Lianne
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Boards of Canada Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
Lianne replied to Alzado's topic in Boards of Canada
I should leave the Rolling Stone article alone, but this comment: "...electronic music just ain't what it used to be." That's a sentiment I've read a lot of 'mainstream' (and not so mainstream actually) journalists write. But I've heard some of the best electronic music I've ever heard within the last few years. And of course there's garbage, as there always was, but there are also genuinely new and exciting musical levels being hit at the moment, and I mostly hear them being hit in electronic music. I know 'electronic music' is hard to define now anyway, because it's in everything, but the way some electronic-ey production/synth tricks are being incorporated in pop music or whatever is also sometimes interesting. Anyway, I guess overall it's the same ratio of good/bad as it always was. But it's definitely not worse, and where there isn't retro-fetishism going down, production and sounds are still getting more and more refined and interesting in a few places. Unfortunately if enough journalists proclaim that electronic electronic music (whatever that is) isn't interesting or relevant anymore, some people will probably believe them and hear all new electronic releases through that lens of cynicism and lack of appreciation. -
Prac-f is still the most mindblowing thing. So much detail, such voluptuous morphing sounds! The three main 'shifts' in that that track make your brain explode. So good!
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Yeah, your tracklist is probably how I'd have it in an ideal world, much as I like the album. Those are the best tracks by far.
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What a fantastic album this is! Sometimes I think I'm expecting too much from new electronic music, but then I listen to something like this and am reminded of the difference between fresh sounding, smartly produced, imaginative, catchy, excellent materials like these and most other things. This'll sound pretentious, but never mind: the way Atom TM references the past (and things like Kraftwerk) seems much more romantic and 'pure' to me than the mostly self-aware, boring retrofesting that is going on in so much electronic music now.
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This really is a fantastic album. I'm enjoying other tracks more now that weren't hitting the spot before. I've alway really liked deco Loc (while understanding why it's not so popular in general), but now it does my head in even more wonderfully. 'Recks on' is way more creative than I thought it was, what with all those nasty, ill-sounding, disintegrating synth parts. My favourites are still the first three tracks, though, with Prac-f being a constant source of amazement. Prac-f really is incredible. There aren't really any 'bad' tracks on here. But it is a more accessible, varied, and more overty musical release than anything they've done in a long while. I've read lots of reviews claiming the opposite - that it is 'noise' that barely changes, that it makes for an exhausting two hours, that it is difficult, etc. I'm not really sure what these folk are after or what they are listening to, but I suppose they have to say something.
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This is how I feel now. Maybe it'll suddenly become great to me like Oversteps did. But it's very different to Oversteps - very 'jammy''. And Quaristice never did grow on me that much. But Spl9 is amazing, along with tracks 1-3 and vekos (and other 'moments'), so who cares.
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CD arrived...yay! But was the album only mixed for headphones or something?? Or is the CD mastered a certain way? A lot of it (though not every track) sounds really weird and weak in my car in comparison to all other music (and other autechre.) And I can't crank it; it sounds off and a little painful on the ears when I do. A bunch of tracks (1 1 is for example) are totally bass-shy when it comes to the lower lows. I'll take mono-ey Autechre that I can crank in the car over headphone bliss any day... :-/
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I wish the second half of 'recks on' wasn't so bare. It's just that simple beat, droney (pretty straight) analog sounds, and vocal synth stuff, with occasional simple interruptions, as far as I can tell. Many moments like this on Exai sound like live jams that haven't been edited much, or pretty half-baked (or at least stripped) ideas. Then other bits almost sound more dense and detailed than anything else Autechre have done! It's weird. On track 2 the 'jammy' aspect work for me, though (and works amazingly!) I am trying to enjoy those other bits. I know if I had heard them from another artist I wouldn't bother quite as much, though, as there's not much to bother with. It's not like, 'what the hell is happening here!? Brain overload!', nor is it so minimal and repetitive that it challenges me: gets me in the zone another way... It's more...'meh'.
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In surprised reviewers are finding this hard going/ challenging. To my ears it's the easiest Ae listen for ages... In fact since tri rep (apart from 1st track and spl9.) Even Oversteps is a stranger album. It is polished and accessible much of the time.
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Thanks Awepittance... I had a feeling tracks after the first 3 would shine more loud on decent speakers. The first three are stunning headphone experiences, tho (which I find to be unusual for Ae. Even my favourite albums of theirs sound a bit 'flat' and weird spatially on headphones.) I must confess to only really listening to Exai on headphones so far (waiting for CD to play in the car!) And I agree with others about Irlite (get 0). I would welcome a whole album of that kind of invention and atmosphere. The first three tracks outshine everything else anyway, with Irlite being particularly 'outhiney'! Such a joy to listen to... Such a thick, dark, heavy and serious yet funny, alien atmosphere. Autechre have really done something so special here!
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Is it me or is there some variation in how detailed and well-produced the tracks are? For example, tracks 1-3 are so wonderful and I can just get lost in the details. They're crammed full of sonic detail ad movement and spatial mastery. But "jatevee C", and even more so "T ess xi" kind of jar me in how u-detailed and barren they appear in comparison. I would also like to love "nodezsh" and "runrepik" more... But even they have all these swirly reverby synths going on and whatever else that seems 'lush', they again seem rather barren compared to surrounding tracks. But if someone can offer another more informed perspective, I welcome it!
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This is true. It has a good aspect, for sure; it's opened me up to loving and accepting other music in a similar way. You can have the same approach you have to Autechre to other, more unknown (or even unsigned) electronic composers and enjoy them much more. It's hard to do, of course, because you don't have that 'Autechre feeling' that's built up over years of following them, but if the music has enough detail and love put into it and grabs you enough, you can do it for sure.
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What an awful, awful review. Actually, that Wire review reminds me why I think the whole way music is generally reviewed needs to be flipped on its head (not that I can talk! But I know I am definitely no reviewer...) It's like reviews have nothing to do with the sounds or the music but rather some weird narrative of music, and when it comes to this kind of music the narrative is always the same and rather dull (in opposition to the 'failed experimentation' of the 2000s). Sure, I can see why the reviewer has ascribed that narrative to ae, but I think he's totally missed the point, and I could just as easily come up with a different one. The boys themselves keep emphasising the fact they aren't conceptual at all and simply follow their evolving tastes - so just listen to the music! The ways music is generally reviewed means you can proudly write off entire swathes of work (Confield-era Autechre) as part of your 'assessment', which is really just a bunch of references. But when I hear Confield, I just hear really fascinating music. I'm sure that reviewer could hear fascinating music, too, if he wasn't so obsessed with his story
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Right. I love where the track goes, and the lovely machine-like chords from the second half onwards that replace those opening pads...but really...those opening pads are pretty corny. Those combined with the 'talky' synth squelches and bouncey beat; it's like your dad telling an embarrassing joke.
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I can't get enough of the first three tracks. They are so, so good. Fleure, with it's spindly, beautifully metallic frequency-shifting beat and many buried arpeggios, melodies and squelches (I don't know if that's correct, just trying to find words), irlite with its beautiful alien atmosphere and frankly bizarre but wonderful melodies and chord bursts, and the best of all (to me), Prac-f....that third one in particular displays a level of detail and sonic mastery I've not heard before. Totally overwhelming, and makes my brain sing. It kind of spoils me for anything less, so I guess the fact that other tracks are a little more bare is part of why I struggle with some of the album. vekoS is similar in its density and atmosphere. Another stella track.
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Here to share more ill-informed opinions. :-) Was blown away by parts of the album, but still finding it pretty 'straight'. I've just realised what it is! It's the drum sounds, as opposed to the beat patterns themselves. LP5 (or even Chiastic Slide) to Draft (excluding exceptions like V-Proc's straight hip hop beat that comes in) had really alien, machinic percussion sounds. Not straight drum machine hits or things sampled from a drum kit. Draft did my head in with its cyber/robotic/organic/metallic/wooden drum splatterings. 'EP7' and 'Confield' especially hardly has a single overtly recognisable kick or snare sample. Even Oversteps used pretty alien and FM-ey sources to do most of the rhythmic parts. Whereas the new one has a bunch of straight forward, recognisable electronic (or even blatantly sampled acoustic) drum hits. That's why why I love deco Loc so much. Such a cool beat with such a weird high pitched, squelchy drum world. Tracks 1-3 are also so special. Whereas the others have footwork using hits I've heard in other records.
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so let me get this straight Autechre get slammed for making stuff like Confield by a certain populace of listeners, to cries of "I wish they'd make stuff that sounded like LP5/Amber/EP7 again" so Autechre make stuff that sounds 'familiar' (if you can even attribute such a quality to music by Autechre) and they get slammed again. W A T M M Was I actually 'slamming' them, or this release? That wasn't my intention and I don't think the post reads that way now. Really interesting responses otherwise, though. I think I agree we are more conditioned to their music, so it'll be easier for us and induce less "what the hell is going on here?" kinds of feelings (feelings which I enjoy). I'd love to hear more about the interplay of sounds, though? There seems less interplay going on to me, but I am keen to hear of how others are hearing it. I can admit - the darker, the more bizarre and more alien, the more I like it when it comes to Autechre (not all music, obviously). So of course things like the overly cheery synths chords opening T ess xi and the happy house pads and swirly hip hop sounds that crop up more often here than on other releases don't do it so much for me. But that's just taste; I can see those tracks are still well produced and full of other interesting sonics (and even the 'cheesy' elements get a cool makeover.) It's obviously all quality music. But to my ears those quirky, lighthearted elements on this new one stand in contrast to, say, the totally straight horn stabs in Sublimit. The horn stabs in Sublimit were brilliant because of how shocking they were in context of everything else that had gone on in the album (and what they morphed into), whereas the more traditional elements on Exai sit in the tracks in a different way, if that makes any sense. Also, maybe I'm just conscious that all the other 'IDM' big guns have got more and more relaxed and synthtastic. But it's hard for new blood to rise up, because it is often ignored. Thankfully Autechre are still pushing things, and Exai is a testament to that, despite my misgivings about how some of it makes me feel at times.
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I wonder if we'll get a truly 'experimental' or challenging album from them again? Some of the first disc (tracks 1-3 especially) and spl9 are really dark and alien, but overall this one is seeming even more poppy than Oversteps in a way. Sure, that was softer and had a lot more melody, but the b-boy like, hip-hoppish, 'funky', super polished edge and the pretty straightforward beats (to me) on this one make it seem much more accessible than ever Oversteps, what with its more more unusual, 'stately', composed, soft sound.
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That's a really accurate assessment, I think. The layer of accessibility was partly down to the stunningly lush production. I'm enjoying it a lot again, especially disc 1. Still wish that totally dark/alien/wonderful/uncanny vibe that permeated the first three tracks was more of a permanent fixture on the release, but that might be a bit much. Also, we make fun (me included) of critics who claim a presence of dubstep (or other subgenres) on an Ae record, but more than any past album I hear Autechre clearly referencing more modern electronic trends in some of the bass parts and drum work on here. And it's not necessarily a bad thing at all...I just had to admit I clearly heard it, as much as those lazy comparisons are annoying!
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Yeah... I really don't know what is going on with the second half of 'recks on'. Seems totally uninspired on every level to me.
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I know I did the "I love it!" "I hate it!" "I love it again!" thing with Oversteps, but I'm amazed how differently we hear music on different days (and obviously different audio systems.) I found this to be the most unusual and stunning Autechre ever when I was overtired hearing it on headphones that first time while falling asleep. Hearing it again today out loud on speakers, however, it seems just "o.k", but not as deep or inventive sound or beat-wise as Confield/Draft/Untilted (I know the production in this one is obviously lusher than those releases, but on speakers the difference isn't so important. Exai suddenly seemed overly synthy and a bit too b-boy/hip-hoppish to me when I heard it in context of the inventiveness of that mighty trio. And I wasn't trying to compare or be critical... I just happened to have those on last night and heard Exai this morning.) I know it's a great release. I think I would have loved the unusual and deeply special atmosphere of the first few tracks to have continued, though. It doesn't help I listened to Confield again and fell in love afresh with the scrunchy, totally 'other' soundworlds on tracks like Parhelic Triangle. Since Quaristice, everything has become more overtly musical, 'instrumenty' (for want of a better word...lol) and jammy for Autechre, which is better for most people, I suppose.
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Heard all disc 1 and a bit of 2 last night. Amazing... The first three quarters of disc 1 in particular made me feel things I've never felt before, what with the dark, detailed, smooth and sparkly yet utterly bizarre and surprising atmospherics. It's like the music I've always wanted to exist but never found, that first tree quarters. Can't wait to dig into disc 2 properly. Reminds me a bit of the Oversteps live tour, but is totally fresh too. Beautiful production and sense of space - much more so than any other Autechre album on headphones, to me. No weird mono-ey buisiness.
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Bleep isn't letting me start my download...
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What's this continual general talk on music forums/blogs of 'it doesn't matter how it is made, the end result is important', like that just should be an absolute rule for all listeners? It's equally valid to totally care about the HOW and hear and think from that angle, producer or non-producer. Also, I yearn for more music that is intricately modelled - where sounds/fx seem micro-managed, because most music doesn't seem to be that way. Which is fine, but when 90% of stuff is either pop in production or 'experimental' in the sense that there's one 'avant-garde' sound experiment going on, music that is actually interestingly put together with lots of fascinating little components as well as a great 'overall picture'...well wow, that's something special, and worth exploring. :-)
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Does anyone else still get excited that this is a DOUBLE album we are talking about? Woo woo wee. I never thought I'd see the day when Autechre released a double album. But then it also felt so natural and 'right' when I read it'd be two discs of brand new music. Running out of things...