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Exai reviews


Franciscus

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>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.

 

"The electronic duo from the scummy old Rochdale have been a Warp Records staple since the now legendary label first started out and along with Squarepusher and Aphex Twin, they helped to establish rather than innovate the genre we know as IDM."

 

My knowledge on the subject of IDM isn't the best but I have to ask, does this statement actually hold true?

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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.

 

 

"Bladeroles is the track where this emptiness becomes almost unbearable to listen to."

 

lol

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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).

4523132122656.jpg

Ekusai <Limited Edition>

Autechre

Release Date 2013/02/27 Price ¥ 2,500

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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).

 

 

if someone could do a more... umm... coherent translation of this it would be appreciated, because it seems like there is some pretty interesting info in that interview.

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>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.

 

 

wow what a cunt, so being a shit producer is what's popular 'now' and this guy eats it up like a candy bar. sad sad sad

 

 

 

 

>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&r

dquo;.

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.

"The electronic duo from the scummy old Rochdale have been a Warp Records staple since the now legendary label first started out and along with Squarepusher and Aphex Twin, they helped to establish rather than innovate the genre we know as IDM."

 

My knowledge on the subject of IDM isn't the best but I have to ask, does this statement actually hold true?

 

 

absolutely not, and they are still heavily innovating within electronic music as a whole, not just IDM. People who need a slew of imitators out there copying them to see this are very short sighted

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Guest ZombieLincoln666

Some of you are acting too resentful towards these reviewers. I thought fans would have gotten adjusted to the occasional harsh criticique considering they've been putting out difficult experimental albums since 2001.

 

Anyways, I think I mostly agree with the Pitchfork review (except for the part where they praised Oversteps). I would have given it around 6 or 7. Pitchfork are right on the money with regards to the album needing the songs trimmed; there is a very good album somewhere in Exai. I enjoy lots of bits of pieces but the whole thing is too exhausting, and I know that ultimately I will not be listening to this often, especially not all the way through.

 

Take for example the track 'FLeure'. There is a really great melody and bass line which you can clearly hear at 2:28. It is also present in the song earlier, but that fast high-pitched racket on top (which they later low-pass filter) ruins it. It just sounds random and annoying. Then the song disintegrates at 3:40 into a bunch of pointless noises that contribute nothing to the song or the atmosphere.

 

On earlier albums (Confield etc..), what might have been construed as "pointless noises" were actually an essential part of the song -- they either had hidden rhythm/melody/harmony, were sounds that were once part of the rhythm/melody/harmony, or soon became rhythm/melodyharmony. One particular example is on the song 'Augmatic Disport' where it starts out with an obvious rhythm (albeit a wierd one), and it slowly breaks apart into seemingly random nonsense, only to reveal itself as part of a banging hip-hop beat. This seemed to be an essential part of their experimental sound - employing strangeness in musically curious way.

 

As I said, there are many parts on Exai where I hear this. 'T ess xi' for example is a solid track, and reminds me of something off LP5 (but a bit less warm). I love the atmospheric hip-hop beat in 'deco Loc' at 2:00-3:40. then the song gets really bad once they the vocal pitch below the point of listenability.

 

 

The Pitchfork review says there is nothing wrong with the sounds on the album .. I sort of disagree with them. I get the sense that they have been using the same gear to generate the sounds on Oversteps / Move of Ten / Exai. For example, the melody in first half of 'Irlite (get 0)' (if you can even call it a melody) sounds very much like something from Oversteps, sound-wise and note-wise: random and forgettable, and digitally harsh. The claps on the song tionorizn remind of the drum sounds on 'Etchogon-S' in that they suck and sound completely out of place. The sounds and mixing just seem so incoherent to me, they use so many contrasting sounds that the songs lose character and fail to create a sonic space, something they used to be adept at. They used to put out tracks like 'Gantz Graf' which is so cohesive that it sounds as if it were made entirely on a single instrument, and they even said most of Cichlisuite was actually made using only a Nord keyboard.

 

I feel like the limitlessness of modern music software has affected their music in a bad way (like squarepusher).

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Some of you are acting too resentful towards these reviewers. I thought fans would have gotten adjusted to the occasional harsh criticique considering they've been putting out difficult experimental albums since 2001.

 

Anyways, I think I mostly agree with the Pitchfork review (except for the part where they praised Oversteps). I would have given it around 6 or 7. Pitchfork are right on the money with regards to the album needing the songs trimmed; there is a very good album somewhere in Exai. I enjoy lots of bits of pieces but the whole thing is too exhausting, and I know that ultimately I will not be listening to this often, especially not all the way through.

 

Take for example the track 'FLeure'. There is a really great melody and bass line which you can clearly hear at 2:28. It is also present in the song earlier, but that fast high-pitched racket on top (which they later low-pass filter) ruins it. It just sounds random and annoying. Then the song disintegrates at 3:40 into a bunch of pointless noises that contribute nothing to the song or the atmosphere.

 

On earlier albums (Confield etc..), what might have been construed as "pointless noises" were actually an essential part of the song -- they either had hidden rhythm/melody/harmony, were sounds that were once part of the rhythm/melody/harmony, or soon became rhythm/melodyharmony. One particular example is on the song 'Augmatic Disport' where it starts out with an obvious rhythm (albeit a wierd one), and it slowly breaks apart into seemingly random nonsense, only to reveal itself as part of a banging hip-hop beat. This seemed to be an essential part of their experimental sound - employing strangeness in musically curious way.

 

As I said, there are many parts on Exai where I hear this. 'T ess xi' for example is a solid track, and reminds me of something off LP5 (but a bit less warm). I love the atmospheric hip-hop beat in 'deco Loc' at 2:00-3:40. then the song gets really bad once they the vocal pitch below the point of listenability.

 

 

The Pitchfork review says there is nothing wrong with the sounds on the album .. I sort of disagree with them. I get the sense that they have been using the same gear to generate the sounds on Oversteps / Move of Ten / Exai. For example, the melody in first half of 'Irlite (get 0)' (if you can even call it a melody) sounds very much like something from Oversteps, sound-wise and note-wise: random and forgettable, and digitally harsh. The claps on the song tionorizn remind of the drum sounds on 'Etchogon-S' in that they suck and sound completely out of place. The sounds and mixing just seem so incoherent to me, they use so many contrasting sounds that the songs lose character and fail to create a sonic space, something they used to be adept at. They used to put out tracks like 'Gantz Graf' which is so cohesive that it sounds as if it were made entirely on a single instrument, and they even said most of Cichlisuite was actually made using only a Nord keyboard.

 

I feel like the limitlessness of modern music software has affected their music in a bad way (like squarepusher).

I can see where you are coming from. I too miss that amazing sense that a tracks was 'one shape shifting sound' or 'one organism', like Granz Graf, or certain parts from EP7/Confield/Draft/Untilted, only to reveal themselves as constructed from many well-edited, smartly and discretely layered - (but sometimes bizarre) constituent parts. I'm not so into hearing distinct, greatly contrasting sounds clash and bash - like synthy-synth sounds and more familiar drum hits. It sounds more impressive and 'widescreen' at first, but isn't as rewarding in the long-term as the less overtly 'musical' and 'jammy' works from their golden experimental era. I can't seem to explore/get so lost in the details as I once did. It's all laid out in front of you. IHMO. I'm yearning for something truly next-level and mind-boggling, myself (unlike most of the reviewers who hate it...)
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Took a few days off and listened start to finish again today, on speakers this time as opposed to headphones. Still blown away by this album for the most part. Thought I would have gotten sick of it since I have listened to it at least 20 times since it came out, but I really think this is some of their best material. I can barely even listen to other music at the moment because this is so good.

 

I totally understand why a lot of reviewers won't give this the time of day, but I just feel sorry for them.

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The album up until end Bladelores is really quick. Begins to outstay its welcome a little after that but is never boring. Maybe if spl9 was more epic, that would have been a great closer.

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That pitchfork review reminds me of that scene in Amadeus where the emperor turns up at practice and thinks the music has too many notes. Too many notes. And Mozart should just scrap some notes here and there. :rolleyes:

 

:facepalm:

 

Missing the point....

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Most of these reviews are well bum. A waste of time. Lots of criticism directed at the way the album hasn't been condensed down into bitesize chunks like Quaristice was. Many reviewers feel they haven't been ruthless enough in the editing, but i think the way Exai has space to breath is its main strength. My favourite tracks on the album are the one that feel like unedited jams, it's great that they have taken this approach and let the beats flow. It's just lazy reviewing to say that because the album has tracks which are 10+ minutes that Ae haven been self indulgent. If they are going to go down that road they may aswell just do a dickhead style facepalm review like Pitchfork in 2005 for Untilted.

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Right - the album definitely isn't too long! If you're enjoying it it goes by too fast if anything. Shortest double album I've ever sat through anyway! It flies by.

 

And it is great the way tracks have room to breathe.

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