― Lee, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
This is one of those cases where, even if you don't like the group, you have to admit that they're pretty much classic.
― Clarke B., Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
(just posting here for a special troll in my heart who i see didn't bother to air his own opinions.)
― jess, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Indeed!
I'll say it again (I really remember discussing this before): pure soul music for the 21th century. Maybe forbidding at times. Cold? Inhuman? Never.
― Omar, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Jess, this isn't a Felix da Housecat thread!
― ethan, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― gareth, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Tom, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― bnw, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
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.)
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-two years ago) link
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-two years ago) link
― bob snoom, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
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-two years ago) link
― Dare, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― JOnjjOnnjoN, Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― adam, Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― John Darnielle, Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― mark s, Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
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-two years ago) link
― mark s, Monday, 27 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― phil, Monday, 27 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
destroy: euro-english newspeak.
― jess, Monday, 27 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― stevo, Monday, 27 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Clarke B., Tuesday, 28 January 2003 11:27 (twenty-one years ago) link
― matt riedl (veal), Monday, 3 February 2003 21:12 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 13:08 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 13:12 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 13:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Jonathan Williams (ex machina), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 13:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Saturday, 28 May 2005 13:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amon (eman), Saturday, 28 May 2005 14:32 (nineteen years ago) link
New Autechre album - April 2005
In short: they've been amazing on this tour.
― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 28 May 2005 14:49 (nineteen years ago) link
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 (nineteen years ago) link
― dog latin (dog latin), Saturday, 28 May 2005 15:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 28 May 2005 15:28 (nineteen years ago) link
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 (nineteen years ago) link
― Blightersrock (Da ve Segal), Saturday, 28 May 2005 22:57 (nineteen years ago) link
Now that I look over that list - if I had to POO with a gun to my head as an intro to the band - it would be Surripere. It starts quite accessibly with an electro beat and droning series of delayed chords. It expresses the dark melancholy vibe of their 90's work, and then dissolves into a chaotic deconstruction that feels definitively post 90's Ae, ending with an only vaguely repetitive beat/bassline that feels distinctly alien.
― octobeard, Tuesday, 11 June 2024 21:14 (two days ago) link
rae you know I’m right
― assert (matttkkkk), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 21:19 (two days ago) link
“I think you absolutely could get a regular person into Autechre, but your pitch has to be basically "You wanna hear the wildest shit ever?" I totally believe in this strategy, people just need to be exposed to more weird shit. Could even see people who don’t even really like music enjoying Autechre, its sort of like cinematic pyrotechnics or something
― brimstead, Tuesday, 11 June 2024 21:22 (two days ago) link
though I will say I'd choose an entirely different set of tracks lol
Yeah - shit I'd probably change this list wholesale myself after a day or two. spl9 I put on because I wanted at least one insanely aggressive up tempo banger on it, but kinda wish I'd gone with Flep or recks on. Probably should have gone with Parhelic Triangle on Confield.
I chose acroyear2 for LP5 because it is a wild shift in their sound and accurately foreshadows some of their future direction while retaining the clear melodic accessibility of the 90's. I chose Ccec to showcase the Ae "swagger" and hip hop influence in their work. Neither are my favorites on each.
― octobeard, Tuesday, 11 June 2024 21:23 (two days ago) link
I will say though - damn, their opening tracks on nearly every full length album (and "EP") are just absolute stunners. Maybe only Amber and Quaristice are lacking in this department.
― octobeard, Tuesday, 11 June 2024 21:25 (two days ago) link
Octobeard, that's a fantastic set of "Welcome to AeLand" tracks.
I recently introduced a 63-year-old friend of mine to Autechre, the first time I've attempted to do so with anyone (I'm 37). He has really wide-ranging but kind of "basic" taste, from CSNY to Metallica to Olivia Rodrigo for example. Spends a lot of time on Youtube checking out new stuff. For newer electronic stuff he said he's into Skrillex, Daft Punk, and DJ Snake in particular. He's also into the Blade Runner soundtrack. He had never heard of Autechre, Aphex Twin or pretty much anything "IDM" adjacent.
So I played him some tracks from LP5. He was blown away by "Acroyear2" and said it was like electronic speed metal. But he started to lose interest after a few minutes. I was like, "you have to wait until they switch the beat up!" So we did, and when the beat came back in half-time he thought it was cool, but clearly not as much as I did.
I followed that up with "Corc" as an example of their gentler side. He thought it was pretty, but about halfway through it he said something like "This doesn't really go anywhere, does it?" For me this listening session had already become the awkward situation where you're showing someone a song or a movie you love and you become ultra self-conscious and every potential fault in the work of art becomes magnified. So I said what I was already kind of thinking, something like, "yeah it's pretty repetitive/static in some ways but I think the details in the percussion and synths that are constantly changing are really interesting." He could appreciate that too, but he was craving something like pop song structure, where Autechre is like, "here's an idea, let's see what we can do with it" with nothing resembling a verse, chorus, etc.
He had basically the same reaction to "Arch Carrier" where he really dug it at first but wanted it to go somewhere else after a couple minutes.
Overall I'd say it was a success in that my friend appreciated the production and wasn't freaked out by any of it. And he did think the speed up/slow down effect on "Fold4,Wrap5" was really cool. So maybe he would be more into the rhythmic experimentation on Confield or Untilted. So I might send him some of those tracks and let him explore on his own without me anxiously sitting next to him lol.
― J. Sam, Tuesday, 11 June 2024 22:54 (two days ago) link
he might be more interested in Aphex Twin tbh, send him the RDJ album
― default damager (lukas), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 22:56 (two days ago) link
^Good call
― J. Sam, Tuesday, 11 June 2024 22:58 (two days ago) link
J. Sam, I like using synaesthetic analogies for explaining their style sometimes. You were basically sharing some abstract expressionism with someone with an aesthetic tolerance that borders around cubism.
With Ae, the minimalist song structures are often the point. He'd probably feel similarly listening to Villalobos perhaps
― octobeard, Wednesday, 12 June 2024 01:41 (yesterday) link
I.e. he is the kind of art person that needs representation, even if abstracted, rather than purely abstract exploration of texture, shape and color with no earthly reference points.
― octobeard, Wednesday, 12 June 2024 01:46 (yesterday) link
I think a 63 year old person into CSNY even giving Ae a chance is miraculous, and cool to hear how open they were to it
― Paul Ponzi, Wednesday, 12 June 2024 13:09 (yesterday) link
If someone was curious about Autechre but had never heard them, I'd play them something from their classic 90's run, probably "Tri Repetae". That would be my answer in 2024, and also in 2004.
If someone had never heard of, say, Neil Young, then I'd play an album he recorded in the 70's, that to me is the spirit of the question, and everything he's done in the past 20+ years and the artist he is today isn't relevant.
When you need an intro to an artist with a decades long career and a prolific, highly varied catalogue, it's always best to start at the beginning or close to it, no?
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 13 June 2024 08:32 (eleven hours ago) link
I think SIGN is maybe the right choice here. I would have be tempted to say something like LP5, which was my introduction to them, but I think the futureshock might have diminished with that one by today's glossy standards
― your mom goes to limgrave (dog latin), Thursday, 13 June 2024 09:05 (eleven hours ago) link
Tri Rep remains their worst album for me. Lots of static tracks that pall quickly.
― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 13 June 2024 12:39 (seven hours ago) link
the thing with ae is that they're at their best now. neil young peaked in the 70s.
― he/him hoo-hah (map), Thursday, 13 June 2024 12:53 (seven hours ago) link
Agreed - and I love Tri Rep but it's not exactly demonstrative of where they've been for most of their career (Chiastic Slide maybe more so)
― ledge, Thursday, 13 June 2024 13:05 (seven hours ago) link
I rank Tri Rep near the bottom too though a lot of that has to do with how much it just hurts my ears
I'd always heard that referred to as their best so I tried it over and over again, decided to give Chiastic a shot just to see if I should give up on them or not, and wound up liking it way more. no reason this kind of music can't groove.
― frogbs, Thursday, 13 June 2024 13:53 (six hours ago) link
Tri Rep my fave by a wide distance - guess people look for different things in Ae
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 13 June 2024 14:10 (six hours ago) link
i really like tri rep but it took me a while, like frogbs is saying, lots of weird high end and the rest is kinda still comparatively. chiastic slide and garbage are my favs from the 90s.
― he/him hoo-hah (map), Thursday, 13 June 2024 14:13 (five hours ago) link
I'll occasionally put on one of the first three autechre albums which I do enjoy a lot, but yeah, Chiastic Slide to me is the one where they actually start becoming the autechre I love and if I wanted someone to get into them, I would probably not pick something from the early-early albums
If I had to pick some tracks, I would go with the tracks on each of the albums which initially hooked me, something like:
CipaterArchcarrierCcecDraneEidetic CaseinGantz Graf (the video)SurriperePerlenceknown(1)bladeloresc16 deep treadgonk steady oneau14
― silverfish, Thursday, 13 June 2024 14:48 (five hours ago) link
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:
LowrideSlipGarbagemxSecond Bad VilbelEutowCichliLaughing QuarterKribRaeMaphive6.1Gantz GrafCfern6IE.CRAugmatic DisportSimmmd-sho qubiris was a pupilbladeloresc16 deep treadviolvoicgr4ecol4
― your mom goes to limgrave (dog latin), Thursday, 13 June 2024 15:01 (five hours ago) link
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 hours ago) link