XI year old Autechre Album Released: Exai (WARP234)

[Handels]

one Exai on the Beach, please

[Overand]

As is apparently standard with me I'm settling into this one just as they've released their follow up. I feel like it takes seeing where they're going next from one spot to have each step in their discography come into focus.

 

It's nice to see that they doubled down on my main complaints since then, namely that it's too long and has a harsh/brittle sound palate, to the point where this seems like Jarre's Equinoxe in comparison to Elseq. 1 1 is, spl9 and deco loc are my top tier pics at this point.

 

Can't wait to see what I think of Elseq when they release some 40 hour monstrosity in 2018. Or if they devise some generative audio software that just perpetually creates new music.

[atypic]

one Exai on the Beach, please

 

[jaderpansen]

exai<l-event<ae_live=elseq imo, still great album.

 

second half of fleure is some of the best they ever done. 11is, nodezh, spl9 winners, too. irlite was an aquired taste for me, another stand-out by now.

[Lewps]

^ controversial

[auxien]

Yeah, L-EVENT better than Exai? I dunno about that. Maybe more consistent, but...

 

AE_LIVE>everything

[Herr Jan]

I consider L-Event as part of Exai tbh.

[auxien]

^good point. They said in an interview it could've been part of Exai but they knew they needed an EP as well and that one seemed the best choice to stand 'apart' so it's basically just another chapter in the musk-scented brooding body that is Exai

[Boxus]

Or if they devise some generative audio software that just perpetually creates new music.

 

I still dream that they'll release an album in software form some day, something like Laconicism (which is excellent btw). Maybe in hardware form even, a box with some knobs and a line out that generates nonstop autechres.

[logakght]

 

Or if they devise some generative audio software that just perpetually creates new music.

 

I still dream that they'll release an album in software form some day, something like Laconicism (which is excellent btw). Maybe in hardware form even, a box with some knobs and a line out that generates nonstop autechres.

 

 

Oval also did it, though it was kind of confusing.

[usagi]

I'm not grabbed by the idea of an Autechre generative music system, actually. I prefer my 'chre hand-made.

[modey]

I wouldn't say no to ae releasing some kind of software, even something that would generate slightly different versions of album tracks each time..

[Guest bitroast]

I'm not grabbed by the idea of an Autechre generative music system, actually. I prefer my 'chre hand-made.

 

thats true man. people really seem to overlook the idea that autechre are still jamming the patches out like a live set when they play. creating momentum and proper flow. sure you can probably write that but autechre seem to write patches that still need to be played.

[BobDobalina]

^agreed They tried it in a way with Gescom's minidisc (apparently it was the only commercially available technology at the time that could do zero-latency shuffle), and look how many people rate that

 

also toplels and kudos to pixelives or whoever continues to reinvent this thread title

[usagi]

I wouldn't say no to ae releasing some kind of software, even something that would generate slightly different versions of album tracks each time..

 

yeah, I wouldn't say no either, it'd be interesting. but I'd rather have a new handcrafted release than live on that ^ for x years.

 

 

I'm not grabbed by the idea of an Autechre generative music system, actually. I prefer my 'chre hand-made.

 

thats true man. people really seem to overlook the idea that autechre are still jamming the patches out like a live set when they play. creating momentum and proper flow. sure you can probably write that but autechre seem to write patches that still need to be played.

 

 

yep. there is still the element of "playing" and I think that's important.

 

^agreed They tried it in a way with Gescom's minidisc (apparently it was the only commercially available technology at the time that could do zero-latency shuffle), and look how many people rate that

 

also toplels and kudos to pixelives or whoever continues to reinvent this thread title

 

I like some bits of Minidisc but in spite of the premise it actually doesn't flow that well. I like putting the Le Sharkes on random loop for 5 mins at a time. also there's one longer 3-min ambient track on there that is fucking fantastic, I forget what it's called. Shoegazer, I think.

[modey]

 

 

yep. there is still the element of "playing" and I think that's important.

 

yeah, I'm thinking more that they'd "play" it once, record all of the parameter tweaks in, and then the patch evolves the recorded tweaks each time. so there's still a live, ae-controlled element in there, it just gets more and more distorted over time..

[jaderpansen]

Yeah, L-EVENT better than Exai? I dunno about that. Maybe more consistent, but...

 

pretty much this, although i do realize it's kind of an unfair comparison considering the vastly differing scales, but tac alone pretty much beats anything on exai for me in terms of "wow". yeah i know it's practically another chapter of exai but with a good half a year between release dates to me they totally feel like singular entities with their own personal histories of reception etc. the consistency also not only applies to the releases as a whole but singular tracks as well: to me some exai tracks could be excellent but suffer from just minor details here n there that rub me in a not-so-perfect way, mostly concerning tunefulness. whatever, like i said nevertheless awesome (but in regard to their overall oevre not neccessarily "envelope pushing") release, still feel things have only been ramping up since then.

[Schlitze]

Ok Fleure just dropped into my top 5 Ae tracks of all time

[modey]

I listened today, still don't get it really. The first three quarters of the track just sounds like some of the stuff I was making about 12–14 years ago, trying to emulate Autechre..

[auxien]

I listened today, still don't get it really. The first three quarters of the track just sounds like some of the stuff I was making about 12–14 years ago, trying to emulate Autechre..

I almost think that's intentional on their part. Wild speculation ahead: I feel like they included it, and purposefully opened the album with it, to almost realign the listener's ears for what was ahead. It seem like them being a bit cheeky going, "hey, here's some standard AE sound you might expect to hear, we're going to blow that shit up for 2.5 minutes, then entirely deconstruct it and twist it and warp it to hell and leave it in tatters, and just when you're clueless it'll seamlessly transition into what may be the best track on the album which is really what this all about; you need to get over the old shit and the rest of the album isn't really like the first track at all."

 

Again, wild speculation. Also, I love the track despite it superficially coming across as stock-AE, I think it's endlessly deep and surprisingly clear in its sounds and presentation, and tight and expertly-created in its form, obvious the first half's grit and dirt, and the huge sprawling galaxy that is the second half.

[modey]

also I still think the bassline sounds like this nautilis track

 

and am a bit disappointed when the melodic content (lol) doesn't end up being as lush

Edited September 1, 2016 by modey

[Amen Lare]

Dunno what are you on about, that background "melody" properly introduced around 1 min mark (not sure how to call it non-technically) is essential Ae experience, it's subtle, simple and busy. If it's stock Ae then name me that stockpile.

 

I don't buy into the aforesaid speculation, there's a transition to irlite, but irlite itself isn't demonstrative of the album, it feels like a very certain cell of it with its sandy percussion and live-feel progression and a close relative in bladelores.

[xox]

why haven't i ever heard of this guy, nautilis?! just listening to his tracks on youtube... good stuff!

[Schlitze]

I almost think that's intentional on their part. Wild speculation ahead: I feel like they included it, and purposefully opened the album with it, to almost realign the listener's ears for what was ahead. It seem like them being a bit cheeky going, "hey, here's some standard AE sound you might expect to hear, we're going to blow that shit up for 2.5 minutes, then entirely deconstruct it and twist it and warp it to hell and leave it in tatters, and just when you're clueless it'll seamlessly transition into what may be the best track on the album which is really what this all about; you need to get over the old shit and the rest of the album isn't really like the first track at all."

 

Exactly. With Ae track 1 is great and you have  expectation of what the next is, then they blow that theory away with a few diverse sounding tracks

They did it with feed1 too.

[Ivan Ooze]

Ok Fleure just dropped into my top 5 Ae tracks of all time

gotta be my favorite track from exai, total blackhole wreckage