... 6. Calbruc 7. Recury 8. POLL 9. Nuane -- Autechre :: Chiastic Slide :: LP4

Brad, if you're hearing lots of melodies, at least on the opening two tracks, we've definitely got different ears. Only towards the end of Ipacial Section is there a discernible bassline (although there is a LOT of sub bass on these tracks)

Also there are a lot of human voices and noises on Untilted which I'd never really paid much notice of before - not something they'd really done since Ccec on EP7 I think?

break

also by overwhelming demand, that Fermium video (official, btw):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doue-G-tun8

hard agree about trirep being a little dry. it still has honestly never fully clicked for me. and since that was the first one I bought, I sure have tried a lot. luckily it was the ++ edition with the garbage + anvil vapre eps as a bonus disc. I took to those instantly and kept going with the group.

with untilted, I also wasn't super into it when it came out. but weirdly, I had heard some of live bootlegs from that tour first, and although I dug some of it (esp "sublimit," hard to argue with that one), I found the album a bit disappointing as a whole in comparison to those live sets. that glasgow art school soundboard recording from 2005 in particular, which is still one of my favorite autechre things. but I got over it. untilted rules.

I've said this before here but Tri-Rep and the records around that time really could use a remaster. Also agree it's not aged well (I also still revisit for Clipper and Eutow/C-Pach (also don't discount the Japanese bonus track Medrey and that iconic Ae Juno-106 bass synth) and sounds tinny and brittle.

Untilted is definitely a jam, and especially a wild headphone listen. And yes there's melodies, but 90's Ae fans were blessed with vibe like atmospheres and melodies from tracks like Cipater, Cichli, Rae and Corc that had syncopation, progression and more traditional expressions of straight forward emotions like melancholy or swagger, rather than the autistic spasms of most of the songs on Untilted with some chords buried in the mix, discovered after a half dozen listens on nice cans. To describe that record as "full of melodies" is like saying Low's HEY WHAT is full of great drumming and percussion. It's there, mostly expressed up front in a single track (LCC), but not exactly the focal point, which was their intention.

if nothing else it would be nice to neuter some of those high pitched noises. "Stud" makes me feel like I'm eating a box of nails.

Listening to Untilted this morning I heard a lot of similar sounds and textures to Dots and Loops, especially between "Sublimit" and "Contronatura." They both sounds like (and I guess are) very programmed records built partly from vintage electronic sounds -- like you're listening to a hard disk (one that's occasionally unreadable, in the case of Untilted, though I think this especially because my copy skips in some CD players as I mentioned in another thread).

Got a replacement for my LP5 and it also skips on the first track on both turntables I own. I think it must be something to do with how hard and heavy that track must be mastered as it isn't so much skipping like it's damaged excpet the needle is being jogged forward

I also hear an actual glitch in both acroyear and rae on mine. Definitely feels like an issue with the master and not the physical pressing. Anyone else hearing this? Might try and record my copy. Otherwise it's a good sounding pressing. The analog format absolutely softens the digital textures in a good way

got the reissue on now and man I forgot how crunchy every track on this album is. every single beat is sick. I can't believe this LP wasn't sampled constantly. and people thought this was a step down from Tri Rep? get outta here. "Recury" alone is so far ahead of everything they'd done to this point.

Just found out that "cichlid" is a type of fish that includes tilapia

also krib https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelvicachromis_pulcher

My wearing autechre t-shirts to find other fans strategy had a near miss - someone wearing a draft 7.30 shirt walked past at high speed and went into the supermarket by the bus stop i was waiting at. i then saw him through the window in the queue, he caught my nts shirt and we exchanged a thumbs up, then the bus came. he looked like he was about 12 - ok maybe 18, idk - so not sure how i would have handled any potential conversation.

Xp no way. 25 years of Autechre lore fandom and I had no idea they were such big fish stans

(last week i crossed someone on the street wearing a uniqlo "Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre" t-shirt whilst wearing my uniqlo "Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi bridge and Atake" t-shirt but he didn't notice and i didn't say anything)

xp All the tracks on Cichlisuite seem to be at least tangentially fish-related.

"Characi(dae)" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characidae

"Pencha" is the Bengali word for "owl" and "Bhutum Pencha" the Brown Fish Owl specifically: https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Owl

"Yees Land" is an aquatic-themed level from the Sega Genesis game Space Harrier II where you fight enemies that resemble jellyfish, clams, and frogs https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Space_Harrier_II/Yees_Land

That last one is kind of a stretch but seems very on-brand for Autechre.

dunno how many times i must've heard Hub over the years but i've never noticed that second noise in the background before, like a piccolo played on the next room, underneath all the thumping from the 4th minute or so.

Yeah I've aways been fascinates with that part since I noticed it a whole back. To me it sounds like it's playing a version of "The First Noel", particularly the "Christ was born on Christmas Day" part, and It's totally offkey with the rest of the tune.

I love 'Hub'. Makes me feel like I'm standing on a massive chess board with gigantic pieces being moved around

Chiastic slide, then I hit it double time
Then I hit a spin 'cause we spun their block a couple times

a version of "The First Noel", particularly the "Christ was born on Christmas Day" part

those words do not appear in that carol?

i guess i can hear something that could be similar to 'born is the king of israel'

this has always been one of my least faves on chiastic but listening to it with confield ears does start to open it up.

yeah that bit, sorry

chiastic and confield are close cousins, i'd say