AAA - Ask Autechre Anything - Sean and Rob on WATMM!

[Guest Coalbucket PI]

Dear ae,

Do you think there is something about your music that is obtuse, and if so is that something that you embrace or do purposefully? It seems like a defining feature of the autechre sound to me, that it requires some level of effort to appreciate.

Is there an effort to make the music more accessible when performed live? I personally found it easier to connect with it in the live scenario but that might just be a result of being forced to listen to it very loud and in the dark,

Thanks!

[awepittance]

I've noticed you both seem to be a tad vague in regards to politics. Is this an intentional decision or do you guys mostly try to stay away from that these days? I remember Mary Anne Hobbs getting freaked out when she let AE do a mix on BBC1 during a long section of radio cutups featuring a guy repeating the phrase 'political terrorism'. I'm curious what your politics are in general or if you guys both share the same or similar politics. edit: specifically I was wanting sean to elaborate on the world wide NSA spying being a 'necessary development' (sorry if thats not an exact quote)

Was there ever a ketamine period of Autechre?

Edited November 3, 2013 by John Ehrlichman

[Sean Ae]

Are you in contact with Steven Wilson from Porcupine Tree or Robert Fripp from King Crimson? Steven somewhere said that he would be interested in collaborating with you but I always thought his music (even the electronic one - Bass Communion) would not be interesting enough for you.

 

Also, were you influenced by Einstürzende Neubauten's early albums?

 

you mean toyah's husband robert? nah we're not in touch, but i rate king crimson

 

don't know porcupine tree at all

 

i dunno any einsturzende neubauten either, i think rob checks them maybe

[Rob Ae]

Dear ae,

 

Do you think there is something about your music that is obtuse, and if so is that something that you embrace or do purposefully? It seems like a defining feature of the autechre sound to me, that it requires some level of effort to appreciate.

 

Is there an effort to make the music more accessible when performed live? I personally found it easier to connect with it in the live scenario but that might just be a result of being forced to listen to it very loud and in the dark,

 

 

Thanks!

Not really, i mean, i know its a bit ' different' ,not run of the mill type stuff. but its not as weird as something like scratching.

[Root5]

Nah there are no floor sounds in there.

 

 

 

yeah the voices were independent but communicating

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

it's just conditionals really nothing too fancy

 

nah

 

 

Thanks for the answers. I guess it could still be tennis then. Or maybe footie.

 

I'm also very curious about the melody in irlite (get 0). Not the early bit that starts at around 1:30, but the insane bit that starts before 3:00, and comes back around 8:40. That melody is amazing and like nothing I've ever heard before. How'd you guys come up with it?

Edited November 3, 2013 by Root5

[Guest wartburger]

Sean, are you into Neutral Milk Hotel?

[Guest SammyTheCrab]

You named somebodies kit "maca" i did a little LOL

[Guest MastaN8]

Let's say you could have just 2-4 pieces of hardware (excluding your laptop) to record your guys next album, what gear would you choose?

[chassis]

 

 

 

k I wanna be in on that gear naming thing,

 

I would be honored if you guys would give a name to

 

--- my E.Machinedrum

---- my (modded) E. Analog Four

 

(I can baptise them myself then)

 

your machinedrum is now called keith

your analog 4 is now called pierre

 

 

Any chance on collaborating with a Japanese singer again? The track with Mari Hamada is beautiful.

 

Have you used Renoise beyond the experiments with Venetian Snares?

 

maybe, it was a laugh, altho they remixed the hell out of it. the original mix we did was better imo (unreleased)

 

yeah we used renoise a fair bit, haven't personally for a few years tho

 

How such artist as Mari Hamada comes to an idea to have her tracks remixed by you? I mean, I would expect Tortoise to be really into experimental music or Radiohead, given to Thom Yorke's admiration of your work, but Hamada? It is quite surprising for me.

 

 

labels

 

 

Oh I see.

 

By the way, what was the reason for not going on tour with Radiohead? I mean, was it a collision of two different music approaches (in case they wanted you to colab with them on stage) or was it because you were offered being just an opening act for their show (in that case I would fully understand - to play for people that are not really interested...).

 

Don't you regret the decision a little? I mean, money offered surely must had been good! :-)))

 

And what do you think about Radiohead's takes on making electronic tracks like Everything In Its Right Place and Kid A? I personally think they are very well produced, the vibe is strong.

 

Feel free not to answer of course if the questions are too much. I appreciate your time :-)

 

 

 

we didn't want to play in stadiums to radiohead fans really. just seemed a bit superfluous

 

i dunno i mean they were good at writing songs and then they got into our stuff and their stuff didn't seem to improve much, i thought they would take it off in some mad direction but the critics bit hard, everyone around them got upset and they retreated. whatever

 

 

omg this wasn't a draem! sup autechre!!!!

 

what do you think about flying lotus his music? imo i think he's great and has a lot of talent he uses well

why didn't he ask you for a track for gtaV that would have been awesome

 

i really like the track he did with earl

hoping he does more straight up hip hop stuff tbh, he's good at it

 

is it this earl?

 

 

nah i don't know if it came out actually

it was ages ago, i saw a youtube i think

 

Think it was captian murphy between friends.

Edited November 3, 2013 by chassis

[Rob Ae]

My missus really wishes she was present for this but can't get to the net right now. She's a really big fan of you two, your music means so much to the two of us. Could you please give me a nice message I can pass on to her?

How about we send a smoke signal for this one or we could postpone until there's sufficient development of 3d printers, we'll print the same spec bud/bowl config.

[vamos scorcho]

Favorite new synthesizer since 2010?

[auxien]

Earlier I was asking about the drums in a live track, the track is this one: http://youtu.be/fTWYjCAcCs8

Do either of you remember what drum machine/routing set up/manipulation you were using to create and modify those drum sounds? They're amazing, every damned time I hear them.

[encey]

What influences how you order the tracks on an album? Are you thinking in terms of LP-side 'chunks' of music, or is it different for different LPs, one maybe where you'll have CD in mind and think of all the tracks together as a long-form sound experience? Do you have any albums you've thought of in terms of one-off files, where you would be indifferent to the order the tracks are listened in?

 

Also, this is my favorite bit from the Glasgow Art School soundboard -- I would be over the moon if you released this as a full track on something!!

 

[Rob Ae]

Let's say you could have just 2-4 pieces of hardware (excluding your laptop) to record your guys next album, what gear would you choose?

Spacerail, 24track, 1 piezo, 1overhead, (today that is)

[Panoptic Sweep]

 

My missus really wishes she was present for this but can't get to the net right now. She's a really big fan of you two, your music means so much to the two of us. Could you please give me a nice message I can pass on to her?

How about we send a smoke signal for this one or we could postpone until there's sufficient development of 3d printers, we'll print the same spec bud/bowl config.

 

 

Thanks!

[Rob Ae]

What influences how you order the tracks on an album? Are you thinking in terms of LP-side 'chunks' of music, or is it different for different LPs, one maybe where you'll have CD in mind and think of all the tracks together as a long-form sound experience? Do you have any albums you've thought of in terms of one-off files, where you would be indifferent to the order the tracks are listened in?

 

Also, this is my favorite bit from the Glasgow Art School soundboard -- I would be over the moon if you released this as a full track on something!!

 

It has differed from release to release, but with exai, (this is probably a gross over simplification), they were choice of track grouped in pairs in most cases, optimised for vinyl. Then arranged to taste.

[OneSixSeven]

I know absolutely nothing related to music production but I have listened to your whole discography for many-many times and I enjoy it as nothing else in the music universe, so my question is: do i still miss too many elements in your music due to not knowing anything about music making?

 

Any chances of a gig in Russia? There sure is an established fan base here in Moscow.

[Guest Pennywise]

Take it you guys have seen this dude

 

[Redruth]

burp ..oops

Edited November 4, 2013 by Redruth

[Rob Ae]

I know absolutely nothing related to music production but I have listened to your whole discography for many-many times and I enjoy it as nothing else in the music universe, so my question is: do i still miss too many elements in your music due to not knowing anything about music making?

 

Any chances of a gig in Russia? There sure is an established fan base here in Moscow.

I doubt your missing anything of any value, knowing can lead to assumptions i guess. My best early memories of favourite tracks were from not knowing anything about what they did.

[Sean Ae]

I remember in an interview you said that Confield 'is like pop music compared to some of the stuff we had considered putting out', do you condense whole new sounds and whole ideas into single tracks and try to make that track as distinguished and individual as it can be, before moving on to the next track? Like try to maximise its quality? Bine for example is pretty unique on the album and in your output as a whole, and the darkest track on there imo, is there more like that? Like the other music of that period when making that album (or any album really), are there fully completed tracks that have not been released or are they covering the same ideas as the ones on the album? Is there a distinction between music and a track for you, like a point where it starts to take shape from the discovery and experimentation?

 

Just wondering about the creation process because the strong contrast from one track to the next is one of the aspects I like most about your music, and your albums. Few do it as well, or as [seemingly] intended.

 

it's something we end up doing by default cos after doing one thing we rarely feel like doing the exact same thing again, unless they're really fast to do and then we might do a few in one go

[Rob Ae]

Take it you guys have seen this dude

 

 

Yup. Great stuff.

[sweepstakes]

- When programming, do often spend a long time trying to make more general purpose tools with a ride range of uses, or is it usually more ad-hoc? What are some of the more interesting/unexpected design challenges for you when making these tools? I'm particularly curious about how you decided to handle recording/storage and playback of continuous parameter changes, i.e. stuff you control with knobs/faders.

- Do you ever find it uncomfortable to use a mouse as much as Max requires? If so, how do you mitigate the effects on your wrist/arm?

- Could you talk a little bit about how your custom communication protocol differs from OSC?

- Could you pretty please name my Nord Micro Modular and my Octatrack.

[Rob Ae]

I'm also going to throw it out there Cus it's in style right now, that it'd be nice to give my Electribe EA-1 synth, which I bought from a nice gentleman named Tony off Craigslist a few years back (gotta give that shout out man), a name:)

Edit: and my Nintendo:))

Snyd Meed

[Sean Ae]

Hi guys, thanks for this and welcome to the AE subforum. I hope you like the decor.

 

Answer me these questions three:

 

Travel back in time with me for a second, you're the younger versions of yourselves, the year is 1994. A strange, vaguely familiar looking man approaches you (see pictured below)

 

 

 

 

He speaks in a northern accent and says "hey m8, heres a tape check these tunes out". After the initial horror subsides you put the tape in your Sony Walkman (with Smash Hits magazine stickers on it) and play the tape, it plays a collection of tracks assembled from Confield, Draft, Untilted and Exai. How do the younger versions of yourselves react to this music do you think? Do you enjoy it or think it's a little too out there?

 

 

Also you played Hearn St car park in London on the Quari tour in 2008. This was really coincidental for me as I got a job around the corner there a week before you played. Do you remember this gig? The sound was incredible, it's the best I've heard you guys live (Bloc 2010 was a bit shit due to sound). This isn't really a question I guess, I just found it novel that you played in a car park with your own setup.

 

 

What do you think of my ae subforum moderating? I like to think I'm firm, but fair. I do my best to keep vagrants out and am thinking of introducing uniforms here soon, thoughts?

 

 

(In all seriousness, nice to have your presence here guys, keep up the great music <3<3<3)

 

reckon we would have been bang into em tbh, we were pretty open

i dunno if i've ever seen your handiwork round here but i'm prob just not on enough to notice