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

[Rob Ae]

 

. theres so many tho' at the mo the one that springs to mind is the french film rubbish dump sketch. not sure if it has a real-er name

 

apparently it's called 'french subtitled film' didn't know it either, but great sketch nonetheless

 

edit: lol at the war footage spliced in, and i like the fact you chose a predominately Terry Jones sketch which shows a refined taste for Python

 

shit Mr. are u on allnighter here? :)

[Guest bitroast]

 

 

 

for me oversteps is about memory

but i'm not gonna say much more than that

 

 

nostalgia ?

 

 

nah, memory

 

 

does this share much in common with the albums by The Caretaker (james kirby)?

 

are you familiar with the caretaker albums? the songs are based on memory loss and alzheimer's, so it has a lot of 50s era songs getting stuck in loops and not quite working out which direction to go in.

 

[usagi]

btw have you heard this? I didn't make it lol

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gd2hlRP_5g

[Rob Ae]

are you touchy about opinions on your music ? like if some friends points bad remarks towards one of your track, it might ruin your day ?

also please do not post pic of your studio. i was disapointed/amused that Fennesz's studio is in his garage (i thought he was making tracks at the top of some epic mountains, face to the wind). i always have the feeling your music was composed in some death star environnement. :-)

ooh not far off.

[Polymershapes]

i had some (mayb too many) questions on page 67, seemed to have escaped notice, can they have a second look? really curious about these especially:

 

 

2. Sean, on Andrew Mckenzie's podcast you mentioned using phone apps like SunVox and Jasuto. Have you used these on any tracks you've released? Would you? Jasuto can do some mad things.

3. Which Tarkovsky films have you seen and which do you like best? I love them all but Mirror is a favorite, only slightly above Solaris/Stalker/Sacrifice. What do you think of Artemyev's soundtrack work?

4. I love mego too. What are your top mego albums?

6. Speaking of mego, do you also like fals.ch? Do you happen to have archived the free releases, my collection is missing some.. pm? Also what do you think of pxp - while(p){print"."," "x$p++} and Wavetrap stuff?

7. Do you like Popol Vuh? Which albums?

10. What's up with Xektes Sql - how was it made? I love it and it seems to be unique in your discog soundwise - more aquatic or submerged sounding.

[o00o]

 

Also as an aside, I would liek to show appreciation for the blyz cstl, 6852, I guess they are pretty overtly old school hip-hop influenced and maybe pushing the boundaries on what is considered a-side ae(?), but recks on surfacing on a proper album is jsut great (although still technically(?) a b-side..?). any comments?

 

Any thoughts on rick rubin's early work? U got a few years on me, and might have been digging into more obscure stuff then but that was my intro to 808 badassery and got me from there to here.

 

ah fuck it.. name my machinedrum plz?

 

Also have you considered yr answer to the favourite cartoons/animation question froma couplea days ago RB?

cartoons animation yeah i forgot i have a few bests, but my mind froze with the prospect of trying to package them up . here goes

 

moebius - collections like Starwatcher, Chaos, film Maitre du Temps, nearly all his, as long as its not early cowboy era giraud really.

jodorowsky & moebius - Apres L'incal

Druillet - Delirius, Yragael, Chaos, Lone Sloane

Roland Topor & Rene Laloux - La Planete Sauvage

 

prob some i can't think of again sorry , might crop up later.

 

 

 

have you heard about BLAME! comics? They might be up your alley:

 

 

Edited November 6, 2013 by o00o

[Guest WNS000]

Hey Rob,

 

I forgot to ask this essential question:

 

Do you already have a plan which countries to visit with the Exai tour (if there is the Exai tour)?

 

More specifically, anywhere in central Europe? Even more specifically the Czech Republic?

 

I know you were in Brno during the Oversteps tour but I don't know how successful it was for you and so if there's a possibility you would visit us again. I missed the show so I would love to have at least one more chance to experience your sonic-battering.

 

Thanks.

[usagi]

^ adding to Jev's question, any Australian tour dates as well? an Aus show more than once every 15 years would be sweet, y'all

[Rob Ae]

Sorry for more tech questions chaps but I love the 2001 Toronto set, what was your live setup based around during this tour?

 

I've read that a Nord Lead and Modular G1 was used along with with some military spec laptops?? (I use an old Itronix II with mine)

 

Please could you tell us with what you carried on tour back then and perhaps elaborate a little on the workflow used for this minimal setup especially with the Nords?

 

thats the Vienna show w/fennesz and roedelius - NMG1 w/NM patches self sequencing, here i had IBM Thinkpad/ Wavelab, audio slabs & FX to the NM audio ins. hahah yeah wacom for the NM editor. forgot that bit. MD for crash fill oh and fx/cmp units. this was a collab, so not usual setup compared to Tronno.

 

Toronto 2001 - two powerbooks max/msp patches, audio & sequencing w/MIDI to nords w/NM patches self sequencing. except sean used Nord Lead Rack.

Edited November 6, 2013 by Rob Ae

[jeremymacgregor87]

I really don't have any gear- or method-specific questions regarding your craft because tbh I'm not a music maker and also because I find that your music to be very alien. By this I don't mean like 'autechre lol their music is so weird', but more like 'how the hell did they do that?'. Actually I wouldn't want to know how you put it together. So uh yeah this may resonate with other users; not your music being technologically ace, but that it doesn't give me the convenience of conveying concrete or tangible things/shapes/imagery.

 

Uh so no Q basically, just gushing.

 

Ps. There was a watmm poll a year or so ago regarding fav ae release and iirc Confield won (maybe Chiastic Slide)

 

PPS. Cipater is my favourite piece of music probably, the way the bass resolves gives me chills.

 

Thanks for doing this

[priangle]

 

Hi Sean, Hi Rob!

 

I wanted to ask you about your thoughts on arts and about creative capabilities of a human being from religious perspective

 

Do you think that one's output is fully his own creation, or it have something to do with transmitting some information/energy from somewhere/something beyond? i mean, from one of the religious point of views, creative capabilities and talents is not something you build yourself, but it's something that is given to you, a Gift. (for example, you didn't do anything to be born as Sean Booth or Rob Brown and as a result grew up in circumstances that made you the Autechre) And that this gift can be used either for transmitting the light of God (as a source of good, order and love) through the prism of your person and character, either for transmitting "energies" of God's enemy, wich perverts your gifts into opposite to God's forces

 

I am asking you this because for me it's quite interesting to listen your music from this perspective - i feel a lot of dialogues of good and evil in it, especially in your early works - the most bright album from this point is Chiastic Slide, and the most dark is Confield. And a good example track is Second Peng - i hear something like evil insectoid alien swarms there!

 

so, the question is - have you ever felt that by your music you are transmitting some minds, messages, creatures that are out-of-this-world? And if yes, in the light of mentioning psychedelic drugs, did it felt more distinctly under the unfluences?

 

Do you feel that these forces you bring are more good than evil?

 

cuz some of your music makes me feel "good" (examples - Cipater, Pule, Cichli, Yulquen, C/Pach, 444, Theswere), but some of it, despite the fact that it's very interesting to listen, makes me feel more distant from God (Confield is a great example - for me it's the most complex and deep album of yours, but so deep it's "bad for your soul")

in a nutshell i have quite a bit of trouble discussing theology, 'need to be in the room so to speak, this isn't it, so not being bluntly dismissive and ignoring here. more later mbe

 

ok, looking forward for the possible answer! thanks for your attention!

[th555]

 

Also as an aside, I would liek to show appreciation for the blyz cstl, 6852, I guess they are pretty overtly old school hip-hop influenced and maybe pushing the boundaries on what is considered a-side ae(?), but recks on surfacing on a proper album is jsut great (although still technically(?) a b-side..?). any comments?

 

Any thoughts on rick rubin's early work? U got a few years on me, and might have been digging into more obscure stuff then but that was my intro to 808 badassery and got me from there to here.

 

ah fuck it.. name my machinedrum plz?

 

Also have you considered yr answer to the favourite cartoons/animation question froma couplea days ago RB?

cartoons animation yeah i forgot i have a few bests, but my mind froze with the prospect of trying to package them up . here goes

 

moebius - collections like Starwatcher, Chaos, film Maitre du Temps, nearly all his, as long as its not early cowboy era giraud really.

jodorowsky & moebius - Apres L'incal

Druillet - Delirius, Yragael, Chaos, Lone Sloane

Roland Topor & Rene Laloux - La Planete Sauvage

 

prob some i can't think of again sorry , might crop up later.

 

Thanks for this list, I loved Time Masters, Gandahar, Fantastic Planet etc, was just looking for more.

You should check out Angel's Egg (Tenshi No Tamago), btw.

[keltoi]

this is cool. i'm still back reading page 30, canny keep up...

 

sean, you mentioned the physical toll of touring... d'you mean like all the partying and std's ;) or the travelling and stress of having to be in a certain place, certain time, etc? i guess i'm interested in whether as you get older, you find the late night nature of touring, performing, etc becoming more of a chore?

 

what's your perfect 'buzz' for performing? (if anything)

 

what's your favourite continent and why?

 

how often (when you're not touring) do you get recognized in the street?

 

what iyo is the last good orb record? and last good black dog record?

 

what do think of the roses comeback?

 

what would you like for christmas?

[mcbpete]

Rob draw a quick mspaint (or whatever the mac equivalent is) of Sean.

Sean vice versa.

 

Or either of you draw a picture you jamming to a particularly wild Ae track.

[Guest]

How had freemasonry enriched your lives and influenced your musical progress?

 

I like your homage to Lucifer in this pentatonic based tune;

 

[OneSixSeven]

While working on an album, or when it finally comes out, do you regard one or several tracks as standout ones or they are all equal to you?

[Rob Ae]

you'v been working with each other for more then 20years, does it happen that you disagree or get in an arguement with each other over a track?

more like we usually want the same track, but we are different, we might go about things slightly differently. early on we might've needed longer to sort things out.

[Guest WNS000]

 

...And a good example track is Second Peng - i hear something like evil insectoid alien swarms there!

 

Man, Second Peng is one of the most positive and most motivating tracks I have ever heard - a space highway really. That said, your good/evil thing is absolutely super-subjective.

[Rob Ae]

 

 

I remembered what I meant to ask ages ago - is the synth line that comes in towards the background at around 3:48 in YJY UX you quoting/paraphrasing yourselves from known(1)? I swear the synth itself and the phrase is very similar. Would be really interesting to know how much you take bits of your own older stuff and pull it apart/reassemble again.

ah yeah i think know what u mean - theres that high up staccato-ey bit that appears at 1'09''? , but no not a lift from one to the other at all, just tastes cropping up.

 

in older stuff we would reuse bits all the time, but more like getting a favourite sound and re-apropriating it over and over, esp, with live sets, i remember a sound we had that kept coming back 'Peng' . cannibalising tunes/sounds and reusing. don't really do that now though.

 

 

how about D-Sho Qub & nth Dafuseder.b? can you shed any information as to where these songs came from, which came form which?

 

( i rememeber the first time i 'got' D-Sho Qub. it sort of sounds like this massive wave of insanity (ala the nothing from neverending story) coming and destroy this city-like infrastructure of someone's mind. i don't quite understand sean's earlier comment re: oversteps being about memories. but for me, this song was always an audio representation a degrading mental state^^ )

 

nth D started earlier but lay incomplete for ages, D-Sho came during & after that, but finished first.

 

i see D-sho as more regular than that, but the references u have there remind me of turbulence which D-sho has for me.

 

 

 

it's my birthday so could you name my old shitty laptop. the screen aint working and it has no keyboard if it helps to think of anything.

 

your laptop is now called stephen

 

whats it used as a USB warmer?

 

 

as an USB touchpad cus the touchpad is still working

 

hah dope, carnage

[Rob Ae]

I've noticed a lot of people listen to Quaristice as a kind of custom playlist including a lot of the extras and replacing the short songs with the longer counterparts.

Have you tried listening to Quaristice in a similar way?

how do you feel about people making their own versions of say a track like perlence based on all the different ones that exist? Are you ok with people sharing these custom edits? what about on this forum specifically (example: members posting custom perlence megamixes)?

 

and lastly how do you feel that Quaristice ranks or stands symbolically in terms of the rest of your catalog?

i'd be into hearing the custom edits. as far as the re-compiling goes, the versions totally should lend themselves to this, not done an actual 'sit down listen to this that and the other way round' since they got released. but yeah all through the compiling of the LP and EPs process was like why we did so many versions. the limited version was that too, it was all that.

 

stands symbolically? dunno.

[priangle]

 

...And a good example track is Second Peng - i hear something like evil insectoid alien swarms there!

 

Man, Second Peng is one of the most positive and most motivating tracks I have ever heard - a space highway really. That said, your good/evil thing is absolutely super-subjective.

 

first of all, i probably misspeeched and didn't mean that Second Peng is "evil", it has humor, enegry and "fun" to it, i mentioned is as an example of "speaking music" - it has it's "evil" vibe, but in a fun way

 

secondly i am not implying that my seeing is objective - my subjectiveness is the reason i asked this question to the authors of the subject.

[triachus]

This page on whosampled.com:

 

 

http://www.whosampled.com/search/?q=autechre

 

 

Is it accurate? If not, where?


Any other things that should be added?

hah, you can't blame me for trying

 

[blos]

 

That said, your good/evil thing is absolutely super-subjective.

 

 

Except for recks on of course. Shit is evil, man.

[salvakkpooo]

How tall are you both?

[Rob Ae]

btw have you heard this? I didn't make it lol

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gd2hlRP_5g

first time actually, that cat looks weirdly familiar. feelin the strings at 4'20''- 38''.