Autechre: Classic or Dud?

I think there was just a metric ton of live records, many of them coming at once. An album (or even NTS) is a slightly more manageable meal for most of us.

Xpost

I mean I don't just listen to an album once, especially not an Autechre album where you often need 5-6 listens to know what the hell is going on. the live sets are cool because you can just put on a different one each time, because they're similar enough that you start to recognize the different bits but different enough to make it interesting. no doubt Rob and Sean have had the thought of making albums where the algos actually do are a little different each time you hear it, to me the NTS Sessions hinted at that sort of thing, but obviously there are no widely adopted protocols to make that possible. having 7 versions of the same live set is kind of the same idea though

I would love for them to put out an "album" where each "song" is actually a generative algorithm that spits out a track with slight variances each time; with or without potential parameter inputs. Seems on brand for them. Key snag here would be the legal ramifications of such a release, and how might they retain IP/copyright ownership over the generated track and how they'd be able to tell which ones in the wild were "theirs".

yeah people talked about that when the random minidisc came out, and someone said unclear IP rights was exactly what stopped Autechre from doing it. reliability of that statement unknown obv

Listening to London set B from the latest drop and it's really gorgeous. Love how rounded this set sounds, the different elements aren't jaggedly cutting into each other, it all has a lush organic and silky flow/mix to it. Making me even more pissed I am missing the Australia shows by literally a week. Hope they hit up North America soon. Haven't seen them since 2014

> I would love for them to put out an "album" where each "song" is actually a generative algorithm that spits out a track with slight variances each time; with or without potential parameter inputs.

sounds a lot like what eno did with his koan thing...

https://intermorphic.com/archive/sseyo/koan/generativemusic1/

I tried London A and Bergen, wasn't really into either, but London B still seems fantastic to me.

2015 live fans - where should I start?

nagano - though I realise now I've never actually listened to any of the US ones, rectifying now.

nagano grafenhainichen - this has the most going on towards the end, of the first seven anyway. according to a lol spreadsheet i made at the time.

> have only downloaded the mp3s, they're 140-190mb each.
...
> 700mb for all mp3s,

i think one of these things was true but even 140 x 6 is not 700 (1.1GB it quoted me)

but took no time at all using work's under-utilised wifi!

use ansi-standard dates, you dweebs

limited edition print on sale, how much of a sucker fan am i? https://autechre.warp.net/ae_live

my 2016/2018 download only came with one image but i see the individual files there each have their own

fucking in the fucking venue row fucking 3 rn

\m/

Magical set from Actress in support

fucking in the fucking venue row fucking 3 rn

― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 27 August 2023 09:40 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

3? how extravagant

I asked to switch seats because of a bass rattle and am now sitting above the stage

Excessive bass can be an issue. Almost ruined my Helsinki '22 gig, as the concert hall made primarily for acoustic classical music performances was definitely not suited for booming bass.

The set was radically, transcendently new. Grimy, oily beats, brutal sonics, overwhelming, huge rushes, complete 180 from the abstraction of the last decade. Positively evil, pummelling, wow.

thanks to a kind person

https://we.tl/t-nptWp9F7Ex

Thanks, I will make this my first time listening to live AE!

complete 180 from the abstraction of the last decade

I don't believe you but I'm happy you had such a good time!

(downloading now)

you weren't lying

heh
I think I made an immortalised WOO around the 22 minute mark

Loving the emphasis on hip hop beats on the Sydney set. Damn. Will be in Sydney next week so maybe I can hear some faint echoes of the show reverberating off random buildings in the CBD or something while I'm there.

Whoever posted that 2023 set, thank you, finally listened to it today and it is bleakly gorgeous

There is a lossless version on archive.org now by the way

https://archive.org/details/Autechre2023-08-27

I don't know if anyone ever mentioned these (I was surprised to find them) - here's two shows from 94 & 95 :

https://www.mixcloud.com/oscillate_sound_system/autechre-live-oscillate-1494/

https://www.mixcloud.com/oscillate_sound_system/autechre-oscillate-21295/

noice

The 95 set is superb.

it really is

https://nialler9.com/autechre-conversation-about-music-art-funk-and-emotion-interview/

what i'm getting from that is that they only really like people called Mark.

Autechre actually popped up in the novel i'm reading at the moment, Ian Rankin's 'A Question Of Blood' (2003):

'You're going to tell me you've never smoked or had a drink?'

But of course he wasn't going to say that. Doctors had higher stress levels than cops. One thing she had done - her own initiative - was trying to get into ambient music. Lemon Jelly, Oldsolar, Boards of Canada. Some hadn't worked - Aphex Twin and Autechre; not enough meat on their bones.

I enjoyed that interview, some interesting links/tracks to check out later.

lmao

Sean: Yeah, I mean, Rae was written in a really emotional state as well. I remember exactly what I was doing, where I was and everything when I did that

Droid: It’s funereal, it’s just absolutely stunning.

Sean: Yeah, it was a hangover (laughs) It wasn’t even real sadness, I wasn’t even going through anything. I was just, I was just feeling really fragile that day.

I love these guys so much

OMG "Rae" confirmed Sean solo track??

article got me to go listen to one of the 2014 live sets, which I haven't done since 2016. at the time it all seemed like too much, impenetrable. listening to it now of course, it just sounds like prime lucid stuff.

I guess it would make sense that an Autechre album released at time t+1 would prepare you for the live set appearing at time t. Autechre's music only really legible to time travelers, to the displaced.

I love the 90’s stuff all the way through, but even since then, I often find the emotion in your music to be almost unbearable – going back to tunes like, Yulquen, Overand, Nonima, and some of the stuff on SIGN. I almost can’t listen to it. I can’t even describe the emotion; It’s like a kind of ache, you know, this kind of mix of yearning and joy and loss. And even the happy songs like, Keynell 4 or Chicli seem to be touched with sadness.

This statement by droid nails it for me too. Sean's response was spot on - really touches on the emotional connection both those bands share in terms of that melancholy and sense of longing. The other emotions I'd attribute to Ae are menace and swagger, too. Not enough is written about that.

What a great interview!

Also, humble brag on that hand written letter from Thom Yorke haha

I found the bit about how their focus has shifted to the live dumps to be kinda fascinating but also a bummer, because I really don't like those. I just don't have time to listen to an hour of slowly shifting Autechre at a single sitting. I want an album I can pull individual tracks from as time permits, and occasionally listen to front to back.

Agreed.

I think it would be different if they released these live sets in smaller bunches, or like one every month or two - but 5-25 at once (or whatever) is just kinda psychically overwhelming.

agreed but the live stuff feeds into the studio albums now right? like every time a new album comes out I feel like people are going "oh this is that bit from last year's live set", etc

but yeah I agree great interview, I love how even after 30 years they both come off as very creative and questioning individuals who still don't claim to know the right or wrong way to do anything. I thought it was cool they brought up Lynch so much, they're similar in that their work is also emotional in very hard to describe ways

I guess this means their next album is going to SLAP

was pretty amused that was the one topic where they just went "nope, not gonna talk about it". dont look now but we're coming up on 3 full years since PLUS by the end of the month, the longest gap between Ae releases yet. not that they don't deserve the break!!

Good lord is 3 years the longest gap? Could have sworn it was longer but now that I look, 3 years was the gap between LP5 and Confield as well as Exai and Elseq.

Given they're actively touring and releasing recordings, it's all good - not like they're hinting at retiring just yet (thank goodness). Just hit up Cali soon please!