Winter Autechre

[fizzkinz]

 

 

I know I'm not bringing anything new to the table by saying this but Confield is definitely a razor sharp ice filled tundra. In the best of ways

interesting. It sounds like old machinery in dry bushland, taken over by alien organisms/insects to me!

Insects for sure! I guess mine are just the insects that thrive at sub freezing temps :)

 

But you know it only makes sense your finding the polar opposites of season, Australia's summer is my winter, plus I hear they call red "blue" there

And hamburgers eat people

[PlatrixECV]

I know I'm not bringing anything new to the table by saying this but Confield is definitely a razor sharp ice filled tundra. In the best of ways

 

Confield is harder than a diamond in an ice storm.

[AJW]

Confield is an ancient relic that seems impossible to decipher, and when you finally do it's overwhelmingly pleasurable.

 

Oversteps is the only autechre that's almost exclusively wintry. That said it's also perfect night music.

[AJW]

Also, looking forward to a session with L event/dilankrex remix out in a snowstorm this winter. Inside plenty of warm clothes (it's all about the layers!) with a thermos of hot tea and a joint

[Guest]

No seasons associations here. Never.

Only Lentic Catachresis could be some kind of Antarctica snow storm.

 

I'd rather recommend you Ralph Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 7, "Sinfonia Antarctica" btw. - It's cold and terrifying.

Edited November 22, 2014 by Guest

[Roo]

This might seem blasphemous, but winter is probably the season that I least listen to Autechre. Don't know why exactly, although I guess their last few LPs have all been late summer releases in the southern hemisphere, so maybe a slight burnout in winter. I associate Autechre listening with spring/winter/autumn. I also don't associate any full Autechre albums with any seasons, although Oversteps to me suits a bright sunny day walk in the country, among the cows and all that. Some ae tracks evoke Antarctic imagery in me, but more summer Antarctic than wintry chill.

[nature]

Pen Expers

 

I just like this track and want to say it whatever season it may be.

[styrio]

Quaristice.Quadrange.ep.ae giving me a warm fuzzy feeling on this cold wintry night. I always kinda bypass Quaristice and it's associated versions as I never took to that album. Now I'm finding the error of my ways!

[Friendly Foil]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3AMIF603wM

[Guest M360]

I love snowy/icy driving with EP7. Gives me an unhealthy rush

[kirm]

Oversteps is very much a winter album for me, but think that may be because it properly clicked with me winter 2010 which in the UK was snowy and icey as fuck. Oversteps was always on my car stero that winter battling through the elements and sounded awesome with the wintery scenery

[jules]

I had taken quite a long break from autechre, but yesterday we got the first good snow here. This time I cranked up Chiastic Slide and damn did it feel all warm and crackly and really hit the spot perfectly. 

edit: been reading a lot of older threads since splesh has bumped 247 of them and it seems that quadrange is on a january pattern. I do wish there was a physical version of that.

Edited January 10, 2022 by jules

[dcom]

13 minutes ago, jules said:

This time I cranked up Chiastic Slide and damn did it feel all warm and crackly and really hit the spot perfectly.

Rettic AC has crunchy digital snow.

[splesh]

I'm curious. How many of our seasonal associations with Autechre albums correspond with the time of the year they were released?

Incunabula - 29th November 1993
Amber - 7 November 1994
Tri Repetae - 6 November 1995
Chiastic Slide - 17 February 1997
LP5 - 13 July 1998
Confield - 30 April 2001
Draft 7.30 - 7 April 2003
Untilted - 18 April 2005
Quaristice - 29 January 2008
Oversteps - 22 February 2010
Exai - 7 February 2013
elseq 1-5 - 19 May 2016
NTS Sessions 1-4 - 26 April 2018
SIGN - 8 October 2020
PLUS - 28 October 2020

Going by Northern Hemisphere reckonings (since Ae are themselves from that half of the world), the breakdown is as follows: five in autumn, four in winter, five in spring, and one in summer. And breaking it into months: four in April, three in November, three in February, two in October, one in January, one in May, and one in July.

[ignatius]

26 minutes ago, splesh said:

I'm curious. How many of our seasonal associations with Autechre albums correspond with the time of the year they were released?

Incunabula - 29th November 1993
Amber - 7 November 1994
Tri Repetae - 6 November 1995
Chiastic Slide - 17 February 1997
LP5 - 13 July 1998
Confield - 30 April 2001
Draft 7.30 - 7 April 2003
Untilted - 18 April 2005
Quaristice - 29 January 2008
Oversteps - 22 February 2010
Exai - 7 February 2013
elseq 1-5 - 19 May 2016
NTS Sessions 1-4 - 26 April 2018
SIGN - 8 October 2020
PLUS - 28 October 2020

Going by Northern Hemisphere reckonings (since Ae are themselves from that half of the world), the breakdown is as follows: five in autumn, four in winter, five in spring, and one in summer. And breaking it into months: four in April, three in November, three in February, two in October, one in January, one in May, and one in July.

but there is only one season.. Autechre season.

i remember an older interview they brought up Amber.. and said part of the reason it sounds the way it sounds is because they'd set up their studio in a warehouse area in a dark space that didn't really have any windows.. or something like that. 

but in UK how many seasons are there really? summer is like 2 weeks long. also, for a while their method was "write 300 minutes of music" then the album comes from that. but that's obviously changed over the years. 

worth remembering the release date could be like a year after they finished some of the songs..  but it's interesting to think about. 

[xox]

26 minutes ago, ignatius said:

also, for a while their method was "write 300 minutes of music" then the album comes from that. but that's obviously changed over the years. 

Changed how? 

[ignatius]

14 hours ago, xox said:

Changed how? 

can't recall the article but they said they used to write 300 minutes of music and pull the album from that... however long it took to write that 300 minutes then that's how long it took.. could be a year.. or 3 years.. whatever. once they hit the 300 minute mark they'd release an album from that material. 

so, i don't think they have that "constraint" anymore... seems they just write music constantly and release stuff when they feel like it. 

also, i'm pulling this from memory of a thing read i don't know when.. 10... 15 years ago? 

at this point in their career it seems like there aren't any rules about when and what they release. 

[xox]

18 minutes ago, ignatius said:

can't recall the article but they said they used to write 300 minutes of music and pull the album from that... however long it took to write that 300 minutes then that's how long it took.. could be a year.. or 3 years.. whatever. once they hit the 300 minute mark they'd release an album from that material. 

so, i don't think they have that "constraint" anymore... seems they just write music constantly and release stuff when they feel like it. 

also, i'm pulling this from memory of a thing read i don't know when.. 10... 15 years ago? 

at this point in their career it seems like there aren't any rules about when and what they release. 

ah ok, yes yes i know/understand that!

but bc you said that ''that's obviously changed over the years'' i thought you have some other additional info

[ignatius]

4 minutes ago, xox said:

ah ok, yes yes i know/understand that!

but bc you said that ''that's obviously changed over the years'' i thought you have some other additional info

nah.. just assumptions since they've released so much and surprised us w/things like NTS and elseq..   also, the AAA has some tidbits in it about this kind of stuff but i forget specifics.. 

[mTesc]

I actually find Tri Repetae and Chiastic Slide to be quite summery / spring-ish – hazy skies, etc. Oversteps is very wintry for me (with perhaps the exception of Treale, which sounds like a summer evening). LP5 is quite wintery and overcast. Exai feels more warm-weather. Most of the more recent stuff doesn't evoke seasons particularly for me.

Re: the "Confield is inscrutable" or whatever comments above, that was definitely the median take back when it was released, but I've always found it very accessible. Lots of groove and atmosphere even if the details are sometimes jittery and gritty and weird (especially for the time, of course). Opening track feels quite polar. Beyond that, it doesn't sound very wintery to me, personally. It came out in the spring, and so maybe it recalls that spring too strongly for me to consider its sounding like it belongs to another season to a greater extent.

Edited March 6, 2022 by mFing