Autechre Autechre - Oversteps (WARP210) [The MegaThread]

[digit]

the beats are pretty steady and simple because the melodies are so complex and constantly moving all over the place. the focus of this album is definitely on the melodic lines. at any given time there are multiple different overlapping melodies that barely ever repeat. this is where all the typical autechre evolving complexity is occurring.

 

if the beats AND the melodies had all been super complex and constantly moving, the album would have been a mess. the rhythms are just an anchor to help you focus your attention on the melodic elements. it's clear that all the work on this album went into 'composing' the synth parts.

[joseph]

yeah....if people are listening to oversteps for "the beats"...that may be a large part of why they aren't getting it. The reason oversteps initially impressed me so much was because all of the meticulous attention and complexity that they usually put into the rhythmic elements, now were being put into the melodic elements.

 

Over time, the vitality of it wore off a bit in an uncharacteristic way (for autechre). So it's probably in my lower third autechre albums. But the lower third of autechre albums is still so much better than the best of most other musicians

Edited April 1, 2012 by Joseph

[Guest disoriental express]

This will still be ahead of it's time until we can observe super nova's at pointblank range

[splesh]

This will still be ahead of it's time until we can observe super nova's at pointblank range

When we can observe supernovae at point blank range, Autechre will likely be long since dead.

[oscillik]

long live the 'chre

[baph]

old 'Chres never die, they just fade out until they are no longer audible given the limitations in dynamic range reproduction of their chosen medium

 

Edited April 3, 2012 by baph

[splesh]

long live the 'chre

[Dale]

I still highly rate this album since its release - probably one of their best records in my opinion. There really aren't any other records out there in terms of this unique direction they headed in.

[sysyphus]

'chre 4 eva

[Joyrex]

This will still be ahead of it's time until we can observe super nova's at pointblank range

When we can observe supernovae at point blank range, Autechre will likely be long since dead.

 

Yes, but the music will probably be around in some form or another. Unless, moving to a digital medium means one day the archival servers hold the Autechre Master Recordings from 1991 until their retirement in 2028 might get destroyed in a fire or conflict and they will be lost forever, and the purists could not settle for mere "limited" CD quality versions on physical media that at this point is fragile and hardly any devices can play them due to their antiquated format.

[oscillik]

24bit 4 lyfe

[jules]

The reason oversteps initially impressed me so much was because all of the meticulous attention and complexity that they usually put into the rhythmic elements, now were being put into the melodic elements.

 

pretty much this for me too. it's liked inverted autechre.

 

chreaute

Edited April 25, 2012 by jules

[Guest ruiagnelo]

I know virtually nothing about music (academically speaking), but Oversteps is for me the most classical of autechre's works and of any other electronic music record i have heard before. And i am not talking about the choir on d-sho qub, which most definitely was artificially generated.

IDM is long gone already.

Everything is perfectly balanced and proportioned, harmonic, built up based on precise notions of scale. It's not simply a sucession of elements organized to sound abstract and intricate, which would make it superficial. The organic and complex melodies create moments, chapters with a very strong sense of orchestration behind it all.

 

And i have just now realized the meaning of the artwork, but only because i have seen an exhibition of a an artist called Fernando Calhau, which displays some works he has done in the early 2000's, when he was just about to die, and in which he draws using only charcoal in a big canvas, revealing the black of the surface in tune with his body's movement. I can only imagine how he felt, using his last energy to stamp his pain on a black surface that oversteps the limits of the paper.

 

 

His artworks made me realize how complexity can only be represented in simple gestures.

But this record made me realize how it can only and truly be represented in black and or white.

Edited April 27, 2012 by ruiagnelo

[Guest ruiagnelo]

this record has one only flaw: the tracks have titles. it's kind of embarrassing really

[Alcofribas]

nice post, man!

 

p.s. how are you guys hearing this? is there a leak?

[Guest ruiagnelo]

nice post, man!

 

p.s. how are you guys hearing this? is there a leak?

 

it can take years for me to understand a record.

but actually i didn't even remember it's been two years already

[dr lopez]

nice post, man!

 

p.s. how are you guys hearing this? is there a leak?

lol

[Redruth]

that is really wonderful post ruiagnelo. years, yes. i've continued to appreciate oversteps, more and more with every listen

[vertsk8er419]

Man, I love that cheesy melodic motive.

 

I resent that!

 

and it's not cheesy, it's actually a quite intense and deeply transformative melodic motive

[modey]

And i am not talking about the choir on d-sho qub, which most definitely was artificially generated.

Sounds a bit like a manipulated mellotron choir to me, though I might just be projecting.

[digit]

And i am not talking about the choir on d-sho qub, which most definitely was artificially generated.

Sounds a bit like a manipulated mellotron choir to me, though I might just be projecting.

 

it's definitely fs1r.

[Guest Marach]

r ess is Hipatropic Autechre Drive In Freefall

[splesh]

r ess is Hipatropic Autechre Drive In Freefall

 

Care to elaborate?

[joseph]

autechre albums take a long time to snap into focus, like when you first hear it there's a lot of confusion and ambiguity, like an image that's been blurred because your ears were tuned to their previous work

[sweepstakes]

I think I like Oversteps less every time I hear it. It feels more arbitrary and half-baked each time. The AEffect is not working.