Lianne

That's true. No one...or hardly anyone...here who could afford the album will NOT buy it, leaking or no leaking. I want to avoid the leak encounter myself, as I've ruined the surprise of previous Ae album arrivals by getting the leaks. But that's only because I can be pretty much guaranteed a new Autechre album be interesting at the very least, and probably great. With certain other big IDM mainstays, I wish I HAD heard them early to avoid disappointment. But with Autechre, there is something special about waiting. This is sounding like an argument about marriage. Written impressions are still totally welcome though! love reading those!

I can understand why Joyrex is upset, but to me this thread is actually very wonderful. WATMM is the place to be, to be. Life is serious enough as it is. Smiling is exailent.

True, it's not all woody - much is super metallic and/or harsh and very non-woody. But some has definite wood. Words fail in all of this. But there is a definite difference in approach between the sonic worlds of Confield/Draft 7.30 and then Untilted, Quaristice and Oversteps - because of these totally non-hidden reverbs, very synthy synth sounds, recognisable Elektron/classic drum machine sounds, even very recognisable real samples/field recordings, etc. :-) This appears to be the case more and more from Untilted to Oversteps. Where all of those elements are usually massaged into something totally 'other' on releases like Draft 7.30 or Confield, on the last three even I can hear those elements more as they are, more distinctly, closer to the source.

Exai is really good, isn't it?

Confield and Draft especially seemed to have more traditional synthesised/source sounds totally morphed/melted until tracks were more musical 'bio-mechanical' organisms. What alien sound design! Apart from V-Pro (with its very recognisable beat sounds), even the percussion kicks and squelches from another living world. From Untilted onwards the sound design seemed far less non-referential and more overtly 'synthy', with Quaristice and then Oversteps being the clearest expression of this. I love those three, but I also miss the days of inhabiting alternate wooden universes as supplied on Draft.

...but do post impressions!

Having seen them live about 4 times, and as much as I enjoy the soundboard recordings available, I can see their point. There is something totally magical about going to hear brand new Autechre music in that setting, especially engineered and made for the tour - knowing that it's just for that moment, that experience in time.

What are people hoping it'll sound like? I would love it if the new album was something very alien and subtle, without anything too synthy or anything at all referential - with lots of 'magic' moments, but not in the way those kind of moments usually happen in music. Like the second half of Simmm. Something elegant and yet totally 'other'. No daft squirting around or messy silliness. I'd love it to have lots of tracks like Uviol or Parhelic Triangle - but slightly warmer, and with the increased drama and switches of later albums. From the radio track, I doubt this is how it'll be, but who knows.

I'll probably be getting something in the mail Mon/Tues. It's up to you guys if you want me to say anything. FWIW, I'm not trying to brag or anything. I just thought you guys should know that preproduction copies are going out now. I'm just lucky to have this awesome friend who has an awesome job. I realize that the wait it is the hardest part, but the anticipation is also kind of awesome. I'd be in the same spot if it wasn't for this scenario. I would really, really love to hear some impressions as soon as you get the album. Don't worry about the complaints - please just share your perspectives on the new work ahead of the release. :-)

'Overand' is my favourite off this album by far - it's wonderful. I really like the way the 'dissociative effect' has been mentioned in the OP. That track does it best... perfect to listen to when you're wondering around certain grey, drizzly, 'nothing-ey' areas. But to be honest I don't find the rest of this album so enjoyable anymore, apart from that one and 'Dael'. It's a bit too repetitive for me these days, but I appreciate that the slow manner in which it unfolds is part of the charm for many people. This and Amber have gone to being my least favourite Autechre releases (though obviously they're still great), a feeling few seem to share! :-)

I love it. It sounds like a very recent track to me - I can't imagine this having come out pre-Quaristice. It feels like a mad evolution of the Move of Ten shenanigans. I just love how it develops. But I could be completely wrong about it being recent... I wish Quaristice had sounded more like this.

I also find krYlon very beautiful. Oversteps is a very beautiful album.

I find Oversteps to be incredible, and of all the Autechre albums I own, I'm least interested in how they made this one - because it hits me with such a great emotional punch. Move of Ten, however...

I've been saying this far too much - but I want that Bigshot interview!

I too think it's a great read - more open than Sean's, who couldn't even say what software was being used to mix other people's music on a radio show! :-/ But does anyone else not really understand much of what Rob said? Not in a bad way. Apart from when he's saying concrete things, like "we put loads of jams to tape", or whatever, it all seems very... ethereal and unfocused. Mad.

Is it Atavism?

somebloke isn't exactly alone regarding known(1). I lent Oversteps to a guitarist who likes lots of music but is really just beginning in the stranger ends of the electronic universe. He said the album was excellent, but he couldn't believe that third track was made by the same people who did all the rest of the tracks and he said he hated it. But he is basically converted! A new Autechre fan... I had already lent him Draft 7.30 before and it blew him away. I think it's a myth that you have to start people not into this stuff on Autechre's earliest albums. It may be true in some cases, like if the people in question have dabbled in chillout or trip hop or lighter forms of electronica or whatever, but I've found that if someone is serious about, say classical or jazz or post rock or even just guitar music, giving them something hard hitting and unapologetically alien first off can work wonders. If I'd lent certain people (like this guy) the first three albums instead of Draft or Untilted or even Quaristice, I don't think they'd have ended up fans. I think Oversteps is a beautiful record, but I wouldn't use it to introduce someone to Autechre. It's a little delicate and soft for that, and its depth or complexity isn't particularly in your face (though it is there.)

Has anyone read the Sean Booth interview in Bigshot magazine? I've been waiting for this one for ages... http://newsflash.bigshotmag.com/?p=7302 The issue is out, but not over here obviously. I want to have the whole thing!

The bigshotmag interview is out, though I don't think we can get or read the magazine over in England!?

I'd probably prefer the vinyl version then, as the wavs are a little bright for my system. Btw, thanks for your perspective on the reverb, oscillik. I do think Oversteps is a beautiful album, for all my whining. I'd like to read fanboy love-ins on this one more than any other Autechre album, as I think it calls for subjective narratives... It's more about feel and emotion than ever before. Perhaps that's why it can cause love/hate reactions in me, because sometimes I'm not feeling that brilliant and it's much easier to pick holes in a more overtly emotional album like Oversteps then, say, Draft, when you're in that critical sort of mood. Or something.

The absurd love/hate thing continues for me. I was on Ilanders and thinking, This is awesome! And pt2ph8 blew me away next, then qplay hit me with deep emotions. But, and this has been happening quite a bit while listen to this one recently, see on see...just isn't working for me, even though it feels like it should. What's up with all the bloody reverb? It sounds totally amateur (not that I know much about this business, but shit... it's like a newbie unsigned IDM geek ran his whole track through a new reverb box and set it to the nth degree!) Gives me a headache. What a way to ruin a track....

I so want that Bigshot interview. When's it out? Surely by now...

I have only just recently realized how awesome the Quadrange EP is. I wrote it off before because I was a bit unimpressed by the idea of having yet more versions of my two disc Quaristice thing, but I've since come to see the material on the EP as pretty magic. It's full of Autechre-ey-ness.

lol? Autechre have been using if/else for 12 years? fucking hell. Though i can understand how for a Max user conditionals are a high level issue. What's if/else? I'd like the hear more about this programming business, and why you object to how Sean discusses it... If it's not too boring for yer average reader, that is. ;-)

That's a pretty good interview on both their parts, but I really disliked the tone of the article and the way the writer approached writing about them and what they were saying. I also wished they were asked more about Oversteps... I mean, what we did get just makes me want to know a little more... “Even though people are describing it as mellow because it’s a lot more melodic, the ideas are a bit deep,” Rob explains. “We need something with a bit of power or energy or force to it despite the frequencies.” “I wouldn’t call it ambient,” Sean adds. “My idea of what ambient music and our new album are is a million miles away from each other. It grew and got demoed loads just by us listening to it on headphones and taking train journeys. And all the ones that were our favourites fitted that.”