Autechre Autechre - Oversteps (WARP210) [The MegaThread]

[Food]

Waffles are tasty in my belly

 

I had choc chip waffles with jelly and ice cream last night so good.

 

but thats all the waffles i got

[TwiddleBot]

nah, it's all in good fun.

[BobDobalina]

wast the deal with the original uberthraed? Did we break the internets?

[jules]

Yep. Even the www got a panic attack reading all that

[Guest Super lurker ultra V12]

If this leak really is Oversteps then i'm wondering what happened to the Designers Republic???

I think tDR did a good work, the artwork is as unoriginal as the music

[jules]

Zing

[marf]

something that is weird and sort of disturbs me in an unquantifiable way is that this is actually the first autechre release that does, in places, reminded me in any way of aphex twin. obviously, some of the melodies have that naive quality which dicky jimjams uses a lot. but also:

 

 

 

what is a naive melody? Im really curious actually

[kaini]

something that is weird and sort of disturbs me in an unquantifiable way is that this is actually the first autechre release that does, in places, reminded me in any way of aphex twin. obviously, some of the melodies have that naive quality which dicky jimjams uses a lot. but also:

 

 

 

what is a naive melody? Im really curious actually

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqg_ZGcuybs

(edit: the camera work in this is fucking incredible)

 

a simple, playful melody, often one that ignores harmonic/melodic rules.

featured in a lot of electronic music, but done well by afx.

Edited February 10, 2010 by kaini

[Guest lithgow]

Since this thread is off to a negative start, I just thought I would vent on the distortion in Ilanders and the beaty track nearish the end. I am all for distortions - usually love it. But this sounds pretty terrible and overdone to me. Its on the snare, bassdrum and all the synths. And afaik ae have never gone overboard on horrible distortion before. Sounds like cheap amp sims up in my face or something. And really out of place VS the rest of the album.

actually i think the distortion in ilanders is great. nice and crunchy. i kinda wish the rest of the album sounded like that! i think if the whole album had beats like in ilanders, it'd be fuckin' excellent.

 

lol let's all gang up and write some percussion for this album and re-leak it.

 

Ahh, you'll be sorely disappointed, i'm not going anywhere. I own every Autechre release, and have the pictures to back it up, bub, so its not like I'm coming for a place of ignorance here. Hell, let's take that HUGE leap and say this IS the real album, I think I'm damn entitled to my favorite electronic artists making utter DRIVEL like known1.

[Guest lithgow]

Ahh, you'll be sorely disappointed, i'm not going anywhere. I own every Autechre release, and have the pictures to back it up, bub, so its not like I'm coming for a place of ignorance here. Hell, let's take that HUGE leap and say this IS the real album, I think I'm damn entitled to be a tad upset at my favorite electronic artists making utter DRIVEL like known1.

 

Also, I think it's absolutely ludicrous the amount of hyperbole being thrown around, how many times have you people even listened to this album? We have people making life declarations here "OH THIS IS THE BEST ELECTRONIC ALBUM EVER!" Really? after living with it for less than a week?

 

Sorry for double posting, known1 was on and I got caught up in how inane it is.

[Guest]

ah - lithgow are we shifting gears from 1. denial to 2. anger there?

[Guest Calx Sherbet]

inane

[goonstock]

lithgow is to oversteps

as lindrum larry cocopipe is to _________

 

can anyone solve this?

[thehauntingsoul]

Ahh, you'll be sorely disappointed, i'm not going anywhere. I own every Autechre release, and have the pictures to back it up, bub, so its not like I'm coming for a place of ignorance here. Hell, let's take that HUGE leap and say this IS the real album, I think I'm damn entitled to be a tad upset at my favorite electronic artists making utter DRIVEL like known1.

 

Also, I think it's absolutely ludicrous the amount of hyperbole being thrown around, how many times have you people even listened to this album? We have people making life declarations here "OH THIS IS THE BEST ELECTRONIC ALBUM EVER!" Really? after living with it for less than a week?

 

Sorry for double posting, known1 was on and I got caught up in how inane it is.

For the record, I think known(1) is beautiful. I haven't had a track get so stuck in my head in forever.

 

And man If you really are the Ae fan you say you are, you should try to approach this album with a more open mind. The melodies in some of the tracks are a bit uncomfortable at first but once you begin to memorize them, they start to make alot of sense and the implied notes and rhythms will creep out slowly. If I were you I would focus on qplay and Treale as both of those have been unfolding with surprising amounts of complexity for me.

 

All in all I would say this album is about finding that middle ground between ambience, melodic stuff, and downtempo beats. Not a ton of crazy beat-fuckery here which is probably why you aren't digging the album.

 

And yeah as far as hyperbole goes, you're equally at fault for the amount of negative hyperbole you're injecting into this thread. Just chill and let the music be what it is. You'll never get it if you listen to it constantly wishing it was something else. Then again, you might just not ever enjoy this album but that would really be a shame imo because there is alot of depth and soul to it. I'm tempted to say more depth and soul than any ae album previous to this, but I don't want to jump to conclusions in the first week or so of having it.

 

If this album still doesn't take to you, I recommend you put it aside for a week or so and try again later, preferably when you're really stoned (if you blaze). Just to be clear, I'm not trying to be preachy with you for no reason. You seem to be a fairly hardcore Autechre fan (considering you own all their stuff), and out of respect for you as a fellow Ae follower I hope you can find enjoyment in this album. The anger and negativity you're feeling are natural responses to new Ae albums. I shamelessly lambasted Subrange 6-36 when it came out, I was harsh and angry as fuck because it wasn't what I wanted. Once I let that anger settle, and accepted the track for what it was, it's grown on me and I now regard it as a masterpiece in terms of atmosphere.

 

One last thing as a footnote: ilanders is fucking amazing, so epic and emotional, and it has this feeling of continuous tension-building which really makes it a perfect track for #2

Edited February 10, 2010 by thehauntingsoul

[marf]

 

a simple, playful melody, often one that ignores harmonic/melodic rules.

featured in a lot of electronic music, but done well by afx.

 

 

so, how do the rules ruin playful simple melodies? All the best melodies are playful and simple, usually.

[thehauntingsoul]

 

a simple, playful melody, often one that ignores harmonic/melodic rules.

featured in a lot of electronic music, but done well by afx.

 

 

so, how do the rules ruin playful simple melodies? All the best melodies are playful and simple, usually.

I think by playful he means informally structured. To put it into context (as I understand it), a good example of a playful track is Pule. It kinda bubbles and meanders around making it sound really loose and unpredictable. When we're talking about IDM, I'd be hard pressed not to interpret 'playful' in that sense.

[sidewinder]

oversteps is autechre's 'just a souvenir', lol.

Ahh fuck...

[Lianne]

I don't mean to rinse this... but how on earth can people actually like known(1)? When I said it was horrible earlier, I didn't mean it was horrible in a frightening or confusing way. I meant it was horrible and ugly sounding because it is so, so amateurish. Apart from the detuned and stuttered main lead sound, it literally sounds like poorly sequenced MIDI game music (though I prefer most game music to this boring vomit of notes.) If I had a ten year old kid who was mucking about making his first sounds and multilayered pieces with a multitimbral synth - and known(1) was the result, I'd think, 'oh, that's pretty cute, that's pretty interesting...' I wouldn't be like, 'shit, what a weird racket - how the hell did he make that noisy mess?'

 

I can say this with complete confidence: if a new poster put known(1) and claimed it was his/hers, they'd be shot down, or at least told to work at it a few more years. Autechre are having a laugh with this release. What was I thinking praising it before? Such a cynical, cynical album.

Edited February 10, 2010 by Lianne

[marf]

I really like ilanders, too . I like distortion and there needs to be more of it in music. It sounds like a sherman filter bank maybe. I heard this on another thread that aphex was against distortion. No he isn't. He was talking about mindless angry music like prodigy. Not distortion.

[Bubba69]

sounds like a progression from quaristice which could be a good thing, but then again, i didn't really like the direction quaristice was going in half the time. So perhaps a bad thing. I kind of have a feeling this is similar to quaristice in the sense that it is a collection of jams. Just whittled down, in a similar obsession. Playing with sequencing in a certain way, using a bunch of fm synths, lots of reverb. Just another extension of expression, like it or not. I'd welcome this album if I knew autechre would start releasing 3 albums a year, but i doubt they are, i know i'm going to have to wait another 2 years for another proper release. Thats what dissapoints me. I'm just not that into this album.

[thehauntingsoul]

I don't mean to rinse this... but how on earth can people actually like known(1)? When I said it was horrible earlier, I didn't mean it was horrible in a frightening or confusing way. I meant it was horrible and ugly sounding because it is so, so amateurish. Apart from the detuned and stuttered main lead sound, it literally sounds like poorly sequenced MIDI game music (though I prefer most game music to this boring vomit of notes.) If I had a ten year old kid who was mucking about making his first sounds and multilayered pieces with a multitimbral synth - and known(1) was the result, I'd think, 'oh, that's pretty cute, that's pretty interesting...' I wouldn't be like, 'shit, what a weird racket - how the hell did he make that noisy mess?'

 

I can say this with complete confidence: if a new poster put known(1) and claimed it was his/hers, they'd be shot down, or at least told to work at it a few more years. Autechre are having a laugh with this release. What was I thinking praising it before? Such a cynical, cynical album.

You just need to listen harder

[blos]

the track at 24:20ish has whip-cracky noises very reminescent of omgyjyaswitch

Nae man, that's pure Uviol right there.

[karmakramer]

It's depressing such a good album is getting passed off so quickly, when had it been insane beat fuckery like Draft, similar complaints could be made but it would be considered incorrect to pass judgement so quickly. I've personally never heard an album that felt so fresh on repeated listens. THS makes good points, we already knew this would be more melodic ambient before the leak, so any disappointment in that respect is a little ridiculous.

[Guest]

^ Lianne… yeah dunno, our dynamic duo has proven again and again to have a great ear and a lucky hand at bringing out the best of their gear's sound etc… [wankwank], and they're sure pushing it with known(1). i mean if they weren't convinced that this clusterfuck of a track will work in the long run, they wouldn't have put it on this album. just don't take it that seriously and imagine you are some fat, gay low-poligon mage with a neon pink robe and seriously tasteless particle effects around the head trading cotton balls in a mmorpg, whistling its melody. and it will work.

Edited February 10, 2010 by Guest

[Lianne]

I don't mean to rinse this... but how on earth can people actually like known(1)? When I said it was horrible earlier, I didn't mean it was horrible in a frightening or confusing way. I meant it was horrible and ugly sounding because it is so, so amateurish. Apart from the detuned and stuttered main lead sound, it literally sounds like poorly sequenced MIDI game music (though I prefer most game music to this boring vomit of notes.) If I had a ten year old kid who was mucking about making his first sounds and multilayered pieces with a multitimbral synth - and known(1) was the result, I'd think, 'oh, that's pretty cute, that's pretty interesting...' I wouldn't be like, 'shit, what a weird racket - how the hell did he make that noisy mess?'

 

I can say this with complete confidence: if a new poster put known(1) and claimed it was his/hers, they'd be shot down, or at least told to work at it a few more years. Autechre are having a laugh with this release. What was I thinking praising it before? Such a cynical, cynical album.

You just need to listen harder

 

I like you - I like your enthusiasm and your honesty. But I think we can make ourselves like anything if we listen to it enough times. We get used to the disappointing or downright awful aspects of the music -and every time we hear it, those elements become familiar to us and that much easier to swallow. Sure, things take time to grow on us, but I think this 'it's a grower' argument is overused. Is it really growing on you, or have you just convinced yourself it's good because it's Autechre and it's been a while since they put anything out?

 

I've listened closely to known(1) a large number of times now. It's so obviously a musical travesty that I'm amazed it could grow on anyone, even someone who has been waiting for a new Autechre album for a while. It has no atmospherics, no interesting sound design, no interesting percussive elements, the synth sounds utilized are all utterly tacky sounding, the melodies are not atonal or challenging but merely clumsy (which might make them appear somewhat interesting at a cursory listen), and it doesn't go anywhere at all. The only thing going for it is the main lead line, which I admit I found quite enjoyable at first in how deranged it is, but I've since noticed it's actually playing a very predictable melody and is just all stuttered up and detuned. I repeat: if this track had been posted by anyone else, nobody would give a shit - or they'd tell the person who made it to give up or work at it a few more years.

 

Edit- thanks to everyone who does like this album for remaining polite and for sharing why you do like it. Sorry for being a moanbag - I've just been looking forward to this for a while and am a bit miffed. Sad a music album can lead to this kind of behaviour but...oh well.

Edited February 10, 2010 by Lianne