Autechre: Classic or Dud?

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (1533 of them)
Someone explain the appeal please? Much as I love the Warp-label, Autechre's brand of IDM just leaves me cold. Too ornate, too wrapped up in its own 'cleverness', too much fidgeting about playing around with FX. This music has no flow. Listening to Confield gives me a headache, as has every other release of theirs I've heard. Occasionally they hit on a groove, a sound, a pattern and everything momentarily clicks, but 5 seconds later and it abruptly changes direction. Is it like Geometry, or computer programming? I'm bemused, confused, and fail to connect with this music.

Stevo, Sunday, 10 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I still haven't listened to the new album much - I haven't found myself in the right mood - but it might be fair to say the music indeed "has no flow", the way you're probably thinking. Unless this sort of willful difficulty is your thing, I think it would help to start with their earlier CDs and work your way forward. (That might make the current stuff more palatable, but then it might not for you.) Incunabula and probably Tri Repetae (and "Garbage", dammit I wish my Trie Repetae disc 2 hadn't snapped in half) have lots of songs that unfold more nicely, without so much focus on subverting rhythmic expectations (and sonic ones too).

Josh, Thursday, 14 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

i come from the opposite perspective on this one josh. i only picked yp incunabula recently and found it rather uneventful, and i find tri repetae is too harsh. chiastic slide is like tri repetae but somehow more personable. i think the ideal starting point is probably LP5. this seems very accessible (although again, on initial hearing it just gave me a headache!), it eventually seeped in and i love that album now.

the new one is simultaneously a continuity of LP5 in terms of denseness and a complete break in that there seems to be no flow or groove whatsoever. the flow may have been convoluted before, now it just sounds broken and rusted. its a wonderful record (particularly the middle section) but probably not the best place to start. LP5 i think remains their highlight.

gareth, Friday, 15 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Sean of Autechre in recent De:Bug declare: "we make the ultimate folk music". I like that idea a lot. No flow/broken sounds like another chinese puzzle, going to get it anyway. Another thing: I skipped on LP5, since i was suffering from autechritis at the time (I mean really, a record every year is too much), still worth checking out?

Omar, Friday, 15 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

yeh, lp5 is the best one!

as for autechre writing folk music, i wrote a confused piece on this, which you can find here

gareth, Friday, 15 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Dude! Confused? Not all. It's true isn't it? It such a nice framework for this sort of music.

So there you have it: we're the new folkies! :) Let's all grow beards.

Omar, Friday, 15 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

'Incunabula' is impressing me Josh, making more immediate sense than 'Confield'. 'Tri-Repetae' has moments of fractured beauty that long to be dwelt on, but frequently aren't. I find Autechre cold, abstract, and introverted, but I can't quite dismiss them. There is a dark clinical beauty that does attract. Like being drawn to an alluring, handsome stranger only to discover she/he is suffering from schizophrenia.

Stevo, Friday, 15 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

1 listen into Confield and all i can say: it's doing my head in! Very, very good. 1st track esp. is amazing (sort of gamelan-on-ice planet stuff, beautiful melody harking back to 1st album...nice, nice). Bit of a surprise because it sounds more direct in a way than mid-period Autechre. And they came up with some new cool sounds too.

Omar, Monday, 18 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

nine years pass...

Just got sent this:

Autechre - 'EPS 1991-2002' WARPCD211
5 X Deluxe CD - 47 Tracks - 5hr 39min 59sec
47 track digital bundle available now
CD shipped & released 11th April 2011

Order CD with instant WAV/MP3 download at Bleep
Download MP3/WAV at Bleep (includes videos)
Download digital at iTunes

Visit Autechre.ws

(Made in The Designers Republic™)
CAVITY JOB, BASSCADEP, ANTI EP
(Disc 1)

Cavity Job
Accelera 1 & 2
Basscadet (Bcdtmx)
Basscadet (Basscadoublemx)
Basscadet (Tazmx)
Basscadet (Basscadubmx)
Lost
Djarum
Flutter

Tracks 1 – 2 originally released as Cavity Job (p)1991 Autechre.
Tracks 3 – 6 originally released as Basscad EP (p) 1994 Warp Records Limited.
Tracks 7 – 9 originally released as Anti EP (p) 1994 Warp Records Limited.
GARBAGE, ANVIL VAPRE
(Disc 2)

Garbagemx
PIOBmx
Bronchusevenmx
VLetrmx
Second Bad Vilbel
Second Scepe
Second Scout
Second Peng

Tracks 1 – 4 originally released as Garbage (p)1995 Warp Records Limited.
Tracks 5 – 8 originally released as Anvil Vapre (p) 1995 Warp Records Limited.
PEEL SESSION, ENVANE
(Disc 3)

Milk DX
Inhake 2
Drane
Goz Quarter
Latent Quarter
Laughing Quarter
Draun Quarter

Tracks 1 – 3 originally released as Peel Session (p)1995 BBC.
Tracks 4 – 7 originally released as Envane (p)1997 Warp Records Limited.
CHICHLISUITE, EP7
(Disc 4)

Yeesland
Pencha
Characi
Krib
Tilapia
Rpeg
Ccec
Squeller
Left Blank
Outpt
Dropp
Liccflii

Tracks 1 – 5 originally released as Cichlisuite (p)1997 Warp Records Limited.
Tracks 6 – 12 originally released on EP7 (p)1999 Warp Records Limited.
EP7, PEEL SESSION 2, GANTZ GRAF
(Disc 5)

Maphive6.1
Zeiss Contarex
Netlon Sentinel
Pir
Gelk
Blifil
Gaekwad
19 Headaches
Gantz Graf
Dial.
Cap.IV

Tracks 1 – 4 originally released on EP7 (p)1999 Warp Records Limited.
Tracks 5 – 8 originally released as Peel Session 2 (p)1999 BBC.
Tracks 9 – 11 originally released as Gantz Graf (p)2002 Warp Records Limited.

dentarthurdent (dog latin), Tuesday, 15 February 2011 14:13 (thirteen years ago) link

ooh, they've split the EP7s across two discs. Bad show.

dentarthurdent (dog latin), Tuesday, 15 February 2011 14:14 (thirteen years ago) link

(closes eyes, mutters 'i do not need or want expensive box-sets, i do not need or want expensive box sets...')

ledge, Tuesday, 15 February 2011 14:33 (thirteen years ago) link

('I have all these tracks already, i have all these tracks already')

dentarthurdent (dog latin), Tuesday, 15 February 2011 14:41 (thirteen years ago) link

Seems a little odd not to include the Seefeel or Beaumont Hannant mixes of Basscadet, but maybe that can be justified. Putting "Anvil Vapre" before "Garbage" seems like flat-out bad sequencing.

with hidden noise, Tuesday, 15 February 2011 14:47 (thirteen years ago) link

?

Tracks 1 – 4 originally released as Garbage (p)1995 Warp Records Limited.
Tracks 5 – 8 originally released as Anvil Vapre (p) 1995 Warp Records Limited.

ledge, Tuesday, 15 February 2011 14:48 (thirteen years ago) link

ah, my mistake!

with hidden noise, Tuesday, 15 February 2011 15:20 (thirteen years ago) link

This is disappointing. At least include all vinyl-only tracks, not only Cavity Job.

I don't feel this is worth the double-dip.

Sebastian (Royal Mermaid Mover), Tuesday, 15 February 2011 15:45 (thirteen years ago) link

Sorry boothbrown, I already have all the original releases.

StanM, Tuesday, 15 February 2011 16:01 (thirteen years ago) link

only own the Anti EP but not sure what I would do with this package - EP collections on several CDs just seem so impractical

licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 16 February 2011 08:49 (thirteen years ago) link

This is disappointing. At least include all vinyl-only tracks, not only Cavity Job.

I don't feel this is worth the double-dip.

OTM.

Better to have the original Anti and break the seal on it to show what bollicks the Criminal Justice Thingy is.

Asparagus Peee (Leee), Friday, 18 February 2011 02:40 (thirteen years ago) link

one year passes...

I couldn't decide which C or D thread to pick so I made a new one

Autechre Exai

ledge, Thursday, 13 December 2012 17:00 (eleven years ago) link

ten months pass...

http://youtu.be/lC7LGzCZ-q0

classic

braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Monday, 14 October 2013 17:51 (ten years ago) link

track at 18:00 is pretty sick

eris bueller (lukas), Monday, 14 October 2013 18:35 (ten years ago) link

that whole video is rad, oh man that brings back memories, esp. the whistles and the whole dudes-with-long-fringe-swept-back-w-headbands thing, damn haven't seen that look in a minute

the tune was space, Monday, 14 October 2013 20:11 (ten years ago) link

two weeks pass...

http://ge.tt/9ZkPRWw/v/0

more ore

braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Tuesday, 29 October 2013 07:14 (ten years ago) link

one year passes...
one year passes...

the one playing now is good

saer, Wednesday, 18 May 2016 20:28 (seven years ago) link

Man, I can't get this stream going to save my life

Brakhage, Wednesday, 18 May 2016 20:48 (seven years ago) link

Me neither.

Crazy Eddie & Jesus the Kid (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 18 May 2016 22:12 (seven years ago) link

here ya go

with public radio PSAs :P

Brakhage, Wednesday, 18 May 2016 22:31 (seven years ago) link

that SC bit is just a variation on what already exists in the 2nd half of most of the 'official' live sets..

braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Wednesday, 18 May 2016 22:45 (seven years ago) link

Yeah this might be the first record that I don't preorder instantly

Brakhage, Wednesday, 18 May 2016 23:12 (seven years ago) link

5 new, EPs, I guess? just landed:

https://autechre.bleepstores.com/

Steve Reich In The Afternoon (Against The 80s), Thursday, 19 May 2016 15:42 (seven years ago) link

xxxpost: saved as Autechre ft. Paul Stanley, thanks

StanM, Thursday, 19 May 2016 15:45 (seven years ago) link

three tracks over 20 minutes? my god

frogbs, Thursday, 19 May 2016 15:48 (seven years ago) link

over four hours! 4:07:38

StanM, Thursday, 19 May 2016 15:57 (seven years ago) link

separate thread for this?

frogbs, Thursday, 19 May 2016 16:08 (seven years ago) link

yeah, this is more like 5 lps than 5 eps.

but i wasn't taken by the sample.

koogs, Thursday, 19 May 2016 17:26 (seven years ago) link

Dedicated thread up:

Autechre: Elseq

Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 May 2016 17:26 (seven years ago) link

Autechre: Elseq (www.ilxor.com)

koogs, Thursday, 19 May 2016 17:36 (seven years ago) link

clElseq. and dud

braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Thursday, 19 May 2016 19:52 (seven years ago) link

clElseq. and dud

"Elsiq or Elsuq"

Noel Emits, Thursday, 19 May 2016 20:43 (seven years ago) link

two months pass...

cool article if you're interested in Ae's art design:

http://artfcity.com/2016/08/05/a-brief-history-of-autechres-album-covers/

frogbs, Monday, 8 August 2016 13:09 (seven years ago) link

thanks frogs!

TARANTINO! (dog latin), Monday, 8 August 2016 13:32 (seven years ago) link

Not sure I agree with everything in there. For a start, the Tri Repetae 'khaki' cover was just one of several interchangeable inlays that featured the same robot stills as the Anvil Vapre EP. Also the article fails to mention that the Chiastic Slide-era artwork was made from images of famous architectural structures like the Brooklyn Bridge.

TARANTINO! (dog latin), Monday, 8 August 2016 13:58 (seven years ago) link

I've never been able to discern Brooklyn Bridge there. Falling Water on Envane is easy to see though.

chad valley of the shadow of death (ledge), Monday, 8 August 2016 14:06 (seven years ago) link

It's easier to see if you tilt it towards the light -the silvery bits render it into something a bit more '3D'.

TARANTINO! (dog latin), Monday, 8 August 2016 14:14 (seven years ago) link

that Quaristice metal CD looks amazing

frogbs, Monday, 8 August 2016 14:17 (seven years ago) link

I would love to see a really in-depth breakdown of the Ae artwork though. I'd like to know what the Oversteps, Confield and Elseq ones are all about, especially. The Confield artwork is so disappointing, I just wonder what was going on there. Something about millennium-era CD cover design was this obsession with white space, minimalism, but it always made your CDs look horrible the second the screen cracked or got dusty.

A poll based on artwork alone would be interesting.

TARANTINO! (dog latin), Monday, 8 August 2016 14:19 (seven years ago) link

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

koogs, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 09:58 (five months ago) link

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.

koogs, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 11:34 (five months ago) link

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

behold the thump (ledge), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 16:07 (five months ago) link

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.

frogbs, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 17:09 (five months ago) link

I love these guys so much

The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 17:10 (five months ago) link

OMG "Rae" confirmed Sean solo track??

J. Sam, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 18:23 (five months ago) link

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.

what you say is true but by no means (lukas), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 18:35 (five months ago) link

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!

octobeard, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 18:43 (five months ago) link

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

octobeard, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 18:43 (five months ago) link

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.

read-only (unperson), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 18:54 (five months ago) link

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.

The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 18:58 (five months ago) link

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

frogbs, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 19:06 (five months ago) link

I guess this means their next album is going to SLAP

octobeard, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 19:13 (five months ago) link

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!!

frogbs, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 19:18 (five months ago) link

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!

octobeard, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 19:24 (five months ago) link

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.

I wouldn't mind if they only did live sets from now on, the only thing I would like is that they split them up into smaller tracks rather than just one long hour+ track. I don't always have the one hour to listen to this stuff and sometimes I want to listen to one specific thing from the live sets and not the whole thing.

silverfish, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 19:28 (five months ago) link

yeah a studio album culled from live sets would be really cool. similar to what King Crimson used to do. there's a fanmade one called "elseq 6-10" and it works pretty well

frogbs, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 19:31 (five months ago) link

yeah, there's also one for the 2016/2018 sets: https://archive.org/details/AE_ONESIX

Both are pretty good, but I wish we didn't have to wait for fan made versions of these things, plus I still would love to have every set they release split up like this

silverfish, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 19:58 (five months ago) link

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.

Ha, yeah, I was laughing over that one.

droid, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 20:29 (five months ago) link

Funny, Rae is my absolute favorite track by them ever.

deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 22:11 (five months ago) link

It's a killer, I always have to stop what I'm doing and pay attention to that one.

assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 22:40 (five months ago) link

Dragging thru old soundboard releases à propos of the interview above (which is great), I put on the Miami 2015 set and damn, it's really hitting today. Familiar elements from all the other sets on that tour but they lock in a bit tighter and go deeper.

assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 19 October 2023 02:01 (five months ago) link

The Helsinki set is excellent.

The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 26 October 2023 11:14 (five months ago) link

(From 2022, the one they released as part of the set.)

The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 26 October 2023 11:14 (five months ago) link

three weeks pass...

turns out that autechre remixed the black dog.
available via a limited freebie thing on bandcamp.

mark e, Friday, 17 November 2023 19:57 (four months ago) link

three weeks pass...

Appearing at The Hague

(and other places in Europe)

https://autechre.warp.net/shows

organ doner (ledge), Wednesday, 13 December 2023 11:19 (four months ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.