XI year old Autechre Album Released: Exai (WARP234)

[Salvatorin]

mushroom exai mega listening session commencing in t minus 20 minutes.

 

I'm an exai virgin peeps! Here goes first listen!

 

:beer:

holy balls you are going to have a hell of a trip!!!!!!

[markedone]

First headphone listen: randomly chose recks on because people seemed to dig it

 

Holy fuck - 6 minutes in and i've been jaw-dropped impressed the whole fuckin time. Ae are kings, they are back, and this track might be one of the best things i've ever heard from them. There is just so much texture and depth in this tracks' synths.

[syd syside]

spl9....

 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2013 by compson

[rekosn]

mushroom exai mega listening session commencing in t minus 20 minutes.

 

I'm an exai virgin peeps! Here goes first listen!

 

:beer:

have a noice trip!

[Plarkreluke Banloboh]

BBBLLLAAADDDEEELLLOOORRREEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSD

[Guest pixelives]

Even though it's cheesy as all hell nodezsh is pretty cool to watch in the itunes visualizer. (note to StephenG)

(visualizer, not the track, obv)

[Guest]

[Polymershapes]

That moment in spl9 after the 3 minute mark where that ambient pad wash comes in... is one of the most paranoid CNS response inducing autechre moments ever. so loud and unexpected.. it made me think something had crashed through my window behind me the first time i heard it on headphones

[Guest disoriental express]

mushroom exai mega listening session commencing in t minus 20 minutes.

 

I'm an exai virgin peeps! Here goes first listen!

 

:beer:

yours will be good!!! mine was good!!!

prepare for

 

spl9....

 

 

 

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahha

[xox]

[baph]

The stereo imaging on this album is incredible. I've always loved their typical heavy use of mono with subtle stereo effects, but they've gone all fucking out on Exai. There's such a huge, colorful, haunting/psychedelic sound field on this.

 

I've only played through once. Ae always confounds first impressions for me in the best possible way, but that said, I'm surprised at how sparse the second half is (spl9 notwithstanding). It sort of fucked with my expectations, especially after so many in this thread described disc 2 as this intense, angry beast. Didn't feel that. I did feel more of a sketchy, groovy, Gescomy vibe; not a bad thing, but not expected. Holy hell, though, the last half of recks on, and all of YJY UX, delivered on the ae promise.

 

I had a day separating my listen to the first half and the second. I get a sense that they actually might work better as a whole, listened to in close succession, with bladelores kind of opening up into this sparser, atmospheric second half. It's an audio narrative ae have explored before, but this would be a seriously long-form narrative. Hah.

 

I'm not sold 100% on everything here, but I didn't expect to be after the first round. I am, however, absolutely loving a lot of this. Most of it. More than most. Exai. Good shit.

Edited February 9, 2013 by baph

[Polymershapes]

pure speculation: mayhaps exai was composed in the same fashion that the live sets are composed, and the high emphasis on reverb and spatial manipulation of relatively simpler sounds is their way of simulating the live experience. they don't like soundboards because the live ambience is lost... this is their way of adding it back into the equation. /derp

[Guest pixelives]

pure speculation: mayhaps exai was composed in the same fashion that the live sets are composed, and the high emphasis on reverb and spatial manipulation of relatively simpler sounds is their way of simulating the live experience. they don't like soundboards because the live ambience is lost... this is their way of adding it back into the equation. /derp

I was thinking along the same lines, actually. You do get a lot of those "warehouse" vibes and also that weird stuff where there are ghost sounds and things bouncing off (virtual) walls.

[baph]

 

pure speculation: mayhaps exai was composed in the same fashion that the live sets are composed, and the high emphasis on reverb and spatial manipulation of relatively simpler sounds is their way of simulating the live experience. they don't like soundboards because the live ambience is lost... this is their way of adding it back into the equation. /derp

I was thinking along the same lines, actually. You do get a lot of those "warehouse" vibes and also that weird stuff where there are ghost sounds and things bouncing off (virtual) walls.

 

Yes, absolutely.

[Guest pixelives]

One time at an Ae show I heard what sounded like unintelligible female whispering in my ears, so much so that I kept turning to see if somebody was there. The only other time this has happened was at an MBV show a few years ago.

[blos]

Have they released a track as good as "1 1 is" in the preceding decade? At the moment I am thinking, no.

 

The whole album is like them delivering the stuff I had wished for on previous albums - those little moments you think whoa, I wish there was a whole track opening into that world, well now there is.

[awepittance]

 

yea I am under the impression that a big part of this album is lazy jams. A lot of noodling, some of it random and chaotic, edited into tracks. have to find out whether that is a good thing or not, i do like it with Quaristice.

 

it's weird, they go to places with their tracks which you would move to the trash bin if you recorded that, right? like the synth stuff in the second half of recks on, I mean what? but then you listen 20 times to it because it's them, and you start to force yourself to like it.

 

i think there's a lot of crap on this album, with no compositional idea behind it whatsoever, but it might turn out to be "catchy" crap in the end..

 

Yeah... I really don't know what is going on with the second half of 'recks on'. Seems totally uninspired on every level to me.

 

lol

 

Have they released a track as good as "1 1 is" in the preceding decade? At the moment I am thinking, no.

 

sublimit, pro radii, suriperre, v-proc, reniform puls, the plc, etc (all those tracks are better though)

[zlemflolia]

1 1 is

[eugene]

the fuck ?! what part is this ?

[zlemflolia]

very beginning few seconds and all throghout the entire track

[Polymershapes]

laying in bed with exai on headphones:

 

 

on speakers:

 

 

Edited February 9, 2013 by Polymershapes

[Guest pixelives]

fucking hell

[Guest pixelives]

itunes visualizer just did this during deco loc

[kaini]

1 1 is

the actual fuck

[Guest]

dat spectogram

 

 

awwww

forget what i said about jammy crap

 

a little weed

did helped a lot

 

jesus' titties

looking forward to shroom review

Edited February 9, 2013 by Guest