matches their music. Track one XYLIN Room starts you off on a dark journey through the brilliant aural minds of Sean and Rob. The sticky scratches perfectly compliment the intertwining drop of a menacing drumming, which sounds as though a spell is being cast on you throughout your sound system. Once you get to TAPR you start to wonder "why is there not a live album released?" From start to finish Draft 7.30 is yet another satisfying, albeit dark release from the masters sound manipulation. …Expand
This album fascinated me, being one of the first seriosuly experimental albums I heard, and I found it a rewarding experience when you This album fascinated me, being one of the first seriosuly experimental albums I heard, and I found it a rewarding experience when you finally learn to like the tracks. If anything, it just suffers from being a little dull, perhaps due to the fact that the synths and the few melodies that they are often lie in the background while the drums make most of the songs. This is not always a bad thing, but not much really jumps out at you here. Although not as ground-breaking as Confield, their previous album, this album 'let's you in' a bit more. Confield was conceptually clever and well made, but musically it is often alienating. Although on the initial listen this sounds just as cold, it is a little easier to warm to I feel. I strongly disagree with those that recommend LP5 above this - inconsistent and mostly rubbish…Collapse
Certainly nothing as special as say, LP5, and Confield. Of course, since Autechre have such a consistently good back catalogue, a few mishaps Certainly nothing as special as say, LP5, and Confield. Of course, since Autechre have such a consistently good back catalogue, a few mishaps here and there are excusable. It's a confused, drawn out and somewhat shapeless record with a few moments of strength, such as the last track.…Expand
