Autechre Reactions to Confield when it was released?

[Sam]

As someone who only got in to Autechre around 2002 - 2003, i'm curious about what the reactions were to Confield when it was first released. I also heard a lot of the discography out of chronological order, ie. Amber first, then anti ep + garbage+envane, then tri rep+ chiastic, then EP7, then LP5, then Draft and Confield and Untilted all at the same time, so i was cherry-picking tracks all over the place, and it can be hard to get an idea of whether confield really was that big a gear shift for them.....it does seem like it was the first release to have a very dissonant vibe to it, especially tracks like Eidetic Casein and Bine. So, yeah, anyone who goes back to the old days of autechre listening-wise, do tell ;)

[modey]

i got into autechre just after confield came out, but didn't actually buy it until about a year later. upon first listen (and for a long time after that) i didn't really understand it, but i just had a feeling that it would be rewarding if i persisted. now it's probably my favourite autechre album.

 

i'd say they were kinda gearing up for confield though in the previous releases, i mean, ep7 has some pretty abrasive moments. i think the difference with confield though is that it sounds so much more organic than their previous albums. melodically, i think it's some of their most beautiful work, but i guess upon first listens those melodies are pretty hard to hear. it took me a long time to even hear the pretty chords in pen expers!

[Guest Enter a new display name]

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/365-confield/

[oscillik]

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/365-confield/

 

The group's oeuvre includes equal measures of visionary genius and uninspired tripe. While LP5 and Tri Repetae++ remind us that Rob Brown and Sean Booth have access to a talent matched by only a handful of contemporary electronic producers, Amber and Chiastic Slide suggest that this access is inconsistent, fleeting and out of their control.

 

:handegg:

 

edit: lol, written by someone called Malcolm Seymour III, who didn't even listen to the album the first time from the beginning, instead choosing in his ultimate wisdom to start on Bine

Edited December 17, 2010 by oscillik

[modey]

zole, yeah "let's start with the shortest track, maybe i can get an overview from that"

[elusive4]

i came into autechre hard about the time of confield release

the older stuff is only ok to me- but growing up on confield-to-draft was about as excellerated as one can get.

 

peaked on untilted too --- what a great set of years

[chassis]

Doesnt matter what record it is. Its Ae, so everyone is going to cream their shit.

[Sam]

Playing loose with the rhythm is now a staple of Autechre and the whole FlyLo/HudMo school of thought pushes it on how tightly the beat snaps to grid.

 

Yup.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igvKjvws7I4

[jeyemusik]

I'd been a casual AE listener from around the time of Chiastic Slide but was only dipping in and out of the odd album here and there and out of order up until the time of Confield. I got that when it was released and although that was when I started to get seriously into them Confield has never been an album I can just stick on and enjoy. It's always been very mood oriented but when I'm in the mood it's the business (I kinda feel the same about Oversteps). There was other stuff I was listening to at the time that was equally "out there" so I don't think I was struggling to comprehend it. I'm not even sure that it was a sub-conscious pre-conception about "what autechre should be" either as even now being a relatively obsessive fan (though not in comparison to some of you cats) I still need to be in the mood.

 

However, I was really looking forward to seeing them live on that tour as it would be my first time. I was going to a lot of experimental gigs at the time and was thinking that a Confield-esque set over a big PA would be the business. How wrong I was.. just shockingly bad. Don't know if it was the mix or the venue or what but all you could hear was an incessant repetative kick drum with the slightest hint of really nice textural stuff that you couldn't quite make out. Teasing away as if to say "check out the good shit you can't hear properly". To cap off, some pilled up prick tried to start a fight with my mate and when we left the venue I found out some wee Neds had scrawled their "gang" logo on the bonnet of my car with a magic marker.

 

I suppose it was lucky that I didn't let the experience put me off going to see them when they played the Art School in 05. That was a truly awesome experience.

Edited December 20, 2010 by jeyemusik

[chassis]

Doesnt matter what record it is. Its Ae, so everyone is going to cream their shit.

Not exactly. I followed Autechre's discography in real time starting when Incunabula made it to America in 1994. Each turn was more exciting that the last for me. However, Confield changed more in one album than the past 7 years of listening combined imo. RDJ had primed me with Hangable Auto Bulb Eps and RDJ album for beats that didn't quite hang on to a strict pulse because his "snare rushes" of the time would crank up from slightly slower to much faster and then back again. "Children Talking" was that very first, jaw agape moment.

 

Squarepusher had the finest edit to his breaks but as crazy as they got, they still stuck to a consistent beat--except for the kick drum rushes of "A Journey To Reedham (7am Mix)". So, having those milestones in mind, it's not hard to see how "Confield" would have been a big challenge. Playing loose with the rhythm is now a staple of Autechre and the whole FlyLo/HudMo school of thought pushes it on how tightly the beat snaps to grid. Even today, as brilliant as Confield is, I can still capture the disorientation of it when I first heard it almost 10 years ago now. "Future Shock" is harder and harder to elicit these days with the proliferation of means to produce music. "Crooks and Lovers" by Mount Kimbie was the last release I remember where I had those "future" feeling of sounds never seen.

 

Perhaps I jumped the gun. I was kind of hinting to the Ae sort of attitude that lying there and no one seems to want to talk about. The attitude that Ae are complete professionals and its up to every individual to "get" each album as it were. Which I sort of agree with because out of every single Ae release, there isnt one I could say is "shit". Theres ones I dont particularly like but thats just my taste. They all have merit and I respect them. No necessarily the case with other artists Im fond of.

 

Better not say anyone in case I expose my ignorance. But I think my favourite aspect of most Ae tracks is the loose constraints of timing in their beats. They're liable to change at any stage. Some fantastic examples of that on chiastic slide and thats probably why its my favourite Ae release.

[Sam]

Have always loved the change at 3:36 in Cipater, that change is really sick, complete changes the vibe of the song and really gets it's groove on...

[Guest theSun]

just want to say that very little of autechre is what i would describe as "loose." aside from some of the synth lines in live sets and parts of songs that fall apart, later era autechre is defined best by me as "precise."

 

putting a snare hit or bass or something aggressive in a strange place is usually repeated over and over by ae, rather than random or sporadic. it gives it a totally different feel than a jazz drummer playing loosely around the beat, because that particular "offness" becomes part of the groove itself. a jazz drummer creates a general idea of this but he's simply not going to play the same fill over and over exactly the same every single time.

 

also, the way that the beat is changed in drum machines, where one parameter of the line changes but the rest of the part remains exactly the same creates another totally different feel from a live drummer. this is much more prevalent in live sets, but ae beats often progress a few parameters at a time.

 

ae are just great at making a line that may seem chaotic or random at first but once you are more familiar you begin to find that tracks specific little groove. it's why i and many others slowly delve into albums and sometimes individual tracks. i still "discover" ae tracks that i didn't initially enjoy, but when i put on that album i find things to enjoy about tracks that initially i thought blech!

 

case in point - first time i heard pro radii i shrugged

 

 

long winded ae post merry xmas everybody

[coax]

Yeah there's nothing random going on in their music. Even on Pen Expers and Gantz Graf, I think there's a lot of meticulous programming going on. You can hear the patterns and the repetitions and the subtle but calculated details and changes that screams programming. Besides the programming and structure, the sound and atmosphere is also uncanny. There's a reason why they have so many fans it's not just because of the Autechre name. There simply isn't any other artist / band that can do the same thing, and the atmosphere is just the best. Once you get over the 'how the fuck did they do this' aspect, the sheer emotion and mood is amazing..

[Guest Greg Reason]

just want to say that very little of autechre is what i would describe as "loose." aside from some of the synth lines in live sets and parts of songs that fall apart, later era autechre is defined best by me as "precise."

[Guest sirch]

i thought it was absolute rubbish apart from a few tracks.

i literally haven't bothered with listening to it again since around 2003.

[Candiru]

We all love soundscapes, but what Autechre created here are sound environments. Uviol hits the spot for real yo.

[blos]

I won't lie to you, I thought it was fucking awesome. Still do.

Edited January 25, 2011 by blos

[sweepstakes]

I only liked "Cfern" when I first heard it. The rest I just didn't like texturally or melodically but it still had that nice Autechre buzz. I still don't ever get the urge to play a particular track off it, I just listen to it when I want to listen to Autechre but I've listened to too much of the rest of their catalog.

 

I like Draft 7.30 better. I liked it right off the bat. I think they're pretty comparable. Draft is creepier and more dynamic, where Confield kind of meanders and the mixing and layering isn't as interesting. Confield feels less thought-out without feeling loose and improvised.

[Overand]

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/365-confield/

 

This article lost my respect the second it bashed Barry Lyndon. Actually it lost my respect for being a pitchfork article from before 2008 but the Barrybashing didn't help.

[Guest sirch]

going to listen to Confield again. first time in about 7 years.... >>>>>>>>

[Guest sirch]

I only liked "Cfern" when I first heard it. The rest I just didn't like texturally or melodically but it still had that nice Autechre buzz. I still don't ever get the urge to play a particular track off it, I just listen to it when I want to listen to Autechre but I've listened to too much of the rest of their catalog.

 

I like Draft 7.30 better. I liked it right off the bat. I think they're pretty comparable. Draft is creepier and more dynamic, where Confield kind of meanders and the mixing and layering isn't as interesting. Confield feels less thought-out without feeling loose and improvised.

 

i liked Draft much better, too. straight away. but still, i haven't listened to it in about 6 or so years.......

[o00o]

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/365-confield/

 

 

cautiously balancing musicality with chaos.

 

As it has been said its pretty interesting that the complex beats where perceived as chaos back then even so they are not chaotic at all

Edited January 26, 2011 by o00o

[Guest theSun]

I only liked "Cfern" when I first heard it. The rest I just didn't like texturally or melodically but it still had that nice Autechre buzz. I still don't ever get the urge to play a particular track off it, I just listen to it when I want to listen to Autechre but I've listened to too much of the rest of their catalog.

 

I like Draft 7.30 better. I liked it right off the bat. I think they're pretty comparable. Draft is creepier and more dynamic, where Confield kind of meanders and the mixing and layering isn't as interesting. Confield feels less thought-out without feeling loose and improvised.

 

i agree with this. draft, to me, seems like a more polished, focused confield. if draft came first confield would be meh, but the progression is sick. i see confield/draft/untilted as the same idea expressed differently, with each album getting more technical and precise.

 

listening to confield now, it has lost quite a bit of its innovation for me.

[Guest Greg Reason]

Still a bloody fantastic record tho! Lentic Catachresis alone is worth the price of admission.

[blos]

i agree with this. draft, to me, seems like a more polished, focused confield.

Another way to put it is that Draft is like a more boring Confield. It's a fine record but it lacks the spark of its predecessor - I was pretty obsessed by EP7 at the time and I vividly remember the (Flash?) teaser of vi scose poise on the Warp site, I listened to it in disbelief, then again, and again ...

Also did a fairly major project around that time and I had this amazing piece of software called an MP3 player on my PowerBook 1400, with THREE (3) albums - Confield, Amnesiac by Radiohead (OK I'm not that proud of it) and Autoditacker by Mouse on Mars. On rotation. Parhelic Triangle is engraved in my brain.