Just so you know it's pronounced 'AWW-TEK-RA' ' NOT Aww-tetch (?) or OR-TEK-A

Needless to say the eventual release date will be peppered with more massively pretentious record reviews, nonsensical feature interviews, blatantly made up stories and ‘is it genius or is it just ridiculous’ themed articles than you could shake the proverbial stick at.

We knew we couldn’t fall into this trap and decided the best thing to do would be to conduct the feature as drunk as possible. This way we would be guaranteed not to fall into the realms of the pretentious twat-ism that has ruined so many of Autechre’s interviews. It was going to be tough but it was the only way.

DP: Okay, I’ll have a Stella AND a shot to begin with because I’m hard. What are you guys having?

SEAN: I’ll just have a beer. I think Rob will probably have a vodka and lime.

KEN (Press officer): Okay, I’ll pay for this one and I’ll be over there waiting for you guys afterward. This should be over in half an hour, right?

DP: Sure, I’ve only got ten questions.

DP: So we heard you made this album by just jamming out and then editing everything down at the last minute.

ROB: Yeah, most of the tracks for this record were made on the live set up and edited down.

I knock back my first shot and do the whole pint in one. Yes, I am that hardcore. For my next drink I order a double JD and Coke. Ken is paying again and you have to order doubles when someone else is paying. It’s the law.

ME: Soooo, how did you go about writing this record?

SEAN: We would literally jam out for about an hour and then edit everything down to a few minutes

ROB: Didn’t we just tell you that?

DP: I’ll ask the questions here matey-o. Wait a minute.

Downs JD and coke.

DP: So is it all totally improvisation then? How do you manage that with electronic set-ups? Is it all about using hardware over difficult-to-program software like Logic and MAX?

SEAN: When you are on a hardware set-up you have a solid set-up but the interface is infinitely malleable. On a computer you always have the same interface, but an infinite number of possible configurations. It’s almost the same difference.

I order another gin. The room is starting to spin slightly but I compose myself, check my list of questions and pick the third one from the top.

DP: When I spoke to Venetian Snares he was talking about how if you want to do abstract free-flowing music you need to avoid side-scrolling sequencers as they are too difficult to… do stuff with in a uh, ‘freestyle manner’.

SEAN: I would say Aaron is right to say that… in a way. But he is also very wrong. I would probably leave it at that.

DP: No, no you can’t leave it at that. What do you mean? Explain yourself or I’m going to make it look like you’re slagging him off and he’ll come over and kill you in your sleep. Oh, and I’ll have another beer, NO a shot of whisky…

SEAN: No I’m friends with Aaron and respect what he does but you don’t want to revert to Renoise or something just because it’s easy to program with. Anything is easy if you learn to use it properly and learn all the key-commands and shortcuts.

DP: [feeling pretty sick by this point] What about your i.n.s.a.n.e Myspace?

ROB: That was just me trying to take Myspace apart. It’s all so uniform. It was kind of like ‘fuck the way Myspace looks’.

DP: [Jabbing at Sean’s coat with a finger] You must think you’re pretty fucking smart. I think it’s all just noise and you’ve managed to pull the wool over everybody’s eyes and tell them it’s clever and if they don’t understand it then they are not clever enough. It’s The Emperor’s New Clothes all over again.

SEAN: Well it’s down to the individual what they see in our music. I can say that from our personal experi…

At this point I am actually going to be sick. I rush out to the bathroom where I spend the next 20 minutes. By the time I come out Sean and Rob are outside having a cigarette.

DP: Sorry about that.

SEAN: That’s okay.

THANKS KEN @ HERMANA