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Autechre - Oversteps (WARP210) [The MegaThread]


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I think it's boring alone and boring AND a horrible fit for the music when paired with the actual album.

 

Well... personally, I really really liked it before I heard the album.

 

I was pretty sure Autechre weren't immune to the current fad of taking it back to the oldschool (ie: the deluge of boring, lifeless acid tracks) which was pretty evident on Quaristice, but I thought if they were ever going to do that it would be in a hip hop sorta way, rather than an ambient way.

 

I was expecting a bunch of tracks sorta like V-Proc, but with a new twist that would be totally unexpected. And I think the cover art would've suited something like that really well (V Proc is one of the few tracks on Draft I actually like).

 

Oversteps actually makes me picture rain forests (or myself asleep depending on the track :P). But I can also understand the Tron lightcycle image too.

Edited by Springymajig
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Though, supposedly Autechre used DX100s which are very similar architecture-wise, in fact their patches might be cross-compatible.

 

Yeah, they're very similar. A DX7 has 6 operators, a DX100 has 4. (A soundblaster only has 2). Having used both, personally I kind of like the DX100, it's faster to program and much cheaper because everyone always goes for the famous dx7..

 

As far as FM synthesis goes, you can build an fm synth in pretty much any modular software. I guess I'm just biased against the FM synth bell (on O=0) because it's a basic FM preset that I heard way too much of in my childhood.. lol. taste i guess

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Oversteps actually makes me picture rain forests (or myself asleep depending on the track :P). But I can also understand the Tron lightcycle image too.

 

I can totally see the rainforest imagery too on a few tracks. I dunno, most of the sounds remind me of lasers and glass prisms, haha. Autechre's Dark Side of the Moon? What did you think of the actual album?

Edited by six
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Ok, so a rainforest with lasers, lol. Two things I happened to be obsessed with as a kid. This is the soundtrack to a Logan's Run remake directed by David Lynch.

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Ok, so a rainforest with lasers, lol. Two things I happened to be obsessed with as a kid. This is the soundtrack to a Logan's Run remake directed by David Lynch.

That's asking for trouble:

dune_lynch_feyd.jpg

Edited by baph
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ilanders makes me picture semi-concious rusting megadroids drilling deep into the centre of Mars circa 2083. It's sad because they're concious enough to know that they're mere slaves to a desperate human race...

 

 

I AM TEH CHEESE. :pedobear:

Edited by Jacck
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Ok, so a rainforest with lasers, lol. Two things I happened to be obsessed with as a kid. This is the soundtrack to a Logan's Run remake directed by David Lynch.

That's asking for trouble:

dune_lynch_feyd.jpg

 

lol, for the record, I liked Dune. That early CG polygon battle scene is like this album.

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Guest lithgow

Why is everyone getting their pantaloons in a twist about Lithgow? Oversteps really has brought the worst out in people over here!

 

An even better question is why do you care what my opinion is? So sorry to not fall in line with you lot, I am so ashamed!

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Oversteps actually makes me picture rain forests (or myself asleep depending on the track :P). But I can also understand the Tron lightcycle image too.

 

I can totally see the rainforest imagery too on a few tracks. I dunno, most of the sounds remind me of lasers and glass prisms, haha. Autechre's Dark Side of the Moon? What did you think of the actual album?

 

Oversteps or Dark Side of the Moon? (haven't listened to the latter in a while...)

 

I only listened to Oversteps once so far. I liked it enough to buy it but I don't think it's that great... they kind of lost me after Confield but I still like their music to a certain extent, and this is no different. I like it about as much as Quaristice but for completely different reasons. Quaristice had definite highs and lows, Oversteps (on first listen anyway) all sounds more or less the same all the way through.

 

It's pretty generic in terms of sound design but that kind of makes me nostalgic about when I was really into net label music (which admittedly was only a couple of years ago... is it wrong to feel nostalgic about a time that wasn't that long ago? :P)

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i am relieved that the leaks were indeed proven to be fake.

What leak were you listening to? The single-file one is the same as the Norman samples, i.e. proven to be genuine.

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

which parts in particular?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh7bWakDWqI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuK7NStpULc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN359HOxBx8&feature=related

 

 

I love all these songs you posted. However, it is worth mentioning even these sound kind of same-y if you havent listened to them in a while (namely the ep7 examples). It's as if one can hear the same algorithm or rules being applied across 2/3rds of Lp5. It's almost like every album they release is centered around a certain "engine," which I particularly find interesting from an art-perspective as it makes an album seem more like a cohesive body of work.

 

Given that, I'd say Oversteps qualifies, but Untilted and Quaristice begin to stray away into a just being a collection of songs—less indebted to a concept (or as I said "engine"), and more defined by the tool/technology itself. Perhaps the openness of Max/MSP allows them to express themselves naturally, while Elektron gear forced them to "sound" like themselves.

 

its interesting you say that OVersteps is less defined by 'the tool itself' because it sounds very much like that to me (physical modelling bell sounds in conjunction with generative/stochasticrandom arpegiator based sequencing), moreso than Untilted or Quaristice. Perahps its the emotions felt by the melodies that makes one be able to look beyond this. After all a lot of people who hear Draft thinks it just sounds like a bunch of glitched out drum machines and nothing more. I suppose its just a matter of perspective but i think Quaristice and Untilted are great electronic albums, it's unnecessary to keep bashing them in order to make Oversteps look better. Thats really all i wanted to get off my chest because i really feel Quaristice is an under appreciated work of genius.

 

and in response to Ieafs saying emphasizing the word 'generative' as a descriptive word for the way the LP sounds. I think for someone who for example hasn't played with Koan might think i'm saying this to undercut or make OVersteps look simplistic. I'm not trying to do that. I'm merely explaining what first comes to mind when i hear these melodies, they have a particular style to them that i recognize, not that they sound not deliberate or not hard worked on. I don't think an artists amount of effort should be defined by how much work was done by manual input or automatic choices made by a computer. All that matters in the end is how its going to effect you on a base level

 

edit: one more criticism i will offer is that with Lp5 and Ep7 even though the sound palette sounded 'samey' had a lot more at play in terms of configuring and making the FM synths sound unique and dynamic. There is very little here in the same vein as pushing or doing something beyond what soudns like loading banks on preexisting physical modeling plugins. I'm sure they're ok with this, and i in time will probably not care either. its just a little bit surprising to not hear them take physical modeling at all past where i've already heard it before

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

which parts in particular?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh7bWakDWqI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuK7NStpULc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN359HOxBx8&feature=related

 

 

I love all these songs you posted. However, it is worth mentioning even these sound kind of same-y if you havent listened to them in a while (namely the ep7 examples). It's as if one can hear the same algorithm or rules being applied across 2/3rds of Lp5. It's almost like every album they release is centered around a certain "engine," which I particularly find interesting from an art-perspective as it makes an album seem more like a cohesive body of work.

 

Given that, I'd say Oversteps qualifies, but Untilted and Quaristice begin to stray away into a just being a collection of songs—less indebted to a concept (or as I said "engine"), and more defined by the tool/technology itself. Perhaps the openness of Max/MSP allows them to express themselves naturally, while Elektron gear forced them to "sound" like themselves.

 

i really feel Quaristice is an under appreciated work of genius.

 

+1

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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.

 

Very well put. I completely agree.

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Troon thank you for that St. Thomas Aquinas quotation!

 

After about 20 listening now this album is becoming an interesting story. At moments it's overstepping in terms of cheesiness which I don't mind because it has some fantastic tracks namely ilanders, pt2ph8, see on see, Treale, os veix3, O=0 and d-sho qub.

 

But if they have put just a little bit more effort in it it could easily be one of the best albums ever...in the known universe that is ruled by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV.

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

which parts in particular?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh7bWakDWqI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuK7NStpULc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN359HOxBx8&feature=related

 

 

 

 

I love all these songs you posted. However, it is worth mentioning even these sound kind of same-y if you havent listened to them in a while (namely the ep7 examples). It's as if one can hear the same algorithm or rules being applied across 2/3rds of Lp5. It's almost like every album they release is centered around a certain "engine," which I particularly find interesting from an art-perspective as it makes an album seem more like a cohesive body of work.

 

Given that, I'd say Oversteps qualifies, but Untilted and Quaristice begin to stray away into a just being a collection of songs—less indebted to a concept (or as I said "engine"), and more defined by the tool/technology itself. Perhaps the openness of Max/MSP allows them to express themselves naturally, while Elektron gear forced them to "sound" like themselves.

 

i really feel Quaristice is an under appreciated work of genius.

 

+1

 

-1

 

Most of it is utter wank. For me, Oversteps is Autechre's return to form.

Edited by Jacck
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The key thing here for me is that this is genuine; a genuine fake. I get it, it's funny, it's unlistenable, well done Autechre you will have succeeded in humiliating the people that cant wait, the poeple trying to make sense of something that so blatently mocks them. Sure, there are some brief moments which confirm that its provenance is genuine, but thats all there is to it for me (which in itself is still remarkable).

 

If I'm wrong, then I will remain perplexed and immensly underwhelmed, dissapointed and, perhaps even, no longer a fan.

Edited by 123
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