Autechre don't do gigs very often, so getting to see them live is An Occasion. An Experience.

It's 11pm and Autechre still aren't on. The night started at 7:30pm, with Rob Hall (from great label Skam) and Some Other People who I can't remember spinning some beats through the robust sound system in the cavernous Stealth. When Booth and Brown finally arrive, we get their brain output for about three quarters of an hour in what is probably best described as an 'interesting' performance for several reasons.

Autechre step into the cave-like arrangement of technology and speakers, and the lights dramatically drop to zero-levels, with only the dim glow of mixers and synths highlighting Autechre's collective face. Throughout the room, flashes of light momentarily illuminate people as they use phones and lighters. There are no visuals on the wall, and only limited glimpes of Ae themselves as they hunch over the equipment. It seems to be a real aesthetic for them, the deprivation of all senses but sound. Are they forcing us to concentrate on the nourishing slabs of sonic crunch?

The side-effect lighting plays on the bodies of the audience. Some are trying to dance to the irregular rhythms, at first getting into a groove and then spasmodically jerking to fit the constant reshuffling of the beats. It’s quite entertaining to watch, and the beginning of Autechre's set satisfies this urge with its fairly regular electronica textures. It's almost as if they have come on as Gescom by mistake.

Every now an then, elements from Untilted, the latest album, are stacked onto the table, taking the music to increasingly...

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