AAA - Ask Autechre Anything - Sean and Rob on WATMM!

[Sean Ae]

Is there any sense in which you see your work as a critique of technology, art, or mathematics?

a la John Zerzan (primitivist philosopher)

 

...or do you see it as a fulfillment of any of these?

 

nah tbh we dunno what we're doing at all

It was raining yesterday in Memphis, it's rather clear and sunny here today.

 

What's the weather like over there for you boys?

rainy, grey, cool

quite typical for manchester

[plastic]

I would be much obliged if you could name my Roland JX-3P and my euro-rack modular rig that I'm in the middle of putting together.

 

Cheers!

[patternoverlap]

How has running SKAM been for you guys? (I assume you guys still run it. Please correct me if this is wrong) Has it been lucrative? more a labor of love? Does it require a lot of your time or do you have people helping with it to alleviate some of that?

[Sean Ae]

How do you like watmm sense of humor?

Also...we somethimes make jokes about you but it's all love.

 

When/if u get really angry about something how that looks like?

 

Thnx forever! Come by sometime.

 

yeah it's not a million miles away from ours

 

i dunno, i tend to get it over with p quickly :)

[Boxus]

 

What did you guys think of Lynch's Inland Empire?

 

it's my fave thing he's done

 

 

fuck yeah cheers, mine too! saw it in a little indie theater on mushrooms and it was... transformative! definitely a similar uncanny beauty to listening through recent ae albums.

 

Huge thanks for taking so much time for this! It's been fun and insightful. And thanks for the massive inspiration I've gotten from your music - it's played a significant role in my experience of art and life. I really can't say enough positive things but I don't want to be too fanboyed out so I'll leave it at this. I thought of a couple more questions I'd been curious about -

 

What was the deal with Tried by 12? How did so many great experimental producers get on board to remix? Did you have a lot of fun putting yours together? It's an all-time favorite for me, I love the vocal processing so much.

 

Also, just a taste query - have you listened to Freestyle Fellowship much? Inner City Griots is one of my favorite hip hop albums so I was curious if you're fans at all.

[Sean Ae]

Several questions all related:

 

1. When one of you have made a new bit of music - do you call it a "beat" a "track", etc.

 

ie. Do you say "Hey Rob/Sean, check this new beat I made"

 

I call them beats due to childhood hip-hop associations.

 

2. When you are amazed at what you just made but the other half of ae is not around, do you then go to your wife/girlfriend/lady/etc. and say

 

"Dear love, check this new beat I made"

 

3. Does said wife/girlfriend/lady/etc. then begrudgedly listen and say "That's nice"

 

4. According to your mood, do you then think "I'm half of fucking autechre - there are fuckers on the internet who'd be going crazy for this shit right now!"

 

1. track

 

2. nah

 

3. nah cos i didn't play her it

 

4. nah (see above)

 

 

What did you guys think of Lynch's Inland Empire?

 

it's my fave thing he's done

it's weird cos a lot of my mates slagged it cos of the film quality, but i reckon it appeals to me even more than film cos i like some old video art as well

 

the way it flows is amazing tho

 

it's sad that he said he won't do any more, but he's old and i like enough of his music for it not to be a huge deal. but man, he was getting so good there

 

 

He's certainly not retired yet. There was an article on him in NY Times this year mentioning he's working on a new script, which wasn't denied by Lynch

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/david-lynch-transcendental-meditation.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytmovies&pagewanted=all&_r=2&

 

The quote:

 

A few months later, I reached Lynch by phone at his hotel room in Paris. Bob Roth had told me that Lynch said he was working on a new script and that it was typically dark. When I asked Lynch about this, he paused, annoyed. “Bobby’s got a big mouth,” he said. I asked him if the script was influenced by his work with T.M., and he said no, absolutely not. This will be a David Lynch picture, he said, adding, “I think people would probably recognize it.”

 

 

YESSS

[soma333]

Edit #2: I'm currently pumping incunabula in the streets of mem, I'm at that part around 4:00 in bike when there's that synth smoke chamber that gets me every time :)

 

Q: y'all ever have drycleaning? If so is it delivered to you?

[Sean Ae]

recommend me a good album to listen

 

 

pow wow plus by stephen mallinder

[spptrl alt del]

any recommendations for durable, dope-ass kicks that you return to, again and again for their reliability and/or classic style? like, shoes

[Guest ZombieLincoln666]

what are your favorite BoC tracks?

[Sean Ae]

 

What are your opinions on the use of fractal formulas for generating beats or melodies?

 

Any particular favorite types for particular applications? (i.e. L-Systems for melodies... Mandelbeats...etc)

Just bumping this one, in case it wasn't previously answered in the last 150ish pages.

 

Additionally: thank you guys so much for doing this. It absolutely blows my mind that you've put so much time and effort into this.

 

 

yeah (altho some people prob already know this) i'm a huge fan of simulating fluid dynamics to make things move around in a controllable but beautiful way (using navier-stokes equations)

[Amen Lare]

In the line of shameless requests, i thought i could try one, too.

 

You did countless mixes for various shows throughout your career, what do you think of doing some sort of an unmixed compilation for once for us? No time constraints for doing it, of course. I'm being inspired by your "interview" bit from the 90s and Headphone Highlights shows i recently caught on the web (examples: Mark Fell, Mr Oizo). The format is, say, 10 largely unknown tracks which were/are important for you and you think you could share. You also do a short comment on it, i don't know, spitting rhymes or whatever, you knew how to do this shit based on IBC recordings.

 

I'm doing dick sucking work for Joyrex here actually, i hope you're into it since a lof of memories are reversed already.

[Sean Ae]

Are y'all into any noise/harsh noise stuff?

 

bits

i really like incapacitants

[Sean Ae]

 

 

 

to me Inland Empire is the most Autechrian film ever, if that makes any sense.

well that's a huge compliment

it def resonates with me in a weirdly deep way

i mean i was always a massive fan but that was like, times 10 for me

Have you read anything by Thomas Pynchon, Sean?

 

To me he is the most Autechrian author (I guess it's the other way round as he came first, but you know what I mean). Especially Gravity's Rainbow.

 

 

no never

i will now tho

 

in a similar vein someone once suggested james joyce, but i tried to read finnegan's wake once and was like, whatthefuckamireading.jpg

[triachus]

How did you guys do this marathon? How did you keep up with it? What tactics did you use? What are the highest number of tabs that you had open because of this?

 

Were you able to do other things while doing this? It certainly consumed my time to do other stuff, and I didn't even had to answer hundres of questions!

 

 

There was talk to ask you guys to take pictures of the place you did this marathon from. The reason for this eludes me. I don't think there ever was one. I assume it is meant for a greater good. You care about greater goods, right?

[Sean Ae]

I have no idea when this thread will end, so I'm going to say this before it does:

 

Thank you guys for doing this, it has been a great pleasure. Thanks for putting up with everything. Our lame jokes and awkward questions. And for answering them! Yeah, just, thanks a whole lot. I feel I can't say thanks enough.

 

One thing, I was surprised that the word "weird" got said a few times when talking about your music. Something like Q: "do you get annoyed when people find your music weird" A: "nah, we know its weird"

 

 

I just want to say that to me, your music has never been weird.

 

It all makes fucking sense to me.

 

Not sure what that says about me tho, lol.

 

 

And never forget....

 

 

twelb.

 

awesome, thanks

[Rob Ae]

sup. had to get a beer, Soz

[Sean Ae]

Hi again, in some ancient interview you stated, that major society thinks that music 400 years old is the best music ever created and has no ability to look forward...and that aphex twin uses some of it in his compositions...precisely crafted melodies witch he creates by moving notes for hours until it's perfect...you said that it's cold approach to music and you are trying to be more human...to get to year 0...how you think about it now? tbh i like each of those principles...because i don´t think that you're more human just because you follow your instincts more...

 

 

2/10 - cherrypicking and poor paraphrasing

 

try again

Y'all dig Peter Chung?

 

dunno who that is, sorry

[Ivan Ooze]

Imgonna roll a huge spliff when im home from work and read the whole thing with a beer and draft. This was amazing. Thank u so much for all the great musick and for being so nice! Cheerz from your pal ooze

 

[Guest Roksen Creek]

 

 

 

to me Inland Empire is the most Autechrian film ever, if that makes any sense.

 

well that's a huge compliment

it def resonates with me in a weirdly deep way

i mean i was always a massive fan but that was like, times 10 for me

Have you read anything by Thomas Pynchon, Sean?

To me he is the most Autechrian author (I guess it's the other way round as he came first, but you know what I mean). Especially Gravity's Rainbow.

no never

i will now tho

 

in a similar vein someone once suggested james joyce, but i tried to read finnegan's wake once and was like, whatthefuckamireading.jpg

LOL! That's the standard response to Finnegan's Wake. Try Ulysses instead.

 

And definitely try Gravity's Rainbow. And maybe some of Jorge Luis Borges' stuff.

[soma333]

Peter Chung did Aeon flux

 

Opps! Zole

Edited November 7, 2013 by soma

[Sean Ae]

Oh sh*t, is this over? I didn't get to my question in time :-( Thanks Sean and Rob, this was an awesome gesture to the fans -- reading through all the answers in these 150 pages is awesome.

 

I think I've been to all your Glasgow gigs. My absolute favourite was in ... Tin Pan Alley I think, the tour around the time of Tri Repetae. Man that was good -- proper pummelling. Anyways, I don't expect you guys to remember that particular gig, but it leads on to my question ... do you have a favourite venue or city to play in, and do you have a stand out gig that's been your most enjoyable to date?

 

(places vary) but many fave gigs have been in glasgow, newcastle, dublin, manchester and london

Peter Chung did Aron flux

 

yeah then, used to love liquid television

Lol, the AAA isn't over yet, and people are saying their goodbyes.

 

 

I don't know, there's some confusion about the time. I think we have time until tomorrow, right?

 

 

 

it's til 6am GMT but i'm gonna be fast asleep long before that i reckon

 

edit: i think it was GMT anyway

Edited November 7, 2013 by Sean Ae

[soma333]

Fuck yeah I've got a VHS comp of LT that's pretty dated haha

[Sean Ae]

I would be much obliged if you could name my Roland JX-3P and my euro-rack modular rig that I'm in the middle of putting together.

 

Cheers!

 

jx-3p's are ace, did u get a controller? those things are so cute

 

your jx-3p is now called brian

 

your eurorack is now called galactor

[Friendly Foil]

Last last question.

I just received L-event in the mail today. Where/how should I listen to it for the first time, for maximum extreme impact? Any suggestions?