alright, so Im really intently listening with some nice headphones....keep in mind this is all my opinion, first experiences pretty much, and Im not a GIGANTIC AE fan like some of you, so don't flip the fuck out if you disagree.
Fleure-
Really let down by this...sort of a crap intro honestly..reminds me a lot of Untilted which tbh is one of my least fave AE albums..though the last minute or so is amazing....."yes...this is the autechre Im expecting"...spooky and theatrical. Compared to r ess off Oversteps this intro is really underwhelming....for a 2cd opus you'd expect there to be a bit more "oomph" in the first track the listener hears.
Irlite(get 0)-
surprisingly accessible industrial/hip-hop beat, 1:30 synth is amazing...sounds like disjointed piano playing atop strings that are melting due to heat exposure or something. yup, this track is classic already. i can't say im a huge fan of when those "piano" stabs are whatever become overly distorted and sharp further in, but maybe I'll warm up to them. transition into spacey music at 4min is much much welcome. The midsection reminds me a lot of ICBYD's "Next Heap With", but I have no idea why...very Amon Tobin'ish low bass....beat comes back in (5:43 or so)!!! This is yummy and epic. Sounds like harpsichord/horn stabs over a pretty housey bass progression, and I really like it. Overall this is one of Autechre's best (maybe?) It's incredibly accessible as far as most mid to late era AE goes
prac-f -
Sounds a LOT like an LP5 groove in the beginning, and the pads/atmosphere are eerily reminiscent of Chiastic Slide and moments of EP7. I have a feeling this is going to be one of my overall favorites simply due to its minimalism, doesn't sound as chaotic as the earlier two tracks. Very menacing...some sort of delayed/flanged chorus in the background ooooh, reminds me of the sounds of the eels from The Princess Bride (please tell me someone else gets that reference) now around 2:10 jangly metallic noises come into the forefront overriding the earlier beat. The stuttering hi hats are very interesting, the entire atmosphere depicts a humanoid android or something shuffling along a factory floor while rusted bits of it fall away from the whole. Yeah, definitely my favorite track thus far.
jatavee-C-
I was lucky enough to hear this very very early around the time of the leak, and I still love it...VERY housey pads in the beginning...everytime the beginning of this track plays I gear up for a possible ambient/rave epic...then the hiphop beat comes in completely unexpected but certainly welcomed. Again, pleasantly surprised at how AE seems to be bridging the gap between accessibility and the more chaotic, randomized and dare I say "non-Euclidian" melodies and rhythmic geometry of some of the few earlier albums. The last minute and a half of this is absolutely sublime...loud penetrating bass and the crunch crackle of the machinery mechanics with those housey pads washing in and out. Not too much more to say about this one, very enjoyable. Another favorite.
PS. does anyone else want to hear an Autechre footwork/juke track after jamming to this?
T ess xi-
Sounds out sounding rather playful...perhaps its because of the bubbly percussion? Again, very surprised at how straightforward and relatively unmanipulated those housey chords are..reminds me of that one track off of Squarepusher's Numbers Lucent EP....beat kicks in WOW!!!!! First time in this album Im legitimately headbobbing to the beat...this is excellent. This is such an interesting blend of genres/styles and once again, accessibility with a lot of strange rhythmic experimentation...there seems to be this odd chalky sounding string put through a 1/4 step gate or something...you'd think it would be jarring but its oddly welcome within the rest of the song's parameters. The only complaint i have (and this is very minor) is how much better this would sound with a heavy thick sub bass wobbling underneath it. I do like how it progressively gets more intense and off-kilter towards the 3:30 mark..and there seems to be more bass bubbling/farting underneath which I really like...interesting and gorgeous decaying harpischord melody around the 4 min mark. The ending reverting back to the bubbly percussion is a great way to end it. Another favorite thus far on the album.
vekoS-
Sounds like a video game fiending for more crack cocaine or something....This is an incredibly dense atmosphere here...I'm not even sure I'm fast enough to process all the layers as they play out. Theres a very disturbing sound thats like a cross between a child wailing and the sound of wind rushing through a crack in an industrial building. Damn this might be yet another favorite. I like the rattling buffer-override percussion that seems to be speaking some sort of angry language..mechanical phonetics. This is like an automated warning or alarm for some sort of alien civilization's R&D department. Although there are certainly a lot of changes going on, it's not as grabbing or immediate as most of the aforementioned tracks...and Im not sure whether that's good or bad. Definitely the darkest track so far....possibly my favorite of all?
Flep-
Very interesting sounds going on here...like a monk doing some throat-percussion then cut up and bastardized/randomized by the AE crew? whoa the pad rhythms around 1:40 are insanely catchy. I might consider this one of the weaker tracks (though that's not really a bad thing persay), it remains fairly static....this would be better enjoyed in the background rather then subsuming my headspace demanding direct attention...a decent headnodder. Would be good for deskwork I'd imagine.
PS-Is it just me or was there a Funky Clavichord melody towards the end? Sounded exactly like a Stevie Wonder lick if it was shat out by some industrial caulking contraption.
tuinorizn-
some sort of deep flangey trumpet thing followed by a VERY interesting monosynth I think? This is very interesting....echoes of AFX's "Equation" or Analogue Bubblebath around here...even with oldskool claps rounding out the main beat! This is short but very sweet. One of the most "creative" tracks I think I've heard thus far. Some of the melodies are absolutely amazing and constantly morphing....to me this sounds like if FSOL-Dead Cities-era was a collaboration with the AE boys. Considering FSOL is probably my all-time favorite electronic group, this is fantastic.
and now we come to the epic everyone has been speaking of...I have not heard this one yet
bladelores-
Basic hiphop beat, lots of foggy echo...Im expecting some sort of melodic "monster" as it were to protrude from this haze...and the bass synth sounds fairly close to that. Ok, now the real downbeat has kicked in...this reminds me a LOT of Deus Ex for some reason...futuristic hacker soundtrack going on here.
around 2 min or so I almost barely hear a beautiful cascade of what sounds like choral voices/????? I wish it was just a bit louder because it sounds phenomenally gorgeous. ok..sounds like they are getting louder.....this track is rhythmically every basic compared to the earlier tracks but this is very transcendental. Its like the choral passages from Skyrim mixed with Silent Hill 2's percussion and hints of Oversteps arps. So far this is everything its hyped up to be....definitely my favorite thus far in the album...I just really, really wish those choral pads were a little clearer in the overall mix....I could probably just listen to them by themselves for 30 minutes. ooh 5min mark FINALLY just the pads!! Yes. This is very very Michael Stearns-ish now that I hear it clearly.....and once again Im dragged away back into the hazey echo beat....nice tease lads!
Amazing track BUT, Im somewhat let down by the last 5 minutes of it....the pads become less defined and just amorphously overwhelming...sounds like a TON of brickwall compression and while it certainly creates a unique atmosphere it really pales in comparison to the choral sounds in the first half....this could have definitely been edited into a much more cohesive 8 minute version....I mean, I like the long extended ambient wash at the end, but its nothing terribly unique or exciting, and would be rather easy to make in fruity loops by layering a ton of pads and on top of that throwing tons of compression over the master effects track. Still, the first 6 minutes of this are up there in my top AE moments ever.
Overall Id say thus far these are the tracks that made the biggest impression on me (not necessarily my favorites, but some of the most notable parts on first listen):
Prac-f
Tess XI
vekoS
tuinorizn
bladelores (or the first 6-7 minutes of it at least)
hope people read this and enjoy it, I dunno, I spent an hour writing stream of consciousness.
But my overall impression of the first half, EXAI thus far: pretty damn good album.....I think I still like Oversteps better simply because it caters to my more ambient sensibilities, but one thing I definitely give credit to this album is that it seems to be the perfect hybridity of all of AE's past 7-8 albums. Im hearing echoes of all the great AE moments from Tri Repetae onward....to me this is like an AE greatest hits album then recut and fucked with/remixed and reprocessed a few hundred times to make a completely new AND old amalgamation.
