Jamesqdot

Thank you so much for this! I forgot to set my alarm and missed out on the first batch. Ordered my copy earlier today. Looking forward to receiving the discs as Grid Pattern are great at turning CDs into fun physical objects rather than just a one-sided booklet in a jewel case. 😀

God damn it... I ordered this from the Hospital Productions website. Then realised you can get the LP editions from Bandcamp as well so I’ve missed out on the digital.

That reviewer sort of points up what I found to be the problem here, and it's an understandable one. When you drop a 4 hour album followed by an 8 hour one that are both full of what a lot of people (including me) cite as some of their most experimental and often best work in a long time, going back to a more traditional album length format is inevitably going to be - at least initially - underwhelming. We don't don't have the quantity. And on top of that, they've moved back to a more "melodic" form - as complex as it frequently is - than previous work that requires more structure and less algorithm. That isn't what many of us want from an Autechre release right? But... these albums need to be given time, I think. It's odd that they've released them separately rather than as a double album like Exai, which might have ultimately garnered a better reception. But even Exai was hard to absorb on initial release because it was so fucking long and dense, and why try to recreate that anyway? I didn't like PLUS when I first heard it. I was under the impression that it was just a shorter, more minimal take on elseq and NTS. But of course it's not, as tracks like X4, marhide, TM1 open or lux 106 mod attest. I'm fucking hooked on this album now, because the complex melodic element is just fucking awesome... like Oversteps and Move of Ten. I hope soon to be equally hooked on SIGN. Did they maybe release these in the wrong order?

I'm not sure what just happened, but yesterday I was finding PLUS a little too chilly and alien. It reminded me of the Confield/Draft 7.30/Untilted days in all the wrong ways.* This morning, listening to it again, it's suddenly just clicked. I think it's just incredible! And yes, X4 is a stone cold, all-time classic! I'm kind of hoping this is going to happen with SIGN at some point too, but I suspect that may take longer. Initially it hit me like Oversteps 2.0, but I haven't really gone back to it the way I did with previous albums. * I should point out that I was no longer "getting" Autechre back then. I'm better now... 😄

I would tho... 🙂

No no... I can do that... previous post apparently not

From where? The Bleep Store or the Autechre Bleep Store? Try a hard refresh.

RIight? Although... lazy journalism is the new journalism. So you know... that?

Facepalm Amen Lare? Why?

That's fair enough. To clarify, I always thought if those three albums as being their "difficult" period. A softee like me just couldn't get into them, and they lost me. Especially Untilted because it gives me an actual headache every time I try to listen to it. Yeah. That was kind of my point. It feels like it's distant from all that. A bit like Oversteps was. There are influences, of course... but it's sort of nostalgic.

Did this reviewer just discover hip-hop, like, yesterday?

Maybe that's the reason. More than any other other album this feels like a distillation of everything they've done previously. With all of the contemporary production.

I realised I generalised and followed up. Like the noob that I am...

Okay, maybe not LP5, but Oversteps... let's overlook the trilogy that escaped me of Confield, Draft 7.30 and Untilted.

I honestly don't understand the love for SIGN. I mean... I love it... I think this might be one of the best albums by Ae I've heard in decades... but what is it about everything else since LP5 that I'm missing?