"one, none, one hundred thousand": the phenomenology of Brown and Booth

[Draft78 23]

writing an answer related to Space How V, I realized that the piece is part of a sub-category of Autechre, which appears, over the years, with very similar characteristics.

  On the basis of the analogies that determine the pieces belonging to this category, is now born in me the difficult curiosity to identify all the stylistic faces that, together, create the indefinable and never imitated thing we know as "Autechre". 

Many pieces belong contemporaneously to two or more distinct categories, which makes this absurd taxonomic purpose, particularly complex.

 

  First I report below the category that I identified in the other post, writing about Space How V. Then, slowly, I will try to identify all the identities and changes that they have had over the years: I hope for your contribution.

 

Style that presents accents similar to "sound flares", which come suddenly, usually with much reverberation, creating a particular transcendent effect:

 

Draft 7.30

Tapr

 

Quaristice:

The plc

Plyphon

Paralel Suns

90101-5l-l

 

Move Of Ten / Oversteps:

Etchogon-S 

Cep PuicMX

r ess

yuop

d-sho qub

 

Exai / L-event:

tuinorizn

nodezsh

runrepik

newbond

 

Elseq:

Space How V

 

NTS sessions:

13ctrl

sinistralAB air

tt1pd

shimripl casual

 

if you try to listen to this selection, you probably realize that all these pieces have, in fact, a common DNA: the first face i propose.

[hoggy 0]

yes, I can hear it - wonder if there are any more DNA strands to tease out

for me the effect is something like jump cuts in a film when with each cut you get a burst of activity that finds an equilibrium as your brain acclimatises to the new images (as the reverberations dissipate)

[Dragon 8]

i miss these threads :3

 

right now i don't have the chance to listen to all the specific tracks you mentioned, but from the top of my head: ipacial section and fermium, from untilted. in particular the buildup happening in the first three minutes of IS - there's something going on with the stabs, where it mutates from a percussive/rhythym element into something that works as a textural noise, while fully maintaining the heightened pace of energy. maybe fermium is closer to the type of track you're explaining? the pads and slashes in the second half seem to work towards that mood, but it fails overall due to the repetition and lack of development.

 

more examples:

cap.iv

known(1)

Tess xi

deco Loc (heavy but very steady, it doesn't attempt to disorient the listener. but the choral synths in the mid-section, do they count?)

JS x code 1 (the 2017 track)

 

i'll come back when i have more time. obviously when there are more replies it'll be clearer which exact type of track you're refering to, but then i guess that' s the whole point.

 

*listens to basscadet vinyl rips*

[Dragon 8]

yes, I can hear it - wonder if there are any more DNA strands to tease out

 

for me the effect is something like jump cuts in a film when with each cut you get a burst of activity that finds an equilibrium as your brain acclimatises to the new images (as the reverberations dissipate)

that's interesting - reminds me of this fan-made video with some Frans Zwartjes footage:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey5DNrAGVt0

[tneuvm 6]

"Sound flares" is a good category idea--it catches a lot of different things while definitely still being a coherent concept.

 

I can't think of a catchy term for it, but another category could be tracks that are deceptively simple. I mean there's always more to the 'chre's music than it initially seems, but on recent releases they've had a number of tracks that are really sparse and simple on the surface (especially rhythmically) but contain a ton of depth / subtle changes in inflection. For example, TBM2, bladelores, t1a1, c16 deep tread, (maybe) nth Dafuseder.b(?) I can't think of that many examples but it's definitely A Thing.

 

You could also probably divide their stuff into a lot of different categories rhythmically. One distinction I tend to make is between tracks with a rhythmic feel reminiscent of hip hop made w/ breaks and a sampler vs hip hop made with a drum machine. The former has freer, more "off the grid" timing (often with a lot of swing) and the sounds tend to be rougher and weirder (like J Dilla, Madlib). The latter has more a more rigid, robotic feel and the sounds are snappier and cleaner (like Music Madness) . The former is epitomized by Draft, the latter by Untilted.

 

tldr sparse tracks, different beat styles

Edited August 12, 2018 by tneuvm

[hello spiral 259]

 

I can't think of a catchy term for it, but another category could be tracks that are deceptively simple. I mean there's always more to the 'chre's music than it initially seems, but on recent releases they've had a number of tracks that are really sparse and simple on the surface (especially rhythmically) but contain a ton of depth / subtle changes in inflection. For example, TBM2, bladelores, t1a1, c16 deep tread, (maybe) nth Dafuseder.b(?) I can't think of that many examples but it's definitely A Thing.

 

Splesh (aka My Jam)

[Zeffolia 31]

{0, 1, ∞}

[tneuvm 6]

Splesh Jam (1996)

great movie

still not sure what they were thinking having Sean star alongside animated characters tho

 

 

Another category could be tracks with sounds that imitate record stratching. There are a lot of these on elseq: artov chain, 7th slip, latentcall, pendulu casual(?), curvcaten, even c16 and feed1. AE_live has a lot of elements like this too.

[tneuvm 6]

Another category could be tracks with (usually unsettling) artificial voice sounds. Man this thread really deserves more views / replies

[Draft78 23]

I'm glad that the post can please: I believe that, in a forum obsessed with a musical phenomenon so varied and elusive, it may be interesting to analyze the phenomenon from a "taxonomic" point of view. It helps me to understand better, not just autechre, but also the gears of that subjective and changing thing that is  "(my) sense of beauty".

 

I have other aspects to list, in mind, but I will do it when I have a free evening, without crushing worries...