SOPHIE – BIPP (Autechre Mix)

Aside from that massive urge to drag everybody into a truth-proof spiral of churning misinformation, those little algorithms that run our lives also want us to have fun. This is clear from the way that they sneak clips from Graham Norton’s show into my FB timeline. One advantage of these snippets, as opposed to watching the whole show, is that you miss those pregnant pause bits where Norton says to David Tennant, “Has any animal-related incident ever occurred in your drama career?” and Tennant sets off, “Well actually.....” They are like those liminal moments in musicals that John Lennon complained about, where naturalism switches to song. Me and Norton agree it´s a small price to pay, whether you’re waiting for You´ve Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two or Tennant’s story about a poodle invading the stage during Macbeth, an awkward nanosecond or 6 hardly matters. Linking all this intro bollocks to this week´s tune involves now picturing Autechre on Norton’s show and him asking “Has any artist ever sent you ALL of the parts to ALL of their tracks in an attempt to cajole a remix out of you?” Except he wouldn’t put it like that because it would give the end of the anecdote away. But it´s is exactly the kind of stupid thing I would do.

Remixes don’t often come with anecdotes*, but this week’s track is an exception. It starts in 2015 when SOPHIE remarked in interviews that she was only interested in remixes if they were provided by Autechre. We’ll call this dropping of hints in Electronic Sound etc the subtle approach, although I assume that phone calls or emails were sent as well (I’m not in any position to cast doubts on any method of communication, however wafty. Only recently I left a written note for someone in a clump of rhubarb. Welcome to the 21st century). The next part is where SOPHIE’s label dispatched ALL of the parts of her album Product to Autechre in 2018. And now, after 5 years of all this, we have the remix of SOPHIE’s track BIPP ready for digestion, assessment and enjoyment.

Consulting the Synethesiac’s encyclopaedia of Motors and Music, we can pinpoint BIPP as a white Opel Manta that has spent 40 years travelling from Canvey Island to Sheffield, one wheel has been replaced with an electric sheep and there’s intermittent flickering from the headlights. Given the track records of both SOPHIE and Autechre, the surprising thing is how closely it resembles a production line white Opel Manta. It’s authentic synth soul. Nearly all the mangling or twisting you might expect, of vocals, beats, everything, has been eschewed in favour of directness, a contentious view might be to call it sincerity. Sophie’s history as a producer of abstract beat music stands alongside her unassailable pop credentials, having worked with Lady Gaga, Madonna and Charlie XCX, so mainstream sensibilities are not a shock, but here all the melody glides along in a way that feels more timeless than manically modern, even the hook, “You know where to find me…..SO!” is understated. The vocals in particular are plain and pure, almost suburban. I’m struggling to put this a better way, but it might be best just to say that BIPP is Autechre unwrapping a love song.

*This is the only remix anecdote I can think of, and it involves Bobby Brown as himself, and Graham Norton stepping in as a unknown journalist. Here goes....

Norton - So Bobby, what did you think when you found out that the K-Klass mix of Two Can Play That Game was Top 10 in seven countries?

Brown – I thought I should probably listen to it.

THIS WEEK

SOPHIE – BIPP (Autechre Mix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3ro1n8DYUY

15, 039 views since 14th January Weekly Average Views – 15, 039

LAST WEEK

Georgia – Ray Guns (Dan Carey dub)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9oImR_2Jz4

Weekly Average Views – 8 Blog Week Views – 27 (Good work everybody)

EXTRAS

SOPHIE – BIPP