Autechre

Describe Manchester electronic duo Autechre in one word? How about "divisive"? For nearly 20 years, the group's densely produced blippy IDM has left listeners either bemoaning its ostensibly "clinical" experimentations in digital sound-sculpting or lauding the avant innovation in its glitchy chaos. As for us, we sit squarely in the latter crowd. The spastic rhythmic gymnastics offer cerebral ecstasy through the headphones, but you need to hear the guys live to understand how bodily those sounds can get through a speaker system, justifying the "D" in "IDM."