lumpenprol Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 damn, son. also, why is it that almost everyone on watmm is more articulate that all of the reviewers whose reviews we've read so far? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gl0tch Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Re: The Pitchfork Review... I have a feeling this guy wrote this review after one listen. I also suspect he's the type of Gen-Y "bro" who prefers playlists to albums. I cant say I expected more, but I really suspect it would do Pitchfork wonders to drive to some consistency in their approach to *how* they appoint reviewers. We don't need someone reviewing Exai and then next week reviewing Beyonce or Fleet Foxes. There's something to be said about legacy and genre, reference and process–both physical and conceptual. This review is devoid of any of that. I personally think since 2005 it's been impossible to listen to, or even write about, an Autechre release without some mindfulness of their live act. If the reviewer had been mindful of live Autechre, half or nearly all of his criticism could be tossed out completely. It might be unfair of me to expect the reviewer to review something outside of the context of the very thing that is being reviewed, but for some, the live performance in relation to how things are negotiated in the studio is an implicit narrative to many genre defining acts. I think the same consideration should be given to Autechre moving forward. If it's never mentioned, it should be a litmus test from which we the readers can decipher what is worth our time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cult fiction Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Here's a nice comment/reply on the Fact Mag review: "First of all, this is not a double LP, it's a quadruple LP. What? The fact that it ships on 4 12" makes it a quadruple LP? Is virtually every 40 min. album a double LP because they tend to come on 2 12"? I don't even think it's meant to be a double LP - the track list is a single 1-17 with no breaks in true 2013 style. It's not like it's Mellon Collie and the infinite sadness or any other album with 2 clearly defined pieces. It happens to ship on 2 CDs because one can't hold the entire thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 looks like those promos are really paying off for you, warp. i'd also like to point out those promos went out a loooong time ago. warp held the album release back to give time for the reviews to get done, and yet this review is only just showing up on pitchfork now, what... 2 weeks after the album release? waste of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pixelives Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Basically there is solace in the fact that Sean and Rob most likely don't really give a flying fuck about what any of these people say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awepittance Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 if i was Warp i'd boycott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candiru Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 It's not a serious Ae album until some pitchfork cheese dick gives it a half-hearted review. And I stand by what I said at the top of this page. I mean even Anthony Fantano (who I respect MUCH more than pitchfork) actually talks about the music he reviews with detail and consideration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr lopez Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Frankly, I'm a bit shocked by the intolerance of some regarding negative reviews, implying the reviewer doesn't know shit about music. It sounds like those kids on Eurogamer when their favourite Xbox game doesn't get a 10/10. He likes Hecker, though. http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17468-chimerization/ Ah. So he's a hipster. Or an elitist. Or a rich kid. All three would probably be the best way of putting it. He's more interested in how his taste in obscure and widely disliked avant music will make him look cool to the people around him. AE is too accessible, not avant enough, too popular to be taken seriously. They can be written off with a simple observation of "too long" because their music is "uncool" to other super-hipsters and nobody who reads P4K will notice anyway, because frankly, P4K is pretty fucking uncool now to those very super-hipsters. One has to wonder why the fuck Pitchfork even bothers reviewing a Hecker album at this point in history... I don't think anyone who wants to learn about interesting music is going to Pitchfork anymore. I mean, seriously. Nobody. Zero. Or very close to it. The reviews really are just vaporware at this point. Written nowhere for no one. I can't imagine who it even influences except the most cut off and clueless, and when I say most clueless, I mean most. That middle ground between mainstream clueless and "the in crowd" who has long since completely stopped giving a fuck about anything Pitchfork says. It's like people reading SPIN in 2008 and thinking Hot Hot Heat or The Von Bondies were the new Nirvana. Or something. Obviously 100X worse than that. If you like Hecker there is essentially zero reason for you not to like Exai. I've heard both. Hecker is more high falutin but in the end I am strongly suspicious of people like that who are keyed in to popularity and this and that and it just seems so fucking obvious to me that these people write off AE because it doesn't give them the image of themselves that they want. They can't be arsed to actually listen to or enjoy the music or creations therein. There's some process of intellectualization, testing the music against the image of themselves, and discarding accordingly. Pathetic. It would be funny if it wasn't so tied in with the problems of today's mainstream culture, the one that matters. There is literally no other kind of music listener I find more disgusting than the "elitist" who flagrantly writes off "pop experimental" music (while of course hyping 1 or 2 token pop records, always ironically or for some bullshit reason only they know). You have to inevitably forgive them however because it is their soft and weak temperament which causes them to retreat into the fantasy of being smarter than everyone around them, I am familiar with this. IT's all just up and up and up and up. i dig all of this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pixelives Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 "these people write off AE because it doesn't give them the image of themselves that they want" this is internet taste-making in 2013 in a nutshell and it's sad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awepittance Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 i still feel like there is a strange division between academic or just straight up noise/experimental music and what's considered 'electronic music' with beats. What's odd to me, is that personally speaking music that sits right on the edge of both is my absolute favorite music in the entire world, Autechre being among this special zone. The wire review and pitchfork review (especially since the guy gave a fucking HECKER record a good review, not Tim Hecker... FLORIAN HECKER) exemplify this weird Aspergery old fashioned hipster-fail syndrome. I think this syndrome explains a lot of reviewers luke warm approach to music that is both highly experimental and jarring yet has 'beats' or traditional structures. It seems like until the day comes where such a combination is established as an actual genre, these critics will ignore the value in such an experiment. It astonishes me how many critics give people like Zomby great reviews when i see the Exai review Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
encey Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 That's exactly why I like will.i.am! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pixelives Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 When you have an outfit like Ae who have stood the test of time and have progressed beyond what anybody would have expected you have this weird loathing set in with certain music aficionados. I've seen it with friends of mine. People who liked them in the 90's heyday. It's almost like "how dare they" kind of behavior. Very strange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awepittance Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 When you have an outfit like Ae who have stood the test of time and have progressed beyond what anybody would have expected you have this weird loathing set in with certain music aficionados. I've seen it with friends of mine. People who liked them in the 90's heyday. It's almost like "how dare they" kind of behavior. Very strange. agreed, if an artist came out of nowhere with a record like Exai and was say singed to Pan, Blackest Black Ever, Modern Love,Triangle Records or Werck or some label that's 'hot' right now they would treat it with high regard. It's sort of what happens to someone who peaked in any scene, like Peter Jackson after his success from Lord of the Rings. Critics are just waiting to pounce on him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pixelives Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I have a funny story. Anybody want's to hear it should pursue contacting me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coax Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 It seems similar to me how some people ever since 2004 or so disregarded 'idm' music, the label itself made the music worse to them. That label is the worst thing that could have happened to some of the most creative music since the 90s. Thankfully the whole idm thing is almost completely dead now. In the same way, when people hear a new ae, they kind of come at it from a certain angle, with a certain history in mind, and the sounds they hear are shaped by this context. If only these records would be truly liberated from the words and language, I think it would be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Zwanengestuif Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I am glad that ae follows their own taste. I think it is hard to grasp for critics who think of themselves as highly intelligent observers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kieselguhr kid Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 now that everyone had a laugh at that pitchfork bullshit, here is another review that is actually worth reading http://mappedbywhatsurroundedthem.blogspot.de/2013/02/album-review-autechre-exai.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Here's a nice comment/reply on the Fact Mag review: "First of all, this is not a double LP, it's a quadruple LP. Secondly, who says you have to listen to the whole thing in one go? If you were to review a big box of fine chocolate, you wouldn't just eat the whole thing at once and say it wasn't any good because it made you feel sick towards the end, now would you? I'm an old fart who's been a fan of Ae since they released Basscad back in the days and I've had my ups and downs with what they have released over the last ten years, with Quaristice and all its complementary spin-offs being a definite low in my book. Naturally, I was a bit concerned about where they were heading when they announced Exai as the monster-voluminous work that it really is and I never really believed that they could pull this thing off without going deeply into the sonic indifference of all those Quadrange variations. So to me the biggest surprise is that they have put my concern to shame and made an album so vital that it almost degrades the entire post-Confield discography to being mere theoretical sketches for the masterpiece that is Exai. It is indeed valid to argue that Ae have not done anything we haven't heard before on this album but in my view that is sort of missing the point. Rather, they have taken all the best and most complex ideas, tricks and skills that they have come up with, stumbled upon by accident or just thrown out there for the hell of it since the days of Confield and developed and refined them and the way they utilize them, to the point of (Ae) perfection. Exai is a diamond. A BIG one, that to me feels like a continuation of EP7.1 and EP7.2, which are two of my absolute favorite Autechre releases. In this perspective, Exai is worthy of being subtitled EP7.3 to EP7.6. Exai is a great achievement by a highly revitalized band and it's a shame if that fails to be recognized because of the impatience of modern music consumerism." Bravo! Except for the quadruple/double LP stuff, who gives a shit. It's a double as far as I'm concerned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpenprol Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 now that everyone had a laugh at that pitchfork bullshit, here is another review that is actually worth reading http://mappedbywhatsurroundedthem.blogspot.de/2013/02/album-review-autechre-exai.html That review is spot on, especially this part: While some of their more recent releases seemed more muted or aimless, it was all done at the service of their immense and joyful love of music itself. This love comes to the forefront with this record. It's funny how I also think I can hear that passion in their latter career, even though I haven't always liked their choices or the end result. And Exai feels somehow "healthy" and "fun", even though I don't think it's their most creative work. Really brilliant last paragraph in that review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest the anonymous forumite Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Pitchfork are definitely not elitists, just a bunch of hipsters wannabees. The Wire are elitist indeed, but fail miserably to be so with certain kinds of music. For instance, they just don't know what good hip hop is. I'm still appalled by that wire review and how they (he) just got it all wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kieselguhr kid Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 (short) japanese interview - anyone here to give a rough translation of this? http://tower.jp/article/interview/2013/02/27/b846 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friendly Foil Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 I'm pretty amazing at Japanese, so I'll give it a try: Two of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, which has opened up a cutting-edge electronic music - Autechre has been challenged in the ear of the listener in the work of all so far. Such they are going to proceed further in the "Exai" New. Seeing his career 11, CD2-Disc for the first time. It is spectacular over 2 hours. When the mean had about three years from the previous work, "In the meantime, if you think you have continued to write songs various dictates of interest of their own. Put together as an album pinch, I'm noticed that there are more songs than expected . so, but said that it was by chance to say now works for a long time only this "and (Sean), have become the volume of the only this, when completed to the work of one of the as-Disc 2 <> Experience It seems Kangaenui. The structure of the album, the first picture is. Wanted to work in and of itself, more of the second piece, the thing, there is more if you want to hear even more thought to listen through the whole thing "is that it is quite difficult. So We also know themselves and are asking a lot. in the position it. called <number two> can issue a work also extends to two hours there is a limit to people's time. never. era of now, so , in I wanted to work I wanted to do something that was settled briefly in style that flows clearly, the first picture is the second piece are Hairikon further from there -..'s that says, as his clear descriptions most I think "(Sean). Ekusai <Limited Edition> Autechre Release Date 2013/02/27 Price ¥ 2,500 Is consumed music replaced in the old days and now come out thinking people to listen to music has changed significantly. In rapid succession, "Sean would say, and the next, the dynamic range so-called low is dumping towards the people who think I'm in the midst of being, and there is one that is lost. So, does it work now, whether it hardcore more, and want to listen to music and take the time, the real in front if you can take off in the first frame. 1 that can follow the trajectory profound than in the sense, I want you to experience a curve of the form of two different, enjoy thoroughly world view that, the first picture is finished It's a feeling that I think rather than feeling <Okay, I'll listen to Part 2>. called, and <I want to listen to as it is more>'m ideal if you keep without second piece comes in I want to hear more. therein. interruption . era now, just short and easy to consume any music. was antithetical to make something "with it (Rob). In "Exai", random industrial beats, delicate melody elements, ambient, noise, etc., such as we have until now Zo~tsu the Autechre are more complex interplay among one song one song. Moreover, alive unchanged Autechre have been declared a lasting impact, and early electro and hip-hop in there. It is not only sound, it has become a source of their spirituality. I'm went to let the evolution of things that way. I <! Dude> I made a loop that does not, not not belong to the scene of "somewhere, someone. Thing I maintain a spirit B Boy heard indeed, it is the position Autechre came through 20 years - (Sean) ". In addition, as is the history of their innovation, two hours to be overwhelming me a further area. Never never wither Futari passion. If I think that takes pride in his work "is not really nothing anything to be ashamed of. Of us, I know that some people who agree with making for themselves satisfied first. To it. If never stop making music as well as they are no longer "(Rob). "Even if the lost income, Sa can not I find a reason to continue to make. Doing is not just music" (Sean). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kieselguhr kid Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 this guy does not like exai http://sealonpsychedelics.com/post/43569435813/review-autechre-exai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Zwanengestuif Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 this guy does not like exai http://sealonpsychedelics.com/post/43569435813/review-autechre-exai That guy makes me sick. What a pretentious shit comes out of his mouth. He forgets one thing... it is just his opinion. Not the truth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vilwx Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 this guy does not like exai http://sealonpsychedelics.com/post/43569435813/review-autechre-exai It sounds like what would happen if you take an Actress track, sync it out of time and provide it with negative space. That’s the closest Autechre ever come to sounding “now”. Hahaha, this line literally made me roll my eyes. I'm not sure what compels people who mostly review the "new" "hot" music to write about Autechre. They already know they are not really involved in (even detatched from) trends or fashion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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