Autechre’s May 18 performance at Neumo’s was so advanced and mind-bogglingly complex and visceral, it may as well have been beamed in from a heretofore unknown galaxy. Kudos to anyone who tried to dance to it, especially the 400-pound dude in the overalls.The sounds coming from Sean Booth and Rob Brown’s gear (all hardware, no laptops, geeks) made me feel like a lump of obsolete meat, hopelessly mired in the passe 21st century with my old-fangled organs and stuff. British clicks & cuts standard bearers snd and Gescom DJ Rob Hall perfectly complemented Autechre’s level-beyond-next-level techno. All praise to Decibel director Sean Horton and Wake Up Promotions’ Steven Severin for booking such an adventurous bill. It was heartening to see almost 800 heads in the house, especially for artists who get no support from local radio.

But let me interrupt this reverie by saying a public smoking ban needs to go into effect, like, yesterday. It’s fucked up when you go to a show at a relatively packed club and upon exiting you have to detox for 24 hours. Seriously, people, you’re literally killing me. Please take into consideration other people’s lungs for a change. Because I’m about ready to start packing a water pistol at shows and ruthlessly extinguish your cancer sticks.