XI year old Autechre Album Released: Exai (WARP234)

[Guest]

ANNOUNCEMENT:

cloudline is the best track on Exai. It's just so funky, lush and super super cool. Best part is maybe starting a minute before snares clock in at somewhere 6:00... The use of gaps and out-of-order beats as in 7:19 is just masterfully. <eom></thread>

 

Ha!

 

Bread: "What is your favourite track from Exai?" sean "currently cloudline"

 

 

You guys just have to trust in the wisdom of the Dmitris obviously.

Edited November 6, 2013 by Guest

[Ivan Ooze]

 

ANNOUNCEMENT:

cloudline is the best track on Exai. It's just so funky, lush and super super cool. Best part is maybe starting a minute before snares clock in at somewhere 6:00... The use of gaps and out-of-order beats as in 7:19 is just masterfully. <eom></thread>

 

Ha!

 

Bread: "What is your favourite track from Exai?" sean "currently cloudline"

 

 

You guys just have to trust in the wisdom of the Dmitris obviously.

 

said the dude that doesn't like quaristice

[Guest]

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENT:

cloudline is the best track on Exai. It's just so funky, lush and super super cool. Best part is maybe starting a minute before snares clock in at somewhere 6:00... The use of gaps and out-of-order beats as in 7:19 is just masterfully. <eom></thread>

 

Ha!

 

Bread: "What is your favourite track from Exai?" sean "currently cloudline"

 

 

You guys just have to trust in the wisdom of the Dmitris obviously.

 

said the dude that doesn't like quaristice

 

 

IO (mons) today gave me the feeling that I should give the Q world another chance.

[Ivan Ooze]

 

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENT:

cloudline is the best track on Exai. It's just so funky, lush and super super cool. Best part is maybe starting a minute before snares clock in at somewhere 6:00... The use of gaps and out-of-order beats as in 7:19 is just masterfully. <eom></thread>

 

Ha!

 

Bread: "What is your favourite track from Exai?" sean "currently cloudline"

 

 

You guys just have to trust in the wisdom of the Dmitris obviously.

 

said the dude that doesn't like quaristice

 

 

IO (mons) today gave me the feeling that I should give the Q world another chance.

 

yes!!!

[Roo]

Draft is a funny one. I found it instantly accessible, but it has never blown me away as a whole like several other ae LPs. To me it's similar to Quaristice, liked both from Day 1 but not in my top handful of ae albums.

 

I've used Exai so much this year as essay background music, that I kind of need to give it a break for a while. That said, the stretch from Bladelores through to the opening of Recks On is really great.

 

CD1 to me is like a single piece almost. CD2 is more like a traditional ae album, with fully formed tracks, but it's beautiful. Sort of like the next gen son of Tri Repetae. A few of the tracks have an extended outro sound to them as well on CD2.

 

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the sound palette. To me it mixes a lot of mothy bass, clunks and buzz with a lot of high pitched squeaking. It feels like an insect album to me (with irlite being the centrepiece, the lifecycle of a moth of may fly). Kind of like the love child of Iera, Fermium and The Trees, as its not as evil insect as Iera, but it certainly has a microscopic world feel to it.

 

Exai is an insect album, but not in an obvious way like Iera or something like the video of Basscadet. Exai lives in the wet, muddy habitat of dragonflies, it's more about insect life than insect politics.

[doorjamb]

this is truly fucking exceptional

 

I feel like an art thief; like there's a kandinsky hanging on my wall I can look at whenever I want

 

 

almost don't even care if they ever drop dodecautechre

but if they do I will pee myself trying to get the disc in the player

[Guest WNS000]

I still can't stand Nodezsh. The beat with that snare is annoying (too heavy, too repetitive) and the track does not seem to really develop. The ending is painfully never-ending. Will see if it grows on me sometime (would not be surprised if it does).

 

jatevee C and T ess xi are also not doing it for me most of the time. Too repetitive, not really developing and not enough surprises (T ess xi is slightly better because of the change at the end but that change is not particularly interesting for me sound-wise so nothing special really).

 

Anyway, I really enjoy the rest of the album.

 

Fleure, irlite (get 0), 1 1 is, Runrepik, spl9, Deco Loc and YJY UX are amazing and my favs from the album (and few of them are the best tracks I have ever heard).

 

The rest is very good too but strongly dependant on my current mood.

 

I realized not too long ago that while Ae is a band I most frequently listen to (almost every day for several years) and are definitely my favourites I can say that "only" two (maybe three) particular albums from their discography are satisfying for me as a whole - strongly stimulating my interest about production AND giving me a lot of emotions too.

 

The rest of their discography is "just" incredibly good but with annoying or underwhelming moments here and there (often one or two tracks that I could do without on a particular album). That said, not many problematic moments but enough for ruining the cohesion of an album as a whole. Like a film that is mostly really fantastic and with a great plot and great ending but with occasional flaws that prevent you from saying "this was ultimate".

 

But on the other hand, how many bands produced at least one album (let alone three albums) that developed a really strong connection with you for the rest of your life AND having the rest of their discography so big, so incredibly ground-breaking AND enjoyable.

 

For me Orbital did two unforgettable albums (but the rest of their discography is nothing special or even really sucks), Tool did two (but that is like a half of all of their discography), Talk Talk did one (maybe two, the rest is quite forgettable and discography is also not very big), Porcupine Tree did one or two (and yeah, their discography is big and mostly very good in the moment of listening but forgettable quite quickly)... there would be maybe more but can't remember them now.

 

So...

 

Excuse my spontaneous writing need...

Edited November 14, 2013 by Jev

[Guest net]

I realized not too long ago that while Ae is a band I most frequently listen to (almost every day for several years) and are definitely my favourites I can say that "only" two (maybe three) particular albums from their discography are satisfying for me as a whole - strongly stimulating my interest about production AND giving me a lot of emotions too.

One of the best things about them is how much their material varies track by track. Always a great density of detail and different arrangements going on, making individual tracks on a release a lot more singular and pertinent, and then all the same tied together into a consistent listen by texture and production. This Ae's music shares with something like Get Down by Pita (first thing that came to my head, maybe because in the AAA they said they liked Mego) or Ukkonen's music. And it's great when artists can wring a great deal of material out of (often conceptually) limited sound sources. But I find a lot with stuff coming out at the moment under the veneer/s of novel concepts or limited/'focused' source material that these albums have very short lifespans and usually only a couple of actually decent tracks anyway. Can't help the suspicion that in the cases where it falls short so often, there's some other motivation like a fast album turnaround and simultaneous higher-brow exposure to get the likes of The Wire and stockers like Boomkat all worked up and excited. This view is doubtless suffering from poor representation, given how little music I'm managing to consume at the moment, but man. I suppose all I'm saying is I wish more albums I spent my money on were as rewarding, one way or another, as Autechre's.

 

And the actual relevance of this ramble to your quote is that with so much going on, you (one) find your favourite track on an Ae album changes a lot depending on so many factors, which I love and which as been mentioned countless times here before. Find myself rinsing tracks I never was so enthusiastic about whenever revisiting an album. Somewhere in the nether depths of this thread I bemoaned the 'sidechaining' of Exai, and how it sounded less graceful than eg. Quaristice. It's brutal and muscular, way thicker somehow than Q, but I really was mistaken I think about some of the processes used to achieve that result. It sounds twatting brilliant. Love Nodezsh. I think I'm pretty much sold on the whole thing at the moment.

[modey]

But on the other hand, how many bands produced at least one album (let alone three albums) that developed a really strong connection with you for the rest of your life AND having the rest of their discography so big, so incredibly ground-breaking AND enjoyable.

for me:

NIN

King Crimson—at first, the three 80s albums (and every single note they recorded before and after)

Genesis

 

But yeah, I put Autechre in among those in terms of how much they influenced me.

[markedone]

I still can't stand Nodezsh. The beat with that snare is annoying (too heavy, too repetitive) and the track does not seem to really develop. The ending is painfully never-ending. Will see if it grows on me sometime (would not be surprised if it does).

For me nodezsh is all about the way it develops and never reaches resolution. The strong beat morphs into a completely different pattern halfway through without missing a step. No matter how many listens, it manages to stay ahead of my expectations. The solution is just out of reach, like a design problem where I can visualize only fragments of the form.

 

Interesting how you mention also not liking jatevee C and T ess xi, because those two tracks plus nodezsh are possibly my 3 favorite from Exai. at least we both found our favorites

[markedone]

^ @ nodezsh

and beyond pseudointellectualizing it, i just think its a bitchin' cool rhythm

[modey]

I actually instantly connected with nodezsh; it's one of those classic AE tracks in that it starts out kinda upbeat but ends up becoming bleak as fuck by the end. I guess the change is more subtle than say, Stop Look Listen though..

[YELLOW]

Not getting all the nodezsh hate. The way the drums evolve throughout the track is really. Really stuttering at first but eventually flowing and rhythmic.

 

The one track that isn't doing it for me recently is tuinorizn...

[oscillik]

I love nodezsh because, to me, it's sinister as fuck.

 

and then the hi-hats come in, and it reminds me of the groove and general feel of this track from Demolition Man, and I fucking love it.

[Guest Gravity]

Stop Look Listen

 

That track is 10/10, time to blast it.

[jules]

I love nodezsh because, to me, it's sinister as fuck.

 

 

indeed

[Panoptic Sweep]

Another vote for nodezsh. Don't find it sinister at all, just epic. Ebbs and flows nicely and ends on quite an upbeat note I think.

[Blir]

Never found nodezsh sinister, but love the tune, it's emotionally ambiguous and sounds somewhat majestic. Been a recent favourite on Exai actually.

[oscillik]

fucking lol your avatar man

[Hugh Mughnus]

fucking lol your avatar man

he should add rob ford in there too

[Alcofribas]

fucking lol your avatar man

fuck yeah he did it! nice one

 

also, when does exai come out?

[Polymershapes]

most likely coincidence but i came across these images and concepts today. reminded me of exai/lelevent cover art

 

http://www.mathpuzzle.com/

 

scroll down to Turmites section. also see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turmite

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langtons_ant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busy_beaver

 

Edited November 20, 2013 by Polymershapes

[Blir]

 

fucking lol your avatar man

fuck yeah he did it! nice one

 

also, when does exai come out?

 

 

lol it was changed before the AAA even ended!

[Plarkreluke Banloboh]

Through the AAA I was excited to find out that Sean & Rob make a lot of synaesthetic connections with their tracks to visual and tactile concepts. I enjoy doing this too, so I wanted to put some of the imagery I get into word form and weave a bit of a story out of it for fun. This is what I got from jatavee C after a couple hours listening:

 

 

jatavee C

A vast Buddhist temple set into the mountains transforms it's shape. Elaborately decorated rice-paper screen-doors open. Carved outer walls rotate, lower themselves and collapse.

 

Two ancient rival elephants are fiercely sparring with bamboo slats in their trunks at the center of the temple. Bamboo shatters and showers splinters as they violently clash

 

Guanshiyin the many armed goddess of Mercy levitates above. She gently swivels a brass singing bowl in her many hands as if panning for gold. It rings as needles and prayer beads roll up and down like skateboarders on a half-pipe. Her eyes relax, brows raise and through ecstatic realization her crown extends as she radiates pure light. Clusters of needles emerge from the bowl and fly around the temple like mosquitoes.

 

The swarms begin to perform acupuncture on the ancient animals which at first frightens and angers them. Their wrinkly, grey skin begins to shed and fall away like scales and the elephants grow younger and more sprightly. They resume their sparring which now takes on a more playful tone.

Edited November 27, 2013 by wabby

[AJW]

^ nice read! I can dig it