Autechre - classic or dud

the confield era was also around when idm/glitch/etc. started getting kinda unfashionable in general too. that was my impression, anyway. the disappointment with the golden boy of the scene when druqks came out (from others, I like the record myself) is the most prominent example I can think of.

had to hang in there for a little for idm to get old enough to be cool again, I guess.

I think I actually first heard of Autechre when Confield made Pitchfork's Top 20 Albums list in 2001.

I didn't start listening to them until like 2010 but I always knew them as a group where everyone complains about the new album then 2 years later said it's a classic and that it's the new one in fact that's just randomly generated garbage

it's not like that any more, seems like all the casuals have been shaken from the fanbase. hmmm wonder why that is

Confield had a remarkable amount of hype and press around it, possibly because it was the first one to come out in the established Pitchfork/blog/forum era. One of these albums where everyone had to have a take in it. I remember longterm fans calling it garbage while newer fans were often taken with it. I still don't know how to feel about that one

AMG gives it 3 stars and says "this experimental, rigidly academic work is a record to respect, not enjoy" which is wrong & seems out of step now but is prob one of the more polite contemporary reactions (I assume it's contemporary)- that album seemed to make some ppl genuinely angry

my first, i found it bizarre but v addictive, it's still the one i come back to most. I struggled a lot more with the earlier stuff it kept getting unfavourably compared to- I was never really into techno or IDM. the whole glut of later stuff is way too much for a lifetime but what i've heard is amazing & boring & impenetrable on different days

Experimental and leftfield music was less accessible at the time I guess, so for a lot of people - even Warp/Autechre fans - this would have been one of the most challenging things they'd heard. The UK music press could be strangely closed-off to experimental music, calling it pretentious or making out that it was beyond enjoyability

I remember The Wire reviewed it but not what they said, guardedly positive I think. https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/35789/page/62?term=confield if anyone has a subscription...

Listening to Lego Feet now, damn this shit bangs.

Some reviews of Chiastic Slide said the boys had gone too far this time, if you stuck with them through that but were thrown by Confield, I weep 4 u.

Yeah Chiastic was a massive sea change, and they even stepped back ever so slightly on LP5. I might have been too young when it came out though, but I don't remember a lot of press about Ae at the time of Chiastic, whereas Confield got boosted a lot thanks to the internet

Chiastic didn't get a US release at the time, IIRC. Meanwhile LP5 was distributed through Trent Reznor's Nothing label, so there was a big wave of publicity.

I felt like I was holding a rare unicorn horn when a friend of mine lent me their CD copy of Chiastic Slide in 1998. I straight away made a copy of that thing

?? I bought Chiastic around '98 in the US in a store. Guess it could have been an import.

It was an import only then - $25-30 (in 1998 dollars) at places like Amoeba or Mod Lang in Berkeley at the time. No way you'd find it easily elsewhere in the bay area

I was in Boston, and I'm pretty sure I got it at Newbury Comics.

Maybe Tower

I def got the expanded 2cd tri repeatae++ at tower but (checks discogs...) looks like wax trax put that out in the US. strange, I coulda swore I had to go into the imports room for it...

It took me a long time to take a closer look at Autechre because I thought of them as that pleasant chill out music my raver friends would throw on back in my college days

lol RYM lists "elseq 6-10" in the upcoming releases sidebar - looks like its just some fan-made release and people are getting pissed off in the shoutbox

that said I'm soulseeking it and it's pretty nice. it basically just stitches together stuff from the 2014-2015 live sets but it really works

I bought tri repetae++ and amber at salvation army :)

I'm still listening to the autechre podcast (gonkcast) I mentioned upthread. They're currently going through all the Gescom stuff, which is something I never really explored much (tried listening to minidisc a couple of times and randomly listened to a couple of tracks here and there). This got me listening to Gescom and the podcast helpfully pointed me toward the best stuff (Key nell and ISS:SA).

"Key nell" in particular is interesting because it comes midpoint between Tri Repetae and Chiastic Slide and kind of shows how Autechre gradually got to the Chiastic Slide sound, which without the Gescom EP seems like this huge sudden leap forward in their discography.

funny how when most musician threads get bumped it's a combination of "fuck are they ok" and/or "fuck what did they do" and with Autechre it's "fuck is there 13 more hours of music I gotta listen to now"

Sadly no.

I'm still listening to gonkcast too, I have a low tolerance for 'two guys shooting the shit' podcasts but it's one of the less irritating ones. And Keynell is awesome.

Basscadet Mixes

Kicking off my listening adventure.

This is … nice, if basic. The right thing for the low-stakes last day before a long holiday weekend.

I’m being too harsh! It’s fun, pop, ruminative. It’s just not quite Autechre to me, but of course these are remixes so

The Seefeel mix is giving me Crystal Method flashbacks

I love how pop the structure of Basscadet is (as with a few songs, yes songs, on Incunabula), and the bass drop is really a blast. Not all the mixes are winners but it's an interesting capsule. There's a nice one with string sounds IIRC.

Are you working through their catalogue? I did that, or a large chnk of it a few momths ago over a couple of weeks prompted by a general AI nostalgia kick. Had the EPs collection on my phone for walking around for quite a while.

Noel, indeed. Going through using the Apple Music order, though I have to remember the EPs section. Maybe Wikipedia will make it easier to go in the right order

lol see you in a few years

Lol

See you on Election Day 2024

On to Incunabula

If you need a bonus digestive there is an amazing live version of Kalpol Introl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uTUnTGb15c

Which I guess is a bit of a spoiler for the Anti EP.

is the eps box in spotify? because there are a couple of things before basscadet (vinyl only at the time, but they are in the box) (box also has another basscadet version)

I think it's only the Cavity Job 12" that's before Basscadet? Which isn't bad but more curate's egg than essential. I've owned most of the records but picked up the digital in one of bleep's boxing day sales for £10.

yeah. and the basscadet on the eps skips the two 3rd party remixes and adds one

Basscadet (Bcdtmx) 6:49
Basscadet (Beaumonthannanttwomx) 8:14 <- gone
Basscadet (Seefeelmx) 6:51 <- gone
Basscadet (Tazmx) 6:54
Basscadet (Basscadubmx) 9:37

vs

Basscadet Bcdtmx 6:48
Basscadet Basscadoublemx 4:26 <- added
Basscadet Tazmx 6:53
Basscadet Basscadubmx 9:37

Was delayed on listening due to work stuff but getting into it now.

Can definitely sense richness, mystery, etc. You could
put this on at a party in the late 90s (or today) and people would dig it but for the most part not ask “who is this by”

Okay, maybe it’s a little idiosyncratic than that. Strangers who crashed your party might not ask who made the music but might invite you to their parties

FYI Incunabula is made up of tracks selected by Warp from a large set they sent in, so Amber is kind’ve their first album qua album.

Although they have also said of Amber that they were trying a bit too much to make a "Warp" record.

Having put on Incunabula at parties in the 90s that's about right, although I want to say there was always something... xxp

Whenever I'm on hold and this comes on, I think of Incunabula

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT9qeveLyP8

Don't forget Lego Feet! 1991 era work by Ae, before they landed on the Autechre name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYNGy5k53k8

That Karpol Introl live was great. Any other similar early live stuff?

is this your first go with the group Raymond? always interested to hear what those who come in completely blind think.

there's a web reviewer named George Starostin who used to have one of those sites where he'd just try to review every album ever made (I think he may be still at it, actually). anyway he's a pretty hardcore "Beatles are the greatest of all time/No worthwhile music was made after '83" kinda guy and for some reason he decided to start reviewing Autechre. he liked some of their early stuff - first 3 albums, mostly - but after Confield he was just completely lost. he still decided to commit to the bit and review everything up to at least NTS 1, pretty much writing the same "are we sure they know what they're doing" review every time out. I felt a little bad for him by the end honestly.

I’ve heard pretty much everything they’ve done (with the exception of the ocean of recent live records) at least three times.

The pre-1998 material I don’t know as well as the stuff beyond that point because I just don’t play it much - early AE is like a totally different enterprise to these ears! - so it’s almost like experiencing it for the first time, if that makes sense.

A real trooper, George was, from the sound of things!

To clarify further: LP5 is where I got onboard (as it came out). I went back and bought and/or heard what came before that but it’s never done much for me, tbh.

there's a web reviewer named George Starostin who used to have one of those sites where he'd just try to review every album ever made (I think he may be still at it, actually). anyway he's a pretty hardcore "Beatles are the greatest of all time/No worthwhile music was made after '83" kinda guy and for some reason he decided to start reviewing Autechre. he liked some of their early stuff - first 3 albums, mostly - but after Confield he was just completely lost. he still decided to commit to the bit and review everything up to at least NTS 1, pretty much writing the same "are we sure they know what they're doing" review every time out. I felt a little bad for him by the end honestly.

I just looked at this guy's blog and while he really seems to hate a lot of their stuff (especially Exai/elseq/NTS) he did like Oversteps and Move of Ten. Seems like he would probably like SIGN/PLUS if he ever deciedes to review them.

Basscadet Basscadoublemx 4:26 <- added
I had no idea about this. Searching now.