Autechre - classic or dud

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The Hyper-On comparison was just for Gage-O's 'you need to hear it on a monster sound system' comment. Lots of stuff sounds good on a monster sound-system. I don't know if the Sundays do though really.

― Tom, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Wow, someone was worshipping Tortoise and Beck?

― bnw, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

well, spin editors, although i don't know if they count as people...

― jess, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

(that was posted because a. yes i believe everything said therein, but also b. because the certain someone from above hates my semi- serious ILM manifestos and was exceedingly happy that i didn't weigh in on the subject of autechre. so, just some rain for his sad little monkey parade.)

― jess, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

How is what you say about Autechre not true of BOC, Jess? (Who I think are probably worse than Autechre).

― Tom, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I am no jess, but BOC gets a lot of props for it's 60's hippy vibe which "humanizes" it. (I tend to think the definition of warmth and humanity is way too narrow.)

― bnw, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

late period autechre (certainly chiastic slide onwards) is very BOC like, but more decayed)

who is the person jess is talking about?

― gareth, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

off to bed now, but some thoughts on boc vs. autechre before tomorrow:

-fetishization of "process" over "feeling" (we're verging on "use other terms" territory here, but even booth and brown have admitted that much of ther output arises from equal parts a.d.d. and a tinkerers interest in what machines can do [and of course what noises they can make.])
-in keeping with the tinkerer metaphor: boc have seem to have staked out a particular patch and have obsessively - some might say until it's run fallow - worked it over. autechre have their patch too, but they seem far more likely than boc to throw you a curve which upends the whole apple cart and laugh while doing it. to me it's just more IDM-as-petulant-childs-crayon-box, free to smear their marks all over the clean, white walls of "proper notions of song." which leads into...
-ambience vs. assault (aka minimalism vs. maximalism? probably not, but hopefully you get what i'm barely getting at. ambient tone washes vs. static, clicks and noise. windham hill vs. evan parker?)

― jess, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i have a feeling tom dislikes boc more owing to the "nostalgia" red- herring, which i'm beginning to understand more and more. no more feeling in electronic music! or something.

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.)

― jess, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i just heard the new Autechre ep "Gantz Gtaf" and it's the worst, most unlistenable piece of crap i've ever heard........

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

― Baxter Wingnut, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

what new ep? more info please!

― gareth, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

there's no news on warp yet, but there has been an ep's worth of material floating around in mp3 format lately that has the autechre sound and is labeled in such a way.

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

― Todd Burns, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

come on you wusses they're more man parrish than derek bailey. "whinge whinge whinge disappeared up their own arses" etc. they've always seemed like quite chipper fellows to me. david toop however makes all music sound like wanky shit in print by getting far too excited by music we will mostly all be bored with once we've played the cd a few times

― bob snoom, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

as for the new EP, there is already a review at absorb, here:

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.

― jason m., Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

it's a damn fine joke, if it is. i like it.

― Todd Burns, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

from architecture, to wallpaper covering, to crayons coloring on -- if Autechre is all these things, per Jess' comments above, then the focus on 'process' isn't so far from the 'feeling' evoked: that of a child with blocks, building up and then sending it all tumbling down. That's entertaining enough for me.

― Dare, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one month passes...

Modern music is largely about atonal soundscapes which create abstract structures beneath the sometimes complex sounds. Autechre has in my opinion moved closer to that territory closer to the likes of modern experimental composers like Stockhausen or John Cage. If one is to attack experimental music because it isn't appealing then one would be better off listening to the Beatles or even Mozart which is waste deep in tonal melodies. If not don't bitch about absract sound music because we live in a postmodern world were the truth has become abstract so don't expect music to fall short of that either, because if you do your stupid and conservative and you have no valid knowledge on which to judge experimental electronic music.

― JOnjjOnnjoN, Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Dag. Consider my mind blown.

― adam, Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The truth has become abstract? What was I doing when that happened, watching Perry Mason reruns or something? I wish people would at least call me when these major paradigm shifts happen, it sucks to feel out of the loop.

― John Darnielle, Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

JOnjjOnnjoN is my new god

― mark s, Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Saying that Autechre are atonal is a fallacy. A lot of their tracks (Garbagemx, Cichli, Arch Carrier, Pir, Goz Quarter etc) are at first impenetrable, but this is usually due to an alternative choice in time signature or instruments. It is not musically atonal. Get on Audiogalaxy and download the following tracks. Then listen to them all at least 5 times in one week.

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 ;-)

― dog latin, Monday, 27 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

dog latin is my new god

― mark s, Monday, 27 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Anvil Vapour" fucking kick butt. I was never excited by Autechre until that track.

― phil, Monday, 27 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

search: evan parker records.

destroy: euro-english newspeak.

― jess, Monday, 27 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Its not for want of trying. Too many people I respect rate them. I've listened very intensely to Incubula, Tri Repetae and Confield all and each time have been left completely cold. Obtuse, introverted, over elaborate, self-indulgent and just dull. They gave me, quite literally, a headache.

― stevo, Monday, 27 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

that's because you picked the three albums that are worst to start with. They're quite good, but you're tons better off getting into LP5, EP7 or Amber. Lovely.

― dog latin, Monday, 27 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

eight months pass...

"Waste Deep In Tonal Melodies" = Schoeneberg's long-deleted death metal record?

― Clarke B., Tuesday, 28 January 2003 11:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Classic, clearly. Even if you DON'T like them, just look at all the soul-searching at the mere mention of their name here! You don't even have to hear their music to know that they've changed the world.

― matt riedl (veal), Monday, 3 February 2003 21:12 (twenty-three years ago)

heard a track off the new alb: its rilly rilly 1997 folks.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 13:08 (twenty-three years ago)

What, as in 1997 Autechre or 1997 in general?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 13:12 (twenty-three years ago)

it reminds me of a lot of electronic stuff that I was listening to round that time.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 13:18 (twenty-three years ago)

Autechre can make Merzbow listenable to the average electronic music nerd.

― Jonathan Williams (ex machina), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 13:47 (twenty-three years ago)

two years pass...

I am going to see them tonight. Tell me your live experiences.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Saturday, 28 May 2005 13:13 (twenty-one years ago)

hm, i'm considering seeing them Sunday but i hardly listen to them anymore. post if the show is good or not to help me decide! kthx? (and is SND good live? and who in the hell is rob hall?)

― Amon (eman), Saturday, 28 May 2005 14:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Look near the end of this thread:

New Autechre album - April 2005

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

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 28 May 2005 14:49 (twenty-one years ago)

from that thread:

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.

― Amon (eman), Saturday, 28 May 2005 14:59 (twenty-one years ago)

:-( You so lucky Roxy! Every time they play near me it's either sold out or I've had no money.

― dog latin (dog latin), Saturday, 28 May 2005 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

JOnjjOnnjoN's post upthread is awesome, but Jess' is even better. I used to kind of like them, but I can't see the appeal anymore for some reason. I always used to use 'em as background music, I must admit, and I don't really listen to anything as background music anymore. Not dud, anyway, but I don't think classic either.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 28 May 2005 15:28 (twenty-one years ago)

as a long time follower of autechre, i'd say that i have been disappointed by the last 3 albums. the mid nineties work, repetae, chisatic slide, lp5 are superb, both musically and sonically. there is a deep understanding of melody and harmony there, and the sonic constructions are often breathtaking. recently , however, i feel they have abandoned the emotion of their earlier work and are nto making the bold statements they once did.

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

― james thompson (nimhbus), Saturday, 28 May 2005 22:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Missing Autechre on this tour = not catching Miles Davis in 1975. Ignore the haters and shoulder-shruggers: They killed it in Seattle.

― Blightersrock (Da ve Segal), Saturday, 28 May 2005 22:57 (twenty-one years ago)

That is, AUTECHRE killed it in Seattle.

― Blightersrock (Da ve Segal), Saturday, 28 May 2005 22:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I heard that in Chicago, ae weren't onstage till at least 4am. Also, I don't like the last three records.

― L (Leee), Saturday, 28 May 2005 23:01 (twenty-one years ago)

should I go see them if I haven't yet caught up on Confield, Draft 7.30 and Untilted?

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

― fandango (fandango), Saturday, 28 May 2005 23:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Autechre are not the kind of band that reproduce their album material in a live setting. They improvise. On hardware. And it is as thrilling as experiencing a seasoned free-jazz outfit in their prime.

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

― Dave Segal (Da ve Segal), Sunday, 29 May 2005 00:31 (twenty-one years ago)

2001 show in Oakland: one long 90 minute piece. arrythmic kick drum patterns & high hat sounds, and nightmarish bass line drills. one long evolving texture. very loud: in the back of the room, the kick drums made you feel like you were getting punched in the chest. at the front of the room, it was actually difficult to breathe regularly. 800 people at the beginning of the show whittled down to 200 within about 15 minutes; maybe about 100 people by the end, wild sustained applause from the survivors. made confield seem like a radio playlist. athough there were moments my attention wandered, by the end the sheer duration had totallty won me over, fantastic show.

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.

― milton parker (Jon L), Sunday, 29 May 2005 08:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I just saw Autechre play in Asheville, NC last night. It was pretty amazing, they just kept notching up the intensity more and more. It was funny seeing people trying to keep up with it. But it was all surprisingly danceable.

― latebloomer: B Minus Time Traveler (latebloomer), Sunday, 29 May 2005 16:09 (twenty-one years ago)

i WAS AT THAT oAKLAND SHOW. dhs WAS BETTER.

― L (Leee), Sunday, 29 May 2005 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

they went on at 1 in chicago, l. people were dancing throughout their whole set, too. i thought the 2001 tour was better, but i was far from disappointed with this one - probably the best show for me this year so far. i am glad they continue to push themselves in new directions. snd were far more "hooky" on this tour, but autechre unflinchingly inhabit a world that is their own - mistakes, missteps, and mostly transcendent shit all included (yeah i am a hippie). i think it took about three tracks for them to hit their groove this time around, but when they hit it, they didn't lose it.

― tricky (disco stu), Sunday, 29 May 2005 17:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, agreed with Latebloomer. It just kept going up and up, very very intense, very danceable, very beat-oriented. They played in utter darkness.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Sunday, 29 May 2005 17:37 (twenty-one years ago)

i want to see them again!

― charltonlido (gareth), Sunday, 29 May 2005 18:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 330 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Funnily enough I actually made a "one track from each release playlist a while ago:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4I4DcXrTiNjhcBw9Y5vNM3?si=c8b42457b6924f46

Not sure how satisfactory it is in being a "best of", since there are albums where I prefer multiple tracks over those on other releases, but it's:

Lowride
Slip
Garbagemx
Second Bad Vilbel
Eutow
Cichli
Laughing Quarter
Krib
Rae
Maphive6.1
Gantz Graf
Cfern
6IE.CR
Augmatic Disport
Simmm
d-sho qub
iris was a pupil
bladelores
c16 deep tread
violvoic
gr4
ecol4

― your mom goes to limgrave (dog latin), Thursday, 13 June 2024 15:01 (two years ago)

Said it before but I would really love to hear some updated mixes/remasters of Tri-Rep and Amber. The former especially could use some mixing adjustments and more prominent bass and sub bass. At times it's almost 80's-ish in its sonic presentation.

― octobeard, Thursday, 13 June 2024 18:08 (two years ago)

some things that haven't been mentioned yet (I think? these song titles, man...) that I would personally include:

the egg (from the first artificial intelligence lp)
under BOAC
sublimit
ylm0
cap.IV
lentic catachresis

― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Thursday, 13 June 2024 20:55 (two years ago)

under BOAC is spectacular. That would make a good starter track if you knew they were ready for a wild ride

― your mom goes to limgrave (dog latin), Thursday, 13 June 2024 21:47 (two years ago)

under BOAC was the first autechre I truly got obsessed with

― silverfish, Thursday, 13 June 2024 23:25 (two years ago)

titles have definitely stood in the way of word of mouth

― encino morricone (majorairbro), Sunday, 16 June 2024 08:19 (two years ago)

Just throw on Theme of Sudden Roundabout

― octobeard, Sunday, 16 June 2024 09:21 (two years ago)

one year passes...

every time I click on the 'essetial live recordings', I get booted off (logged out) ... I have no idea why.

I just wanted to ask about the venue in Brooklyn called Brooklyn Steel - wondering if it's spacious or not so much so (wondering if the Autechre show on October 25 will be packed; if it'll be difficult to move around, etc.

Any comments about this would be v much appreciated!

― Lowell N. Behold'n, Friday, 17 October 2025 02:16 (eight months ago)

Brooklyn Steel is pretty spacious, should be plenty of room to be where you want or need to be.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 17 October 2025 03:53 (eight months ago)

one month passes...

meant to post this before, some may enjoy... "Ed graced the decks down at Holding Patterns, Leeds, UK,

His mix is full to the brim of Autechre and related artists in the lead-up to their gig at Project House."

edv3ctor @ Holding Patterns 27/10/25

iirc he also supported on the Manchester gig Feb 2025? Which I didn't make it in the end... Leeds I did!

Apart from a 20 minute stretch in the middle which was like some of the most perfect, rawer than raw gnarled grooving acidy techno you'd ever wish to experience, I was in the "didn't enjoy that as much as I'd hoped" crowd. Absolutely pummeling start to end, great but would have liked some range/beauty. Guess they're not crowdpleasers, we know, c'est la vie.

― fndgo, Monday, 15 December 2025 21:35 (six months ago)

Apart from a 20 minute stretch in the middle which was like some of the most perfect, rawer than raw gnarled grooving acidy techno you'd ever wish to experience, I was in the "didn't enjoy that as much as I'd hoped" crowd. Absolutely pummeling start to end, great but would have liked some range/beauty.

I felt the exact same way about their Toronto set (same chunk of tracks, have seen it described on Reddit and Aepages as "Set E"), incl. most enjoying that middle section.

― Bitcoin Bajas (Craig D.), Monday, 15 December 2025 22:50 (six months ago)

Bristol show a few weeks ago was a similar non-stop claustrophobic onslaught. It was divisive - one friend described it as "like eating dry bread". Another mate described it as "You look at the hole and you just fall into the hole". Me? I loved it.

― Now read it backwards. (dog latin), Tuesday, 16 December 2025 10:38 (six months ago)

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