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

[nizzleone]

Have you seen Lynch's part on the last season of Louie? So good, as is the whole series really.

[mcbpete]

This was my version of yuop based on the description I read of the first (fake) leak of Oversteps, back in 2010

Out of 17, what colour do you give it out of 10 (where aquamarine is 50%, and puce is a 4/5)

 

http://www.ilovecubus.co.uk/pete/yuop.mp3

 

Thank you so much for doing this uber-long 'ask me anything' guys, it has definitely meant a lot to me and no-doubt a lot of the ol' WATMM community. It's been an absolute laugh-riot

[Guest Roksen Creek]

 

 

 

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.

 

oh i read library of babel once, that was highly awesome

That's like, my favourite short story! All of his other stories are similarly awesome too.

[Guest Captain Kittens]

 

 

 

 

2) I've been thinking lately to make field recordings. Never done that before. What recorder would you recommend?

 

 

3) What do you say, one last shot at naming my guitar? ;p

 

 

2) i dunno much about what's good i have a habit of using absolutely anything

 

3) your guitar is now called enrico

 

 

 

2) What would you use to record a soft, silent sound close to you (say a squeaky coffee pot), but at the same time you dont want louder distant noises to be recorded (clocks, cars)? Are there recorders that might filter that out? Or do you have to do that with software?

 

3) Enrico who?

 

i dunno i'd just use whatever shit mic i had to hand and then eq it out later :D

 

 

 

And here's me thinking Autechre did it like this ;p

 

 

 

Fucking LOVE Biosphere.

[Guest]

yea u blokes r lush

this entire thing is insane and it's really friggin cool that you're doing it

feels like new territory is opening up wrt to your music, new POV

 

soz for focussing on meh technical considerations, it's not how i perceive your material, just didn't know what else to ask rly lol,

[Sean Ae]

Btw what do y'all think about jean Michel jarre?

i like oxygene and equinoxe and i even like zoolook

but he's a right cheesy fucker isn't he

Edited November 7, 2013 by Sean Ae

[Ivan Ooze]

Ok just one last question!!!!

maybe i should watch it with some shrooms but the "artwork" on my cd of lp5 has the ugliest design in my whole collection, it's lame black font on lame white

what makes you decide to use such minimal art with such maximum music?

[triachus]

RE: Finnegan's Wake.

 

To give some background, the book took 17 years to write. Almost every sentence is painstakingly crafted to be a pun or double meaning. It's so impossible to understand that you need guides to read it, while you're reading it. He used different languages (including some that he invented), combined words together and purposefully made sure there were multiple layers of meaning in everything. Impossibly, it somehow has characters and a plot.

 

For example, here is a typical passage:

 

"All the vital-mines is beginning to sozzle in chewn and the hormonies to clingleclangle, fudgem, kates and eaps and naboc and erics and oinnos on kingclud ..."

 

The first part of the sentence is made up of double words, so here, we can read "sozzle" as "sizzle + dissolve," "chewn" as "chew + tune" and "hormonies" as "hormones + harmonies" (doubtless by this point we all wish Joyce were still alive, so that we might beat the living shit out of him). The second part of the sentence is just anagrams -- scrambled words. "Kates" = "steak," "eaps" = "peas." Continuing, we get bacon, rices and onions on duckling. The word "vital-mines" confirms the food theme, as it could be a way to say "stomach," while also referencing vitamins. In conclusion, we have a sentence about the health benefits of a steak and duck dinner, with a musical metaphor running through the whole thing as an entirely separate second layer of meaning.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19942_the-6-most-certifiably-insane-acts-writing_p2.html

 

 

It looks like it's right up your guys alley, tho!

Edited November 7, 2013 by triachus

[Guest mengo]

1. Is the universe teleological, random or designed?

 

2. Apparently, some animals can learn to recognise a sequence of notes, but if you transpose the notes to a different key, so that the sequence uses the same relative notes but the key is different, they can't recognise the relationships between the notes anymore. Have you ever created a piece of music with such attributes that an animal (non human) would enjoy?

 

3. If an alien knocked on your studio door and asked you to play an Autechre track, which one would you select?

Edited November 7, 2013 by mengo

[awepittance]

 

Btw what do y'all think about jean Michel jarre?

 

but he's a right cheesy fucker isn't he

 

lol

[plastic]

 

 

 

2) I've been thinking lately to make field recordings. Never done that before. What recorder would you recommend?

 

 

3) What do you say, one last shot at naming my guitar? ;p

 

 

2) i dunno much about what's good i have a habit of using absolutely anything

 

3) your guitar is now called enrico

 

 

 

2) What would you use to record a soft, silent sound close to you (say a squeaky coffee pot), but at the same time you dont want louder distant noises to be recorded (clocks, cars)? Are there recorders that might filter that out? Or do you have to do that with software?

 

3) Enrico who?

 

 

i dunno i'd just use whatever shit mic i had to hand and then eq it out later :D

 

 

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

 

Unfortunately, I don't have the controller. I'm planning on installing the KiwiTechnics mod at some point (hopefully in the near future). It's a pretty rad mod, pretty much replaces the original CPU, giving things like MIDI control to all parameters, broader range LFO's (an additional LFO, too, I believe), being able to adjust the on-board chorus, stuff like that. So I could just use a knob box instead of the controller, though, as you say, the programmer is pretty cute. Details here: http://kiwitechnics.com/jx3pupgrade.htm. I'm hoping I don't mess up Brian's guts when I do that. But yeah, it was a super cheap pawn shop buy, going to be replacing its volume pot tomorrow after years of having to have it in a certain position for it to be able to play. Always loved it since I got it, though.

 

Galactor's guts are still being put together.

 

Do either of you have children? I'm a father myself. My sons love playing with my gear. My older one (he's 5) made a track on Audiotool.com the other night. I think he's going in the right direction with it. ;)

 

 

tbh what you're doing there is gonna be way better than some cute controller, pls disregard me

 

rob does, i don't

 

Hey Rob, do your kid(s?) get to play with your gear from time to time or have they made any creations at all? Would you ever consider taking them on tour with you (if/when they're old enough, I suppose)? I guess the first question should be, are they interested in your work at all, or are they just like, "Oh, Da's making sounds again..." I've found that a lot of crazy sounds my kids make while exploring the world have inspired some things I was working on at the time. You ever get that?

[thehauntingsoul]

Thanks a ton for the q&a sesh guys! Come to Montreal soon, or Ottawa if you can. Cheers!

[Sean Ae]

Do you know if David Lynch is aware of your music? If so; Did he ever contacted you?

 

no idea, no

[Rob Ae]

 

 

sup. had to get a beer, Soz

 

What are you sippin'?

 

tyskie atm.

 

I really like Lech if you've not tried it? Also Polish.

 

if i see it i'll try it.

[Sean Ae]

Ok just one last question!!!!

maybe i should watch it with some shrooms but the "artwork" on my cd of lp5 has the ugliest design in my whole collection, it's lame black font on lame white

what makes you decide to use such minimal art with such maximum music?

 

the original cd packaging was meant to be an extension of the standard grey-backed jewel case design popular in the 80s, but with the front cover also being grey - cos as far as we know, that hadn't been done before

but in america it was repackaged cos nothing records didn't want to spend money on getting a special case made

[Rob 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?

yeah totally still here……………….

[Guest KunoMerit]

interesting what you wrote about the tape mixes back in the day. all this time i thought you were making stutter edits. as silly as those sound now we would make those like crazy (and thus break the pause buttons doing stutters and loops). dual tape deck jam box. sk1 was a huge deal as you could make loops without copying it over and over on tape.

 

also, when you speak of mates i wonder if these are real people that live near you or remote people. hard to find that many people that dig the same music.

 

thanks again for everything. usually meeting people you admire can turn out really bad but this turned out great. thanks for not being dicks! been very wonderful all around.

[Ivan Ooze]

sup. had to get a beer, Soz

are you a beer lover raeb?

did you ever drink one of these fresh blondes?

[Sean Ae]

monomachine vs. machinedrum - who wins?

 

machinedrum

[Guest Captain Kittens]

You guys mention acid house a lot. I was wondering if you keep up with any "current" house music and its varying genre's at all? The deep house explosion that seems to be taking off with Maceo Plex, Maya Jane Coles, Dusky, etc? Or into any techno at all? Sian, Funk D' Void, John Digweed is still going strong, Hawtin is obviously still killing it around the globe. Also, may I get a name for my Oxygen 49? This Q&A has been awesome as I have been tuning in every day this week.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Captain Kittens

[joseph]

1. Is the universe teleological, random or designed?

teleological, twat

[Guest TSF]

 

Guys,

This has ben amazing....I gotta get back to work or else...

 

before I go....would you please name my yet-to-be-born modular synth?

 

thanks for it all!!!!!

 

your unborn modular synth is now called Tambien

 

 

YES!!!!!!!!!!

 

With Wetsuit and Tambien I will rule the world!!!!!!!!

[Guest skibby]

What is your opinion on kv361 by Mozart? Lush or not lush? (u fans?)

Edited November 7, 2013 by skibby

[soma333]

Y'all know a good way to clean a bong?

[Guest phaelam]

can we get a heads up when the Oberman/Ae remix is gonna drop?