Tri RePOLLtae -- Autechre :: Tri Repetae :: LP3

My first Autechre album! Also:

"Teartear" is probably my favourite ... pros: it's dramatic and sinister and totally amazing and all that. Cons: it's mechanical and stoic and really "cold" compared to the rest of the album, making it an appropriate lead-in to "Tri Repetae" (which was a digression, although if it had all sounded like "Teartear" then it wouldn't have been).

― NoTimeBeforeTime, Tuesday, October 26, 2010 3:06 AM

Barry, that is challopsy if I might say re: Tri Repetae! We can discuss further when that poll goes up. "Foil" is to my ears fairly mechanical as well. It's not a cold, faceless mechanicalism, but more calculated and precise.

― Cliff Leee (Leee), Tuesday, October 26, 2010 9:36 PM

I agree that Tri Repetae is overrated, but I'll go into the reasons why on the next poll.

― village idiot (dog latin), Wednesday, October 27, 2010 1:55 AM

Leeee, it's not challopsy if I've been saying it for 15 years!

(This was my favourite Autechre album for a long while ... I still think "Amber" and "Chiastic Slide" stand head and shoulders above their other albums)

― NoTimeBeforeTime, Wednesday, October 27, 2010 8:56 AM

Chiastic Slide eh? That's a mindbending record - very hard to get into. Great album artwork though.

― village idiot (dog latin), Wednesday, October 27, 2010 9:02 AM

Used to be my favorite too (nowadays it's Chiastic in a walk), being a college student at the time I saw this as a badge of honor, definitely bridges the ambient techno leanings from the first two LPs to the later stuff, even if the beats are pretty straightforward (compared to, say, Confield)! Maybe it's just in my mind, but somehow TR got the rep as having the trademark Ae sound, and consequently became the go-to album for Autechre/IDM newcomers, which inflated its standing in their discography.

In 2000, "Leterel" would've been my first choice, then it became "Clipper," but nowadays, I'm all about the short bangers ("Eutow" and "C/Pach").

Overand

"C/Pach" has what, I think, a lot of fans have in mind when they hope Ae "return to basics," i.e. that warm synth melody beneath dry, compressed beats.

My first Autechre album as well (with the garbage and anvil vapre eps on the double cd edition)

Tri Repetae++ was the first time I ever heard any music like this. In a way it was like seeing fireworks for the first time (which I can't remember). The sound was entirely new to me and it was innovative, unique, complex, mechanical, and has so many layers of crisp descriptive textures. I decided over the years that Autechre is mostly just ambient music - even with those big crazy IDM beats. But oddly I don't care much for Amber or any other early stuff by Autechre. This is the first Autechre poll I'll vote in.

Today I still enjoy Tri Repetae++ and the bonus eps - particularly garbage. But Autechre is a 'singles band'/'mix-cd group' and I largely ignore most of Tri Repetae++ except for my two favorite tracks: Clipper and Leteral: songs where you can notice/feel the bittersweet emotion if you let yourself zone out to the ambiance (not the kind of zoning out where you ignore the music though). Simple or little changes in the the notes, in the very mechanical atmosphere, can actually generate intense/sublime emotion. I probably prefer Autechre songs where there is obfuscated emotion instead of appeals to emotion right out in the open. But there are some Autechre songs that I like simply because they have a trippy jam about them, bold flavors or really vivid atmospheres.

The rest of Tri Repetae++ is comparable to fireworks, which is still good but it doesn't have so much of the subtlety evolving ambiance with endearing emotion that sets off pleasure triggers in my brain. A few of the rest of the tracks are better (or much better) than others but they're largely just ear candy. I don't think I'll find any more 'singles tracks' besides Clipper and Leteral but should listen to this album again.

I guess my idea of singles isn't a short POW like Eutow

in this case at least

When you're listening to Mira Calix spin some obscure (read: boring) industrial noise/realllllly thin ambient, and she drops something a) you recognize and b) can dance to, you start to appreciate the almost-straight techno cuts.

I like Leterel, Eutow and Overand on this album. The rest is a bit crunchy - it feels like I'm eating granola, but without the milk and it can get a bit tedious. All the same, it's another take on Autechre's sound and possibly the first time they truly nailed their aesthetic.

Also - this album is seen differently in the US to the UK as in the States it came with extra tracks. On the whole I find it a bit dry and repetitive. But Leterel and Eutow are total bangers with great synthwork for the time. Overand is a lovely spooky piece of ambience.

I get the impression that true ae heads think that Eutow is the Autechre track of choice for people who don't really like Autechre, but goddamn is it an amazing piece of music (in my opinion), so it's almost certainly getting my vote. If I didn't go for Eutow it would probably be for Clipper.

The EPs collected on the second disc of the American TR++ release include some of my favourite Autechre tracks ever, particularly Anvil Vapre, so I'm looking forward to those being polled, if they are (didn't AV and Garbage come out before TR?).

Oops, I've just found the Garbage EP poll. Clearly I am not paying attention. Off to vote over there, then!

All the same, it's another take on Autechre's sound and possibly the first time they truly nailed their aesthetic.

No, this is just the album that got ripped off most often by other IDM'ers, which is why it gets cited as "their" aesthetic.

My fave track used to be "Stud", but other tracks being mentioned here (namely "Clipper", "Leterel" and "Eutow") are also awesome and I can see myself voting for any of them, depending on the day.

This is one of my faves but I still like it more in theory than in practice. The first three are one of the great all time album openings, I just love the beats of Dael and Clipper; they're industrial but amazingly clean, all gleaming chrome and pistons. Then Clipper does its amazing gravity-defying ending, and Leterel kicks in. I'm glad it's getting some love here. It is nakedly emotional, and though the chord changes are exceedingly simple (just major-minor most of the time) they are still highly effective - and I love the dentist-drill background details.

After that I just tend to drift off. Rotar is ok but Stud wouldn't be out of place on Amber - not a bad thing per se but in the context of this album it feels too placid, too ambient - and being the second longest track, and right in the middle of the album, it really kills the mood for me.

Eutow picks things up a bit, it is a nice little banger, but C/Pach just maintains a holding pattern, and then we start to lose altitude again. Some interesting noises on Gnit(*) but it's not going to make me get up and dance, and then Overand really is a hostage from Amber. Finally Rsdio, and yeah those riffled beats just aren't going to hold my attention for 10 minutes.

If the whole album had been as up-tempo as the first few tracks I would *adore* it, as it is it's only because those highlights are so high, that it holds much of a place in my heart at all.

(*) Ever imagine hearing an a cappella version of this? Here you go

(honestly I can't remember whether it was garbage or anvil vapre that I liked better so I shouldn't of said garbage upthread.. those two should be polled together)

I prefer most of their albums to this. Some crazy highlights, though.

I get the impression that true ae heads think that Eutow is the Autechre track of choice for people who don't really like Autechre, but goddamn is it an amazing piece of music (in my opinion), so it's almost certainly getting my vote. If I didn't go for Eutow it would probably be for Clipper.

apart from those ppl who frequent certain msg boards and spend their time searching for cryptic allusions in their cover art and titles (and refer to them as ae), i'm about as fond of autechre as could be

but the portamento synth figure in eutow is one of the best bits of recorded music

Sorry to drop back into the audiophile stereotype but, holy moly, hearing Eutow on £6k Wilson Benesch speakers was a lifetime aural highlight (me and a friend were doing some source vs speaker casual testing about 12 years ago - mid-fi Pioneer CD player vs Chord two-box $$$ monster, Chario monitors vs WB floorstanders; source changing wasn't a big deal, but the WB speakers were in another universe to the £400 Charios). So Eutow will always be special for that reason - there's a world in there, especially in the bottom octave.

currently playing eutow on a 13.3" vaio and it's pretty amazing now.....

(played out clip alert I guess but I still like to watch this from time to time and think "man I don't even", which is also how the track makes me feel)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2FTwbkbmcc

(sorry for interrupting the autechre-fi chat, please continue)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coPcRW1Xm2g

Oh man, ^^^ at 1:20+ is YES.

Also makes me imagine that "Eutow" is Brown-era Orbital if they happened to be on Warp.

Eutow, with C/Pach and Stud also in contention.

rsdio is my favourite piece of music in the universe.

it feels like nothing.

still waiting on why barry thinks this is a 'digression'. to me it's an obvious progression from amber, and it sits well before chiastic.

When I first got into Autechre as a student, I frivolously bought myself an AIWA 3-CD stereo system with my student loan (and ended up practically starving as a result). Not the greatest system int he world, but it did have one of those old Q-Surround functions which were supposed to give you surround sound without hanging thousnads of tiny speakers all round your room. Didn't work, but what it did do was make Autechre sound amazing! I particularly used to enjoy Arch Carrier on Q-Surround - the strings sounded even richer and fuller.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

oops, forgot to vote

justice has been done

This album was a digression because "Amber" showed that they could move beyond the fairly restricted concept of making cold, mechanical techno that sounded like it was made by robots. They returned to making (comparatively speaking) music that was meant to be empty and soulless. Both "Garbage" and "Anvil Vapre" show off two different extremes of their sound and they're both a significant departure from anything they'd done earlier, far more so than "Tri Repetae" was.

(I mention "Garbage" and "Anvil Vapre" because they were released in the same year)

Not sure I follow your reasoning here, if only because the chronology wouldn't seem to fit, i.e. I wouldn't characterize their releases before Amber is particularly soulless. And coupled with Anvil Vapre, Tri Repetae seems to make sense in terms of how they sounded over their career.

"Amber" was a huge leap forward IMO, they really distanced themselves from everything else on Warp whereas before that they were still following the party line, so to speak. A entire album like "Garbage" would have made sense after that, i.e. to slide further into an odd style of soft, lonely ambient music. Instead they went back to making music by robots, for robots.

I'm not sure how you're connecting "Anvil Vapre" and "TR" -- AV is more maximalist than anything on TR, I'm not sure how it's supposed to make sense in terms of how their sound evolved. Unless you're using "Eutow" as your jumping off point.

I think I forgot to vote! Probably would have been for Dael or Leterel.

I don't see this as a step back because I don't see their pre-Amber stuff, or the Warp circa 92 party line in general, as music for robots by robots. And also because I don't really see this as any less robotic than Amber. It's harder and heavier so the mechanical nature is more obvious, but it's just a progression, not a break.

I think it's almost wrong to think of Autechre as "progressing" from album to album anyway. Sure they're a progressive band, but each album has its own distinct edge and feel. I don't know how much the artwork has influenced the way I hear these records, but Tri Repetae is very much a "Robot Wars makes a hip-hop album", whereas Amber makes me think of a lost soudtrack to the Bone or Pogo comic books.

Quarisice very much an "Australian Rugby player having sex with his dog" kinda album.

More going to go down the route of 20 drunken four year olds running around singing "On Top Of Old Smokey" the night after the Ascto races.

Ascot

I dunno, Incunabula always has sounded to me like their ideas were extending beyond their means (and maybe this is just me having heard it after their later stuff), it feels like they're starting to push at a limit that's they aren't able to break through until Amber, and which is refined in Tri Repetae and its auxiliary EPs.

Tri Repetae (and I own the ++ version, meaning I don't really separate it from the EPs) to me represents something of a highwater mark. I listened to it two days ago, followed by B12's electrosoma, and it's amazing to consider that Tri repetae et al came out only two years after electrosoma. I can't imagine having heard it for the first time in 95.

i think the soulless machine stuff is kind of a lazy way to talk about autechre. i mean a big part of what makes them compelling to me is the way they explore the middle ground, their own / human interaction with machines. on TR, envane, and chiastic slide it sounds like they often build little machines out of percussion sounds and then surround them with the emotional content in the pads and melodies.

Yeah, it's really just a misdirection for "this music doesn't move me"; the fact that it is so brazenly electronic means that people bring in these robotic metaphors, projecting their own lack of sentiment onto the music itself.

Yeah, it's really just a misdirection for "this music doesn't move me";

That's not what I meant in this case, I meant it as more of a literal description of the music. Words like "cold" and "mechanical" are complimentary when it comes to TR, I'm fairly sure that's exactly the mood they were going for! My point was that they seemed to digress back to a relatively safe style of music that would sound familiar to Warp fans. "Anvil Vapre" and "Garbage" sounded a lot more adventurous to me at the time. That's not to say that new music always needs to break new ground, but I didn't feel particularly surprised by anything on TR, compared to pretty much everything else they were releasing around that time.

Despite all this talk of TR being Autechre's "signature" album, it's kind of odd that "Eutow" won the poll (i.e. the song that sounds nothing like anything else on the album won the poll).

I think I also forgot to vote here ... I think I meant to vote for "Stud".

Despite all this talk of TR being Autechre's "signature" album, it's kind of odd that "Eutow" won the poll (i.e. the song that sounds nothing like anything else on the album won the poll).

And maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I'm tempted to look at this as confirmation of everything I've been saying here. IOW, when it comes to picking favourites, Autechre's supposedly "signature" aesthetic was in fact a lot less interesting than people remember it (the second half of the album got more votes than the first half).

i'm not sure eutow is quite like anything on any other album, although i'll happily consider any suggestions...

xxp wasn't referring to you really, you're a fan after all! rather people who use the robot thing as an excuse for not liking them.

damn I missed this. Would have voted for Clipper just for that sliding bass sound.

Oh my god. That weird noise in the background is the sound of this album finally clicking after fifteen+ years.

Dear my 24 year old self: please go back and demand that your boyfriend play you Rsdio instead of Eutow. It is ten minutes of mains hum with strange beats wandering in and out. You know, like the moment where you're coming up on acid and the disorienting "is that the cat?" noises finally resolve themselves into your radiator singing to you.

This is so strange, because I can still hear everything that I ~hated~ about them and all the reasons I disliked Autechre, but maybe I've just worn down mine own resistance through persistence. But that slow creeping insectoid movement has finally grown on me.

I'm probably running a really bad fever from an ear infection or something, and I'll probably hate it again tomorrow.

well I've done a complete 180 on this album. I'm with DJP, if you listen to too much Aphex or u-ziq or Squarepusher it'll kind of color what you're looking for which is unfortunate since Ae doesn't really compare with those three on too many levels. TBH in the beginning I hated the "mathiness" of these guys but I kind of understand that what they really do is just exploit your brain's ability to recognize patterns. Also I'm impressed with how much they've been able to hide in the mix - I always thought stuff like "Girl/Boy Song" or "Greenways Trajectory" was complex because there was such a rush of sound and so many beats, but Ae seems to intentionally mess with your expectations when it comes to melody, and some tunes (like "Garbagemx", not on this album, but it's a good example) change A LOT when you notice stuff like "hey, this bass line just shifted at the end, where did that come from", only to realize it's been that way THE WHOLE TIME. And "Eutow" totally deserved to win this poll, that THX sound gives me chills every time .

http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/jun/08/stylewatch-pantone-448c-ugliest-colour-world-opaque-couche-australian-smokers-fashion

Don't bother with a C/Pach or switching to Rotar, just get it Overand throw away your Clipper.

looolll, I saw that article and thought the same thing

I remember reading a review claiming there was something 'hidden' in the front cover if you stared at it long enough, any truth to that? I sure as hell don't see it.

that reviewer was likely on the same acid as Booth and Brown were while recording these beats

that guardian link was in the first comment of one of the articles linked above.

I'm an obsessional Ae fan but I literally never listen to this album or Incunabula. Every track repeats a single idea, pretty much. Also that colour is very like the "positional" colour we used to put in place of photographs yet to be scanned when doing layout in the 90s.

I remember exactly where I was when I first heard tracks off this record. It had just been released and I was in the basent of a "Cybercafe".

Here, to be precise.

*basement

Also makes me imagine that "Eutow" is Brown-era Orbital if they happened to be on Warp.

― Ou sont les cankles d'antan? (Leee), Monday, November 1, 2010 9:00 PM (seven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol i had this exact thought while listening to “clipper” just now

Back in the nascent IDM heyday of emerging apps and Artificial Intelligence comps, "Clipper" was the first Autechre track to really catch my ear, making me a fan for life.

Garbagemx36 is the best track

when i saw them live they threw in a snippet of second bad vilbel

the show gave my ex a migraine

i thought it was okay but christ are these guys shit at track names

Could have been worse, they might have called that one Glossop (twinned with Bad Vilbel).

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OJuvZUsKoQ0

just curious does anyone else find this album incredibly harsh on the ears? if I listen at a decent volume my head will be buzzing for an hour after. other Ae albums don't do that.

it used to be my go-to and the one I recommended to people first, for some reason. but someone on ILX pointed out what you pointed out to me, and for some reason it never occurred to me. but you're right.

Idk I’m having a hard time understanding how this is less harsh than almost everything that came after !

sounds great, btw

the 2nd to last track does have some high pitched tones that verge on the painful

maybe … turn it down?

This record I find exhausting because many of the tracks loop a single idea for much longer than it remains interesting. I just shut it off in frustration.

at the same time, it's got Clipper.

i don’t mean to make any assumptions about your age, matttkkkk, but i’ve definitely heard that as a common criticism of 90s electronic music (including trip hop, etc) from young ppl.

i think it’s a fair criticism, and i’m tempted to feel lucky that i “experienced it as it” (it being my youth, i mean the 90s electronic music scene “was happening” (getting into yawnsome ok boomer territory)

but this is probably completely wrongheaded because i also remember a “day 1” allmusic writer telling me in 97 (this anecdote predates his tenure at the site) that he couldn’t stand depth charge (j saul kane) because “the loops just go nowhere”. in the same conversation he told me he was happy with cichlisuite (new at the time) because he could finally listen to autechre without getting bored. he also told me richard devine and phoenicia were better than autechre because their tracks “developed more”, so obviously not all his opinions aged well (he was an early otto von schirach booster, lol)

that got garbled, meant to write

i “experienced it” (it being my youth, i mean the 90s electronic music scene) “as it was happening” …

thank you tlg, but I'm 52! Tri Rep was the first Ae album I got into heavily (at time of release), so it may be that I burned out. But I am very much up for their long, repetitive mood pieces (like that Perlence subrange one, all end, t1a1, yulquen etc.). I love Amber and I love Chiastic, heck I even love the EPs that bracket Tri Rep, but the album itself grates on me.

Idk I’m having a hard time understanding how this is less harsh than almost everything that came after !

― lets hear some blues on those synths (brimstead), Friday, December 9, 2022 4:57 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

part of it is just the tones they use on this album. the squealing that comes out of "Leteral" and in the background of "Overand". that nails-on-ice clinky rhythm on "Stud". but I think the production as a whole uses a lot of harsh noises. don't know enough about technical stuff to extrapolate but some knob needed a twist

quite a lot of idm from that time was exploring skronky. parts of tri repetae (specific percussive textures, i guess) remind me of a lot of ventolin, disjecta, that 2nd mu ziq album, etc. maybe the post-rock connection? you want a headache, try listening to labradford’s lfo remix at high volume!

skronky vibes*

I still think RDJ is an asshole for Ventolin

I'm listening to Chiastic now and despite having a pretty similar sound palette it doesn't hurt my ears the way Tri Rep does. idk it's just mastered different or something

young ppl.

lol like the high pitched sounds they supposedly play in stores to shoo away teens.

many of the tracks loop a single idea for much longer than it remains interesting

I always thought they made it as some kind of experiment in repetition, because of the title too.

just curious does anyone else find this album incredibly harsh on the ears?

Yes! It's horribly mixed when compared to their other albums. Completely lacking in bass and lower mids. It relentlessly pummels a lot of 8khz frequencies at you, honestly the vinyl version is the only way I can listen to it, which seems to soften some of its harshness.

I've been wanting this, Chiastic, Anvil Vapre and Envane to be remastered (perhaps with updated mixes), but I'm guessing that's not going to happen.

While some of the best tracks of their entire oeuvre, they're easily the worst mixes.

This album sounds great, what are you on about. Will never get bored of any of it

yeah I don't hear what the problem is either, maybe it's my headphones?

see I have the recent Tri Rep/Chaistic reissues (dunno if they were remastered at all or not) and imo the Chiastic one sounds incredible, really thick and clanky the way it ought to be. TR doesn't sound bad but I think you're right about the lack of bass and mids. I know this is an extreme example but there's an album called Nattens Magridal by Ulver which is just straight up raw lo-fi black metal and it's like shrapnel on the ears. even if I listen to it quietly my ears will ring for a while after. the only thing that mitigates it is the new mix which inserts a tiny bit of bass back into the mix.

also starting to realize that some people just don't find this stuff bothersome - I remember reading a bunch of reviews for this album and being stunned that none of them mentioned how irritating those really high frequencies on "Stud" are

Yeah there's huge differences between headphone and speaker frequency ranges. It shouldn't ever be strictly necessary, but just EQ when something is bugging you.

Between different speakers and headphones I mean

*frequency responses. lol dammit

I love early Autechre but the late great's allmusic friend was right about Cichlisuite. I feel like that was the great leap forward moment for them, where the beats suddenly gained a ton of depth/complexity. Tri Rep definitely has harsher sonics than most of their other early stuff but it's never bothered me.

I never EQ because I know I’ll forget to change it back #stoner

“depth/complexity”

not going to say anything in particular, but not going to let this one slip by without saying anything!

This album definitely has a grinding mechanical quality to it that I hear as more combative and less melodious than those on either side of it.

Lol Nattens Madrigal otm. This is definitely their "black metal" album. Ooh, now you've got me thinking about Ulver and Autechre following similar discographic trajectories... Interesting

They could probably make a sick New Wave album yeah

Another thing that I dislike about a lot of Anvil Vapre and Tri Rep's mixing - it feels very flat and lacking depth, like a low quality recording or a rough punk 45. Might be part of its charm for many, but not me.

Much like what has been said above about Cichlisuite, I believe this is when they really honed in their sound and improved the quality of their mixes immensely. The only record prior I would say is mixed with quality and depth is their debut, which had some additional hands in the production process that their later releases would lack.

Going by Discogs, the debut had a mastering credit (Geoff Pesche) and from LP5 onwards everything has been mastered by Frank Arkwright. Perhaps they did their own in between (Amber, Tri, Chiastic) and this album suffers most. LP5 is absolutely lush compared to the preceding stuff and it’s all sounded great to me since then.

oops I forgot Noel Summerville who has done much more of their recent stuff than Arkwright, and also did the vinyl reissues of the earlier albums