Gescom

Shrouded in conjecture and just a wee bit of good fun, Gescom is the more dancefloor-friendly identity of Sean Booth and Rob Brown, aka Autechre. The bulk of the pair's Gescom material (save for an EP a piece on "future funk" label Clear and David Moufang's Source label, as well as a mail-order-only 12" offered to members of the group's fanclub) has been issued through the Manchester-based experimental techno label Skam, owned and operated by occasional collaborator Andy Maddocks. Focusing on the more uptempo tendencies of Autechre paired with a harder, rougher, more driving rhythmic edge, Gescom material remains committed to the more adventurous side of electro/techno even as it gives DJs a bit more backbeat to work with. The group hit a bit of popularity (apart, of course, from the thick-and-thin dedication of Ae trainspotters) when a track ("Mag") from their second Skam 12" was included on South London breakbeat virtuosos Coldcut's celebrated Journeys by DJ mix session. The first Gescom full-length, MiniDisc, appeared in 1998. Silence then fell upon Gescom releases until 2003 when the Iss:Sa EP came out the same day as the Autechre full length Draft 7.30. ~ Sean Cooper, Rovi