Autechre why are there always widely-p2p'd fakes of autechre albums before they come out?

[hot for baphomet]

honestly, why autechre? sure there was fake tuss stuff but that was only because the tuss was nebulously defined in the first place. what is it about autechre that makes people slag off on random superglitch TIME AND TIME AGAIN? i mean without fail a few months before a new LP comes out there's invariably a widely distrobuted fake of complete and utter superglitched up bullshit, and then the new LP comes out and it's, well, divine intervention. i dare not call it superglitched up bullshit.

 

(i would contend that it's because anyone can technically (insert how many bits in a certain sound here) do what autechre does now, it's just that they're not autechre and so they won't get worshipped by the legions. autechre has been pointless for years. * falls on fanboy sword *)

 

i tend to think some people are having fun at the expense of contemporary autechre fans and making social commentary on they're *really* listening to.

[sneaksta303]

i like the pride rainbow in your AV mate.

 

also, glad to see that link is being put to good use ;)

[sysyphus]

WAIT WHOZE GOT TEH NEW AWTEKKKAZZZZZZZzz

 

 

edit: "autechre pointless for years" ??? here comes the slammage

[awepittance]

my motivation when i did this back in 2005 was that it was hard for me to get people to take notice of my music with so little resources at the time (being unsigned, my own label was still very unknown) that i wanted a direct route, a circumvention of the normal avenues of promotion and ladder climbing to get feedback about my music. What i did not expect though was a shit load of people saying they preferred my fake Untilted over the real thing, i leaked mine when the real thing had already leaked. It was actually the crestfallen disappointment of the fans in masse of hearing the Untilted leak that gave me the idea to spread my own music as AE.

It was a great experience for me and taught me a lot about human gullibility and the way in which misinformation spreads.

[Guest sine]

No faster way to get your own music listened to by a whole lot of hungry fans really is there?

[TwiddleBot]

I remember a couple years ago hanging with a friend one day and she put on this electronic album.. most of it was sort of ok to mediocre, but there were actually a couple great tracks that jumped out at me. Enough that I asked what it was. "It's Autechre, untilted" she said.

 

Turns out that she had gotten the fake AE album and had never heard the real one. And all this time I had wondered why she never really got into untilted when she was into every other Autechre album. Of course the guy who made it eventually owned up, he claimed he was trying to prove that Autechre fans would get into anything put out under the name Autechre. Well that didn't work for me, and it didn't work for my friend, so IMO he failed the double blind placebo test here with flying colors. Agreed with the above post, probably secretly just hoping to get some fans maybe? It was clear he actually did put some time into the fake album.

[thehauntingsoul]

autechre has been pointless for years.

Why do you even post?

[gl0tch]

(i would contend that it's because anyone can technically (insert how many bits in a certain sound here) do what autechre does now, it's just that they're not autechre and so they won't get worshipped by the legions. autechre has been pointless for years. * falls on fanboy sword *)

 

I completely DISagree.

 

i tend to think some people are having fun at the expense of contemporary autechre fans and making social commentary on they're *really* listening to.

 

I completely agree.

 

 

I hate to say this, but Fluorescent Grey and I really brought this trend into the spotlight in 2005. The rest are just following suite.

 

Speaking for myself, I did it because it allowed me to make music again at a rapid pace. It was that simple. I also LOVE the buzz, the hype, and the debates surrounding each release... despite hating to wait as well. Nowadays it allows me to reconnect with some old friends and talk shit. And finally, (in 2008) I thought it would expedite the release of the real leak because it would generate a demand for clarity/truth on the validity of those leaks/fakes in question. Unfortunately, in 2010 it did the opposite... the blogosphere is generally okay with that the Altered: Carbon fake as an acceptable sit-in for the real thing, thereby curbing any demand for the real album.

 

I for one think this sucks. I also think Warps policy of announcing, then waiting, then releasing is total bullshit and indicative of last millennia. They shouldnt even release on CD anymore. They should just release the digital files only as flacs/wavs (to leverage bandwidth to counter immediate piracy) and then support that highquality vinyl/collectors packages-objects.

[TwiddleBot]

Good points. I think a lot of labels must be somewhat afraid these days. After all a good chunk of the small independent IDM labels folded during the last decade. Bye bye sublight. Bye bye schematic. Does skam release anything anymore? etc. The demand for physical media (outside of collectables) just isn't there.

[Sam]

Hate to say it, but the whole thing of putting your tunes out there assuming the guise of an established artist is shamelessly opportunistic to me. It's really cheap.

[Guest spraaaa]

it would be cool if there were lots of fakers who just kept one upping each other... this is the real autechre! no, this is! just confuse the fuck out of people and maybe eventually end up with some better music than just one fake.

 

Turns out that she had gotten the fake AE album and had never heard the real one.

lol, this reminds me of a friend of mine who hated Radiohead "because their songs switch around so much." he played me one of the songs, which he had pirated, and it literally was multiple songs from one of their albums randomly spliced together.

[awepittance]

I remember a couple years ago hanging with a friend one day and she put on this electronic album.. most of it was sort of ok to mediocre, but there were actually a couple great tracks that jumped out at me. Enough that I asked what it was. "It's Autechre, untilted" she said.

 

Turns out that she had gotten the fake AE album and had never heard the real one. And all this time I had wondered why she never really got into untilted when she was into every other Autechre album. Of course the guy who made it eventually owned up, he claimed he was trying to prove that Autechre fans would get into anything put out under the name Autechre. Well that didn't work for me, and it didn't work for my friend, so IMO he failed the double blind placebo test here with flying colors. Agreed with the above post, probably secretly just hoping to get some fans maybe? It was clear he actually did put some time into the fake album.

 

 

i'm not sure if you read my above post, but that fake album you're probably talking about was the thing i put up on soulseek. it was a compilation of tracks i had already finished on my album 'lying on the floor mingling with god in a tijuana motel room next door to a veterinary supply store' , really only about half of the album with the addition of 2 real AE tracks from Untilted 'Pro Radii' and 'LCC' . I chose these tracks because i thought LCC was untilted's weakest link and Pro Radii because it was my favorite. My logic at the time is that it would only cause more confusion.

I probably did this within the first 24 hours after the REAL thing leaked on soulseek . I was pretty surprised by how fast it spread. Most of my own tracks were composed using spliced up field recordings and very little synthesis, something that would be extremely uncharacteristic of Autechre.

A lot of people spoke positively of it but it was also fun in a nervous kind of way to see all the people criticizing my music. some people were horrified autechre was using tabla samples.

[TwiddleBot]

A lot of people spoke positively of it but it was also fun in a nervous kind of way to see all the people criticizing my music. some people were horrified autechre was using tabla samples.

 

Well, nice to meet you virtually then. Very interesting.. I bet you had the whole gamut of reactions from your project.

 

I wonder if it was the same album, it probably was as I'm pretty sure it had tabla samples on it. I wasn't into all of it, but I did quite like some of it (not even knowing what it was at the time). This thread actually reminded me to hunt it down and give it a listen again.

[Lianne]

Hate to say it, but the whole thing of putting your tunes out there assuming the guise of an established artist is shamelessly opportunistic to me. It's really cheap.

 

I don't know... There is great music out there by guys apart from Autechre, and if it's not on Warp or Planet Mu or Rephlex or whatever and if the person making it can't afford to promote it then it's not likely to get noticed. What would you rather these guys do? Spam forums with their music? Do some IDM publicity stunt? ;-) I think putting tunes out under the name of an established artist is a fair (and cheap) way of getting stuff heard. I say this because I thoroughly enjoyed the FAKE Untilted leak - and when I heard the real Untilted album, I liked that also. It's a win win situation. The truth always comes out anyway - and if people suddenly change their minds when they discover those fakes weren't by Autechre, they're not listening to music properly.

[awepittance]

and if people suddenly change their minds when they discover those fakes weren't by Autechre, they're not listening to music properly.

 

exactly.

[TwiddleBot]

Did they suddenly like it or suddenly not like it/be dismissive of it?

[Guest theSun]

people that make fakes aren't doing any disservice to fans, but i don't think i'd appreciate some bloke downloading and critiquing my music if it was written by someone else.

 

i don't see it as a big deal though, a lot of the music that comes from the fakes is quite good, which is never a bad thing.

[awepittance]

Hate to say it, but the whole thing of putting your tunes out there assuming the guise of an established artist is shamelessly opportunistic to me. It's really cheap.

 

lol yes, stealing music from a hard working artist on a file sharing network and getting mad/displaying contempt for someone who took advantage of a loop-hole when its not the real thing when you just spent 5 minutes of energy downloading it. thats not cheap at all and it doesn't make you look pompous or entitled

[djimbe]

This is an extremely interesting topic. Your first rhetorical question goes to the heart of the nature of Autechre's music --

 

what is it about autechre that makes people slag off on random superglitch TIME AND TIME AGAIN?

 

I think that people don't understand that, no, not anyone can just do what Autechre do. Things like that silly oft-reproduced Max patch, etc., makes people think Autechre's music is just a bunch of randomly produced impulses. There is a fundamental misunderstanding of the use of electronica tools, espec. amongst people who are fans of Autechre but don't produce themselves - and I'm not saying that's a fault of theirs, surely that's the majority position. But the majority of people in the world don't know about the production environment of this kind of music transparently the way that the production of rock and pop music is reasonably transparent to them. There's a long bridge still to be crossed here, and considering how tricky it can be even for people who are producers to work out what they think about it, I can't say with certainty it will ever be fully crossed.

 

Yes, there are a handful of Autechre tracks that are produced by turning on a patch. This is microscopic as a percentage of the whole of their aesthetic, which consists of 1000s of musical and production choices which makes their tracks what they are. You can get a cheap approximation of some Autechre tracks by setting up certain sequencers or generative tools, but that's all you get, a blunt approximation of a part without the variations or structures or whatever that form whole tracks. You can get a cheap approximation of other similar artists by using the same stratagems - what I'm saying is, this isn't only specific to Autechre, but they are the best known case because most people perceive their music to have the highest levels of abstraction or difficulty. And that is why I think people regard Autechre to be the best target for a fake-vs-real schtick.

 

Regarding the allure of releasing a fake... I will admit that as a producer, I had fantasies about it this time around. I wondered what it would be like if I did it. I never seriously considered doing it, but I just imagined the kind of things that might happen.

 

I think if you feel strongly about Autechre, and you're an electronic music producer, and you have high confidence in your own work, there is a degree of agony sometimes in trying to get your work out and have people pay enough attention to it to get it, when the whole point is... it was listening to Autechre in the first place that inspired you to go down the path of producing music that would only reveal itself with a lot of attention or listens. That's certainly how I've felt. I sometimes wonder if the music market has changed so much that there can be no more Aphex's or Autechres for the time being, etc, artists who are well established in a position where people will give them sufficient time. It seems nobody will grant you that time now unless you manage to sign yourself to Warp, otherwise too much stuff is fighting for their attention.

 

Anyway, I remain an indie artist for now, will release my 2nd Aeriae album this year, Victris, and in spite of the temptations, I will not be releasing any fake Autechre albums ;) I do look forward to Oversteps arrival.

 

I have a suggestion. If you read a poll on this board that is kinda dumb (for instance - 'what will be the best track on this album that isn't out yet, based on these typically cryptic Autechre titles'), forget the poll and visit a good new electronic music blog, EG the milk factory (http://www.themilkfactory.co.uk/st/), and check out other new electronic artists.

 

---

http://aeriae.com

[TwiddleBot]

I don't think it's limited to just Autechre, for most people music is just a functional thing, it's not a hobby or a passion. Pretty much everyone I've met whose into Autechre are the kind of people who do give music their full attention.. and they are into a lot more music than just Autechre.

 

It's like any other media. The brain is like a muscle.. use it or lose it. The more you put in the effort, the more you discover new things to learn, new concepts, new ideas, and the more you get out of it. Same goes for literature. When you have a grade 6 reading comprehension level, you most likely won't have an appreciation for Joyce. (And of course there is personal taste as well.. there's lots of music I get, even respect+appreciate, but I don't care to listen to it so often.)

 

Anyway I don't think there is any less of these people about, just that they are and always have been the minority.

 

I would argue though that there can be no new Autechre's or Aphex Twin's these days for a completely different reason. In order to be able to create music of a certain quality and have a decent rate of output, you need to be able to be a full-time artist. It's really hard to put together a quality album and push yourself to the next level when you work 40 hours a week+commute time+maintaining your living space+a bit of a social life (and never mind having a kid). It gets harder the older you get too, as your energy decreases. Myself, I know I could be producing such better material, I have ideas but no time and energy to fully realize them. When I sink my teeth into a track, it might take me 40-80 hours to complete, and I want to get INTO it and be in the fucking ZONE. Anything less..there's no point.

 

And the reason smaller independent artists can't make a living anymore is that music has lost it's monetary value--Physical media has died. A lot of experimental labels are closing shop, music stores are folding. This is a big deal, because going into small record shops back in the day was how a lot of us got introduced to these artists. Back in the 90's you could be an experimental acoustic/electronic act like Nurse With Wound and make a living off your income.. Now you can't. You either have to be on a major label (still not a guarantee or not) or be an already estabilshed experimental artist who has enough albums out there that you can scrape by on royalties.

 

I'm not saying it's the end, but things are definitely changing. Open-minded music lovers are still out there, but getting the music to them.. that's the hard part.

[Guest hahathhat]

fakes are due to camoflaged jamacians. i imagine certain people get a bit high and are all like ehehehe man that's a funny idea i should do that, and boom, noise on the internet.

 

edit: full disclosure, a couple years ago i created a fake marilyn manson track called "third nostril" right when he had some album coming out, it was constructed out of granuled out drum samples and an IBM corporate song sung by IBM employees in the 50s. the result was, IMHO, a lot funnier than someone trying to make a passable autechre album.

[khov]

well, i stopped dl autechre tracks (before cd release) since confield, i got 2001 fakes (that were not that bad but...) & since, i think its better to discover the tracks on a good format. regarding the fakers, sure its a tricky but nice way of promoting your music. i wonder if there are bjork fakes album around, as bjork has a unique voice, it must be harder to do i bet.

[modey]

imagine before confield, the kind of fakes coming out would have sounded like EP7 or LP5 and everyone was like "THIS IS THE NEXT ALBUM" or "THESE FAKES ARE SO GOOD" then confield came out and everyone was like

nah i'd say it was more like this:

[djimbe]

I would argue though that there can be no new Autechre's or Aphex Twin's these days for a completely different reason. In order to be able to create music of a certain quality and have a decent rate of output, you need to be able to be a full-time artist. It's really hard to put together a quality album and push yourself to the next level when you work 40 hours a week+commute time+maintaining your living space+a bit of a social life (and never mind having a kid). It gets harder the older you get too, as your energy decreases. Myself, I know I could be producing such better material, I have ideas but no time and energy to fully realize them. When I sink my teeth into a track, it might take me 40-80 hours to complete, and I want to get INTO it and be in the fucking ZONE. Anything less..there's no point.

 

Yeah, this is all very true. And I don't even have the kid, commute time or social life :)

---

http://aeriae.com

[Guest wolfslice]

Hate to say it, but the whole thing of putting your tunes out there assuming the guise of an established artist is shamelessly opportunistic to me. It's really cheap.

 

No one cares where a fake comes from. Once they find out it's fake, into the recycle bin it goes, forgotten. Plus wheres the recognition when half the retards listening to it think that ae made it? You never even get the cred.

 

The only reason glotch and friends do this, is for the momentary "lulz on the internet." How "internet" of you. People like this constantly use words like "fail" and "pwned." Maybe there is a little ego stroke too, "oh gee, they really think i'm as good as autechre?" but then the posts turn sour and 90% of the people say how crappy your tunes are compared to ae. There's no prestige in making fakes, it's just an annoyance. glotch is one of the least respected members on XLtronic because of his tomfoolery. I don't have an opinion because i didn't listen to his fakes this time around, but I'm just saying if one wants to be "recognized," this is not the way to go.