Sean and Rob came together through a love of hip hop and graffiti back in 1987. It's no wonder then that their music is truely inspired by that style of music. Mostly all their tracks carry a rhythm section that is easy on the neck surrounded by alien landscapes and textures that only they could think up. Some may nod away at the music and fail to realize they're standing on a glass floor -- a floor that, if they only took the time to look down, could expose what all is going on. For there is a lot.

Gantz Graf has a lot going on, certainly. It's probably Ae's densest, most room filling cd there is aside from the perfect Confield (their latest LP). GG carries on where Confield left off and, while adding new concepts and ideas, it also re-interprets it. The title track running at 3:58 rummbles and trips and explodes in front of you caring not about the look on your face. Where Bine (from Confield) was about the organic side to absolute chaos, GG interprets the concept as mechanical. One could easily see machines becoming alive and stretching their years old rusty parts, twisting their metal waists and letting out a cacophonous noise.

Dial comes on next and begins (and ends) the cd's more danceable beats. Although the dancing comes and stops quite soon, it's one the best best tracks on here. One must be warned that there are very high frequencies on this track so if you're listening for the first time (especially on headphones) it would be advisable to turn it down at first. Dial also is a nice showcase piece of Ae's 'generative music' style. For a more elaborate explaination on that one can easily look it up at search engines. The beats change and shift time signatures fairly quickly and one will need to hear this track multiple times to both get used to it and to get their bearings on how this track evolves.

Cap. IV quite surpisingly comes on without letting the listener take a breather from Dial -- the maddness is just starting up again. The track unfolds for 9:02 and builds up to one of the noisiest and hauntingly most beautiful climaxes Ae have ever managed to produce. It also is a re-interpretation of Lentic Catachresis (off Confield) in this reviewer's opinion. Both tracks share the same ideas and look at a concept at different directions. Where it starts off slow, the track begins to make a very unique hummable tune. After the track has dealt with all applicable variations, it closes things off effortlessly by combining all sounds and shooting up the bpm chart to unimaginable speeds. How things shut down is for you to find out.

All in all, if you can deal with abstract concepts and enjoy musical challenges I would whole-heartedly recommend this double-disk package (with the dvd) to you. If not, this is definatly the worst place to start. If you're new to Ae and don't know where to start I would say to begin with Incunabula (their first LP) or Amber (their 2nd) or even LP5 (well...their 5th). All explain Autechre's sound well and one can get an idea of what they do and where they are going and most importantly why GG sounds the way it does.

It's been a 10 year ride so far with great sounds along the way. Sean and Rob have done a lot but a lot can be expected for the next 10 years to come. Who knows what new stories they'll tell through their sound. A good one for sure.