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

[bronchuseven]

 

I was so stoked when you played Mirror Man by Beefheart a few years ago on a marathon radio show (I think it was around Quaristice), my fave Beefheart track. I wonder, you dig Zappa as well? Any specific albums/periods?

 

Lastly, I'd really like to know what happened to this track (any backstory, is it a Keynell remix actually, why wasn't it released?)

 

 

Thanks again for this whole thing btw. You guys rule supreme!

yeah thats us sort of during down time, back then we might have the DAT or CDR on all afternoon while jamming.

when they were pretty long, we'd keep them for ourselves, but the radio mix gave us the opportunity to run otherwise overly long ideas, without the attention span issues associated with so called actual tracks. i'd like to have these around to listen to all the time. in between doing tracks

 

Whoah I hadn't heard this version before; it's cool to hear the garbled vocals from keynell2 in a different context.

 

Forgot my question: do you guys like to cook? any recipes for us?

Edited November 5, 2013 by bronchuseven

[Redruth]

 

while eating the prawns in tokyo, did u imagine the bladerunner. was it raining?

can u name one detail that comes to mind, that u might not have otherwise noticed if u had not been walking?

have u ever mashed yr finger or something into the plug socket? maybe as a child?

could either of u plees name a noteworthy experience u had as a child? good or bad

could u plees name a piece of music that is nostalgic for u, maybe a nursery rhyme or anything really that has lodged itself in yr memory more dominantly then others? u could name several if u prefer.

while mining for vinyl plates tapes and digital discs in the shops, what r several great finds u can think of which gave u the warm fuzzy feelings and the big grinny face?

plees name some of yr favourite insects?

do either of u have any tremendous phobias that ud care to mention or u feel comfortable in describing?

did u gather up the wild mushrooms john cage style?

what is something u enjoy more then other things when walking along the sea coast?

would u name the piece of clothing that u have kept the longest. is it showing extreme wear?

what is the outgoing message on yr voicemail or answering service? yr ring tone?

which do u prefer slightly more maybe, the time in the evening with the delicate light and soft sounds and feelings or do u enjoy the morning with its unique characteristics?

what is the longest uv ever been away traveling from home for adventure or tours or whichever?

what's for lunch today?

what music r u listening to at this exact moment?

if u could play live shows with hip-hop producers, who would u most like to play alongside, past or present?

what is the most distant location in the world u have thrown-up (graffiti) artworks on the street?

describe noteworthy (graffiti) artworks u have seen on the street and maybe describe their location?

strangest music u have heard in passing? like u just walked into a room or came upon it in the street or whatever. describe it?

strange thing u have eaten?

fukk

 

overload

 

- i was tucking into my Tuna Cheek actually

- the sound of veins inside my ear on a cold day

- I've done that a few times

- invisible BMXing

- tales of the unexpected theme tune

- i found cassette of 'doris norton - personal computer' amongst some porn tapes at a dusty service station on tour in italy

- giant scutigera

- no

- kind of

- gradients per grain size

- my warp AI tshirt from 92

-

-

- few weeks

- i burned it while trying to read this - would've been a really nice spicy bean burger with jack daniels sauce u twat ;)

- ippondemo ninjin 10"

- hard to choose, but would get them round the studio instead

-

-

- cake music

- zest bar (deodorized soap)

 

 

doris norton oh, that's quite a good find, anything else?

oh' i've done it now haven't i. did u scrape the burn bits and gobble it anyway?

 

saen, would u care to answer any of these? i'm sure u must have finished with lunch by now, so there's no danger for u

[jules]

I loved the cover design for quaristice with all the type, was there any visual language the graphics were trying to convey in the track by track art or was it just color and shape variations?

[Rob Ae]

After legs and gears now it's time to give a name to untitled tracks!

 

Could you please give a title to those two brilliant tracks?!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaYuXMtWl04

 

10:18 - 12:11

 

17:35 - 21:46

 

 

legotwo#13

 

wide angle

[mcbpete]

You seem to enjoy playing with the CD medium - the hidden squelches at the end of Drane2, track '0' on EP7 (of which, does it have a name ?), the near silence for the first 20 secs of Draft7.30. Is there any other 'tricks' you'd like to do or has the popularity of this sort of thing gone now ?

[Guest Roksen Creek]

Is this the correct way to dance to your music?

 

 

 

 

Ps. Exai and L-Event are incredible. You continue to produce the highest quality even after all these years and numerous releases. Keep it up!

[Herr Jan]

i never got into zappa

when i got into beef heart it was that mirror man period stuff i first heard and the funk on it blew me away tbh

i never heard any zappa that's really got that. john french is just a stupidly good drummer when he's doing that rolling blues style, totally sick

 

yeah i dunno why that never came out, maybe just didn't feel very finished, but now it's one of my fave mixes of it

 

 

True, but I figured you maybe fell for Zappa's complex melodic and rhythmic composing style, like on Approximate. But yeah, those Mirror Man sessions are the shit.

 

 

yeah thats us sort of during down time, back then we might have the DAT or CDR on all afternoon while jamming.

when they were pretty long, we'd keep them for ourselves, but the radio mix gave us the opportunity to run otherwise overly long ideas, without the attention span issues associated with so called actual tracks. i'd like to have these around to listen to all the time. in between doing tracks

 

 

Definitely one of my fave mixes of it too, very cool to hear how it came to be. Sounds like some deeeeep ritual jams. There should be a Keynell rerelease with this one (and all keynells + remixes), preferably a longer edit (a man can dream). Do you still have an idea how long the original length of this 'part' of the jam was?

 

While on the subject, will there ever be a chance of Gescom represses?

[soundwave]

What do you guys think of Hecq, Kangding Ray and Vladislav Delay's work?

[olo]

I assume you guys are probably fans of Syd Mead. Do you guys own any of his artwork?

 

Are there any past/contemporary visual artists/architects that inspire your creative juices? Besides graf artists that is.

(ie: Jeremy Geddes, Ray Caesar, Saul Bass, Frank Gehry, Egon Schiele etc.)

[Guest]

Sean/Rob, do your beloved relatives like your music? Serieously, I turn my music off when wife comes home. For historical reasons, the only track she likes is Doctrine from Incunabula which she calls "Schiffetuten" - tooting of ships song.

[triachus]

Is this the correct way to dance to your music?

 

 

Nope, this is:

 

 

[Adamovich]

 

After legs and gears now it's time to give a name to untitled tracks!

 

Could you please give a title to those two brilliant tracks?!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaYuXMtWl04

 

10:18 - 12:11

 

17:35 - 21:46

 

 

legotwo#13

 

wide angle

 

Many thanks! Cheers!

[Guest]

At what speed do you like Weissensee against im Glück - 33 or 45? I always played it at 45 and can only enjoy it this way. Was surprised CD releases came up with 33. Some goes with RDJ/On remix.

[mcbpete]

Do you know what this track is at 28:20, I nabbed it from you autechre.ws show you did back in 2005 and have been seeking it ever since -

 

https://soundcloud.com/loose-link/terminal-radio-transmission-3

 

It's sooo gorgeous.

[Sean Ae]

Hello lads. Its a pleasure to ask you a couple of questions.

 

What is the earliest memory of listening to music when it gave you a sheer dose of Goosebumps so overwhelming that still to this day give's you the same feeling?

 

and will there ever be a Rakim collaboration?

 

it's not the only track and there are way less emotional things that also do this but the host of seraphim by dead can dance is pretty fucking effective at this

 

ha i dunno man, i love rakim tho

[brian trageskin]

are there any french speech samples in your albums? i can think of 2 tracks.

[Sean Ae]

were your latest lps mixed on a desk, or was it all software?

bit of both but mostly internal/digi

[Sean Ae]

was your unreleased Panic remix suppose to appear on anything official? I heard there was a Coil remix album that was officially being planned but never release that also included a Surgeon remix of Teenage Lightning (which he has since taken down off his soundcloud page)

 

yeah it was meant to come out on a box set of records i think

i dunno why they never did it, it was planned and then i didn't hear from them for ages

 

yeah i got an offer off a guy around the same time that record was being planned - to release ours, but i thought if jeff and sleazy didn't want it out then i shouldn't release it, i dunno if i did the right thing really tbh it was a tough call. i like that mix but i still don't know why it never came out, they might not have wanted it out there or something

[dumplings]

This is amazing!

 

Let me start off by saying Chiastic Slide is my favourite album of yours, the whole style on that album appeals tewe me loads.

 

As hip hop is one of the genre's you guys dig, do you have a favourite producer(s)?

 

Also;

 

Growing up with early era/'golden age' hip hop, did you ever feel inspired to make music like like the producers of those times; samples, dusty drums et al.

 

Have you ever messed around with a Roland SP202/303

 

Have you heard of Madlib?

Edited November 5, 2013 by dumplings

[Guest KunoMerit]

Hi,

 

Were you using both the g2 and the lead rack on the same tours. Previously, I thought it was one or the other.

 

What role does the g2 play? I only have the g1 and rack but they are both so special. Even now after many years I cannot get enough of them. You seem to share the same love. General thoughts on the nords?

 

You seem to stay focussed on a certain set of gear for each project/tour/lp - but do you also keep a room full of gear around for general fun?

 

Being into early hip-hop, do you find it hard to not fetish the eps, s900/950, sp1200, etc. - you both seem to do a good job of staying on focus and not getting too nostalgic - or does that happen behind the scenes?

 

speaking of the eps, did you use the asr much - seems most of the use was the eps. i have the eps classic and oh how i longed for a 16+ back in the day!

 

Thanks for your time!

Edited November 5, 2013 by KunoMerit

[psn]

Thanks for doing this marathon, it's practically a full time job just keeping up.

 

I wonder about your approach to playing live. It would be cool if you could say something about your practical experiences regarding these issues:

 

- prepared material vs on the spot inspiration

- long buildups of layered dynamics vs abrupt cuts into something new

- playing together, surprising each other, leading, following

- letting the gear/prepared materials surprise you

- repeating "rehearsed" stuff vs going into unknown territory

- fear of failure

- how "modular" are the different prepared parts, with regards to allowing new combinations (rhythms, harmonies, mixing wise)

- other aspects?

Edited November 5, 2013 by psn

[Sean Ae]

Hey guys

 

I tried to listen to your music for years when i was about 20 and was into dance music but it always just sounded like robots talking a language i didn't understand. I bought a copy of Confield years later and was driving home and had to pull over when Parhelic Triangle was playing as i finally got it. My brain could not handle driving and understanding the music at the same time.

 

When releasing your albums, do you see much variability in accessibility at the time? I always hear that Confield is the most unaccessible but thats what fully got me into you guys!

 

yeah i mean you can try to make predictions about it but they're usually way off

we didn't expect people to react to confield as though it was a great leap, we just felt like it was another album

same with chiastic

[Rob Ae]

I assume you guys are probably fans of Syd Mead. Do you guys own any of his artwork?

 

Are there any past/contemporary visual artists/architects that inspire your creative juices? Besides graf artists that is.

(ie: Jeremy Geddes, Ray Caesar, Saul Bass, Frank Gehry, Egon Schiele etc.)

i have a copy of century II, but i 'd like to get more.

 

its been mentioned quite a bit in the past about architects, candela, calatrava, the usual lot probably

[Guest jasondonervan]

Either of you seen The Man With The Iron Fists, if so what did you think of it? Should RZA stop wasting his time with movies and get back to his MV8000 instead?

 

[DorkingtonPugsly]

The eighth notes that come in in the background in the last few seconds of augmatic disport... What is that? Was it a self

recording of just tapping or was it synthesized?