Autechre is a funny subject in the world of electronic music, despite their reputation as a black box of electronica, their origins are far more quaint, inspired by hip hop and early techno and house, their first records aren't particularly imaginative, or all that good, suffering from the inexperience of the duo, but are ones that had peaks high enough that both demonstrated their talent and, after a number of demos sent to Warp Records, finally caught their attention and were signed to the then fledgling label that had catapulted to national fame with LFO's fantastic bleep techno releases. Their first tracks released for the label were for the Artificial Intelligence compilation, with the fantastic 'Crystel' being a highlight of the first compilation, and, as per The Designers Republic's Ian Anderson, was the reason they were signed in the first place, alongside a deal for a number of albums, the first of which would release in the AI series.

This record would be Incunabula, released in 1993 to surprising success in Indie charts, and has since become a hallmark entry point to the world of 'IDM', despite the lack of similarities to much of the genre, or to future Autechre records themselves. The record wholistically is not particularly imaginative, Warp were keen on maintaining a homogenous image in the Artificial Intelligence series and Autechre, even in their formative years, were a massively experimental duo, something which meant that the record itself was organized by Warp themselves rather than the duo. But despite this, the record would still show glimmers of their future, and certainly was proof of the undeniable talent of the duo, tracks like 'Bike', 'Eggshell' and '404', despite conforming to Ambient Techno, are undeniably brilliant tracks, 'Lowride' is a fantastic track that bears witness to their hip-hop influence, 'Basscadet' and 'Doctrine' work seemingly as previews towards the industrial-esque sound of Tri Repetae. And no track really can be described as truly bad, only suffering from the sin of being somewhat unimaginative, something which cannot be said of projects like 1991's Lego Feet.

One may be drawn towards eschewing Autechre's debut record as simply unimaginative ambient techno, the duo themselves admitting that the tracks present in the record were chosen by Warp Records in their aim of maintaining the somewhat homogenous sound of the Artificial Intelligence series and were not what they would have chosen. But despite the duo being on a leash, this experience perhaps drove them towards them being able to further hone in their skills, and as a result of the success of the record and of successor Amber, were able to come out swinging when the leash was finally cut with Tri Repetae, possibly amongst the finest records in the Warp catalogue, whilst Incunabula isn't the most imaginative, innovative, or really finest record in Autechre's discography, it is a necessary one that proved their worth and ultimately enabled them to become the artists they are now.