Autechre - classic or dud

I am no jess

i think this is a joke or a taking of my piss. i hope to god it is.

(and gareth, if you must know, it's sometimes lurker/poster/troll dr. funk - my first critic! - who apparently (to read his blog) thinks i'm dumber than pigshit, although he's yet to have the guts to say it on the board.)

but when it comes out, the press (Wire specifically) will be heralding it as the new-sound... blah blah blah blah...

all signs point to a new ep, as they need to keep their name out here after their tour, i guess.

http://www.absorb.org/reviews/eps_10.html

i've listened to it a few times through already. it's ok enough i suppose. i can't tell if it's supposed to be a joke or not.

Silverside, Slip, Piezo, Pen Expers, Uviol, Maphive6.1, Zeiss Contarex, Pir, Rae, Fold4 Wrap5, Arch Carrier, Cichli, Garbagemx, Leterel.

Then come back, change your above comments about Autechre and go out and buy their entire back catalogue ;-)

destroy: euro-english newspeak.

New Autechre album - April 2005

In short: they've been amazing on this tour.

it also boasted the highest male-to-female ratio i've ever seen at a show.

i totally forgot about this aspect. think i'll save my money then.

however, i wouldn't write them off; i think they will come up with the goods again one day.

(I'm probably going to anyway... they must be at least semi-classic then)

So not liking the last few albums--or being unfamiliar with them--is almost a moot point.

2005 show last week: absolute 4/4 non-stop dance party, many pieces strict-tempo dj'ed together into one long mix. madly syncopated (seldom straight out four on the floor), but you could tap your foot or dance like a madman at all times. the recent abstract digital sounds of the last three records have been isolated and poured onto the grid, no multiple time-signature experiments. way, way, way more straightforward than untilted, and 100% new material -- absolutely nothing recognizable from any record. No traceable melodies, but tons of layered ambient sections and crescendos. once again, my attention wandered a bit in parts, but the end was rewarding and I sure hope mp3's turn up of this show, or even a release.

still doesn't quite sound like anything they've done before, but definitely way closer to 95/96 than 01/04. liked it.

Now that I look over that list - if I had to POO with a gun to my head as an intro to the band - it would be Surripere. It starts quite accessibly with an electro beat and droning series of delayed chords. It expresses the dark melancholy vibe of their 90's work, and then dissolves into a chaotic deconstruction that feels definitively post 90's Ae, ending with an only vaguely repetitive beat/bassline that feels distinctly alien.

rae

you know I’m right

“I think you absolutely could get a regular person into Autechre, but your pitch has to be basically "You wanna hear the wildest shit ever?"

I totally believe in this strategy, people just need to be exposed to more weird shit. Could even see people who don’t even really like music enjoying Autechre, its sort of like cinematic pyrotechnics or something

though I will say I'd choose an entirely different set of tracks lol

Yeah - shit I'd probably change this list wholesale myself after a day or two. spl9 I put on because I wanted at least one insanely aggressive up tempo banger on it, but kinda wish I'd gone with Flep or recks on. Probably should have gone with Parhelic Triangle on Confield.

I chose acroyear2 for LP5 because it is a wild shift in their sound and accurately foreshadows some of their future direction while retaining the clear melodic accessibility of the 90's. I chose Ccec to showcase the Ae "swagger" and hip hop influence in their work. Neither are my favorites on each.

I will say though - damn, their opening tracks on nearly every full length album (and "EP") are just absolute stunners. Maybe only Amber and Quaristice are lacking in this department.

Octobeard, that's a fantastic set of "Welcome to AeLand" tracks.

I recently introduced a 63-year-old friend of mine to Autechre, the first time I've attempted to do so with anyone (I'm 37). He has really wide-ranging but kind of "basic" taste, from CSNY to Metallica to Olivia Rodrigo for example. Spends a lot of time on Youtube checking out new stuff. For newer electronic stuff he said he's into Skrillex, Daft Punk, and DJ Snake in particular. He's also into the Blade Runner soundtrack. He had never heard of Autechre, Aphex Twin or pretty much anything "IDM" adjacent.

So I played him some tracks from LP5. He was blown away by "Acroyear2" and said it was like electronic speed metal. But he started to lose interest after a few minutes. I was like, "you have to wait until they switch the beat up!" So we did, and when the beat came back in half-time he thought it was cool, but clearly not as much as I did.

I followed that up with "Corc" as an example of their gentler side. He thought it was pretty, but about halfway through it he said something like "This doesn't really go anywhere, does it?" For me this listening session had already become the awkward situation where you're showing someone a song or a movie you love and you become ultra self-conscious and every potential fault in the work of art becomes magnified. So I said what I was already kind of thinking, something like, "yeah it's pretty repetitive/static in some ways but I think the details in the percussion and synths that are constantly changing are really interesting." He could appreciate that too, but he was craving something like pop song structure, where Autechre is like, "here's an idea, let's see what we can do with it" with nothing resembling a verse, chorus, etc.

He had basically the same reaction to "Arch Carrier" where he really dug it at first but wanted it to go somewhere else after a couple minutes.

Overall I'd say it was a success in that my friend appreciated the production and wasn't freaked out by any of it. And he did think the speed up/slow down effect on "Fold4,Wrap5" was really cool. So maybe he would be more into the rhythmic experimentation on Confield or Untilted. So I might send him some of those tracks and let him explore on his own without me anxiously sitting next to him lol.

he might be more interested in Aphex Twin tbh, send him the RDJ album

^Good call

J. Sam, I like using synaesthetic analogies for explaining their style sometimes. You were basically sharing some abstract expressionism with someone with an aesthetic tolerance that borders around cubism.

With Ae, the minimalist song structures are often the point. He'd probably feel similarly listening to Villalobos perhaps

I.e. he is the kind of art person that needs representation, even if abstracted, rather than purely abstract exploration of texture, shape and color with no earthly reference points.

I think a 63 year old person into CSNY even giving Ae a chance is miraculous, and cool to hear how open they were to it