XI year old Autechre Album Released: Exai (WARP234)

[exm]

finally gave it a listen and it surprisingly didn't strike me in any way. it feels like it just hums along. when sean and rob are away the gear gossips about general hospital and american idol, luckily rob thought he would slip a secret recording device in the laundry to see if nord modular was talking shit behind his back.

that's what i love about about ae! don't get the feeling it was different on other albums. It's like no human is involved. Great shit! Waves and Flows by ai...love it

[encey]

I'm in Alabama and can't buy the album until Saturday, so it's really interesting to read the descriptions and imagine what the tracks are gonna sound like! I am like inverse jizzing, if that makes sense -- like jizzing up my dick and into my esophagus ... in the musical sense.

[splesh]

Whoa holy fuck. All y'all weren't kidding when ya said Disc 2 was even more out there. cloudline is really nuts so far and I'm not even halfway thru.

[jeremymacgregor87]

Ah shit, I'm going to have to grab my credit card aren't I

[awepittance]

 

6. vekoS - anyone complaining about 'weak sound design' or whatever needs to fuck off

 

anyone complaining about any criticisms or nit picks needs to fuck off actually. Yes I'm talking to you.

 

I mostly love the album, but I get irritable when defensiveness kicks in as a response to a nit pick

 

Edited February 8, 2013 by Awepittance

[3849]

 

 

6. vekoS - anyone complaining about 'weak sound design' or whatever needs to fuck off

 

anyone complaining about any criticisms or nit picks needs to fuck off actually. Yes I'm talking to you.

[vertsk8er419]

cloudline is pure hip hop... wtf at 3:13 on... SHI-

[kichiguy]

is bladelores the opening track on the second cd?

[Franciscus]

is bladelores the opening track on the second cd?

its the closing track on the first cd

[awepittance]

atm totally into prac-f...love that opening and how it evolves into african shuffled beatss. fm synths!!! wahoe

 

still my favorite.

 

another criticism (for those who have the balls to hear them without whining about it) is that we only get a handful of dance-floor bangers in the vein of Spl9. I'm greedy and i want more of those, actually i still just want the soundboards of both tours. This style of AE is served best at 140bpm+

[goDel]

Perhaps they'll surprise us with a series of singles or one of those illustrious EPs with the length of an album. It would be quite in character for them to do so.

 

Exai more of Ten.

[kausto]

don't really like jatevee C and bladelores

everything else is top notch.

[awepittance]

don't really like jatevee C and bladelores

everything else is top notch.

 

pretty much in full agreement

[digit]

just gave it a first listen -

 

first of all, super impressed by the sound design and production on here. it is amazing how absolutely pristine & clear everything sounds. the production here puts oversteps to shame. there is also an amazing spatial sense to this album in that every sound seems to have it's own place in the mix. i'm not just talking frequencies but more like everything existing in an actual physical space. there is a definite sense of foreground and background, with lots of elements panned a bit to one side or the other. it comes off almost like a surround sound effect.

 

this album really sounds to me like ae immersing themselves in modular analog synthesis, with insane cv modulation via max/msp. the only thing i can really compare it to sonically is some of the recent analog jams by richard devine. there are just so many incredibly fluid changes and modulations and movements of all the elements. everything on the album really seems to have that analog character, but instead of going for that usual analog 'warmth' that a lot of people go for with this gear, autechre instead get this razor sharp, edgy sound that still has an organic character to it.

 

on first listen, bladelores is definitely the standout track for me. i actually wish they had emphasized melody a bit more on Exal because the few times they did the results were incredible. going to take a lot of listens to absorb all of this but i think this could be their best work yet.

[Friendly Foil]

Could be nice if they released the cd version a little earlier.

[lumpenprol]

i'm not sure the breakdown in Bladelores at 5 min was a good idea...though I'm guessing most will think it "genius"

[modey]

 

atm totally into prac-f...love that opening and how it evolves into african shuffled beatss. fm synths!!! wahoe

 

still my favorite.

 

another criticism (for those who have the balls to hear them without whining about it) is that we only get a handful of dance-floor bangers in the vein of Spl9. I'm greedy and i want more of those, actually i still just want the soundboards of both tours. This style of AE is served best at 140bpm+

 

Yeah. I do want more superfast ae stuff. runrepik is up there too; it's almost like footwork or something. Funny that, because around the time tuinorizn leaked I was talking to vproc (watmm user, not the ae track obviously) about my desire to hear ae's take on footwork/juke.

 

[Kavinsky]

just gave it a first listen -

 

first of all, super impressed by the sound design and production on here. it is amazing how absolutely pristine & clear everything sounds. the production here puts oversteps to shame. there is also an amazing spatial sense to this album in that every sound seems to have it's own place in the mix. i'm not just talking frequencies but more like everything existing in an actual physical space. there is a definite sense of foreground and background, with lots of elements panned a bit to one side or the other. it comes off almost like a surround sound effect.

 

this album really sounds to me like ae immersing themselves in modular analog synthesis, with insane cv modulation via max/msp. the only thing i can really compare it to sonically is some of the recent analog jams by richard devine. there are just so many incredibly fluid changes and modulations and movements of all the elements. everything on the album really seems to have that analog character, but instead of going for that usual analog 'warmth' that a lot of people go for with this gear, autechre instead get this razor sharp, edgy sound that still has an organic character to it.

 

on first listen, bladelores is definitely the standout track for me. i actually wish they had emphasized melody a bit more on Exal because the few times they did the results were incredible. going to take a lot of listens to absorb all of this but i think this could be their best work yet.

Best Review so far

[modey]

i'm not sure the breakdown in Bladelores at 5 min was a good idea...though I'm guessing most will think it "genius"

 

 

Yeah, it's generally sequenced pretty weirdly. Kinda blows its load in the first 5 mins imo.

[Guest jasondonervan]

Well, I reckon (keyosc) was worth buying the album again for (bloody itunes Japan with their 'ALBUM ONLY' purchasing nonsense). Rounds off everything nicely, and probably the best 'tekker Japanese bonus track I've heard.

[Guest jasondonervan]

Just in case anyone missed it a few pages back

 

I've got some Japanese itunes codes ordered, so I should have some keyosc action soon (well, within 24 hours)

 

Perhaps it's a lot of Money, but what the hell... it's new Autechre album release day, time to celebrate!

 

 

[Stock]

Been away for a week...What did I miss (with 50 new pages I really hope there's finally something new)

[awepittance]

the album is out go get it son

[ambermonk]

The tracks that stand out the most to me are irlite (get 0), 1 1 is, and recks on. Not sure what all the hype over bladelores is about though.

Also I think YJY UX is a great closing to the album. To me its sounds are comprehensive of tracks in previous albums throughout Ae's career.

Sorry I'm inept at describing detail.

Edited February 8, 2013 by ambermonk

[awepittance]

this album feels very hypnogogic to me, listening to it for the 3rd time now and i feel like im listening to practically a different album. anybody else getting this effects? No effect like this on Quaristice or OVersteps

and i agree about the analog feel to it but not warm or soft like most analog centric music, it's sparkly. It reminds me a lot of what you can do with the Analog 4 or Arp 2600 with FM filter modulations. I feel like almost every bass line sound is being FM modulated to some extent, but not digital fm synths.

and i agree with digit about the mixing/engineering aspect of the album. For having such a chaotic noisy feel it's mixed beautifully. Nothing is muddy, even though at first glance it may seem that way on the surface. My qualm with the sound design wasn't that I think it has bad sound design, i think it's great it's just a sound palette that is used for almost the whole album. I prefer the more varying sound palette quality of Quaristice or Untilted personally. This is alot more focused on a singular aesthetic

Edited February 8, 2013 by Awepittance