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Ooh, can't wait to be a right cunt about it.

So everybody is expecting that the Helsinki recording (if it is indeed that they're going to drop) will be right away generally available for any and all?

Yes, I'm looking forward to my own reactions when I can listen to the set at my leisure in the environment and mindset I choose.

Session 9.

TwentyTwentyTwo doesn't event compare to OneSix, which was nothing short of amazing. Unless you get to hear the recording(s) of the live set, the only impression you'll have is the one tour event you went to. I haven't listened to the bootlegs of other tour sets for quality reasons, so my only reference is the Helsinki gig, which I found at times boring based on being there. I'll just have to see if the upcoming recording will make me revise my view. Imagine, if you will, a time when the only experience you got from a live gig was the gig itself. There were umpteen things that could go wrong with the experience, and you'd feel robbed of your expectations. Now people will record anything and everything, so the gig isn't really something special or unique anymore, you can rinse and repeat/rewind until the cows come home. I had very high expectations of the Helsinki gig, and I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't jaw-drop amazed like I was with OneSix, which left me walking on air for a couple of days. With TwentyTwentyTwo, I shrugged and came home, and not because of the sound system problems.

Amazing roster of artists (Derek Carr, iNF0, Type 303, Iron Blu...) and spread of sound, highly recommended for armchair techno enthusiasts.

I don't think so, although I did find the set almost boring at times, because there's no discernible dramatic arc, no tension and release, just otherworldly sound design and rhythmic pummeling. It was... fine, but not comparable to the sublime and exquisite experiences I've had with a lot of their music. I would prefer to hear something that has evolved, changed, transformed even, with time, experience and skill, but perhaps it's just me who's lost the ability to do differential analysis of their progression, and truly appreciate how they do what they do. I have been following Ae intensely since Incunabula, and have spent countless hours listening to everything they've released, so perhaps I've just found my saturation point - although I found Sign and Plus to be a breath of fresh air.

From the email:

I did have all the facts, if you read my review of the gig: it was the venue's sound system that glitched out, which was confirmed by a sound person working for the venue.

Significant enough for some people to leave soon after the problems started, after about 2/3rds of the set, so the end third of it was glitchy and subpar sound-wise.

Second release on EI, will also be available on vinyl.

Could be, the message is from the ticket vendor, but the email address to request the recording is from the local tour promoter. Nevertheless, yes it's nice that there is an automatic compensation, but like I said, it's a woeful substitute to the actual experience, and yes, I have also requested a refund - before the recording offer.

The capacity of the concert hall is about 1700, and I would say that about 1200 tickets were sold; a single live recording from the Ae shop is 10 € for 24-bit WAV, so that would be something like 12 000 € - but a lot of people bought two or more tickets with one email address so let's say the average is two - that would make the gesture's maximum value 6000 €. The recordings will be sold in bulk, so from that point of view a single event's recording will be worth maybe a couple € at the most - but taking into account the fact that recording your own live set and distributing it digitally costs about nothing, I think it's a nice gesture, but definitely not an adequate replacement for the botched gig - which wasn't Ae's fault, but the venue's. Like I wrote before, I'm looking forward to hearing the gig without the glitches, but a recording is not the gig, like a map is not the territory. I know a lot of people have asked for their money back, because Ae gigs are all about the experience of sound in as dark settings as it can be. When the sound system breaks down, the experience is FUBARed and a free recording is not an adequate substitute for many.

So, it seems that the Helsinki gig attendees will get the recording as a refund for the sound system breaking down. I'll have to send a specifically crafted email to an address, and everybody who has an email address in the ticket vendor's ticket purchase database for the gig will get an unique code for the download.

Neither.