Autechre - classic or dud

the ATP curatorship thing generally - it all falls down if the curators have narrow musical tastes. The Mogwai year really suffered in that regard, presenting the punter with a seemingly endless sequence of dullards. But who knows, maybe Autechre have a great love of Northern Soul, Norwegian Black Metal, and Sarah Records bands, leading to the most eclectic bill yet.

Or maybe it'll just be Plaid, Plone, Plonk, Plop, Plurp, Plup, Plipplop etc.

I think it was Ethan that was saying that he liked Funkstorung better, a statement I agree with ONLY if you are referring to their respective remixes. For some reason Autechre's style transposed onto other music sounds less interesting than Funkstorung's similar but slightly more palatable in a song setting stylings.

and the best: the remix they did on the dj food remix album

incunabula if you want early proto-IDM ala artificial intelligence series, which they appeared on anyway.

amber if you want ambient-ish type stuff with some nice beats thrown in on occasion

tri repetae if you want a nearly perfect mix of melody and industrial influenced beats

lp5 if you want the most accessible of the abstract- try out song one and song ten on that disc (arch carrier is one of the song names, i believe.)

confield if you want to hear an audial equivelant to a math equation (which is nice in doses, but i don't recommend listening to the whole album unless you have other stimulus keeping you interested ie weed, maaaan)

Somehow along the years, like every band in history, they got to the point where instead of just churning out quality tunes in the "heat of the moment", the momentum you get when you go "hey, we're on to something here", they sat down and began to *think* about their music and where the development should lead to - and that's the point where a band loses the plot. I feel that Autechre started to go down a path where each successive album/EP *had* to be more dissonant, harsher, less aesthetically pleasing - just for the sake of it. The balance between the sublime abstract weirdness and the charisma of the "listenable" warm synths and coherency has been tipping too much in the direction of "what can we do to fuck as much with the sound just to make it barely listenable". Somehow they're trapped in what people expect from them: to deliver the most abstract and mathematically precise form of music on the planet. And paradoxally, this expectation has made them turn into both extremely unlistenable (yet still worthwile, because the gratification of spending hours to "get" it is still a lovely experience) and extremely predictable music.

Dare = time-travelling prodigy!

I bet Confield will make sense in 2006.

If you were to hear Second Bad Vibel or Viral(as Gescom) on a loud club system you would get autechre. Autechre rules because they were a UK IDM act that you can actually dance to.

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.

(just posting here for a special troll in my heart who i see didn't bother to air his own opinions.)

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.

Jess, this isn't a Felix da Housecat thread!

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...

all signs point to a new ep, as they need to keep their name out here after their tour, i guess.

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.

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 ;-)

destroy: euro-english newspeak.

New Autechre album - April 2005

In short: they've been amazing on this tour.

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.

however, i wouldn't write them off; i think they will come up with the goods again one day.

(I'm probably going to anyway... they must be at least semi-classic then)

So not liking the last few albums--or being unfamiliar with them--is almost a moot point.

2005 show last week: absolute 4/4 non-stop dance party, many pieces strict-tempo dj'ed together into one long mix. madly syncopated (seldom straight out four on the floor), but you could tap your foot or dance like a madman at all times. the recent abstract digital sounds of the last three records have been isolated and poured onto the grid, no multiple time-signature experiments. way, way, way more straightforward than untilted, and 100% new material -- absolutely nothing recognizable from any record. No traceable melodies, but tons of layered ambient sections and crescendos. once again, my attention wandered a bit in parts, but the end was rewarding and I sure hope mp3's turn up of this show, or even a release.

still doesn't quite sound like anything they've done before, but definitely way closer to 95/96 than 01/04. liked it.

the pennines, in other words

I'm going, anyone that wants to say hi email me :)
Check out the rest of that line up! :-O

Disclaimer: I am very, very thirsty for quality idm, this may be a mirage.

I was at this show (dragged there by a girl in spite of whatever ratios). I'm not really a fan, I also like confield but haven't been impressed by the last couple albums and don't really care for most "melodic" autechre. But yes this show was a bit different. The focus on hard hitting syncopation was a minor revelation, the timbres of "Drop it like it's Hot" splintering at almost drum and bass tempo without losing a rhythmic anchor (some moments were rather "twitchy droid leg"/graphic offshore style). Tiring a bit what w/ one austere slab after another, but a good deal more than I had anticipated.

One problem was that nearly everybody insisted upon standing around in the dark to watch a couple of guys you couldn't even see. What little dancing there was ranged from antithetical drunken swaying to pillow fight against myself "madman" stuff. Very little rhythm-to-body connectivity but the possibility was there, it wasn't all just twiddly bullshit.

on my mp3 player this morning, i forgot that i had the autechre at coachella liveset (1999 i think?). this is really good, thuogh i havent recognised anything off it yet. theres an amazing electroey track, which is one of the best things ive heard off them, not sure if they consider stuff like this too 'straightforward' for the lps or not. its pretty warehouseparty

heres an mp3 of it:

Autechre at Coachella, Track 3

I believe I have this somewhere and IIRC, it was the most "conventional" (for lack of a better word) set I've ever heard from them, i.e. songs that sounded like the recorded versions, they weren't trying to pummel the audience, and so on.

Interview with Autechre as part of Paul Morley's Guide To Musical Genres: Glitch. listenagainable here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/musicclub/doc_musicalgenres.shtml

(web page needs more details. i guess he's saving that for the book)

Bit of non-seq this:

Tune in to find out everything you ever wanted to know about psych-folk, glitch, twee, post-rock, emo and perfect pop in the company of Lou Reed, Billy Bragg and Bernard Butler amongst others.

well that was a load of balls. why pretend it's about "glitch" if yer mostly gonna talk about bog standard idm and early electronic music?

Paul Morley on the new Autechre album Oversteps

Is that going to be in the sleeve notes? Morley wrote something similar for (the best of) New Order years back.

It's a "blog" is the only info I have.

Here are the tour dates etc:

Autechre
announce new album 'Oversteps'

released on CD/Special edition Vinyl / digital on March 22nd
UK + European tour dates also announced

http://www.bangonpr.com/images/ul/gallery_1370_large.jpg

Autechre will release their new album ‘Oversteps’ on March 22nd on Warp Records.
The album will be available on CD, digitally and as a deluxe vinyl edition.
Artwork for all formats is by The Designers Republic.

Deluxe Vinyl Edition (exclusive to independent retailers):
- Double heavyweight 180gram vinyl, each disc packed in its own printed inner and outer card sleeves
- 900mm x 600mm double-sided poster printed on Offenback ultra fine stock, folded within its own card sleeve
- Housed in printed and debossed rigid slipcase

Tracklisting:
01. r ess
02. ilanders
03. known(1)
04. pt2ph8
05. qplay
06. see on see
07. Treale
08. os veix3
09. O=0
10. d-sho qub
11. st epreo
12. redfall
13. krYlon
14. Yuop

The album is available to pre-order now at www.bleep.com/autechre-oversteps , where WAVs and MP3s of the album are included free with all vinyl and CD orders (and will be available on day of release)

In addition, Autechre embark on an extensive UK + European tour in March:

Mar.11 Manchester @ Pure - Ticketline.co.uk / www.boomkat.com
Mar.12 Birmingham @ The Rainbow - www.theticketsellers.co.uk
Mar.13 Minehead @ Bloc Weekender - www.blocweekend.com
Mar.15 Nottingham @ Stealth - www.stealthattack.co.uk
Mar.16 Glasgow @ Sub Club - http://bit.ly/6Wdx36
Mar.17 Leeds @ The Wardrobe – www.wegottickets.com
Mar.18 Brighton @ Pavillion Theatre - www.brightondome.org
Mar.19 Lille @ Tri Postal
Mar.20 Paris @ Locomotive
Mar.21 Nantes @ Olympic - www.olympic.asso.fr
Mar.28 Ljibulana @ Kino Siska - http://www.kinosiska.si
Mar.29 Budapest @ A38 - www.a38.hu
Mar.30 Vienna @ Flex - www.flex.at
Mar.31 Brno @ Fleda - www.fleda.cz
Apr.02 Copenhagen @ Concerthall - www.dr.dk/Koncerthuset
Apr.03 Oslo @ Park Teatre - www.billettservice.no
Apr.04 Gothberg @ Nefertiti - www.nefertiti.se
Apr.05 Aarhus @ Voxhall - www.voxhall.dk
Apr.06 Hamburg @ Uebel & Gefährlich - www.uebelundgefaehrlich.com
Apr.07 Amsterdam @ Melkweg - www.melkweg.nl
Apr.09 Brussels @ AB (Domino Fest) - www.abconcerts.be
Apr.10 London - venue & tickets announced Feb 1st - www.warp.net

09. O=0

o_0

Yeah, cheers for ignoring the other thread.

I did a search for Autechre and didn't find anything! What's it called?

http://clonesound.blogspot.com/2010/01/initial-reflections-autechre-oversteps.html

Yeah, cheers for ignoring the other thread.

― StanM, Wednesday, 13 January 2010 14:31 (5 days ago) Bookmark

^LOL

OK Ijust heard a "leak" and if what I heard is real... heck who cares... the last two tracks are pretty damn amazing.

Ambient as all fuck.

yeah? where you hear this "leak?"

Dunno, tbh sorry.

Slsk or something i think.

Yeah, it's not them. It's this guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ompcBQvK65I

( /ese guys )

Yeah Rob mentioned that earlier today. In all honesty it was ok though; I can see why an artist would piggyback on this shit. Bit lame, but eh. I liked the last 2 tracks!

The rest is quite good as well - too bad we've now heard it in an Autechre context. It would have reminded me of Ae without this hoax thing, but now this A:C album will never be a legitimate thing in its own right anymore :-/

that youtube track ain't bad and I understand why the dude did this. (not likely that I would ever have listened to the track otherwise.) but man, promoting yourself this way really is lame. it's like, are you begging for people to just write you off as one of the hundreds of autechre clones before they even hear one note?

autechre leaks are nevvverrr real

Yeah, this isn't the first time that we've had masquerade Autechre leaks before -- it's happened since Draft, and probably with Confield too. And I think other Warpers/IDM dickfaces have had this happen to them too.

yeah, there have def been fake afx leaks too

It happened with Confield - there, the leaked version was significantly better than the actual version. If anybody happens to have a tracklisting of that fake version . . .

Wait is this Autechre putting out fake leaks to protect their album or is this dudes, with no relation to them, distributing their own stuff under Autechre's name?

Confield was the last autechre album I really liked.. well there was one really cool track on the ep that came right after confield. The song sounded like a roller coaster going up a hill...

Pen Expers on Confield sounds like it could be an audio equivalent to rape

And the Lentic Catacrecis (sp?) Was probably the most brilliant track on Confield imo

The WATTM forum crowd are working on a deliberate fake at the moment too, but its more along the lines of the "no line on the horizon" one we did here ie just for fun.

WATMM, rather.

I like pretty much all autechre but confield is my fave from the last couple of years as well.

still, "sublimit" off of untilted is dooooope. the 2005 live sets too.

Pen Expers on Confield sounds like it could be an audio equivalent to rape surprise sex

Did you know Pen Expers and Kate Bush's "running up that hill" play together perfectly? Theres a YT doubler clip ouf it somewhere.

yeah, there have def been fake afx leaks too

to be fair half the fake afx leaks were rdj tho

Oh actually no, watmm arent doing anything.

that youtube track ain't bad and I understand why the dude did this. but man, promoting yourself this way really is lame.

(Precedent on both sides in the IDM scene I guess. napster was full of Marumari tracks with name acts in the filenames. Meanwhile, a few years back there was a Boards of Canada fake which was actually part of a CiM album which some guy had downloaded and decided to rename; nothing to do with CiM himself and I hope nobody ever held that against him.)

Back when I made IDM stuff, one of my tracks "Litter Duty" made it onto a Boards of Canada bootleg comp. I can't remember any more whether this was a mislabelling error, or some prank I thought I'd pull as a student.

Did Altered Carbon himself wrap up his stuff as a fake Autechre, or was it just some bored internet type as a prank?

yeah, this occurred to me after I had posted that... I have no idea, actually.

lot of chime-y interludes on the new leak. sounds legit.

i reckon i could spot an ae fake at fifty paces. is it leaked in the usual places?

Autechre FACT mix - no tracklisting avail, tho.

http://www.factmag.com/2010/02/08/fact-mix-122-autechre/

The last AE album was really good after spending several years in the wilderness. I'm looking forward to this one.

http://www.antilicense.com/ilovetheriaa/oversteps_preview-ilanders.mp3

http://www.antilicense.com/ilovetheriaa/oversteps_preview-see_on_see.mp3

these were broadcast on a German radio show, this past saturday?

i hope they're better than the first 30 minutes of that mix 8)

(also the tags don't correspond to the filenames)

those german broadcast clips sound cool. I'm excited.

Is the Autechre concept still relevant for people any more? I used to be amazed by what they used to do - the hyper-complex gymnastic beats and uncanny beauty of their melodies were awe-inspiring at the time of LP5 and EP7. How quickly though, have innovations in music technology moved on since the days when artists would have to rip their machines to bits or invent infinitesimally mindbending trigger sequences to create these sounds? We've now got programs that can, at a click, reach into an audio chord and alter the individual notes within them; applications that can warp, stretch and mould beats like putty; commercial plugins that can artificially mimic the randomness of human-like musicianship - and all this is being done throughout the musical spectrum from glo-fi to dubstep to pure pop. So what I'm wondering is - is the music of the future now so current that Autechre are being beaten at their own game? Have they hit a glass ceiling? If not, what are they now doing to push things further? And what am I gaining by listening to this band whose appeal was once that they were doing things that no one else could even imagine?

this band whose appeal was once that they were doing things that no one else could even imagine?

What if the appeal was more simple than that? What if the appeal was (and remains) "whatever they're doing, it sounds good and I like it"?

yeah - now i take that absolutely 100% into account.

autechre, being certainly up until confield, one of my favourite bands. but i couldn't play someone, for example, Chiastic Slide anymore and expect them to be impressed by it. Music in general is now capable of making these sounds and doing them better and more effortlessly. Tim Exile's "Listening Tree" from last year basically takes the Autechre model, adds David Gahan-esque vocals and runs with it, filling it with a dark pop brilliance that leaves them sounding like a clunky old robot. But it's not just Warp stuff that does this of course.

there has always been more to autechre's work than mere artisanship, but it did play a large part in what they did. Int he same way that technical brilliance can be the reason for listening to a lot of metal etc.

I've actually been thinking about this listening to old harmonia, cluster, early kraftwerk, etc...

now, I wasn't around but at the time but I imagine that the electronic/psychedelic hybrid probably sounded quite unique then. that doesn't really factor into my enjoyment these days and I think that the music holds up as more than just a tech demo. way more. plus, the vintage instruments sound cool!

ymmv but I could see the same being said for autechre. the tech aspect to their sound is certainly less impressive but "whatever they're doing, it sounds good and I like it"

autechre, being certainly up until confield, one of my favourite bands. but i couldn't play someone, for example, Chiastic Slide anymore and expect them to be impressed by it.

Impressed due to it being highly technical, or because it's good music? I could picture someone being still impressed because it's a good tune.

Music in general is now capable of making these sounds and doing them better and more effortlessly. Tim Exile's "Listening Tree" from last year basically takes the Autechre model, adds David Gahan-esque vocals and runs with it, filling it with a dark pop brilliance that leaves them sounding like a clunky old robot.

The greatness of clunky old robot sounds aside, is music that sounds like its of an era or dated a bad thing? You just made me want to check out this Tim Exile album, but I am not sure this sounds like an indictment of Autechre.

But it's not just Warp stuff that does this of course.

o rly

fact mix is good morning listening. beatmatching Roedelius' 'Übern Fluss' with that hip hop track made me crack up.

which Cabaret Voltaire is that an hour in again? & if anyone can trainspot the dubby tracks that start in @ 1:09:00 (Flying Lizards?), I'd be obliged. or man, this thing at 1:16:00 is Cabs solo stuff, like Mallender's solo ep? some of this is pretty familiar but it's been years, and it's sounding a lot better than I remember

Tim Exile's a bit cheesy compared to Autechre. A bit barroque, a bit Glass Spider, Bowie.

Remember that Autechre started off making really simple music and they were great then. If anything they took the envelope pushing thing slightly too far. It became too abstract and fell apart. For people who don't like to have to count along to records like myself, what they're doing now is an improvement.

I think even at the time of Incunabula, there stuff wasn't considered that simple.

I probably wasn't being very clear earlier as I was at work. Chiastic Slide, will always be appreciable to many because it was made in the way it was (like Kraftwerk is still appreciable today). But I'm guessing at what role Autechre's music plays in 2010 when everyone has access to computer programs that can replicate Autechre's previously painstaking techniques. I don't see Brown & Booth being happy to sit on their laurels making MAX/MSP patches just like everyone else forever and ever.

Grrrr... dinner time now - that didn't make sense either.

Is the Autechre concept still relevant for people any more?

They are still more ae-sthetically pleasing to me than other IDM groups.

They still have done things that other IDM groups haven't accomplished (to my knowledge). For instance, they did some songs where you can still hear notes that are no longer there (and I remembered them mentioning stuff like that in one of their interviews). I still vision Autechre as top of the line innovators of experimentation even if I don't care much for the last couple albums.

is the music of the future now so current that Autechre are being beaten at their own game?

I dunno. Hate to sound rockist but technology only gets you so much. I think they use it better than most.

In their prime, Ae got by on being the pioneering experimental act; whose influences stemmed as much from hip-hop and graf culture as avant-garde architecture; who championed the art of circuit bending and algorithmic composition to create sculptured mathematical sound-art; but who also displayed a Gorecki-an knack for hide-and-seek extra-human melodies that only revealed themselves through intensive listening.

But how can Autechre continue when the dubsteppers are creating these incredible experimental soundscapes that you can dance to? When pop and r'n'b producers are moulding and shaping sounds beyond human imagination whilst still maintaining a sexual sheen? Does Autechre's brutal, often ugly intellectualism become redundant when modern bedroom producers can recreate their techniques without putting a sequencer through a food condenser, and make it pleasant to listen to as well?

I fully realise that these questions make me sound like I don't "get" Autechre - really I do. And while I thought pretty much everything between Confield and Untilted was (come on face it) the electronic equivalent of Yngwie Malmsteen playing a 24-string guitar with his arse-cheeks, Quaristice was a surprisingly welcome pull away from the brink of total meltdown.

The difference between albums like Draft7.30 and EP7 wasn't just down to method, it was conceptual too. EP7 remains their most interesting work because each track has a tangible concept that it is based around. Draft is pure electronic gymnastics, probably fascinating to MAX/MSP dorks but little interest to those looking for beauty in the random/not random jitter.

So the reason I'm interested in this next album is to see where they go next. What tricks do Booth and Brown have up their sleeves? What is the 2010 equivalent of circuit-bending and how will Ae outrun their competitors?

Well I've heard it, and its nothing like the last couple of albums. Its more ambient and much prettier.

I think it may divide fans a bit actually!

Has it really leaked yet Trayce?

yes, the actual album is now circulating.

When pop and r'n'b producers are moulding and shaping sounds beyond human imagination whilst still maintaining a sexual sheen?

this just ain't so. sure they're using some strange noises and inventive arrangements, but no way is pop or rnb approaching ae-like levels of sculptural weirdness.

DL I think the point is that Autechre fans (such as you and me) enjoy the off-putting strangeness for its own sake. It's not so much that they're creating "incredible experimental soundscapes", it's that they make their listeners feel like they've really worked to get to the chewy center. It's what has always set Autechre apart from AFX, the Orb or what have you. I guess you could argue that in their prime they were pushing Max/MSP in interesting new ways, but I'm not sure you could keep the argument up for long. There have always been lots of talented producers. Autechre have been pioneers of the machine aesthetic more than the machine technique. I say this as one who considers them beyond brilliant.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you can enjoy Autechre without believing that they are ***INNOVATING*** at all times.

DL yeah as of yesterday or day before, at least according to Modey. I'm pretty convinced - it sounds damn good.

that they make their listeners feel like they've really worked to get to the chewy center.

Yeah I relate to this. Ive always found Ae really... difficult. Since being with a big Ae fan with a very musical ear, who points out complex and winding little melodic or rhythmic passages Id've otherwise totally not even noticed, it is more rewarding.

Theyre still not a band I like putting on while I'm doing the housework or reading, mind you. They're too much work for that haha.

you can enjoy Autechre without believing that they are ***INNOVATING*** at all times

More importantly, you can enjoy Autechre without BEING INVESTED IN believing that they are innovating at all times. I always feel like their best stuff sounds totally inhuman - the kind of music computers would make for the entertainment of other computers - but that's just a description; it's not a value judgement. Dog latin, you come off like Autechre not being weirder/more obsessively intricately hi-tech than everyone else on earth, and doing things you can't possibly figure out how they did them, is a deal-breaker for you. That's a really weird, crabbed approach to art, seems to me. Would you elaborate, and/or tell me I'm wrong?

Draft is pure electronic gymnastics, probably fascinating to MAX/MSP dorks but little interest to those looking for beauty in the random/not random jitter.

I dunno man, 'draft 7.30' / 'grantz graf' are my favorites of their whole trajectory. the melodies they used to play on their keyboards are still there, they're just completely baked into the sound design of each track, and those sounds are beautiful in and of themselves. and when they do return to the keyboards... last track on 'grantz graf' is one of the most beautiful pieces of music they've ever done, when that high descending line comes in for the first time, it's just effortless

pfff, Untilted rocks like fuck!

and even the the old "IDM = lol electronic fretwank" opinion/cliche yet again.

(Trayce - I had no idea you and Modex hooked up [this is correct, non?]- so pleased for you both!)

LOL it happened 2 years ago! :) I thought you knew :) yeah its been awesome =)

unperson, ledge, lukas and everyone above are of course, otm - because it's obvious when listening to the best of Autechre's music that there's more to them than their technical brilliance. Quaristice was a very smooth sidestep, but I did get worried at one point, around the time of Untilted and Draft that they'd become quite happy to coast along.

xpost nope didn't know until the other day haha!

One more thing about Ae before I go to bed. What were people's overall opinions on Draft7.30 and Untilted? I don't HATE these albums I must say. They have certain merits.

In mind Draft7.30 is the sound my brain would make if I were kidnapped by pirates and forced to remember an entire Funkadelic album so as not to be seasick during a storm.

Untilted makes me think of a janitor sweeping up a stadium after the world's biggest breakdance event.

Untilted is phenomenal, but my memories of Draft don't make me want to return to it.

also love untilted.("sublimit" people!!)

I throw draft on every once in a while and nothing sticks. all these years later and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I imagine every ae fan has an album or twelve that fit this bill.

there just weren't enough melodies in draft (/geir)

Untilted makes me think of a janitor sweeping up a stadium after the world's biggest breakdance event.

lol

someone could write an algorithm that generates an infinite array of ae lolsoundslike similies

o rly

brb throwing all my autechre CDs out the window

I can understand being drawn to music due to it being innovative, but there has to actually be something there to keep you there, right? The idea of Autechre being "beaten at their own game" means nothing to me, as their game is to make music that people will presumably want to listen to. I don't think there's some producer->consumer contract where both sides agree that it has to be innovative.

I kind of cringed at the idea of Kraftwerk being appreciable only because their music was "made in the way it was." It's appreciable because it's good music!

The point of some Autechre work, to me, when it's not immediately accessible or danceable and certainly not hummable, is that it can evoke feeling. There are a couple parts of Confield that make my teeth hurt and make me feel uncomfortable as they sound so alien. I don't necessarily get pleasure from that, but I definitely get something, so I return to it on occasion.

extra-human melodies that only revealed themselves through intensive listening.

HUH?? I've listened to them all these years, and huh??

I can't listen to Draft or Untilted -- hate the compressed sound. In fact, I think Confield used up all the patience I had to try to get into subsequent Autechre releases, so that I don't even have time to try to "get" Quaristice.

Quaristice is pretty accessible IMO, some of the outtake material even moreso.

New album sounds like Plaid imo

Good '90s Plaid???? Say yes, Tray!

Well Ive only heard Double Figure, so...

I mean obv it sounds like Ae, really! But it has these Plaidy bits here and there.

someone could write an algorithm that generates an infinite array of ae lolsoundslike similies

― nakhchivan, Monday, February 8, 2010 6:26 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

o rly

brb throwing all my autechre CDs out the window

― Salvador Dali Parton (Turangalila), Monday, February 8, 2010 6:39 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

yeah

btw "Know" (or whatever the 3rd track is called) is gorgeous

This whole premise that Autechre were great because they were more technologically adept than their contemporaries is ridiculous, and frankly, more than a bit elitist. And by the way, have you heard that all rock music from the past thirty years is crap because no modern day guitarist can shred like Hendrix?

But how can Autechre continue when the dubsteppers are creating these incredible experimental soundscapes that you can dance to?

Of course it's obvious to everyone that experimental soundscapes you can dance to >> plain old experimental soundscapes. Oh wait, it's not obvious, that's a completely messed up strawman argument. Why should I continue listening to the Rolling Stones or MBV or Yo La Tengo when Pink makes rock music with better videos and cooler outfits?

This discussion actually makes me angry. I think I need to get off the thread.

Oh, and in my first paragraph, I'm not claiming that Autechre are/were the Hendrix of tech wizardry. I've never tried to seriously compare the "difficulty" involved in making Autechre's music with that of their contemporaries. It's never even occurred to me to try. I only care about what the end product sounds like -- besides, seemingly complex sounds can be obtained simply, and vice versa. I prefer to remain agnostic about the electronic music-making process, for the most part, and just go by what I hear.

hehe, calm down guys - as i mentioned before, my rhetoric was meant half-baitingly in order to generate response, not as a critique of Ae.

yeah, pretty sure everyone on here is on the same page, more or less.

Yngwie Malmsteen playing a 24-string guitar with his arse-cheeks

Can we please figure out a way to erase this horrendous image from my brain, kthx.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/106530/ae_wire.jpg

When I listened to half this album a few days ago I was under the impression that this album was 'pure atmospheres' as opposed to 'pure moods'. I wasn't feeling any emotion from it, perhaps because it was only an early listen. But on a track or two I did imagine a marsh at night full of tall trees with reddish bark being lit up by passing will 'o' the wisps among tin sounding machinery still churning away in the saturated overgrowth of moon-lit marsh

Needs more listens

Needs more listens

As usual it takes me a long time to 'get' whatever they're doing. Finally caught up to Confield and it's one of my favorites.

Oversteps threw me because it is unabashedly beautiful a la Amber - I was used to their records being ultracomplex transmissions from some unfathomable alien intelligence and wasn't really ready for anything 'pretty'. Hangs together as a coherent record much better than Quaristice did, which felt like random sketches and experiments (didn't help that there were, what, four different versions of it). Seems like their career has come full circle and that this is a sort of return to what they were doing in 93-94, but it doesn't feel like they haven't learned anything along the way.

If there is dubstep out there as 'advanced' as what AE is doing (and I'm a big dubstep fan) I'd love to hear it, I sure don't know of anything that's as interesting. But the audiences are different and so are the expectations, dubstep's a functional club music and AE are more academic, closer to the electroacoustic/IRCAM tradition.

I still don't know if I quite understand Confield yet, and it's what, nine years old this year(!)

I think my main problem with it was the harshness of certain rhythms, particularly on tracks like Cfern where the bass drum sounds like a close-mic'd football being launched about a tiny metal room. And while that may sound interesting, it just gets irritating after a while. I think I've mentioned once before about the time I once ran feverishly around my room in a waking fright-mare when my stereo alarm decided to rouse me to the strains of Bine one morning. It took about a minute for me to realise what was going on and where I was. All I can say is I was terrified!

Autechre is a "tracks band" for me. I like around half of Confield a lot and appreciate the rest. Bine moves like an assembly line into a threatening trash compactor if I remember correctly. It's one of the better tracks on Confield.

some of this reminds me of the synths on the apocalypse now soundtrack

Cfern where the bass drum sounds like a close-mic'd football being launched about a tiny metal room

that is certainly one of the better autechre similes i've read

throbbing like an amputated limb while weightless choirs ascend

4/10

Anyone have the track running times for like the first 3-4 tracks? Trying to figure out if I have the correct "leak." Don't worry, Ima buy the damn thing.

trying to talk about autechre's music without relying on ridiculous similes is basically impossible in my experience. i especially like the one on quadristice that sounds like an enormous robot attacking a chicken farm (you know, that one)

https://youtu.be/IuN51P16HHY

getting psyched for Denver. Anybody seen them recently in North America?

https://youtu.be/3-vEXc6B57k
Oberman Knocks - Dilankex (Autechre remix)

that BLOC clip (live?) is too brief... this Oberman Knocks remix is a monster. god bless 'em (the mighty 'Aut)

Going to the SF show. Can't wait!

seriously hoping for a proper uk tour, as well as that unpublicised sold out wee hours of the morning london show.

https://soundcloud.com/leheron_idletones/autechre-live-metro-chicago-il-09292015

recent live excerpt

the Metro/Chicago set (secondary link) is brilliant stuff.

that's really good, but wish the audience would stfu

the brooklyn show tonight was sick

Anybody going to the Philly show tomorrow?

https://archive.org/details/Autechre-Warp25-Krakow

listening back to this (excellent) bootleg, there are some interesting bits of overlap, with variations.

Enjoying Krakow show so far!!! Goddamnit I can't wait. Some juicy beats they're slinging in that set.

On the off chance anybody is at Union Transfer tonight, I'm the (well, a) guy in the brown striped sweater and blue glasses. Long hair, expression of vague unease, probably very very drunk

https://www.mixcloud.com/keyfumbler/autechre-portsmouth-new-hampshire-2015/

this one's monstrous

hello https://clyp.it/2akno5zg

XD

Oh my, yes

oooooooooohhhhhhhhh

dope track

with headphones it's spectacular, especially around the 3:00 mark when the arse drops away and it gradually sounds like the deepest hole ever. through a macbook speaker it totally sounds like they're taking the piss.

It sounds pretty dope on these Macbook speakers!

it sounds like a couple of blokes taking the cunting arse out of piss

basically my reaction to confield until the 7th play through

it sounds like a couple of blokes taking the cunting arse out of piss

i'm in the clubhouse i heard already, p kewl

i heard thru my sick bose noise cancelling cans

noise cancelling cans

so you heard nothing at all haw see what i did there

lolz

they cancel noise not noize

neway this isn't really noize imo but it's definitely heavy

Not for me.

Autechre does dub

First thoughts: lots of ©æ™® textures. Harks back to Confield era somewhat. Dope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExnKj30jYp4

I would bet the new record is a 'best bits from the past couple tours' thing (though what would be really cool if it drew from whatever soundboards they have from their entire career)

Always wanted a version of 444 with a sax solo so was very stoked to find this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6nz5aymN20

There's an hour-long all-AE show by those guys on YT too, this Cichli is from there

That is fantastic. Thanks for the link!

hey, this is about me

http://www.factmag.com/2016/05/14/hear-a-new-autechre-track-feed-1/

what the

https://www.reddit.com/r/autechre/comments/4jet2f/theory_a_new_autechre_album_comes_out_june_24/

obviously this song is glorious

the full 490

seventy sevens indeed sir

lol

ahhh hahh hah that number code/date on the cover, excellent. didn't they already do this with Exai though?

oasis_be-here-now.jpg

https://www.reddit.com/r/autechre/comments/4jet2f/theory_a_new_autechre_album_comes_out_june_24/

― StanM, Sunday, 15 May 2016 11:32 (4 days ago)

I'm starting to think that theory might be wrong.

I'm starting to think that I'll never listen to autechre ever again.

it wasn't a bad theory as these things go

xp: I don't know, it's like existential, man. (why am I listening to this? is it possible to like or dislike this? what's the meaning of life? is this music and does that even matter?) etc :)

new album out

has it leaked?

Is it washable?

has it leaked?

This is what happens when there are three Autechre threads on SNA that I had nothing to do with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqjbuQ_2UyY

Lentic Catacheesis

I randomly stumbled upon an autechre podcast called gonkcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gonkcast-an-autechre-podcast/id1533479657) and decided to listen a bit. Rather than start from the beginning I decided to start with the Confield episode. I enjoyed the episode.

A couple of remarks:
- These guys were under the impression that what they called autechre's "middle period" (confield to untilted) was the least popular era of autechre, which has not generally been the impression I had from the various message boards I've frequented where autechre was discussed
- I liked the discussion about why this sounds like completely random sounds to some people (something like how it's a bit like freeform jazz or something of the sort except that since the sounds are computer generated, people don't see the human hand that is guiding all of this and just assume that it is computer generated randomness)
- It was fun hearing these track names pronounced: one of the hosts wondering if he should say VEE Scose Poise or 6 Scose Poise, a mention of "el-sec" (in my mind it was always 'else-cue'), at some point one of the hosts starts talking about "drug use" and it took me about 30 seconds to realize he was talking about drukqs

Cool, will give it a try, as long as they don't have annoying podcast voices.

one of the hosts wondering if he should say VEE Scose Poise or 6 Scose Poise

Viscous pwaaz imo:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poise_%28unit%29?wprov=sfla1

listened to that Gonkcast a bit and while it's an interesting listen I don't always agree with them.
I would agree that that middle period was where they lost me a bit and my interest waned.
I recall the style of music they were making along with other Warp/IDM type stuff was falling out of fashion in general - "Why listen to these bedroom nerds when you can go out and listen to dubstep" was the mindset. Also, while Confield was a big release but it divided a lot of people, so the commercial response for Draft/Untilted was muted.

I agree that that middle period is one where they lost a lot of fans, but for many others (including me) they changed from being one of many Warp artists that they listen to the Warp artist that managed to take things to another level. I don't know, maybe that was just a vocal minority at the time.

How does the podcast handle pronouncing the song titles?

Yeah I feel with earlier fans of Autechre who were all in before Confield, that era was one of lower popularity, but they attracted a bunch of new fans who really appreciated their more experimental leanings to balance things out. Now I think nostalgia and increased experimentalism on numerous tracks that would come later have allowed people to return to this with more rosy fondness.

Seriously, Warp - when the heck are you guys repressing Chiastic -> Untilted already???!

Fun podcast, btw. Enjoying the nerdery.

silverfish OTM, I got on board around Tri Rep and when Confield hit it was just mindblowing, they went from one-among-many to one of the major pole stars of my musical universe. There are periods when I can only listen to Autechre despite a massive musical library.

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.

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

i think the bascadet 10"s were the first autechre things i saw, in the virgin megastore on oxford street (first i bought was the envane cd, although i probably had the artificial intelligence cds first)

The CD version of the EP box has the untitled hidden pregap track from EP7 at the start of Cichlisuite too, btw. (the download version doesn't have it, if discogs is correct)

The CD version of the EP box has the untitled hidden pregap track from EP7 at the start of Cichlisuite too, btw. (the download version doesn't have it, if discogs is correct)

The EPs box is a cool object, but it is some work to figure out which EP you're actually listening to, especially if you aren't really familiar with the track titles. The Gonkcast guys admit their lack of familiarity with the individual EPs as such when covering them (but then they lack direct experience with the physical releases in general). I've been working through most of the discography and Gonkcast in tandem, currently up through Oversteps. It takes a while for their "takes" to emerge, but it's thoughtful, convivial and nice to listen to while chopping up vegetables or whatever.

Not sure if I ever listened to that pre-gap track althogh I have owned EP7 on CD as well as vinyl (promos - an especially good pressing.) The EPs collection is remastered so the levels match nicely and it's easy to let it play through. One other thing missing from it is the alt version of Laughing Quarter.

Checked out my spotify wrapped thing for 2021 and according to it I am in the top 0.05% of autechre listeners for 2021. I guess with still listening to SIGN/PLUS a bunch and also going through the whole gonkcast podcast this was going to happen.

Damn, this is a magical set.

https://autechre.bandcamp.com/track/ae-live-oslo-171116

was just reminded that in 1997 they produced a track for an artpop album by some Japanese singer named Mari Hamada

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB0BY0EqijM

which I think is the only time you get to hear what Ae would sound like with vocals. it's really nice. they aren't on the rest of the album obviously but it's really worth checking out

Never heard (of) that before, thanks.

Sean was a bit down on that track in the recent chat - it was basically a demo that got taken for the final mix iirc - but I've always liked it.

i was shocked to find out it is a cover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMYiRsoUKBw

I did not know that either. the whole Mari Hamada album is a mystery, would love to read a track by track breakdown on how it came to be. how did Autechre even get involved? I know they've done some remixes of stuff with vocals but nothing else like this

just scanning the credits of the album, some of the production team were members of soft ballet, who had recently done a remix album (soft ballet forms) with a number of warp artists

including autechre, actually

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63ztC74ODRI

another producer had been a member of nav katze who ALSO did a well known remix album feat a number of warp affiliates

mystery solved i’d say

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWury9zukkM

that soft ballet remix is in my top 5 ae remixes.

just scanning the credits of the album, some of the production team were members of soft ballet, who had recently done a remix album (soft ballet forms) with a number of warp artists

― the late great, Tuesday, June 28, 2022 12:52 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

okay yeah the dots are connecting a bit now, funny enough I had just recently listened to the Plaid remix they had done and wondered how the hell that came to be

always wondered if there were any Soft Ballet fans on here :)

Autechre really really really need a remix anthology

There was a big unofficial comp of their remixes that was doing the rounds online a few years ago - ‘Laxir’ or similar..

Ah someone’s been so good as to bung it on SoundCloud

…hmm maybe ignore that link, not the entire thing - but the Laxir comp covered up to about the last 5-10 years…

those nav katze comps with all those big 90s names rule. love the global communication one.

did sean talk about it on that twitch chat? kinda curious how the producer got in with all of those heavy hitters.

this record is a favorite as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKqUQ9srNGk

frustratingly, the other records seem to be, uh, like alt rock? which makes this all even weirder

also frustratingly, the laxir fan comp, while absolutely filled with gems, is not everything. it actually leaves out a decent chunk of stuff, despite being long as hell. i think some completionists have compiled even longer ones…

Have they done any in the last 15 or so years?

yeah, tho they’ve slowed it down.

stuff like russell haswell one sounds like modern autechre.

the sophie one isn’t as far out as you might think (want?), kinda like the earth remix.

the earth remix is masterful and amazing

they took a near-perfect song, probably decided not to fuck with it too much because it's already near perfect, then tweaked the production just enough that i can't really listen to the original now if i have a choice because theirs sounds so much better. and i don't really know if i could put into words what they did to it, besides edit a bit to add a refrain, tweak the eq, and add a weird drum sample (brushed cymbal or hi hat played backward?)

actually i'm not even sure if they reversed the drum sample

oh yeah, it’s great! but the first time i put it on, i was def like “wait, huh? this is an autechre remix??”

my fave is the Neu! remix on the splitrmx promo - speed isn't marked so I prefer it at 45, but 33 is good too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xr1OT6u7oI

(that title should be "Autechre play Weissensee against Im Glück" btw)

oh and frogbs they did release a remic of SOPHIE's "bipp" last year

Would love to make a list of "surely this is mislabeled, can't be" Autechre remixes

Earth is on there
so is Anodyne

anything else?

https://autechre.mixlr.com/recordings/1977679

xp probably the Tortoise remixes too

xp was that streamed live today? how did you hear about it?

^^ mixlr link is "a dj set of some old stuff for a bit of streaming" said sean_ae on Mastodon

https://www.reddit.com/r/autechre/comments/zz2ub6/anybody_here_excited_about_this_link_below/

Well, that’s tonight’s listening sorted.

5pm GMT tomorrow, https://t.co/UW6sG0bGqg pic.twitter.com/F9YgsDq7lU

— NTS Radio (@NTSlive) February 4, 2023

I remember the shock of the first one … “I think this might be an unreleased track!” “wait this is another unreleased track!” ”oh my god”

Lol yeah and “surely the next 3 will be DJ sets”

I looked at the NTS schedule and it's programmed as "17:00 - 22:36 AUTECHRE - ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE - 1992 CONTEXTUAL MIX"

those pals need to add more vocals on their composition to reach a new sonic dimension

I don't necessarily disagree. In my headcanon "Bryan Ferry Sings LP5" is an actual thing. It's never going to happen outside of remixes though. I 100% feel that Plaid ought to go back to doing more vocal collabs

autechre must follow the mouse on mars path: getting an mc like mark e smith

The NTS set is the same set as the Mixlr one from December, for anyone interested.

the description did seem familiar

aw

If someone you knew was curious about Autechre, but had never heard Autechre, what track or album would you play them in 2024?

PLUS and SIGN followed by LP5 and EP7.

Is there something from 2000-2010 we’d add?

d sho qub!!!

plus and sign otm. then maybe exai. the hard thing with finding a good ae track to play someone is the length ime. for pretty ae there's gr4. for 'goes hard' ae i think spl9 is relatively economical in terms of length.

I wonder what the ultimate AE playlist would contain

1 hour? 2 hours? 4 hours? 8 hours? 16 hours?

4.640147 hours

The band has such a huge catalog and evolution of their sound in some ways over the years that it's a complicated answer.

I think I would need more context to better suggest something. Are you recommending them to someone with the intent of them listening to or getting into the full catalog? Or are their tastes configured in such a way that they'd be more amenable to pre or post 90's Ae? Do you want them to experience an "album" or a general "vibe"?

I almost think putting together a playlist might make more sense. If you had to pick an "album" I feel Sign/Plus, Oversteps and Draft 7:30 do a decent job of straddling the accessibility of their 90's output with the textural experimentalism they've explored since, but LP5, EP7, Chiastic and Tri Rep are straight up classics too, with the latter influencing a significant number of artists in the late 90's.

I think you could concisely express the high points and diversity of their output in a 2 hour compilation, honestly. You don't need to play them all end or gonk steady one or anything long form to convey what they're about.

yeah the question is how much stuff like Garbage/Eutow/Arch Carrier do you include

you could get long-winded and sound like a sports journalist about it, consider referring to them as 'booth and brown' at least once.

my attempt was with a 24 year old who likes yung lean. it didn't work. but getting him into neil young did, so that's nice.

Autechre are probably my favorite band I've never actually tried to get anyone into, just seems like a big ask, sure they have some kickass tracks that'll pique their interest but they're just one small piece of a catalogue that by and large is very inaccessible, for me personally it took quite a few tries to get into it. idk if i wanna put anyone through that. its kinda like On Cinema in that regard.

yeah i agree with that. i doubt i'll ever try to 'introduce' them to anyone. probably no one is going to be like 'oh i've heard of them i've been meaning to check them out.' i feel like either you're already a fan or you're not interested.

the guy at the record store said that to me after I ordered the Confield/Draft reissues, he asked where he should start and I was like "man idk I've never even said their name out loud"

i doubt i'll ever try to 'introduce' them to anyone. probably no one is going to be like 'oh i've heard of them i've been meaning to check them out.' i feel like either you're already a fan or you're not interested.

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?" And then play them a track that almost sounds like music made by humans. Dip their toes in the shallow end of the pool and then let them go further out on their own if they want to.

For a two hour mix I'd probably make sure at least 1 song per album was on the mix, with a couple EP/single only tracks here and there when necessary. That alone, if chosen wisely would give a good progression of their stylistic diversity and sound evolution. Obviously you're leaving a ton on the cutting room floor. But that's for the person to then explore on their own.

Here's a sample:

1. Incunabula - Eggshell
2. Amber - Glitch
3. Tri Rep - Clipper
4. Chiastic - Cipater
5. LP5 - Acroyear2
6. EP7 - Ccec
7. Gantz Graf
8. Confield - Eidetic Casein
9. Draft 7:30 - Surripere
10. Untilted - Pro Radii
11. Quaristice - 90101-5I-I
12. Oversteps - see on see
13. Exai - spl9
14. Elseq - foldfree casual
15. NTS - six of eight (midst)
16. SIGN/PLUS - Metaz form8

This is about 2 hours, showcases nearly every aspect of their style, including the insane experimentalism. I didn't pick my favorites from each, but tracks that seemingly expressed the core aesthetic intent and vibe of each record from my view. Exai and NTS were a bit tough though since both really expresses that diversity on their own.

I mean people get into Aphex Twin still all the time, prob not that much of a stretch, though they maybe don't have anything that grabs your attention immediately like Aphex does. when I play their wilder shit for people the reaction I usually get is "do people enjoy this?"

but yeah I like octo's approach, I did that when trying to make a P-Model/Hirasawa mix CD for someone, which is also one of those things where each release builds off the previous one in some way, so just going steadily chronological is pretty fun. though I will say I'd choose an entirely different set of tracks lol

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.

rae

you know I’m right

“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

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.

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, 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.

he might be more interested in Aphex Twin tbh, send him the RDJ album

^Good call

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

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.

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

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?

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

Tri Rep remains their worst album for me. Lots of static tracks that pall quickly.

the thing with ae is that they're at their best now. neil young peaked in the 70s.

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)

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.

Tri Rep my fave by a wide distance - guess people look for different things in Ae

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.

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:

Cipater
Archcarrier
Ccec
Drane
Eidetic Casein
Gantz Graf (the video)
Surripere
Perlence
known(1)
bladelores
c16 deep tread
gonk steady one
au14

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:

Lowride
Slip
Garbagemx
Second Bad Vilbel
Eutow
Cichli
Laughing Quarter
Krib
Rae
Maphive6.1
Gantz Graf
Cfern
6IE.CR
Augmatic Disport
Simmm
d-sho qub
iris was a pupil
bladelores
c16 deep tread
violvoic
gr4
ecol4

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.

some things that haven't been mentioned yet (I think? these song titles, man...) that I would personally include:

the egg (from the first artificial intelligence lp)
under BOAC
sublimit
ylm0
cap.IV
lentic catachresis

under BOAC is spectacular. That would make a good starter track if you knew they were ready for a wild ride

under BOAC was the first autechre I truly got obsessed with

titles have definitely stood in the way of word of mouth

Just throw on Theme of Sudden Roundabout

every time I click on the 'essetial live recordings', I get booted off (logged out) ... I have no idea why.

I just wanted to ask about the venue in Brooklyn called Brooklyn Steel - wondering if it's spacious or not so much so (wondering if the Autechre show on October 25 will be packed; if it'll be difficult to move around, etc.

Any comments about this would be v much appreciated!

Brooklyn Steel is pretty spacious, should be plenty of room to be where you want or need to be.