Autechre Autechre - Oversteps (WARP210) [The MegaThread]

[xox]

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.

[mononomo]

when people say fm what does that mean exactly?

 

is this it? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_modulation_synthesis

 

could someone explain/show examples of how this is recognizable?

[digit]

generative beats = awesome headfuckery

generative melodies = aimless noodling

 

Altibzz > Oversteps.

[karmakramer]

i havent listen to the leak yet but ijust listen through those samples a couple times as a taster and i'm even more excited now. the weird aquatic ambience of quaristice and the odd in-limbo FM-world from lp5! i think i like ae for different reasons than a lot of you though i think

i have a feeling i'm really going to love this actually. i'd say my favourite ae albums are amber, chiastic, confield and draft if that gives me away at all. this sounds way subtly weirder than i would've guessed from what people are saying too.

 

Agreed with this, also what blos said makes sense too. People here are scratching their heads wondering where the complexities are, while my focus is how good and moody the melodies tracks are on here. Its like SAW8592 , simple stuff but certainly really unique sounding. I love it, album of 2010 so far

Edited February 10, 2010 by karmakramer

[awepittance]

LP5 and EP7 in my mind redefined the way FM synthesis can be used, really pushed it's boundaries

 

OVersteps brings both physical modeling and fm synth stuff to the table but it's not trying to push any technical or aesthetic boundaries just trying to be really pretty. it's growing on me a little bit guys.

 

People here are scratching there heads wondering where the complexities are, while my focus is how good and moody the melodies tracks are on here. Its like SAW8592 ,

 

that's an interesting comparison because that's probably also my least favorite Aphex Twin album

[xox]

If anyone was still wondering...

 

http://www.normanrecords.com/records/113468

 

Noooooooooo....

 

...i have bought the deluxe vinyl and i don't like this release at all.

[karmakramer]

One of my favs so it makes sense why Im also diggin this, plus I wanted more amberish stuff

[awepittance]

i think most of the songs that sound amberish on here are like Amber 2x or 3x the BPM. there are melodic similarities with amber but i think that the overall feel and atmosphere of the album is very different. brisk, fast paced and glittery. very little in terms of the slowly evolving building ambience on an individual track that amber offers. there are definite ambient moments on the LP but they are quickly broken by relentless arpeggios or beats/stabby/percussive synths

Edited February 10, 2010 by Awepittance

[karmakramer]

i think most of the songs that sound amberish on here are like Amber 2x or 3x the BPM. there are melodic similarities with amber but i think that the overall feel and atmosphere of the album is very different. brisk, fast paced and glittery. very little in terms of the slowly evolving building ambience on an individual track that amber offers. there are definite ambient moments on the LP but they are quickly broken by relentless arpeggios or beats/stabby/percussive synths

 

I agree , voix or the trck after treale is the most amber sounding track imo

[karmakramer]

I see this album getting really good press/reviews... It definitely has this futuristic vibe without it being abrasive or overly intense. Like I can chill out to this album or dance to it. It's approachable but to most alien colorful and lush as fuck.

[marf]

hey are about feel, instinct, sensibility, presence, not software development or hardware hacking. This record seems like a very deliberate statement to that effect - the arms race ends here. Quaristice attempted to break the forms by being casual instead of fanatical, but Oversteps is really quite a formal record. I have a lot of respect for that and I think this will be up there with their peak output.

 

 

there a million guys out there that hack and build there own gear and they make kack...Its always about judgment, feel and good taste. Technical prowess is a second, but useful ability

Edited February 10, 2010 by marf

[blos]

Yeah, I think the impressive thing about Ae is that they have the chops to pursue whatever sounds they needed. Oversteps proves they have the taste to not use those chops if the work doesn't need it.

[marf]

birds use fm to chirp and sing . Natures DX7s

Edited February 10, 2010 by marf

[lumpenprol]

I have to say it's fun to age at the same rate as the artists I admire. Getting older makes you mellower and yes, probably stupider, so having Aphex wank about with Analords, BoC flirt with new age, and Autechre make an unabashedly wacky synth album sits just fine with me. It makes me want to invite them over for a beer.

[awepittance]

, i can't bother to dig through the broke megathread but i could have sword you said the album was embarrassing

[lumpenprol]

memory loss is another sign of aging. Today this album sounds just fine

[kokoon]

ok, so it's autechre. i just don't know what to do with "known(1)" and "d-sho qub" :(

[lumpenprol]

really though, on some level I think it is about accepting your idols as fallible human beings. If Ae continue to make albums like this it'll at least be less embarrassing to keep listening to them than, say, Paul McCartney. We can only hope that Richard, Tom, Mike, Marcus, Sean and Rob all get together later in life to form an IDM Traveling Wilburys.

[blos]

Except that the tracks start cleanly, without the crossfades. Cling to whatever you need though.

Edited February 10, 2010 by blos

[karmakramer]

Take a deep breath everyone.

 

Everything is gonna be just fine.

[Guest HWNDarkside]

At least something useful has come out of this mega-thread

 

Altered: Carbon is some damn fine work - I suggest you grab it from their myspace page immediately

 

The question now is.... Altered:Carbon > Oversteps ???

[modey]

let me just say that i've listened 4 times and it's sounding fucking brilliant so far. i might have to force myself to leave it alone until the vinyl is in my hands though.. don't want to get used to this version, zole!

 

I thought before it'd be Oversteps as in 'screw you, we're next level, we're one step ahead.'

This is what I was thinking too, before any of the leak discussions, but from the sound of it that may have been a gross misinterpretation. We'll see.

 

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

Shit, that reminds me...I meant to say in the other thread that once this leak is confirmed official, after release, whatever...WATMM should make a remix album. I'm just saying that based on all the disappointment and comments about it being simple, beatless, too melodic, etc...let's (I mean you guys not me) tear this fucker up!!! I would love to hear reinterpretations. Though I still haven't heard it, for all I know I'll love it just the way it is.

 

haha! well, it's kinda already been done. listen to the 2nd leak (the rapidshare one), it's mostly tracks by watmmers (except track 3). though it was reinterpretations before we heard it, lol.

 

At least something useful has come out of this mega-thread

 

Altered: Carbon is some damn fine work - I suggest you grab it from their myspace page immediately

 

The question now is.... Altered:Carbon > Oversteps ???

almost. it is a very beautiful album, especially the last track, hot damn. if it wasn't such a blatant ripoff of autechre it might be better!

[xy_politics]

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.

Tremendous LOL. How can someone miss the point so comprehensively? Go and get your coat.

 

You don't seem to get a lot from music with your brainiak, techno-analytical approach, so I'd suggest dropping it and getting a new hobby. Such as visiting nuclear power stations.

 

Confirmation of the leak makes all the comments about technical simplicity, pre-made tools, etc. even more interesting. A good chunk of the fanbase seem to want Ae records to push the technical envelope above all else - if tracks are made with recognisable tools it's seen as a failure somehow. Since I don't use any of this software, as a listener the album seems almost austere in its rejection of technique, and creates its effects by very conventional means - dissonance, harmony, timbre, rhythm. The fact that it *sounds* so immediately Autechre is brilliant - they are about feel, instinct, sensibility, presence, not software development or hardware hacking. This record seems like a very deliberate statement to that effect - the arms race ends here. Quaristice attempted to break the forms by being casual instead of fanatical, but Oversteps is really quite a formal record. I have a lot of respect for that and I think this will be up there with their peak output.

Best post in this thread..

[Food]

 

The question now is.... Altered:Carbon > Oversteps ???

 

Not in this fellows opinion. I found it to be quite average. 5 years ago I probably would have jizzed and listened to it 3 or 4 times before getting bored. One skip thru was enough for me to determine fake, cheesy and rather boring. Of course that might also be because they were claiming to be ae at the time, but I feel no desire to revisit.

 

And their press release/rationale was weak-sauce.

 

I feel bad I dissed the second leak out now that I know it was the work of

watmmers. and it explains all the positive comments lol

 

It was better than AC for sure..

[chaosmachine]

mcbpete broke this thread. chaosmachine fixed it.