XI year old Autechre Album Released: Exai (WARP234)

[oscillik]

I wonder if we'll get a truly 'experimental' or challenging album from them again? Some of the first disc (tracks 1-3 especially) and spl9 are really dark and alien, but overall this one is seeming even more poppy than Oversteps in a way. Sure, that was softer and had a lot more melody, but the b-boy like, hip-hoppish, 'funky', super polished edge and the pretty straightforward beats (to me) on this one make it seem much more accessible than ever Oversteps, what with its more more unusual, 'stately', composed, soft sound.

so let me get this straight

 

Autechre get slammed for making stuff like Confield by a certain populace of listeners, to cries of "I wish they'd make stuff that sounded like LP5/Amber/EP7 again"

 

so Autechre make stuff that sounds 'familiar' (if you can even attribute such a quality to music by Autechre) and they get slammed again.

 

W A T M M

[exm]

shame irlite is about pefect except for trhat horrendously annoying instrument at 6'40'' and 3'10''. and rarely happens with them but ther's nothing like being wacked out of the tune when you hear something that puts the image in your head of someone playing a instrument (hitting buttons to initiate sounds or physically playing a keybaord) like those sounds at 6'40'' i cant get image out of my head of a person making those sounds (playing live) instead of it being naturalyl part of the track with no humans involved. totally kicks me out i hate it. breaks all concentration and immersion. i dont think ill ever be able to listenpast those sounds =`,`=

Just imagine an engine like a chip or something placed inside a monkey playing on a random synth reproduce human behavior...

That's doing it for me... .. .

Edited February 10, 2013 by exm

[Alcofribas]

shame irlite is about pefect except for trhat horrendously annoying instrument at 6'40'' and 3'10''. and rarely happens with them but ther's nothing like being wacked out of the tune when you hear something that puts the image in your head of someone playing a instrument (hitting buttons to initiate sounds or physically playing a keybaord) like those sounds at 6'40'' i cant get image out of my head of a person making those sounds (playing live) instead of it being naturalyl part of the track with no humans involved. totally kicks me out i hate it. breaks all concentration and immersion. i dont think ill ever be able to listenpast those sounds =`,`=

 

are you picking up on any high-gain early arriving destructive indirect specular energies?

[Polymershapes]

they've really brought the bass with this album. Lots of subsonic layers you can only access on a sound system.

 

I want entire albums in the style of the end section of FLeure.

[Lianne]

 

I wonder if we'll get a truly 'experimental' or challenging album from them again? Some of the first disc (tracks 1-3 especially) and spl9 are really dark and alien, but overall this one is seeming even more poppy than Oversteps in a way. Sure, that was softer and had a lot more melody, but the b-boy like, hip-hoppish, 'funky', super polished edge and the pretty straightforward beats (to me) on this one make it seem much more accessible than ever Oversteps, what with its more more unusual, 'stately', composed, soft sound.

so let me get this straight

 

Autechre get slammed for making stuff like Confield by a certain populace of listeners, to cries of "I wish they'd make stuff that sounded like LP5/Amber/EP7 again"

 

so Autechre make stuff that sounds 'familiar' (if you can even attribute such a quality to music by Autechre) and they get slammed again.

 

W A T M M

 

Was I actually 'slamming' them, or this release? That wasn't my intention and I don't think the post reads that way now.

 

Really interesting responses otherwise, though. I think I agree we are more conditioned to their music, so it'll be easier for us and induce less "what the hell is going on here?" kinds of feelings (feelings which I enjoy). I'd love to hear more about the interplay of sounds, though? There seems less interplay going on to me, but I am keen to hear of how others are hearing it.

 

I can admit - the darker, the more bizarre and more alien, the more I like it when it comes to Autechre (not all music, obviously). So of course things like the overly cheery synths chords opening T ess xi and the happy house pads and swirly hip hop sounds that crop up more often here than on other releases don't do it so much for me. But that's just taste; I can see those tracks are still well produced and full of other interesting sonics (and even the 'cheesy' elements get a cool makeover.) It's obviously all quality music. But to my ears those quirky, lighthearted elements on this new one stand in contrast to, say, the totally straight horn stabs in Sublimit. The horn stabs in Sublimit were brilliant because of how shocking they were in context of everything else that had gone on in the album (and what they morphed into), whereas the more traditional elements on Exai sit in the tracks in a different way, if that makes any sense.

 

Also, maybe I'm just conscious that all the other 'IDM' big guns have got more and more relaxed and synthtastic. But it's hard for new blood to rise up, because it is often ignored. Thankfully Autechre are still pushing things, and Exai is a testament to that, despite my misgivings about how some of it makes me feel at times.

[Polymershapes]

i swear the first half of vekoS has an evil man whispering "say your prayers" in various cadences like something from a movie vhs head would sample

Edited February 10, 2013 by Polymershapes

[zlemflolia]

I love the scary melancholic tracks like 1 1 is

 

It's fucking beastly

 

I'm with the guys who don't much like the upbeat funky synths. I do like the intro of tuinorizn though as I feel it has this sinister feel behind it

Edited February 10, 2013 by Zeffolia

[xox]

spl9 sounds so dystopic

[Polymershapes]

the ambient beauty of the mid section of bladelores (before the beat drops) is serious business. stop listening to it as 'autechre' and just hear it as sound/music, it's really a nice thing to have put into existence... good for them.

Edited February 10, 2013 by Polymershapes

[Guest]

i distinctly remember discovering the twisted beauty of Draft 7.30, every day anticipating listening to it riding the subway, imagining peoples' faces melting away to the rhythms... no other ae release has had such strong effects on me, but this here album gives me that feels again.

[thehauntingsoul]

 

I wonder if we'll get a truly 'experimental' or challenging album from them again? Some of the first disc (tracks 1-3 especially) and spl9 are really dark and alien, but overall this one is seeming even more poppy than Oversteps in a way. Sure, that was softer and had a lot more melody, but the b-boy like, hip-hoppish, 'funky', super polished edge and the pretty straightforward beats (to me) on this one make it seem much more accessible than ever Oversteps, what with its more more unusual, 'stately', composed, soft sound.

so let me get this straight

 

Autechre get slammed for making stuff like Confield by a certain populace of listeners, to cries of "I wish they'd make stuff that sounded like LP5/Amber/EP7 again"

 

so Autechre make stuff that sounds 'familiar' (if you can even attribute such a quality to music by Autechre) and they get slammed again.

 

DIFFERENT OPINIONS

I CAN'T BELIEVE ALL OF WATMM DOESN'T AGREE ON THE SAME THING

[Guest Aserinsky]

Opinions are like rap careers, everybody's got one

 

[thehauntingsoul]

Pronunciation, do you folks pronounce jatevee c like jat-a-vee-see or jate(like gate)-vee-see?

[TheTransitionary]

Pronunciation, do you folks pronounce jatevee c like jat-a-vee-see or jate(like gate)-vee-see?

 

 

 

jat-a-vee-see for me

[azatoth]

I pronounce it like the Finnish word for waste water, jätevesi.

[Guest Araungzeb]

Two full spins in, this album is easily the most satisfying body of work they've released since LP5 (to me at least). Although I loved some of the sounds and ideas that Quaristice had to offer, I never was able to shake the feeling that the album was a bit undercooked (it didn't help that they released 3-4 versions of almost every song). With Exai, it feels like they took some of the brilliant ideas from Quaristice (bolstered by the amazing melodic experimentation on Oversteps/MOT) and applied the same level of detail and complexity that they had on Confield. While I've thoroughly enjoyed all of their releases from Draft-MOT, I feel like all of those albums were more concerned with experimenting within one specific set of ideas while Exai incorporates all of the best ideas from the last 10 years into one expansive, detailed, intimidatingly creative body of work.

 

Also, while I feel like this album is going to take far longer to begin to fully understand than anything else they've released in the last 10 years. I have a feeling this is going to be my "desert island" ae album, either this or LP5.

[oscillik]

 

 

I wonder if we'll get a truly 'experimental' or challenging album from them again? Some of the first disc (tracks 1-3 especially) and spl9 are really dark and alien, but overall this one is seeming even more poppy than Oversteps in a way. Sure, that was softer and had a lot more melody, but the b-boy like, hip-hoppish, 'funky', super polished edge and the pretty straightforward beats (to me) on this one make it seem much more accessible than ever Oversteps, what with its more more unusual, 'stately', composed, soft sound.

so let me get this straight

 

Autechre get slammed for making stuff like Confield by a certain populace of listeners, to cries of "I wish they'd make stuff that sounded like LP5/Amber/EP7 again"

 

so Autechre make stuff that sounds 'familiar' (if you can even attribute such a quality to music by Autechre) and they get slammed again.

 

DIFFERENT OPINIONS

I CAN'T BELIEVE ALL OF WATMM DOESN'T AGREE ON THE SAME THING

whooosh

[Gordon]

I'm really loving the last track YJY UX ...such a nice vibe

[modey]

 

shame irlite is about pefect except for trhat horrendously annoying instrument at 6'40'' and 3'10''. and rarely happens with them but ther's nothing like being wacked out of the tune when you hear something that puts the image in your head of someone playing a instrument (hitting buttons to initiate sounds or physically playing a keybaord) like those sounds at 6'40'' i cant get image out of my head of a person making those sounds (playing live) instead of it being naturalyl part of the track with no humans involved. totally kicks me out i hate it. breaks all concentration and immersion. i dont think ill ever be able to listenpast those sounds =`,`=

Wow, the little bouncy melody early on is one of my favourite moments in the track. When it came in on first listen I though "fuck yeah!".

[manmower]

Worst thing about Exai is when you can't stop the cum coming out of penis, or when penis flips inside of your body like a sock.

[Hugh Mughnus]

Worst thing about Exai is when you can't stop the cum coming out of penis, or when penis flips inside of your body like a sock.

 

lol what....?

 

wait...

 

no what? pics or gtfo!

[Guest]

 

lol wat

Edited February 10, 2013 by Guest

[Guest Lucy Faringold]

i thought i hit a plateau with this thing but it's taking off again and I just can't fathom how they made a two-hour album this good.

[encey]

 

Pronunciation, do you folks pronounce jatevee c like jat-a-vee-see or jate(like gate)-vee-see?

 

 

 

jat-a-vee-see for me

 

and always in an Indian accent, by a guy with a great mustache, socks and sandals!

[Hugh Mughnus]

i thought i hit a plateau with this thing but it's taking off again and I just can't fathom how they made a two-hour album this good.

 

it really is that good.