XI year old Autechre Album Released: Exai (WARP234)

[syd syside]

[kaini]

clearly some mad LFO modulated (notch?) filter shit going on in 1 1 is.

Edited February 9, 2013 by kaini

[xox]

1 1 is

[eugene]

yeah, notch with 2 peaks with opposite phase lfos in 2 channels to create that weird stereo effect i guess

[Guest 123]

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.

 

was it same girl? u bill murray?

[Guest 123]

yeah, notch with 2 peaks with opposite phase lfos in 2 channels to create that weird stereo effect i guess

Capture.PNG

 

case closed

[thehauntingsoul]

im actually struggling with the opener. that and t ess xi.

 

Struggling with t ess xi? That's like one of if not my favorite track on the album. It's just so immediate and funky!

[Frank Poole]

Took a nice long drive the other night with my bowl. Pretty much the only choice I have to listen to the album with a nice sound system without headphones. I'm going to have to plan another road trip with the second disc. What an album!

[thehauntingsoul]

Yeah a friend and I drove for a total of about 3 hours in the middle of butt fuck nowhere last night. It was super fucking sketchy, you all know how crazy that snowstorm was and I'm up in snowy old Canada. Blasted this album, it was so surreal and it suited the weather perfectly. Will have to do it again soon although I'm not driving out there in those conditions again, almost died like 3 times lol. The things I'll do for Autechre music.

[3849]

Seriously, no one knows what music looks like, no one knows about spectrums? I work with it all the time, I can't work without it, I know what music looks like and know what the spectrum sounds like...

[springymajig]

This one definitely looks like the way I picture this album:

 

 

[Frank Poole]

Yeah a friend and I drove for a total of about 3 hours in the middle of butt fuck nowhere last night. It was super fucking sketchy, you all know how crazy that snowstorm was and I'm up in snowy old Canada. Blasted this album, it was so surreal and it suited the weather perfectly. Will have to do it again soon although I'm not driving out there in those conditions again, almost died like 3 times lol. The things I'll do for Autechre music.

Haha, sounds like my kind of night. The storm wasn't too bad down here in Newburgh, NY. Honestly, I wish I had some fellow AE fans to enjoy a dangerous ride with!

[Guest pixelives]

Seriously, no one knows what music looks like, no one knows about spectrums? I work with it all the time, I can't work without it, I know what music looks like and know what the spectrum sounds like...

Chill dude. I do too as it's very important in the mixing stage.. We're just having a bit of fun..

[syd syside]

Seriously, no one knows what music looks like, no one knows about spectrums? I work with it all the time, I can't work without it, I know what music looks like and know what the spectrum sounds like...

 

Shit man you might be the next Ludwig Van... do you have a soundcloud music account?

[Guest pixelives]

Yeah a friend and I drove for a total of about 3 hours in the middle of butt fuck nowhere last night. It was super fucking sketchy, you all know how crazy that snowstorm was and I'm up in snowy old Canada. Blasted this album, it was so surreal and it suited the weather perfectly. Will have to do it again soon although I'm not driving out there in those conditions again, almost died like 3 times lol. The things I'll do for Autechre music.

I really really miss the "car test." Some of my most important musical discoveries/epiphanies were made that way..

[Guest Aserinsky]

So in a drunken state of boredom, I decided to write an actual serious review of this album. I'm fully aware this may come off as a load of drunken pretentious bollocks, but hey I might as well share it to see how other people react:

 

 

On the 21^st September 2012 The Designers Republic, who were responsible for the artwork for Exai, made a post through Facebook that they were in the process of designing the cover art for the new Autechre album. As this was essentially an unofficial announcement of a new Autechre album, the prospect of new Autechre material instantly spread through the internet, giving many music related communities a high degree of excitement. Whilst most communities typically express excitement through a rather conservative and reserve manner, one notable exception was the online community We Are The Music Makers, whom over a matter of months until the official announcement in December as well as up to the release of Exai itself, proceeded to create what can almost be described as a sub-community relating to this release, creating in-jokes and communicating through creating both audio and digital photographs, border-lining on both the lightly humorous and the near obsessive.

 

Whilst I'm aware a frequent criticism of music reviews is that the reviewer is wishing to make points beyond the music itself, the reason that I bring this up is that the reactions of the creations by We Are The Music Makers provide a perfect analogy for the way Autechre's music is interpreted. The immediate reaction is one of both confusion and disgust; here you are initially presented with a technological marvel that seems incredibly desensitised and depersonalised, leading to an initial reaction of repulsion and confusion. However, as you begin to dive deeper a deep sense of desiring to communicate through unconventional means and sensitivity begin to emerge, revealing an emotional relationship with technology many of us are unwilling to embrace, let alone attempt to understand.

 

For those already familiar with Autechre, Exai will not appear to be, for a lack of a better term, “challenging” like other releases. Personally the main reason why I feel this way is not because the record is merely just a collection of old ideas recycled, but rather that it is a combination of previous ideas, collated into one listening experience. Whilst no new direction is presented here, this record is still incredibly unique to their previous outings, solely because they've decided to collate their whole career into one, two hour record. Exai, in many senses, could be interpreted as a retrospective record; in that all their previous albums were the results on focusing on one specific aspect of their sound and this album finally pieces together all their previous attempts into one huge, aural collage. The heavy focus on hip hop here signals a sense of returning to their initial vision of what they wanted to create, whilst still incorporating the exceptional sound design and compositional techniques that they've acquired throughout their 22 year career.

 

Despite this, because of the vast areas that Autechre have explored, it's difficult to say whether this album 'defines' Autechre. For some fans this will be their greatest triumph, providing glimpses of genius that they collated from their previous records and now have in one package to pour over and analyse, whilst for some this album wont be focused enough, still leaving a sense of wonder to what they could achieve at their most introspective and pedantic. Personally I veer towards the former, admired by both the simplicity and density that this record fluctuates between and enamoured by Autechre's attempts to create a futuristic, progressive form of hip hop pushed to it's theoretical extreme. However those who are wishing to hear “insert album here” Part Two will be rather disappointed, as stylistically it covers so many bases throughout their career that whilst it's possible to attribute nearly every individual characteristic to a previous record, the album crosses so many reference points it's impossible to pin down. From the point of view of an Autechre fan, this album will probably be extremely accessible but for someone that's never been introduced to Autechre, the reaction is far more difficult to predict. This album seems to make far more sense from a chronological perspective and for someone that's completely obsessed by Autechre, it is near enough impossible for me to even begin to comprehend how most listeners would interpret this record.

Edited February 10, 2013 by Aserinsky

[Polymershapes]

whom should be who in the first line

 

i haven't gotten past that yet

[Guest Aserinsky]

whom should be who in the first line

 

i haven't gotten past that yet

 

Indeed it should my apologies. Editing that now

[Hugh Mughnus]

ok guys... I'm back. I don't really know where I went but I went somewhere and now I am back from there.

 

 

When I come off the zooms I will try and write something intelligbleee

 

 

 

 

 

what a trip

Edited February 10, 2013 by StephenG

[syd syside]

ok guys... I'm back. I don't really know where I went but I went somewhere and now I am back from there.

 

 

When I come off the zooms I will try and write something intelligbleee

 

 

 

 

 

what a trip

 

[Hugh Mughnus]

lol

[Guest pixelives]

ok guys... I'm back. I don't really know where I went but I went somewhere and now I am back from there.

 

 

When I come off the zooms I will try and write something intelligbleee

 

 

 

 

 

what a trip

HAHAH YESS!!

 

Gawd I wish I had some mushies rite naww

[Guest pixelives]

irlite (get 0) how at the ending section how the bass is shadowing the jazzy melody. how before that they're all totally separate from one another then just lock in.

[jules]

 

 

im actually struggling with the opener. that and t ess xi.

Struggling with t ess xi? That's like one of if not my favorite track on the album. It's just so immediate and funky!

yea, I'm not sure what it is. I can't wrap my head around it. I'm too infatuated with the immediacy of 1 1 and recks on.

[jules]

 

 

1 1 is

the actual fuck